Free Republic

Prashant Mangeshikar could be dead, one of more than a hundred victims of militant attacks across Mumbai landmarks, if it had not been for an employee at the Taj Mahal Hotel... ...Recovering from the initial shock and chaos, hotel staff shepherded the guests, including the Mangeshikar family, through the service section upstairs -- only suddenly to come face to face with one of the gunmen. "He looked young and did not speak to us. He just fired. We were in sort of a single file," Mangeshikar, a 52-year-old gynecologist, told Reuters. "The man in front of my wife shielded us....

Maryland Lt. Governor Michael Steele and former Rep. J.C. Watts (R-Okla.) demanded an apology from new Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean for his remark, "You think the Republican National Committee could get this many people of color in a single room? Only if they had the hotel staff in here." According to Steele, the remark is "insensitive" and demonstrates a belief by the leader of the Democratic Party that only blacks are hotel workers, when indeed a majority of hotel workers are white. But it also reflects a belief that blacks can't make it in society beyond a minimal...