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Tony Snow said he didn't want to "hug the tar baby," and then he did just that by using the expression in his first televised White House press briefing yesterday. The tar-covered doll that Br'er Fox used to ensnare Br'er Rabbit in an 1881 Uncle Remus story is used as a metaphor for a sticky situation, but for some it also carries vague racist connotations — it has been used as a derogatory term for a black. In a society where a District of Columbia councilman can be accused of racism simply by using the word "niggardly," most politicians and...

"Links of Interest". Tony Sets Record Straight Whitehouse Briefings CSPAN Schedules

All of us are familiar with the fallout created by New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin's racially questionable comments. But THE DEAD PELICAN has learned that in 2004, Nagin did not take kindly to some allegedly "racial comments" made by the director of city planning. In April of 2004, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin called for the ouster of the Director of City Planning over a racially insensitive remark he allegedly made during his first meeting in the position, THE DEAD PELICAN has leaned. According to some of those in attendance at a 2004 meeting, Verl Emrick talked about wanting to...

Now when I think of the Middle East, I recall the Uncle Remus story of the tar-baby. Brer Rabbit learned a lesson from it. The thing about the tar-baby was, if you whacked it, it stuck to you. And as you pushed against it to get free, you just got more stuck. The Middle East has always been a kind of tar-baby for whoever invaded it. There are historians who suggest that the fall of the Roman Empire was hastened by its many efforts to subdue the Jews of Israel. There was the famous siege of Masada and then, after...