Hugo Chavez Runs Mouth — Again

The egomania of the Venezuelan dictator is really breathtaking.

CNN: Venezuela dares U.S. to put it on terror list

England’s Priorities

The Times: Schools fear that forced marriages poster campaign will upset parents by Richard Ford

“Schools in areas feared to have high rates of forced marriage are refusing to display posters on the issue because they are too hard-hitting, according to a government report.”

Speaking out against forced marriages is too “hard-hitting.”

And expressing support for the Iraq War / War on Terror? Oh nooooooo!

NY Times Pours Fuel Onto Fire

The New York Times targets — who else? — George W. Bush.

Times Watch: Spitzer Targeted by Bush’s Justice Department? The Times Throws It Out There The Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy Lives! “The federal officials sought to emphasize that Mr. Spitzer, a Democrat, had not been singled out by the Republican administration, although allegations of political interference dogged the Justice Department during the tenure of the former attorney general, Alberto R. Gonzales…” by Clay Waters

When Race and Gender are Two-Edged Swords

NRO: Monsters and Racists and Sexists, Oh My! — Free speech, it seems, is no longer so free in the political arena. By Kathleen Parker

Race and gender, once the courted darlings of the Democrats, are becoming party poopers.

[...]

[Samantha] Power was sacrificed on the altar of a nice politics that exists only in the rhetoric of the presidential candidates. As for [Geraldine] Ferraro, her statement wasn’t racist so much as it was racial. It is, in fact, unlikely that anyone else with Obama’s experience — just two years in the U.S. Senate before he began running for president — would get this close to the White House.

There are lots of reasons for Obama’s success that have nothing to do with race. But there’s also this: You can’t separate race from who Obama is. He is the biracial man. Although he self-identifies as African-American, it is precisely his dual race — and his own personal work toward identity integration and transcendence — that allows him to speak effectively of racial reconciliation and national unity in ways that a white male, or another black male for that matter, could not.

So, yes, Ferraro was partly right. If Obama were white, he probably wouldn’t be where he is.