† Now Is Not The Time To Talk About Race: In a speech  to Justice Department employees about Black History Month Attorney General Eric Holder urged us all to use Black History Month to initiate frank dialogue about racial matters with one another, saying that the U.S. is “a nation of cowards” because “average Americans, simply do not talk enough with each other about things racial”:

“If we are to make progress in this area, we must feel comfortable enough with one another, and tolerant enough of each other to have frank conversations about the racial matters that continue to divide us. …

“To respect one another, we must have a basic understanding of one another. And so, we should use events such as this to not only learn more about the fact of black history, but also to learn more about each other.

“This will be, at first, a process that is both awkward and painful, but the rewards are, I believe, potentially great. The alternative is to allow to continue the polite, restrained mixing that now passes as meaningful interaction, but that in reality, accomplishes very little.

“Imagine, if you will, situations where people, regardless of their skin color, could confront racial issues freely and without fear.

How does Holder expect white Americans to feel "at ease" about race when they know that every Sunday black liberation preachers all over the country are spewing anti-white hatred; when blacks shun members of their race who are perceived to be "acting white" (last item); and when they are forced to attend "sensitivity" training that stereotypes and demeans them (second item). Whites should not to bear the burden alone for advancing racial tolerance and understanding. 

As it happens, within hours of Holder’s impolitic remarks on race relations, the New York Post published a tasteless cartoon playing off a tragedy involving a violent chimpanzee kept as a pet by an elderly CT woman that had to be put down by police after ripping off a neighbor’s hands and face. Some insisted the chimp was meant to depict President Barack Obama, reports sister paper The Wall Street Journal:

The drawing, by frequent Post editorial cartoonist Sean Delonas, whose work appears in the paper's Page Six gossip column, depicts a police officer holding a smoking gun he apparently used to shoot a chimpanzee. The caption reads, "They'll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill" [emphasis, The Stiletto]. …

Mr. Obama on Tuesday signed a nearly $800 billion economic stimulus package [emphasis, The Stiletto].

Monkeys have been used historically in pejorative portrayals of black people, and the New York Post cartoon immediately drew criticism, including from civil-rights activist Rev. Al Sharpton.

After a hue and cry went out across the land, The Post apologized – sorta – for the cartoon:  

Wednesday's Page Six cartoon - caricaturing Monday's police shooting of a chimpanzee in Connecticut - has created considerable controversy.

It shows two police officers standing over the chimp's body: "They'll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill," one officer says.

It was meant to mock an ineptly written federal stimulus bill. 

Period. 

But it has been taken as something else - as a depiction of President Obama, as a thinly veiled expression of racism. 

This most certainly was not its intent; to those who were offended by the image, we apologize.

However, there are some in the media and in public life who have had differences with The Post in the past - and they see the incident as an opportunity for payback.

To them, no apology is due.

Sometimes a cartoon is just a cartoon - even as the opportunists seek to make it something else.

The cartoon is tasteless because the mad monkey’s victim suffered horrific injuries from which she can never recover – and she remains in critical condition fighting for her life. It’s to her and to her family that The Post should direct its apology.

But not to race-baiter Al Sharpton. While Obama signed the stimulus bill, he was widely criticized for not writing the bill, losing control of the process by leaving it to Nancy Pelosi & Co., who crafted it behind closed doors. The Post cartoon was drawing a parallel to “the infinite monkey theorem” - a monkey hitting keys at random on a typewriter keyboard for an infinite amount of time will almost surely type a given text, such as the complete works of William Shakespeare. Anyone who does not associate blacks and monkeys immediately understood that. To make the specious case the cartoon is racist one must deliberately substitute the word “sign” for “write” in the caption.

This is exactly the climate of fear Holder is referring to - and why no honest dialogue can occur if most people fear that they are one lame joke, dopey cartoon or misunderstood comment away from being labeled a racist.
 

† Beg Your Pardon?: In the waning days of the Bush presidency, Dick Cheney made “a furious last-ditch effort to secure a pardon for his onetime chief of staff, I. Lewis Libby Jr.,” reports The New York Times:

The officials said Tuesday that Mr. Cheney’s lobbying campaign on behalf of Mr. Libby was far more intense than previously known, with the vice president bringing it up in countless one-on-one conversations with the president. They said Mr. Bush was unyielding to the end, already frustrated by a deluge of last-minute pardon requests from other quarters.

The dispute underscored the raw feelings of Mr. Cheney and other supporters of Mr. Libby, who believed that he was mistreated by prosecutors and ill served by a president who, in their view, failed to return Mr. Libby’s loyalty and sacrifice. 
 

† Can The Nutrition Police Lay Off Coffee, Already?: New data from on the Nurses' Health Study of 83,076 women who had no history of stroke, heart disease, diabetes or cancer when they enrolled in 1980 suggests that women who drank four or more cups of coffee a day had a 20 percent lower risk of stroke, compared to women who had less than one cup per month and drinking two to three cups daily reduced risk by 19 percent, reports WebMD:

The benefits of coffee are much more significant for nonsmokers. For women who had never smoked or quit the habit, drinking four cups or more of coffee a day was associated with a 43% reduction in stroke risk. For women who smoked, drinking four cups or more was associated with only a 3% reduction in risk. …

In addition to smoking, having high blood pressure, diabetes, or high cholesterol also neutralized the coffee effect.

It wasn’t the caffeine, says the study’s lead author Esther Lopez-Garcia, because the protective effect was not observed amongst participants who drank tea and caffeinated soft drinks: “This finding supports the hypothesis that components in coffee other than caffeine may be responsible for the potential beneficial effect of coffee on stroke risk. Antioxidants in coffee lower inflammation and improve blood vessel function.”
 

† Pierced Pussies For Sale On eBay: Wilkes-Barre, PA, dog groomer Holly Crawford' will be prosecuted on animal cruelty charges for selling "gothic kittens" with ear, neck and tail piercings, reports The Associated Press:

A prosecutor says Crawford inflicted pain on the cats, which were listed for sale for hundreds of dollars on the Internet. Crawford's attorney says state law says nothing about piercing cats or docking their tails.

At a preliminary hearing Tuesday, Wilkes-Barre District Judge Paul Hadzick called it a gray area that needs to be decided by a trial judge or jury.  

† Boxers Or Thongs?: Joaquin Rico, 20, was sentenced to 12 years in prison after pleading to a convenience store robbery last May during which he and Joseph Richard Espinoza, 25, entered the store wearing thongs on their heads and Rico “grabbed the store's clerk by the neck and punched her in the face several times, breaking her jaw, reports The Associated Press.

† Updates To Previous Posts (last item, All The Print Not Fit As News): Washington lobbyist Vicki Iseman has settled her $27 million defamation lawsuit against The New York Times and several of its reporters over a story that insinuated a romantic relationship between her and then-presidential candidate Sen. John McCain (R-AZ). The New York Times reports that the suit “was settled without payment and The Times did not retract the article. In an unusual agreement, however, The Times is letting Ms. Iseman’s lawyers give their views on the suit on the paper’s Web site. Their opinion is accompanied by a joint statement from both sides and a note to readers.”
 

† Updates To Previous Posts (fourth item, Putting The Cart Before The Horse): While some students are mindlessly agitating to rename their schools after Barack Obama as a way of "honoring the steps we’ve made and how much more progressive our country has become now that he’s president" other students are applying analytical skills to critically evaluate his actions and policies. The East Valley Tribune (Mesa, AZ) reports on the reception the president got by students in Dobson High School’s Advanced Placement government class as he spoke in the school’s gymnasium about his mortgage bailout plan while they watched on TV:

Some of the students attentively watched the speech, giving questioning looks and comments, shaking their heads and laughing at some of Obama's words. Other students listened, occasionally glancing up to watch, while texting on their cell phones, reading a book or finishing school work. …

Senior Syna Daudfar took some notes during the speech and was among the most vocally opposed to Obama's words.

At one point, when he talked about the costs of his stimulus plan, senior Maaike Albach and Daudfar looked at each other and said, "uh-oh."

"Overall I think it's a good idea, but he's not addressing the issues of the economic crisis," said Daudfar, a John McCain supporter who added he leans more toward being a moderate conservative. "The spending bill he just passed is just progressing the Democratic agenda rather than addressing the economic issues in the country." …

Albach, who is also a Republican, said Obama's plan sounds good but questioned how Obama can want to rely on "people's responsibility" when that is "what got us in this economic crisis in the first place."

"This puts us more into debt," said Albach, 18. "It's a horrible situation we're in."

Editorial Note: In what may be a first, a liberal politician has been likened to Adolph Hitler on a T-shirt. Senior Brandon Miller, who briefly supported Obama "because of his speeches," sported a shirt with the words, "Hitler gave great speeches, too" above a picture of Obama. 

† Updates To Previous Posts (last item, 10 Reasons Michelle Obama Should Be Proud – Really Proud – Of America): The latest installment in The Stiletto Blog’s ongoing series meant to help instill the necessary pride of country in Michelle Obama’s consciousness to enable her to serve as an unofficial ambassador. 

In 2006, then 9-year-old Aaron Ware lost his twin brother, Eric, to brain cancer. At the suggestion of his pediatrician Marilyn Corder the boy found solace in baking, reports The Washington Post:

He started baking and selling cookies, with plans to give the proceeds to groups that helped his family when Eric was sick. …

Corder handed Aaron a $20 bill, making her the first investor in what he decided to call the Doughjangles baking company, playing off the name of the fast-food restaurant. Soon Aaron had backing from his parents, his godmother and an aunt. They equipped him with a black chef's jacket, cookie cutters, measuring cups and cookbooks. …

Aaron has made about $60 from cookie sales since the first batch went out about Thanksgiving. He has kept some for himself, invested some in baking supplies and donated the rest to organizations that helped the Wares when his brother was sick. …

The Casey Cares Foundation, based in Baltimore, sent the family to Hersheypark and to baseball games. Aaron's first check - for $10 - from the baking business went to Casey Cares.