A smart piece by Joan Walsh of Salon about Obama with his foot in his mouth.
And a very interesting piece by an Ivy League professor about Gates getting his perspective morphed by the Ivy League lens.
I don’t know about urging care and thoughtfulness when it comes to racial outrage. I’m not sure we should censure the open discourse about disparities and racial profiling and ignorance in our society. But I do know it’s feeding into the gaping, frothing Right Wing maw right now, and those who have no concept of the reality of life in our country, either racially or economically, have their own pseudo-journalism to hype this any way they want to. It may not be fair, but maybe thinking twice before we speak is a reasonable request in this era of “nobody’s listening except to their own polarized view”.
NaptimeWriting 
You know, this is funny. Okay, no it’s not, but it’s interesting. I just spent the weekend with 4 women; 1 is a militant republican, 1 is a libertarian, 1 is a non-voter and 1 is a die-hard democrat.
We argued. A lot. But one thing we could agree on was this: the devisive-ness in this country is both horrible and thought provoking. Part of us says, “Can’t we all get along?” but the other side of us says, “We have so many different people, with so many different needs, so many different beliefs–how on EARTH do you think that there’s one solution for all of us?”
I don’t know the answer, but man, I have a lot of questions.
I hear you, Kitch. I don’t think there is one solution. I think there is a lot of lying and smarmy political talk, but I think if we all had the facts, not the talking points or the propaganda, but the facts, we could really choose a position, and elect someone who stuck to that position. And then the position with the most elected reps would win. Until that solution worked or didn’t. Then we’d get more facts and vote again.
But that’s a pipe dream. A pipe dream I will fight for until I leave this planet, but a pipe dream nonetheless.