In the Australian riot story below, we observed the principle that if a white person attacks a black person, race is the first thing mentioned. If the reverse is the case, much more frequent, it’s considered wrong even to mention it.

Remember Congressman Mel Reynolds? I will quote myself, here:”You never mention anyone’s race, sex, or immigration status if you can avoid it. I just found out, five years after I first heard of him being sent away for having sex with an underage girl, that Congressman Mel Reynolds is black.No one mentioned it, so I didn’t know until I came across a story where he mentioned it himself.“

Reynolds blamed racism for the charge, saying ”When they shackle me, like they shackled my slave ancestors and take me off to jail, nobody in this room will see me crawl.” But if he hadn’t mentioned it, no news story would.

That’s why I was so startled (and amused) by this headline: Black charged with fraud, [By Barbara Shecter, National Post, November 18, 2005] But no! It’s not what you think, it’s a actually a white guy.

Holy Cow! You can’t beat fun in the ‘ol Midwest! (Apologies to the late Chicago Cubs play-by-play announcer Harry Caray.)

In our last espisode, we saw Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty hand taxpayers a $188 million bill for the illegal alien population in their state. A few days later the Star Tribune’s Nick Coleman wailed about, among other things, which term we should use to describe people here illegally:

“For starters: ‘Illegal immigrants’ is a term no conscientious official should throw around. The official term is ‘undocumented alien.’ Pawlenty knows that, but ‘illegal immigrants’ is politically loaded and whips up more resentment.”

Memo to Mr. Coleman (e-mail him): The federal government defines these folks as “illegal aliens.” You guys in the mainstream media really ought to bone up on the immigration issue if you’re going to “cover” it. And, oh, by the way, this country sharply reduced immigration levels in the 1920s not, as you wrote, in the 1950s. (I know, I know, the devil is in those damn details!)

Meanwhile, a several hundred miles to the south in Illinois, Rep. Luis (“Illegals clean our toilets, make our beds, pick our lettuce,”) Gutierrez (D-IL), gushed all over Illinois Gov. Rod (“My parents were immigrants”) Blagojevich’s program that would also provide home loans to illegals:

“People who are working hard, paying their taxes, are of good moral character … regardless of their immigration status, they, too, should be able to share in the American dream.”

Another guardian of the American dream, U.S. Rep. Danny K. Davis (D-Ill.), agreed:

“We know that the American dream has been elusive for many members of our society . . .The governor and [the Illinois Housing Development Authority] are demystifying home ownership for many moderate- and low-income people in Illinois.”

Should we get lucky and discover a reporter who is familiar with the practice of critical thinking, I’d suggest to him/her that Mr. Davis, who is black, be asked why he continues to support an immigration policy that has made black Americans the second largest minority in this country and is forcing them back to the back of the social and economic bus.