I was flying back to Chicago from the Dominican Republic two days before Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab allegedly tried to blow up U.S.-bound Flight 253 on Christmas Day, chuckling about how easy it would have been for some nutball to hijack my plane.

I've never been more sure. If we want to make a real difference in meaningfully educating our children, we must let race and ethnicity concerns go. It is high time for color-blind, income-based affirmative action.

To give you an idea of how much impact Rep. Luis Gutierrez' immigration reform proposal made on the national agenda when he debuted it last Tuesday, this is the number of White House press corps questions asked on the subject at that day's press briefing:

The first time I ever set foot in Pilsen was as a newly hired reporter after a white editor asked me to go there to "find some Latino stories" for the next day's paper.

Just in time for the biggest gift-buying, extended-family-all-shoved-into-one-house holiday extravaganza of the year, the Federal Trade Commission has again wagged its finger at Hollywood for peddling violent and inappropriate fare to kiddies.