As a news reporter for many years in the racially diverse and sensitive states of  New Jersey and Ohio, one's racial composition was sometimes a practical matter in story composition.   Race would turn up in topics such as entertainment, crime, school/government policy, and politics and always required accuracy and careful consideration.

"Negro" and "colored" were no longer acceptable usages for African-American references in this '80s-'90s timeframe, nor was "mulatto" acceptable usage to describe people - like 1980 Miss America winner Vanessa Williams - who were half-black and half-white.   

Williams and others of "mixed" racial background were referred to as such, followed by a descriptive phrase of the recipe.  "Bi-racial" came into wider usage during this time, mostly to describe people who were equal parts white and black, and usually because the subject had parents who were clearly one of each.

If one's racial heritage was something other than black and white, the more likely referance was "mixed." 

But "mixed" could also be used to describe people of more than than two racial backgrounds, and proportions other than 50/50. 

Call it creative self-destruction, maybe.

How surreal it’s been this week to watch the Republicans reap a small portion of the divine comeuppance due them, first from a hurricane, then from a pregnant teen-ager. Surely more of the same is on its way, but no one wins, because what is lying in a shambles around the McCain campaign is a harvest of suffering.

The bad ideas of the Republican right, or rather the consequences of those ideas — from pre-emptive war to abstinence-only sex education to the merger of church and state to let’s-drown-government-in-the-bathtub — started taking over the Republican National Convention, bursting the levees of managed news and disciplined hypocrisy. Suddenly eight years of extreme cynicism began generating (it’s a miracle) . . . bad press.

What does it say about John McCain that he picked not only the least experienced Vice Presidential nominee in America’s history, but someone he really doesn’t know? Departing so far from any normal concept of appropriate background, he should at least have had a sense of why this individual is so special. Meeting Palin once at a Republican governors’ conference and having a single phone conversation on the eve of her selection just doesn’t pass muster—particularly for the oldest presidential candidate ever, who’s had four malignant melanomas.

What makes Palin such a cynical choice is that McCain doesn’t know her and doesn’t know what drives her. Until she was selected by the Karl Rove types running his campaign (like campaign manager and Rove protégé Steve Schmidt), McCain might not even have recognized her on the street. Instead, she’s a category selection, made for the crassest reasons by the same kinds of political operatives who brought us George W. Bush.

Over 300 protesters, bystanders, media, and medics arrested at RNC
Two minors convicted of contempt, sentenced to 30 days in adult jail

St. Paul, MN -- Two days into the Republican National Convention (RNC), more than 300 people have been arrested, including at least 120 people for felonies -- mostly the notoriously vague charge, 'conspiracy to riot.' With no provocation, police have indiscriminately used rubber bullets, concussion grenades, and chemical irritants to disperse crowds and incapacitate protestors. Police appear to be specifically targeting videographers documenting these police abuses. In response, lawyers have filed a federal restraining order against such conduct.

By the end of the day today, only 12 people had been arraigned. Many arrestees are refusing to provide identification, in order to call attention to what they consider trumped-up charges and to collectively bargain. 'These tactics are designed to protect the most vulnerable people in jail, and take a page from the history of labor solidarity,' said Rick Kelley of Coldsnap Legal Collective, an activist-based legal collective