PUBLIC MARKS with tags meeting & president

While U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has been in the Middle East meeting regional alongside Israel's military campaign in Lebanon, media outlets controlled by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party the past few days have been using racist rhetoric in their reports, referring to the American representative as the "black woman," "raven," "colored dark skinned black lady" and "black spinster."

Los Angeles activist Jesse Lee Peterson has questioned the sanity of entertainer Harry Belafonte for meeting with Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez and, in local media, calling President Bush "the greatest terrorist in the world."

There are many valid reasons why President Bush should not meet again with Cindy Sheehan, the mother of Casey Sheehan, who was killed in Iraq. There is one reason he should and that reason trumps the others. <p><img src="http://www.trommetter.com/smilies/twocents.gif"> I'm going to disagree with Cal on this one. If he meets with Ms. Sheehan again, anything he says will be used against him in the court of public opinion.