Mary Mitchell

BY MARY MITCHELL

To my dear readers:

Words cannot adequately express my appreciation for your prayers, messages of encouragement, flowers and cards.

As expected, I faced my fight against breast cancer with the unswerving love and devotion of my family and friends.

But I also had the support of strangers, many of whom shared comforting expressions of faith and hope.

BY MARY MITCHELL

More than 500 women in the U.S. are diagnosed with breast cancer every day.

On March 13, I was one of them.

It was as if someone had strapped me into the cab of a roller coaster.

Each new test jerked me up a monstrous incline; each new piece of information flung me into an abyss.

And still I consider myself blessed.

U.S. Attorney Eric Holder stepped on some toes when he said we need to talk more. But he was absolutely right.

Within short span, we have two examples of racial ignorance----one from the nation's largest city and another from a city that is only 2-1/4 square miles.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has surely given Loudmouth Limbaugh a hot topic.

In a speech Holder gave for the African-American History Month program at the Justice Department, he called Americans "cowards" with respect to race relations.

Despite the rhetoric that race no longer matters, two incidents involving race grabbed headlines Wednesday.

The New York Post is under siege for an ill-conceived editorial cartoon that pictured two policeman shooting a chimp. One cop says to the other:

"They'll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill."

A lot of people didn't get it, including the Rev. Al Sharpton, who complained that the cartoon by Sean Delonas is racially offensive.

It's amazing how far a well-used slur can travel.

When Al-Qaida's second highest-ranking leader called President-Elect Barack Obama an "abeed al-beit", which translates into a "house slave" or "house negro," you would have thought he was standing on the corner of 47th Street about 40 years ago.

Everybody's talking.

Sarah Palin should apologize to the Obama campaign and the American people for her role in bringing out the worst in her supporters.

During a campaign rally yesterday in Clearwater, Florida supporters turned on the media after Palin again blamed mainstream media for her shortcomings.