Where to start

And yet another piece of glory for the old hometown. Because we in St. Louis want to make sure the world knows we are the midwest capital for racism and generally backward thinking, we need to pop into the national consciousness now and then with a bold reminder.

This time it's the local disc jockey who made some sort of Freudian slip and let loose with this little gem about Condoleeza Rice:

"She's been chancellor of Stanford. She's got the patent resume of somebody that has serious skill. She loves football. She's African-American, which would kind of be a big coon. A big coon. Oh my God. I am totally, totally, totally, totally, totally sorry for that."

Yes, well, Dave, we're all sorry for that. So, Dave's been fired from KTRS, the almost un-listenable home of the St. Louis Cardinals. And, he's been suspended with pay from his real job as a teacher of some sort at a local college.

So, here's a few questions:

• Everyone seems to agree it was an accident. Do they know the guy has some racist history that leads them to believe he really meant it? If so, why the hell did they hire him in the first place?
• The local college is "reviewing" the situation before determining the DJ/Professors fate. Reveiwing what? Either the guy is a racist - see above - or he's not. Fire him (and whoever hired him) if he is. Leave him alone if he's not.
• Condi Rice admits to a fact her employers deny each and every day: Rice said Sunday that the incident is evidence that the "birth defect" of slavery infuses even mature democracies with racial tensions that take generations to heal. How come she can't convince anyone else in the White House about this?
• And, just when you start to have a little respect for Condi, she sticks in this little gem: Rice added that she hopes the episode inspires Americans to "be a little bit more humble" about the progress of emerging democracies such as those in Iraq and Afghanistan. Thanks, Condi. Now I get it - the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are really about atoning for slavery in the US 150 years ago. How could I have missed that one?

So, we review. Local station KTRS (who dumped their entire talent roster and brought in - well, the non-talent roster - fires a guy who either made a mistake or never should have been hired in the first place and the US Secretary of State uses it to justify one war we failed to complete and one war we never should have started. St. Louis takes another shot in the national press and the US takes another one internationally.

Did I miss anything?