Notes From D.R. | Random Thoughts on the Passing Scene

Washington sniper John Allen Muhammad has been convicted for his crimes. Will Deval Patrick object when Muhammad is put to death? More from the Washington Times.

President Bush nominates Henry Paulson as the new Treasury Secretary. More from Human Events and the Washington Times.

UPDATE: Still more from Human Events.

I thought it was supposed to be a Republican "culture of corruption" in Washington! I wonder what Nancy Pelosi makes of this… More from Human Events.

Dunkin’ Donuts takes heat from the PC police for verifying that its employees are not illegal immigrants.

A record-breaking weekend for X-Men: The Last Stand.

More problems in Iraq and Indonesia. More from Michelle Malkin and the Boston Globe.

UPDATE: Two CBS journalists are killed, and a third injured, in Iraq. More from the Washington Post and New York Times.

SECOND UPDATE: More from Michelle Malkin and Captain’s Quarters.

THIRD UPDATE: Still more from Michelle Malkin, the Wall Street Journal, the Weekly Standard and the Washington Post.

One reason Republicans are taking it on the chin these days: their leaders are reluctant to come out against racial quotas and in favor of legal colorblindness.

More legal action in the Imette St. Guillen murder case.

Will the US actually negotiate with Iran? More from the New York Times and Captain’s Quarters.

UPDATE: More from the Washington Times.

Michael Hayden confirmed by the Senate as the new CIA director. More from the Washington Post and Times.

Convictions for former Enron execs Ken Lay and Jeffrey Skilling. More from the Washington Post.

That’s not what the US Senate told illegal immigrants today. More from the Washington Post, the Washington Times, the New York Times and Power Line.

While Mitt Romney visits Iraq, the Massachusetts Legislature talks tax cuts. More from the Globe and Herald.

UPDATE: The latest debate involving the three Democratic candidates for Massachusetts governor will air tomorrow night at 10:30 pm EST in Boston on WLVI (Channel 56) and will be simulcast on WTKK-FM (96.9). Based on this preview, it appears that Deval Patrick spent the whole hour pandering to the hard-left again. More from Blue Mass. Group.

The Massachusetts House rejects a de facto "racial profiling" bill. More from the Herald.

Actress Gabrielle Union will star in Daddy’s Little Girl, the new film by Tyler Perry (Diary of a Mad Black Woman). Union will play a black attorney who falls in love with a janitor who’s the single father of three kids–much to the consternation of her own father, who wanted her to "marry up."

Am I the only one who thinks this film will tank when it comes out next year? If there’s one subject that’s absolutely taboo with black audiences, it’s class differences among African-Americans. If, as I suspect, the script will address issues concerning the economic status and "marriageability" of black men in the United States, then the film will be lucky to make ten cents, because that is something that blacks do not want to have thrown in their faces, especially as entertainment.

You begin to wonder what the thought process is when studios decide to make certain movies. The failure of Something New earlier this year is a case in point. I’m sure the filmmakers believed that in 2006, black audiences would be "liberal" enough to see a movie about an interracial relationship between a black woman and a white man. Yet how could the filmmakers not realize that African-Americans aren’t liberal, they just vote that way? How could they not recognize that black audiences wouldn’t rush to see a film in which Sanaa Lathan passes up Blair Underwood for Simon Baker? Could you imagine African-Americans lining up to see a romantic comedy in which Will Smith leaves Halle Berry for Lindsay Lohan?

Such an idea is absurd…and so’s the idea of blacks rushing to see Daddy’s Little Girl.