Well, it's April first, and I guess that means it's time for my yearly question

(No poll this time.)

Are you aware of autism? Yes? Everybody? You in the back over there? You're all aware of autism?

Okay, well, I guess my job is done then! Go out, and carefully avoid buying any products that donate to Autism Speaks. There's going to be a lot of them for the next month, and AS is just as evil today as it was last year at this time.

As you've heard, no doubt, an Iraqi Muslim woman in California was murdered recently.

Somebody, presumably the person who killed her, left a note saying she should "go back to her own country" because she was a "terrorist".

And since then, every article I've seen on the subject starts by asking if this is a hate crime.

Just like that!

Unless they're seriously suggesting that she was murdered by someone known to her who left the note to throw others off the trail - possible, but not very probable - I fail to see how anybody can even ask this question. Leaving people threatening notes because of their ethnicity and/or religion is pretty damn hateful, even before you proceed to beat them to death.

I frankly wonder what is going wrong in this country when an obvious hate crime is followed up by questions as though the nature of the murder is at all in doubt!