POSTED // Nov 12,2008 - Having grown up on Looney Tunes, Tom & Jerry and similar cartoons, I can’t tell you how many I’ve watched involving a baby left on a doorstep. Did people really do this back when these cartoons were made? Was there a rash of baby abandonment somewhere back in the ’40s, ’50s and ’60s that cartoonists decided to satirize? n—Sarah from WY n n nExcuse me, Sara...

POSTED // Nov 12,2008 - Dear Mexican: In a column some time ago, you mentioned the Aztec prophecy claiming that “their descendants would reclaim ancestral lands in the southwest U.S., and guess what.” I’d appreciate it if you shed a little light on this statement. This is the mythical state of Aztlán you’re referring to, right? What are its “borders”? How many Mexicans, Mexican-...

POSTED // Nov 5,2008 - nARIES (March 21-April 19)nUranus is on the opposite side of the sun from Saturn right now. To traditional astrologers, that’s a stressful aspect. It bespeaks a titanic clash between the forces of progress and the inertia of the past. But there are mitigating factors. The expansive planet Jupiter is trine to Saturn and sextile to Uranus, suggesting that unexpected grace may provide beauty an...

POSTED // Nov 5,2008 - Curses, Foiled AgainnA robber approached a 36-year-old man in Warren, Mich., and demanded money. After getting $50, the robber tried to flee, but the victim tackled him, put him in a chokehold and demanded his money back. Police Detective Michael Torey said the robber was so scared that he gave the victim his $50 plus another $30.nnReady for LovenA man in a wheelchair entered a 7-Eleven store in D...

POSTED // Nov 5,2008 - Some time ago, I heard an African-American author talk on NPR about a fact that had inspired him to write his book: During the 1800s, some slave owners in the U.S. were black. Simply put, blacks owned blacks. Afterward, a historian said she’d never heard of any such phenomenon and dismissed the idea as ridiculous. Who’s right? —Raina S., via e-mail nnSlave ownership by blacks cer...

POSTED // Nov 5,2008 - Dear Readers: So your presidential candidate lost (congratulations; McBama! Our condolences, O’Cain. Damned early deadlines …), and you can’t bear the thought of living under his reign for the next cuatro years. Fear not: The other side of America’s bullshit sandwich will save you! The Mexican hereby turns this column over to his Canadian fans—but first, a comment ab...

POSTED // Oct 29,2008 - nARIES (March 21-April 19)nWhat perplexing defeat was inflicted on you once upon a time—a defeat that you still can’t figure out how to rise above? What painful memory continues to lurk at the edges of your awareness, taunting you with its implication that you’ll never be whole? This is the time and this is the place, Aries, to solve a riddle like that so that you can move on to ...

POSTED // Oct 29,2008 - Curses, Foiled AgainnResponding to an early morning call that two suspicious men were emptying a clothing store in downtown Springfield, Mass., police had no trouble linking two suspects to the theft of “tens of thousands” of dollars worth of merchandise. Sgt. John Delaney said officers nabbed the two a short distance from the store wearing some of the stolen clothing with price tags s...

POSTED // Oct 29,2008 - Dear Mexican: I know you’ve been asked variations of this before but I’m going to ask you again anyway. I’m a gay white guy, and I’ve had three relationships with Mexican men in the last seven years. Each lasted from three to six months. This past relationship actually lasted a year and culminated with us moving in together for a month before it ended badly. Mexican: I&rsqu...

POSTED // Oct 29,2008 - At a forum last August at his megachurch in California, preacher Rick Warren asked presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama when human life begins. McCain replied, “At conception,” a response that went over well with the pro-life audience. Obama said, “Answering that question with specificity is above my pay grade,” which many thought was evasive or flip and whi...