Don’t believe the hype: Now is actually a great time to purchase a home. That’s the word from Margaret Wooten, the director of the Chicago Urban League’s credit and homebuyers’ counseling programs. In fact, in a chat with Wooten last week, she shared with me her frustration over the common feeling among many people that buying a home is simply out of reach in these tough economic times.

So, Sarah Palin is rapidly being reduced to a punch line, the answer to a really corny joke. Unfortunately, the joke is on us, as one of the most unqualified nominees for the vice-presidency continues to be foisted on the country.

A cartoon published in the early 1960s depicted a Black boy saying to a white boy: ''I'll sell you my chance to be president of the United States for a nickel.'' The cartoon summed up how much most Black people felt the chances of a Black child growing up to be president were worth. At the time the cartoon appeared, Barack Obama was a toddler.

The other day a friend passed me an article that was written by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. back in 2006. It concerned election “irregularities” in the 2004 Presidential elections. While I knew something about what had taken place, I was stunned by the information that Kennedy revealed concerning the widespread efforts, in states such as Ohio, to throw the vote in favor of the Republicans.