The deep dark secret underlying the Kamikaze debate over the debt ceiling is that it is as much about race as it is about competing political philosophies. The nation is roughly divided in half; the have's that pay taxes and have not's who do not. Most of the have's are white; most of the have not's are not.  When the have's say they are sick of paying for bloated government, they are saying in effect that they are sick of paying for a vast social safety net that disproportionately protects black and brown people.  They are not racists, but the shrink government movement championed by the Tea Party has a racial impact.

It is deeply unsettling how so many are lumping the lawyer with the bad news. "The jury made the right call, period. Anyone who took the time to review the evidence would have made the same decision,"

Jose Baez told me Wednesday night. Enduring the severe backlash cascading from the shocking Casey Anthony acquittal, the 42-year old New York-born Puerto Rican attorney is in the midst of the second toughest fight of his life.

Acquitted child killer Casey Anthony will be a free woman next week, according to court officials; free to hopefully disappear until the sharpest public animosity has eased.

Right now, the crowd outside the Orange County Florida Courthouse is in a foul mood. Not only are they filled with anger at Casey, but also at anyone connected to her dramatically successful defense.

They are also mad at me for being the bearer of bad news.

For the past week, the world has been off my radar screen; literally. The only things on my sailboat's radar screen have been the bright green blips occasionally indicating other vessels within the 16 mile sweep of Voyager's relatively antique radar set or the less defined spray of smaller dots showing intense rain squalls in the area.

That is what some reluctant admirers are calling accused tot killer Casey Anthony's relatively young and inexperienced Latino defense attorney Jose Baez. With just three years experience and a handful of meaningful trials at the time he got this huge case of a mother facing the death penalty for allegedly killing her two year old, the office of the Kissimmee Florida based defense attorney is topped by the slogan, 'Where Justice Begins.' It is next door to the county jail, which is good for business, and offers bilingual consultation.