in tragic illustration of your third point, a Sikh-American of Indian birth was killed in the early hours of the morning yesterday in what was apparently a hate crime (the 12 pack of stolen beer did not appear to indicate a financial motive). Balbir Singh Sodhi had recently moved from the San Francisco Bay Area to Mesa, Arizona, where he was gunned down while working at the gas station he had recently purchased by a man who also killed a Lebanese-American gas station attendant the same night*. (from A.P.)

in these sad times, tilly's call for tolerance is of paramount importance.

*update: the Lebanese-American man was not actually killed or injured. he was targetted by a man who also fired shots at an Afghan-American home, but it is not yet apparent that this same man also killed Sodhi (though all three events took place in the area of Mesa, Arizona on the same night).