But What About the Taco Bell Chihuahua?

A new series of commemorative Mexican stamps have been decried by U.S. civil rights leaders--and the White House--as offensive. The stamps are of Memin Pinquin, a comics page character created in the 1940s who, to put it bluntly, makes the Little Rascals' Farina look like Malcolm X.

Images and details here.

The Mexican government's response is that no offense is meant by the stamps. And that "just as Speedy Gonzales has never been interpreted in a racial manner by the people in Mexico," Americans should shut up about Memin Pinguin. More on that here.

I wonder what the Mexican government thought of the mid-'70s Spider-Man villain The Tarantula, a.k.a. Anton Rodriguez, whose shtick included having really sharp, pointy shoes. It always seemed to me that The Tarantula was borne of the mid-'70s anxieties about the increased numbers of Hispanics coming to New York, where Spidey lives, and other U.S. cities.

Back to the stamps: A while back in Reason, Jesse Walker reported on do-it-yourself stamps that were a whole lot less controversial--and a helluva lot more fun--than the ones from south of the border. Read all about it here. And check out the counterfeit stamps here.