FYI: Trent Lott is not the only one who should be asking forgiveness for racial slurs, says the City Council’s Black, Latino and Asian Caucuses. The city electeds are taking state Senate GOP leader Joe Bruno to task for asking that Sen. Lott be “cut some slack” for remarks he made at retiring senator Strom Thurmond’s 100th birthday party. (Lott said the country would have been better off if the segregationist candidate had won his bid for presidency in 1948.) The Council caucuses claim Bruno later told reporters that Lott had apologized, and asked, “What else do you want to do? You want to hang him up from an oak tree?” The caucuses planned to hold a press conference this afternoon demanding Bruno make his own apology for what they see as a lynching reference. [12/17/02]