The message is short. So short it would fit on a postcard. It lingers in cyberspace waiting for a response.

"Family of 4 willing, wanting to help. Can drive to get you. Stay as long as you need to here in Albuquerque. God bless you. We care. Howard and Lisa Neil."

More than 2,000 messages on Craigslist offering housing to hurrican survivors. Sometimes the goodness of people is nothing short of amazing.

Anne Rice, writing in the New York Times, asks us if we really "Know what it means to lose New Orleans"?

Nature has done what the Civil War couldn't do. Nature has done what the labor riots of the 1920's couldn't do. Nature had done what "modern life" with its relentless pursuit of efficiency couldn't do. It has done what racism couldn't do, and what segregation couldn't do either. Nature has laid the city waste - with a scope that brings to mind the end of Pompeii.

Kudos to Rice for taking on the issue of race, adding another perspective, and writing from the heart.

But to my country I want to say this: During this crisis you failed us. You looked down on us; you dismissed our victims; you dismissed us. You want our Jazz Fest, you want our Mardi Gras, you want our cooking and our music. Then when you saw us in real trouble, when you saw a tiny minority preying on the weak among us, you called us "Sin City," and turned your backs.

Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist has died tonight.

The music offers further evidence of how far outside rap's usual strictures West operates. OutKast aside, mainstream hip-hop doesn't really do ambiguity or irony, but just as West's arrogance occasionally appears to be a protracted joke, Late Registration finds him in thrillingly subversive form, working in the production booth to undercut tracks' messages and shifting their meanings.-The Guardian

Kanye West’s new album Late Registration has hit the shelves and it’s clear that the producer/rapper/mini-mogul is leaving an indelible mark on music. West’s beats have either showed everything that’s right (or wrong) with rap by fusing Buppie sensibilities, a thoughtfulness that’s unusual for rap, and the hooks that are a pre-requisite for a mega-platinum career.

Kanye is willing to take on issues that extend beyond the usual rap fare. On the new album he takes on Reagan for pumping crack into black neighborhoods on the track “Crack Music”, condemns the blood diamond trade on “Diamonds From Sierra Leone (Remix)”, and takes on racial profiling in “Heard ‘em Say”. Off the wax he’s noteworthy as well. Whether it’s taking on the current President because he “doesn’t care about black people” in the wake of the fed’s tepid response to Katrina, or the rap world’s overt homophobia, it’s apparent Kanye isn’t afraid to take a stance.

Politics and style aside, what makes Kanye a singular talent is his music. As Time Magazine wrote in their recent cover article, “Jesus Walks (off of Kanye’s freshman album) is one of those miraculous songs that you hear for the first time and immediately look forward to hearing on a semiregular basis for the next 30 or 40 years.” Rolling Stone lauds the new album as well:

If this album has an emotional stunner a la "Jesus Walks," it's "Hey Mama," where West honors his mother, who had to work nights to keep on the lights. It loops a simple la-la-la vocal hook into a soul-sonic force, like Side Two of Prince's Sign 'o' the Times after aliens hacked into it. It's the best family-affair tearjerker since Ghostface's "All That I Got Is You," as West raps, "Can I cry, please?/Gimme a verse of 'You Are So Beautiful to Me.'"

Video of Kanye West's rant can be seen here.

CNN has compiled a list of administration quotes and juxtaposed them against the reality on the ground.

As always, Craigslist is demonstrating a value far beyond anyone's wildest dreams. A page with Katrina relief information can be found here.

Kanye West letting his frustration boil over last night:

"George Bush doesn't care about black people" and said America is set up "to help the poor, the black people, the less well-off as slow as possible."

Telethon host Matt Lauer backed away from Kayne's comments as quickly as possible but it's apparent that there is an OJ-esque rift in America that Katrina is exposing.

Camille Paglia is writing a little more frequently these days. It's good to have her back. Her take on Katrina and the administration's shortcomings.

What is highly surprising now is the disintegration of the administration's mask of competence and confidence, as New Orleans sinks day by day into squalor and savagery, a shocking panorama of unrelieved human suffering.

Oh, you're kidding me. You've got to be kidding me. Hat tip (as always) to Sulli, but can you belive these words from Bush today?

"The good news is - and it's hard for some to see it now - that out of this chaos is going to come a fantastic Gulf Coast, like it was before. Out of the rubbles of Trent Lott's house -- he's lost his entire house - there's going to be a fantastic house. And I'm looking forward to sitting on the porch.' (Laughter)." - president George W. Bush, today. Just think of that quote for a minute; and the laughter that followed. The poor and the black are dying, dead, drowned and desperate in New Orleans and elsewhere. But the president manages to talk about the future "fantastic" porch of a rich, powerful white man who only recently resigned his position because he regretted the failure of Strom Thurmond to hold back the tide of racial desegregation.

Apparently the members of our major media organizations have rediscovered their role. You are not publicity arms for whatever administration is in power, you are the watch dogs of our democracy. Cowards hiding behind microphones. Your collusion with irrelevance doesn't allow you to avoid the impact of your (in)decision.

A lot of you have written and asked about my lack of posting related to Katrina and the aftermath. I really don't have too much to add other than what has been discussed by others more qualified to do so. (Hurricaid is a great resource for all things Katrina).

Best wishes and our prayers (and hopefully some dollars too) go out to the good folks in Gulf Coast.

Whites "find" food in New Orleans and blacks "loot" food. Interesting distinction from the AP.

So now the Assn. of Christian Schools International is suing the UC system because they don't value schools that teach creationism in admissions process. The assault on knowledge and common sense continues.

Virginia Postrel has famously written about design, both in her columns and her book, The Substance of Style. She coined the term "esthetic economy", celebrating the fact that the cost of style has decreased to the point that good design has reached into the lives of more people, and perhaps more significantly, indicating a world where basic needs have been met and increasingly value being perceived from style. The esoteric nature of design discussions has taken a very serious turn over the past few weeks with a controversial redesign that is cracking wide fissures that may be too deep to repair.

The Daily Show has changed their set.

The new set both evokes and mocks the hyper-kinetic visual space of the cable news channels and at the same time is intended to create a unified atmosphere that puts funny man Jon Stewart on center stage.

"I thought it was important to get Jon more at the center of things, so that he was more clearly the epicenter of the visual set," said James Biber, an architect with the New York firm Pentagram who led the set project, "And to strip away a lot of the talk-show cues, like the couch. It's not a talk show."

The erstwhile couch is where the battle line is drawn between those who appreciate the changes and those who despise them.

The advantages of the couch format are multifold. Guests can not only be seen from head to foot, giving us a sense of their physical presence, their posture, and even their choice of shoes; they can also use the space however they want. They're free to hump the couch, as Al Green did in a Daily Show interview earlier this year, or jump up on it and make asses of themselves, like Tom Cruise on Oprah last May.

An underground campaign to bring back the couch has received support from a Daily Show correspondent, hinting at how deep the division is.

The set redesign truly is a matter of some serious thought on the part of the producers. They felt the show was changing in terms of tone and wanted to have a set that would reflect Stewart's new, more aggressive style. Pentagram was also the team that created the design elements of the widely successful book America: A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction and wsimilarlyily tasked with creating something that was evocative of an American standard (i.e. a high-school text-book) and simultaneously derisive.

Related to our discussion about lethargy in conservatism today, it's worth noting that the Weekly Standard has celebrated it's 10th anniversary. As Virginia reminds us at the Dynamist, perhaps their greatest accomplishment was lighting a fire under The National Review.

Shocking photos from Iraq but an amazing example of photojournalism from Salon. The Unseen War isn't easy to look at, but it can be considered important nonetheless.

Flickr fans are going to committ mass ID suicide to complain about Yahoo's new policy. Super!

As a man who struggles with clutter it's nice to see that wires, messy rooms, and general disarray, is actually cool.

Dell Computers, the little company that could, is struggling now that it has turned 21 and grown into a global behemoth. The business press, long Dell’s loudest and most ardent supporter, has turned on the company, gleefully chronicling a series of problems. Dell has been seen as a company whose governance has been strong and ethically, the symbol of the flattening of the global economy, and perhaps most importantly, a spectacular growth stock. A series of challenges has changed the tone and tenor of the reporting. As Dan Gross writes over at Slate:

There has been a disappointing earnings report, complaints about customer service, unflattering stock charts, and a rash of articles questioning Dell's future—Business Week had two negative Dell articles in its current issue, and the Financial Times had a critical takeout last week.

Perhaps worst of all, Dell’s stock has been mired in mediocre (certainly by Dell’s standards) returns and has had its lunch handed to it by once struggling HP over the past year.

And when it comes to bad press there are few PR teams that can manage the publicity nightmare that comes with pissing off a powerful blogger.

Flattening earnings, downward price pressures, the inherent lethargy that plagues companies of Dell’s size, and challenges associated with breaking into new global markets are all contributing to the struggles of one of the most successful companies in the history of mankind.

While it’s certainly too early to write Dell’s epitaph industry watchers are wondering how the company can regain its once formidable stride.

On May 13th, the authorities in Uzbekistan opened fire on a peaceful demonstration of close to 10,000 people in the eastern city of Andijan, probably killing several hundred of them and possibly as many as 1,000. According to survivors, tanks rolled through the main square, firing indiscriminately, snipers picked off their victims from convenient buildings, and, later on, soldiers shot some of the wounded dead. That was three months ago. Since then, the European Union and America have expressed their horror at the worst massacre of demonstrators since Tiananmen Square by imposing the following sanctions on Uzbekistan:
1.
2.
3.

So writes the Economist as they chastise western indifference to a regime that engaging in atrocious behavior.
Uzbekistan has enjoyed the ability to terrorize her citizens largely because of the inaction and ineffectiveness of America and the EU. The United States has offered a veiled rebuke for the attacks and has publicly claimed that it is waiting for Europe to take the lead on Uzbekistan. The EU demanded that the Uzbekistany government comply with an investigation by July 1st, “or else”. July came and went, as has August, and the EU hasn’t decided what the “or else” is to be.

Comparisons to the US and EU’s realpolitiks with Chechnya have been made. However few have argued that the west’s interests lie with Uzbekistan as it does with Chechnya.

Whether it’s kicking the US out of its military bases, slaughtering innocent protesters and forcing their “confessions”, or jailing members of the media, autocratic President Islam Karimov has enjoyed a level of international anonymity that allows a disturbing level of independence.

The Grapple in the Big Apple is set. Galloway v. Hitchens in the Iraq War debate to end all deabates. (Uh, until the next one).

If you need to get your fix of George Bush flags in poo, there's only one place to go.

Recent proclamations by doctors have renewed the debate around practices that cut to the core of what it means to be a man or a woman. On the heels of a study that says male circumcision may reduce the risk of HIV transmission by 65% the unkindest cut is once again being publicly debated. Not only are the health benefits of circumcision being questioned some claim that a lifetime of diminished sexual experience is a large price to pay for what amounts to a religious superstition. The anti-circumcision movement is growing converts and though their platform hasn’t changed much. As Emily Bazelon summarizes for Slate readers:

Circumcision is painful, irreversible surgery to which newborn boys cannot consent. Its health benefits are marginal and overstated. And far from being an extraneous bit of flesh, the foreskin is "richly endowed with specialized nerves," making it "the principal site of sexual sensation" in a man who has one.

From calls to lawmakers make genital mutilation a crime, to those who believe it’s simply a matter of educating the populace, the anti-circumcision movement is enjoying a renaissance.

Another article from a doctor is creating a stir in certain circles as well. Dr. Keith Ablow writing in the New York Times says that the relatively new practice of men joining their wives in the delivery room may need to be reexamined.

It is miraculous to see a baby's head emerge, and it can also be shocking. It is riveting to see an umbilical cord connecting mother and baby, but it can also be very disturbing. It is exciting to be asked by a doctor to cut that umbilical cord, but also potentially very frightening, even for otherwise rather fearless men.
And not every man gets over it. Several men have confessed to me that they never regained the same romantic view of their wives that they had before seeing them deliver children.

Men’s diminished sexual desire for their wives seems like an understandable, if not totally forgivable, offense, but the debate has seems to have struck a chord with many woman. As Meghan O'Rourke worte in Slate:

What was nonetheless striking about the debate was the vehemence of the hostility directed at these men. The bloggers clearly felt that the men's desire (or lack of it) was objectively wrong, like that of a pedophile or a rapist, and ought somehow to be controllable. The animus against these men reflects just how powerful even relatively new cultural norms can be—and just how conflicted are our post-feminist ideas about what kind of imaginative relationship to the body is appropriate…At the crux of the debate is one of most important and vexed questions of modern feminism: How far into our imaginations should it reach?

So now we are getting additional perspective on the monetary cost of the War on Terror (or whatever the term is today).

In constant inflation-adjusted dollars, the current conflict is the fourth most costly US war, behind World War II, Vietnam, and Korea. (See chart below.)

By the end of September, its projected military cost will be $252 billion. The amount spent on the war in Iraq ($186 billion) and Afghanistan ($66 billion) is "inching up" on the cost of the Korean War, says Steven Kosiak, an analyst at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessment in Washington. CSBA provided the estimate based on government data.

Coffee is better than vegetables (sort of).

Austin Bramwell writing for the The American Conservative questions the right's intellectual vibrancy now that it has reached an unprecedented pinnacle. Once a relatively small group of outsiders, conservatives in the west now find themselves controlling the House, the Senate, the White House, and large swaths of popular thought. This, Bramwell posits, is leading to a lethargy that is undermining one of the most innovative political movements of our time. Having won so much conservatives seem afraid to challenge the status quo:

Though every year the conservative movement raises thousands of aspiring intellectuals, they have no interest in creating a new intellectual synthesis. If they go into academia or the think-tank world, they contribute to research projects long under way; if they go into journalism, they defend an established editorial line. In blogosphere parlance, they become "instapundits", not philosophers.

Conservatives (still) strive for the "Holy Grail" of political philosophy, a doctrine that would prove, once and for all, the inherent limits of liberalism and the fundamental truths tharesonatete through the doctrines that drive conservative thought. Even though "the wisest conservatives know that the Grail reamains beyond their graspsps. Yet, like Arthurian knights of old, they never give up hope that it is there." However, this striving today resembles nothing so much as a self-congratulatory circle jerk.

Bramwell implies that the circular nature of life holds a near religious sway over political philosopy. A fact that is comforting and simultaneously disqueting, regardless of political leanings. The rise, and subsequent demise, of the left in the west offers a cautionary tale for the preminent political powers of today. Liberalism's reign began to erode shortly after the new deal.

Intellectual sclerosis, however, soon set in. Second-tier intellects such as Arthur Schlesinger and John Kenneth Galbraith took over from Lippmann and Dewey and began to take liberal ideology as a given. They proposed not new ways of understanding the world but new ways of advancing liberalism. In the hour of their triumph, liberals became blind to their own ideological shortcomings, which later became all too manifest.

A cautionary tale, perhaps, but there are notable thinkers still plying the trade on the right, he mentions three loosely defined groups:
The academics of the Critical Review, the so-called evolutionary conservatives, and techno-skeptic conservatives. All groups are unabashedly elitist, a description that is nothing less than an endearment.

This elitism, perhaps an electoral handicap, is an intellectual strength. Original thinking often flourishes under conditions of intellectual marginality. Unfortunately, the conservative movement, having discovered a mass audience, risks squandering the intellectual marginality that once made it so interesting and daring.

In future years, it may take a smaller, elite group of right-wingers to animate conservative ideas once more.

So while ThomasFrank et. al. ponder the problems of Kansas, perhaps liberals should find solace in that all seismic poli-intellectual movements plant the seeds of their destruction soon after their mosbountifulul harvest

A story of socialism that works. If nothing else, I agree with Kaiser's summary, we can learn from the educational component of Finnish society.

Is meth is the new crack? But rock, was it ever all it was cracked up to be?

Methamphetamines has grown into a cover-worthy epidemic.Newsweek chronicles the perils of “America’s Most Dangerous Drug”, complete with a photo essay and cringe-worthy anecdotes. While no one doubts the risks of ingesting potentially addictive substances, some are questioning the actual extent of the danger.

As Steve Suo, a writer for the Oregonian who has covered the meth explosion extensively opines:

Media coverage of the issue too often has been laden with generalizations, hyperbole and sensational images. Reporters, with rare exception, have been slow to challenge the conventional wisdom handed to them by purported experts on the topic.

Others have questioned the methodology and numbers (or lack thereof) that have driven much of the media’s breathless coverage of the issue.

For all Newsweek's hysteria, it fails to deliver. For instance, if meth is America's most dangerous drug, how many people has it killed? Newsweek doesn't bother to explore the topic, perhaps because it's so hard to pin down. In 2000, Oahu recorded 35 deaths, Phoenix 105, and Los Angeles 155. Meanwhile, New York City recorded only three that year, while Long Island claimed 38. According to Fred Leavitt's 1982 book, Drugs & Behavior, about one usage in 2 million ends in a fatality. If meth is really the most dangerous drug, you'd think the magazine would have provided some sort of body count

Larger questions about the role of drugs in America, public policy related to treatment and/or prosecution of drug user, and perhaps most importantly, the media’s responsibility to the public’s trust are brought up by a story that seems to reappear like clockwork, every decade. So is meth the new crack? And should we care?

When it's third and ten, you can take the milk drinkers and I'll take the whiskey drinkers every time.- Max McGee

The biggest sport in America is about to return and football fans are ready. Before us armchair prognosticators make our picks about which team can possibly hold back the dawning juggernaut that is the Patriots, it's worth looking back at an eventful pre-season.

Receivers are always quote and note-worthy, and this summer is no different. The biggest off-season story is the maelstrom that swirls around uber-grabber Terrell Owens. Less than a year after pulling a Willis Reed and valiantly leading the Eagles to 1st runner-up status, the goodwill he earned has all been engulfed by his battles with Philadelphiaa teammates and coaches. While not making the media circuit with new agent Drew Rosenhaus, or busting out those freaky-ripped abs in his driveway, TO spent this summer trying to figure out a way to renege on the second year of a seven year contract. The City of Brotherly Love was not amused. All may be forgiven if McNabb and TO can produce (akward silence and all) like they did in their first pre-season game together.

Not to be out done, brand new Oakland Raider Randy Moss admitted that, yeah, he's toked the green bud a few times. Not an earthshaking revelation if he wasn't employed by a league mired in the mid-20th century, and he's had a ahem past with pot.

Infinitely more serious is the situation at the 49er's camp. While #1 overall pick Alex Smith struggled to learn the QB position in the big leagues, his teammate from Utah, and fellow Niner rookie Thomas Herrion showed how fleeting it all can be. Shortly following a preseason game Herrion collapsed and died. An autopsy was inconclusive but pundits have speculated that Herrion's 300+ pounds and the incredible rigors of playing football in the NFL led to his death. Herrion's passing was a stunning reminder that we (should) play and watch games to embrace life, not replace it.

Regardless of New England's recent run, the NFL is still a league beset by parity, so make your picks now. After all, since some of the smart money is picking the Cardinals to be this year's Chargers, we definitely know anything is possible.

I'm back all.

Thank you all for your kinds words and wishes...

Andrew Sullivan breaks rank with most of the Right (and much of the Left) and proclaims Hillary is the one to beat in 2008.

Senator Clinton has finally escaped one of the critical drags on her national reputation. What many people disliked about her was what they perceived as her unreconstructed liberal politics and her use of her marriage to gain and wield political power.


(Charges of nepotism doesn't seem to be a problem for most people who run for office.)

Sulli says her speechs on abortion and the war position her as a moderate Democrat which undermines the most substantial criticisms directed towards her.

Korea seems to be doing a good job of making a place for themselves in the coming years. Is this something we want?

How refreshing it is to live in the Age of Revolution. Though his critique of Bush the Elder and Clinton smack a little too much of a very public turf-war, Ledoon's larger points ring true.

"If anyone orders Merlot, I'm leaving. I am not drinking any fucking Merlot." So says wine-snob Miles in the critically acclaimed movie Sideways. And those two sentences have reverberated throughout the wine making (and drinking) world.

Many oenophiles have turned up their noses since the mid-1990s, when "a glass of Merlot" became synonymous, for casual drinkers, with a glass of red wine. But sales never stopped rising, and Merlot passed Cabernet as America's best-selling red wine in 2000, according to the Wine Institute.


Napa Valley met Hollywood and the impact is noticeable. Not only has the sales of Merlot started to show some signs of slipping, now it's more than just wine-aficionados who are turning their backs on Merlots. Miles' favorite varietal is Pinot Noir and a positive impact has been felt in the valleys as well.

Pinot noir sales reached 370,000 cases for the 12 weeks ending Jan. 15, up nearly 16 percent from the same period a year ago, according to an ACNielsen analysis released Monday.


Let's pause before we toss Merlots into the same heap as White Zin, Everclear, and the other guilty pleasures those of us whose thirst for a buzz occasionally overide our thirst for status. Let's remember this gentle, but firm, and always versatile wine. What are your favorite merlots? And for those of you who have turned your back on the "cashmere sweater" of wines (even those of you who did so before Sideways) share with us your favorite flavor of grape.

Thank you for all the kind words. I haven't neccisarily gone the way of Andrew Sullivan, or have succumbed to the sachirine. There will be more coming here soon, thank you all for your patientce.

Speaking of bloggers navel gazing, Justin Hall is stepping down.

"What if intimacy happens in quiet moments?" he said. "I think the Web makes me not alone and I feed it my intimacies, and the Web is my constant connection to something larger than myself ... but what if something you do, something you practice like religion as a dialogue with the divine, drives people away from you?"

I'll see you all soon.

"When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro"

Hunter S. Thompson is dead. The father of Gonzo-Journalism, and best selling author of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas shot and killed himself at his home just outside of Aspen.

Whether writing about the depravity that sucked away the soul of America, or the latest line on a big football game, Thompson connected to his readers in indelible ways, for better or for worse.

It had the makings of an instant classic. Undefeated and ranked #1 all season, USC played #2 and undefeated all season, Oklahoma. Two storied programs, full of Heismans, National titles, and rabid fans, it was a marquee match up. The game turned out to be less close than anticipated. Led by current Heisman trophy winner Matt Leinart, and his 5 TD's, USC destroyed last year's Heisman winner Jason White's squad.

An almost perfect game for the Trojan faithful has once again ended the season in controversy as undefeated Auburn helplessly watched. Even the horrific East Coast media bias, that screwed the Trojans two seasons ago and Cal this year (or not), couldn't find a spin that would grant Auburn a share of the national title. Still, the BCS finds itself being second-guessed yet again.

Now that the ADT trophy has been lifted, it gives us a chance to reflect on an amazing college season. Will the PAC-10 finally get the respect is deserve from the sports writers stuck in their offices in Manhattan? How long until the BCS is demolished? (And by the way, what are the best ways as fans and alumni to hasten the demise of the BCS?) Who has the biggest gripe from Bowl Season? Cal, Auburn, or Utah? And just how good is USC? Is it time to bust out the D-word?

The Washington Post has bought the venerable (at least in internet years) Slate.com. Fingers crossed, hoping for the best.

The #1 team in America has another Heisman. "Tailback-U" generates another QB who wins college football's most coveted individual award. Fight on! Matt Leinart.

I'm mostly sitting this round of the steroid "issue" out. Most of you long-time readers know where I stand. However, I did want to point you over to Andrew Sullivan's take, which I believe overlaps well with mine. It's nice to see reason starting to reveal itself on this issue.

There are conflicts of interest.

And then there's the Bowl Championship Series.

The BCS is to college football what Tony Soprano is to waste hauling in New Jersey -- a monopoly turning a tidy profit by cleaning up messes without dithering over who gets hurt along the way.

This season's victims were Auburn and California. Last season's was Southern California. In past seasons, Oregon, Colorado, Kansas State, Miami and a few other schools got the back of the BCS hand. All got sympathy notes, too, and promises the beatings would stop. But the only thing that's changed since the BCS hijacked the postseason in 1998 is the name of the victims.

The holidays are upon us and that can only mean one thing, it's time for college football fana to continue the annual rite of BCS-bashing. For the first time ever the preseason #1 and #2 teams went through the season undefeated and will meet for the national championship. But we don't have to go too far down the poll to find some hacked-off programs. Shut out is Auburn, who at 12-0 felt they deserved a chance to compete for the national title. Perhaps even more stupefying is what happened to the 10-1 Cal Bears. Ranked #4 going into this weekend's final game they were seemingly headed to the prestigious (and lucrative) Rose Bowl for the first time since 1959. Many Cal fans worried they'd have to beat Southern Mississippi by an impressive margin to hold off a charging Texas team. Cal won in a close road game (even taking a knee in the final plays rather than running up the score to impress voters) and the results were all that was feared. Cal got bumped in the polls and Texas will be going to the Rose Bowl and the Cal Bears, whose only loss came to the #1 team in America, fell out of the BCS and into the Holiday Bowl.

So folks, who got screwed the most? Cal or Auburn? Is this really another example of the horrific East Coast bias? Is a playoff system even possible, let alone feasible?

Another shooting in Gaza. This time a 13-year-old girl. A political nightmare for the Israelis.

The U.S. has found a way to defend the morally indefensiable, torture.

Dahlia Lithwick, who for my money is journalist who best covers the Supreme Court, with a dispatch about the current medical pot case. It doesn't look promising for us fans of federalism and individual autonomy.

Dan with all the goods on the situation in Ukraine,

Apparently the diplomacy exhibited by Bush at the Clinton Library was a little lax.

Iran with nukes, the war in Iraq absorbing resources, and an "Economic Armageddon" predicted by Stephen Roach, chief economist at Morgan Stanley. Definitely be thankful today, because tomorrow isn't certain.

On a lighter note, I was surprised to see Frank Chu (for those of you outside of the Bay Area, Frank is a bit of a local landmark. He walks around holding a sign talking bout 12 galaxies, rants and raves about Clinton, Lincoln, et.al and has the amazing ability to seem to be absolutely everywhere) standing outside of the meal line at the SF Unitarian Church's Thanksgiving feed. He wasn't in the line, but actually facing the diners spreading his message. The world may be going to shit, but as long as Frank is out there, we all have a chance.

In light of the impending Thanksgiving holiday, an absolutely riveting account of the battle for Fallujah from a Marine.

At last! A Passion of the Christ video game. (Just in time for X-mas)

Terry lost his frog. Click through and enjoy...

NBA Basketball took another black eye tonight. The Indiana Pacers were playing the defending champion Detroit Pistons in Auburn Hills, Michigan. With less than a minute to go in the game Ben Wallace took offense at a hard foul and shoved Ron Artest. A series of scuffles between the teams undulated before the scorer’s table. A moment of seeming calm as Artest lay out upon the scorer’s table. Then a blue cup flew through the sky, tossed from the stands and hit Artest as he lay resting.

Then the explosion occurred. Artest charged into the stands and fought a fan. Other fans and players joined and the seeds of a riot began to bloom. The melee quickly escalated with fans charging the floor, players hopping through the stands. A cacophony of bodies and objects filled the stadium as mayhem took hold. As they attempted to shepard players out of the stadiums fans tossed chairs, beer, bottles, clothing, and food. The police threatened to mace players, a Pacer came from the locker-room brandishing a dustpan and swung towards the stands, and a sense of permanent change enclosed the NBA.

The soul-searching and legal maneuvering has already begun. The pundits are debating, yet again, the, at times, unhealthy relationship between fans and the players they in equal parts idolize and despise. Announcer and NBA Hall of Famer Bill Walton called it the lowest moment in his 30 year affiliation with the league.

The recently announced merger between Sears and Kmart may have surprised casual observers, but what the world is seeing today is the latest in a string of increasingly aggressive maneuvers by Eddie Lampert. Lampert, 42, runs ESL Investments Inc, a $9billion investment firm.

His investment philosophy is largely modeled after his hero, Warren Buffett. Like Buffet Lampert looks for undervalued companies he can easily understand, takes large stakes in them, and then runs them as a de-facto arm of management. Unlike Buffett he looks for companies that have been poorly managed which he believes offers him greater opportunity for returns. In the early 1960’s Warrren Buffett took a stake in a struggling textile company called Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Buffett filed regulatory papers that would allow him to invest excess cash from the company in a variety of ventures. Berkshire Hathaway is now one of the largest investment companies on the planet and the actions of its chairman can sway entire markets. Likewise Lampert took a 53% stake in Kmart, a company that had recently come out of bankruptcy and was decidedly mismanaged. In August of this year the Kmart’s board gave Lampert authority to invest "surplus cash" and his Berkshire Hathaway was in place.

Much of Lampert’s drive is illustrated by the kidnapping that occurred in 2002 while in the middle of negotiations for Kmart. A couple of hapless criminals grabbed him and held him hostage. He literally negotiated his way out of it, promising future payments to the kidnappers. Two days later he was working on closing the deal for Kmart.

Sears’s stock has been moving up sharply in recent weeks, largely because of the perceived value and the shareholders who had taken stakes. Today’s announcement of the combined companies is considered by most watchers to be an indication that Lampert’s new company, Sears Holdings Corp, has its sights set on another target, Wal-Mart. This time not as a takeover candidate but as a retail rival.

Nothing says Christmas like mayhem and murder. With St. Nick peeking his fat ass around the corner we know it’s time for a new slew of anticipated video games to make their debut.

First came Rockstar Game’s uber-violent Grand Theft Auto sequel San Andreas which smashed video games sales records. The game follows a gang-banger as he commits acts of vehicular homicide, random gun violence, and the sort of senseless rage the early GTA’s were so known for.

Next came Microsoft’s much-anticipated follow up to Halo. The first day’s sales exceeded $125 million. Halo 2 took a while to hit the market but Microsoft wanted to make sure the game came out right. Early reviews are positive.

Earlier this year EA Sport’s Madden Football 2005 also exceed the $100 million mark leading many to believe that this holiday season will turn out to the biggest in history for the gaming industry. Industry watchers are waiting for a big holiday season. What’s driving this gaming phenomenon? The maturation of the industry? The decriminalization of pot? The general crappiness of movies? Is it simply a matter of demographics? Whatever it is, the economics of industry is staggering.

Americans aren’t the most inventive people on the planet, but they are the most innovative. Sir Harold Evans makes this claim in his new book on American innovation They Made America that this innovation is what has propelled the upstart nation to its position as world leader. "Invention without innovation is mere pastime" he says, and a PBS series of the same name demonstrates the impact of individuals who harness discovery.

Among the innovators Evans profiles:
• Ida Rosenthal, who popularized the bra and helped liberate working women from the corset.
• Juan Trippe, creator of the first commercial air service.
• Ruth Handler, the woman behind the Barbie doll and Mattel.
• CNN's Ted Turner, who helped usher in a new information age.
• Lewis Tappan, who built America's credit-rating system and spurred economic growth.
• Amadeo Giannini, who, as the first banker to open his doors to the working class, helped boost their fortunes.

Evans first noticed the American innovation dynamic as reporter in England. Many British inventions were turned into flourishing American industries. He wanted to undstand how and why the Americans were so succesful.

"There is a genuine populist impetus here," Evans said. "If you look at the innovators, you have a fruit seller, a clerk, a seamstress, a trucker, a beach taxi pilot, a couple of bicycle mechanics in Dayton. None of them come from the aristocratic classes, and some come from poverty."

While many have attempted to replicate the American ethos of innovation, few have approached her achievement. What lessons can we take forward as we look back?

What now? Since the election many people have asked that question. Some ask out of anticipation, others from dread. What’s next for the Supreme Court? With potentially four vacancies over the next term, President Bush has the opportunity to make over the High Court to his liking.

With talk of Clarence Thomas being the next Chief Justice and the public smack down of pro-choice Republican senator Arlen Specter, and the impact of the religious right on the election, early indications are that the court might have a rightward tilt over the coming years. Is the indicative of the cyclical nature of politics and culture or is there a larger dynamic at work? If the court becomes the bastion of “conservative” politics where will the opposition go to find redress?

The first BCS poll has been released sending college football fans into a frenzy. The (yet again) reworked poll takes the two human polls more into account this year, but that hasn’t removed all controversy.

At the top of the list is perhaps the most storied, and certainly the most glamorous, college football program of all time, The Defending National Champions USC Trojans. From there things get really interesting. Breaking with the human polls the BCS places Miami over Okalahoma in the #2 spot. Other notable top contenders include teams such as the surprising Cal Bears, the Auburn Tigers rebounding nicely from last season, and an undefeated Utah team.

So let’s hear the picks folks. USC having gotten past the tough section of its schedule only has to deal with UCLA before getting into this year’s BCS championship game at the Orange Bowl, but who will meet them there? Will the UTES become the first non-BCS team to make it to a BCS bowl? Who are this season’s winners and who are its losers? And how much longer will America be subjected to the BCS before succumbing to the inevitable playoff system?

Bio-medical giant Chiron has suffered another devastating attack. Last winter a hippie placed bombs at the Chiron headquarters but this latest blow comes from a staunch ally of America; The UK. British regulators have suspended the company?s Liverpool facility, which manufactures all of Chiron?s U.S. flu vaccine.

British regulators said, in effect, that the Chiron plant had failed an inspection of its general manufacturing procedures. The inspection was triggered last month by the company's disclosure in late August that up to 4 million doses of vaccine had been contaminated and had failed a sterility test.


Chiron makes roughly half of all the flu vaccines for America. The shortage is anticipated to cut Chiron's profits by half.

"This is a huge issue," says Geoffrey Porges, a biotechnology analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein. "It's going to be discussed in Congress; it's going to be discussed at the highest levels in the [Centers for Disease Control]. There's a real likelihood that we will see some fundamental changes in the vaccine market and in vaccine oversight."

This is anticipated to be a particularly deadly flu season, so the shortage is especially critical. Already public health officials are imploring healthy Americans to forgo a flu-shot this year.

This impending crisis has been one that drug companies and health care professionals have grappled with for a while. Flu shots are generally purchased by the government, making the cost low, and subsequently, lowering the incentive for drug companies to manufacture the vaccine. Some have proposed deregulating even more the flu vaccine market in order to encourage other companies to manufacture the vital medicine. Others have suggested alternative solutions to the shot. Regardless of future solutions, this winter will certainly be deadly to the weakest among us.

The news is devastating to Chiron's immediate financial future. Shares were down sharply:

Heavy trading on the news wiped out $1.4 billion in market capitalization from the company within hours. Analysts said the unexpected regulatory action was not only a blow to Chiron but also a public health disaster.

While audiences applaud a new movie about Ernesto Che Guevara at the Sundance Film Festival others are fighting another aspect of his legacy, the brutal regime engineered by him and overseen by Castro. Raúl Rivero, a new resident of Che’s “labor camps” (which are really a system used to imprison dissidents, gays, and AIDS victims) is at the center of a new movement to bring a ray of democratic reform to the island country. A poet, Rivero is serving a 20 year sentence for acting “against Cuban independence”, and offers a striking parallel to Che’s tragically-hip mass murder. Rivero’s arrest comes in lockstep with the Cuban crackdown on librarians who are working to have some modicum of freedom when it comes to selecting books.

What’s striking to some is that while the world seems outraged, Americans by and large seem unconcerned. Vaclav Havel and Lech Walesa have written a piece that has found it way Le Monde and other major newspapers, yet it barely registers in the States. Nat Hentoff has blasted the American Library Association for turning a blind eye to the situation in Cuba. Amnesty International has condemned the actions of Cuba, and yet barely a ripple in American papers. Perhaps America’s fawning worship of Che is wholly incompatible with defending those who are imprisoned and killed by the system he’s created.

Turns out I'm a "stoned slacker". I wonder what that makes O’Reilly's views.

Does the media lean to the Left or to the Right? An interesting question in most times, a vital question today as America runs up to the most important election of modern times. While the pajama-clad revolutionaries trumpeted CBS’ folly as being indicative of a left-leaning bias, Ethan Rarick asks us to go back to the recent past for perspective.

Just four months ago, lest we forget, the New York Times issued its own mea culpa, acknowledging the repeated use of dubious information in its coverage of the run-up to the Iraq War and the Bush administration's repeated assertions that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction. In the case of one story, the Times flat-out said it was duped, although it used the more decorous phrase "taken in."

While the bias of “the media” is understandable only in the context of one’s own political perspective, it’s vital to question the motives of news organizations, especially as the ramifications grow.

Comparing CBS’ mea culpa with the NY Times’ Rarick writes,

The two media apologies have a lot in common. In both cases, the issues involved have major implications for the presidential campaign. In both cases, a well-known national news organization admitted sloppy reporting and acknowledged that critical information could not be verified. In both cases, reporters were overly credulous in dealing with sources who had a political interest at stake -- in the CBS case the former Guardsman who is a vehement Bush opponent, in the New York Times case the Bush administration officials defending the president's decision to attack Iraq. The critical difference between the two stories is that the Times' mistake was actually the far more serious of the two.

Left leaning or Right? Does it matter or not? If democracy requires an informed populace, whom can we believe? Who can we trust?

The only other officer from the swift boats incident speaks.

With intensive troop engagements in the Middle East the White House faces a conundrum, how can troop levels be maintained and still win the election?

The recent troop realignment plan potentially offers some deployment flexibility. Some Democrats have suggested a draft to keep troop levels at necessary levels, but it's the Bush administration's use of the "stop-loss" program that is generating controversy.

After the 9/11 attacks the Pentagon implemented a stop-loss program intended to keep seasoned soldiers in the military. It's based on an emergency provision that can enacted during extraordinary circumstances. Some consider this policy to be in actuality a back door draft. Now a soldier, known as John Doe, is suing Donald Rumsfeld claiming the program is illegal.

The lawsuit asserts the emergency policy instituted in the wake of the September 11 attacks was "invalid" because the Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein has been removed from power and "Iraq cannot be considered to pose a threat of terrorist attack upon the United States."

Some believe the legal merits of the case are specious at best, but since this is an issue largely driven by politics, public opinion matters. The White House and America struggle to balance decreasing troop levels, increasing military engagements, and the sense of fairness that defines who we are.

Josh with a thorough, and provactive fisking of Doug Feith.

The CIA asked Bush to discontinue his blog. Frankly, it's about time.

One of the all time great television shows will be grappling with gay marriage next season, and already a controversy is erupting around what's promising to be a blockbuster episode. When Springfield approves gay marriage, one of the long-running characters from The Simpsons comes out of the closest. Speculation abounds as to who it will be.
While the early (and dare I say, dumb) money is on the all-too obvious  Waylon Smithers, (who after all would never endanger his proximity to his immortal beloved by proclaiming his gayness) other contenders has Simpsonphiles abuzz.

Will it be Selma or Patty Bouvier? One's unsuccessful marriages might cause her to give up men, while the other's noticeable lack of men makes her a candidate. Rev. Lovejoy is in the prime, gay-male demographic.  Surprisingly little is known about Kent Brockman's love life. Or perhaps Barney Gumble's excessive drinking is partially fueled by the inner turmoil that can afflict a gay man trying to pass in a straight world.  Or perhaps it's the show's hyper-violent Bert and Ernie, Itchy and Scratchy.

America demands answers. Who will smash their way out of the closet on the Simpsons?

Orrin Hatch once again proving he is the biggest foe to technological innovation in Congress, has sponsored the  Copyright Infringement Act of 2004 . The law, as written, is intended to make it illegal for companies to make and sell devices that could be used for copyright infringement.  (Essentially overruling the Sony Betamax ruling)

Hollywood will be allowed to dictate the limits of innovation. If that doesn't make you nervous, I don't know what will.

"To take revenge is often to sacrifice oneself"-Unknown

Roger Clemens and Mike Piazza have a history. Their past relationship can be best described as "strained". So the lead up to this year's All-Star game centered around how the former rivals would fare as battery mates. 35 pitches later baseball fans (and conspiracy theorists) have their answer. Clemens gave up 6 runs and two homers in the first inning leading some to believe that Piazza exacted his revenge by tipping The Rocket's pitches. Pitchers have been shelled before, but it was the manner in which Clemen's got hammered that has tongues wagging. All but one of the hits were fastballs that were pulled. (Including Manny's 0-2 inside fastball that was jacked so hard it led commentators to suggest "he knew it was coming").

But this week isn't all about revenge, it's about showcasing the stars of Major League Baseball. From the collection of all the living men who have hit 500 or more home runs, to Nick Lachey and Cecil Fielder taking the field together, this event was filled with unique moments. What was your favorite moment from the All-Star extravaganza?

Perry with some advice for Ditka, don't say you're going to outlaw abortion in your first interview.

Glenn with a great point about the gay marriage exercise in futility.

Blogs and the mainstream politicians. Still an uneasy alliance.

Josh with some interesting points about the latest Wilson/Plame developments.

Punitive liberalism explained at last.

Of the 100 largest economic entities, 51 are corporations. That's the good news. The bad news is that the first corporation doesn't show up until #23.

Shortly after 9/11, when the nation's airports were closed, it's long been rumored that three Saudi men were allowed to fly out of the country. For three years the White House has denied the flight ever occurred. It did.

For those of us who like to carry the greatest document ever in their pocket....

Throughout history, even the bitterest of enemies have commonly begun peace negotiations while the fighting still raged. And right now, smack in the middle of our self-styled war on terror, it may also make sense for us to start exploring possible paths to peace.

John Arquilla, a professor of defense analysis at the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School,argues that negotiating with terrorists is the answer. Arquilla notes that every conflict since WWII the U.S. has engaged in has resulted in some negotiated compromise.

The biggest obstacle? Political will. Appearing weak before the America voters is an almost unthinkable position for politicians. But before the political ramifications are played at home it's worth entertaining the thought that a negotiated settlement offers another way. Is it capitulation that will only serve to bolster the courage of the "evil-doers"? Or is it a rational response to address an almost unfathomable conflict? Will a negotiated peace hold when almost all the actors on one side are a loosely connected group beholden neither to statehood nor the dictates of elections? What lessons have been learned from the success and failures of similar, previously negotiated settlements? Is it weakness or pragmatism to look for alternatives to absolute victory over terrorism?

Thank you all for the great emails about Reagan. It's wonderful to think about a man and the relationship he might have with a nation.

“When the lord calls me home, whenever that day may be. I will leave with the greatest love for this country and eternal optimism for its future”-Ronald Reagan November 5, 1984

Former President Ronald Reagan has died.

Born on February 6, 1911 in Tampico, Illinois, Ronald Reagan played football and acted in college. First a radio personality, and later an actor, Reagan parlayed his celebrity to become president of the Screen Actors Guild. Embroiled in battles over Communism’s penetration of Hollywood, Reagan became a conservative, and a political icon was born.

Reagan was elected Governor of California in 1966 and oversaw many of the state’s most tumultuous years. Later he ran against Jimmy Carter, the malaise that afflicted America, and Communism. On January 20, 1981, Ronald Reagan took office as the President of the United States. A radical form of conservatism was reborn, and America’s political landscape was changed forever.

Perhaps the least appreciated or most subtle part of the Reagan legacy is his unbounded optimism and faith that America's future is bright as long as America remains true to its principles. To Reagan, as he reiterated at the 1992 Republican National Convention, America can be forever young.

But a renewed sense of the possible wasn’t the only legacy left by Reagan.

-The “Reagan Doctrine” believed that the Soviet Empire needed to be ended for the peace and prosperity of the globe. He spent billions of dollars to wage a militarily cold, yet economically hot, war against the “Evil Empire”. Reagan’s policy of “Peace through Strength” hastened the end of the Soviet Union and ultimately brought democracy and capitalism to the far corners of the world.

-Reagan strongly believed that the size and scope of the government should be reduced in non-essential areas. Second only to military rearmament, tax cuts were the priority of the early Reagan administration. He worked to reduce the marginal tax rate to spur economic growth. While deficits occurred over the short term, he brought in an era of unprecedented growth and economic vitality. He oversaw an economic expansion that lasted for 93 months. The expansion continued for the length of his taxation policy, ending once his successor George Bush deviated from the Reagan economic textbook.

-The Reagan years were also marked by the scandal of the Iran-Contra affair. Selling arms to Iran in exchange for a release of seven U.S. hostages held in Lebanon was in direct conflict with the administration’s stated position. When the clandestine trade was exposed it was discovered that some of the funds had been siphoned off to support the Contras in Nicaragua. While there were clear violations of law, and the President’s image had been tarnished, Reagan remains the most popular modern President.

President Reagan survived scandal and assassination attempts. He battled the Evil Empire and the crushing weight of American self-doubt. Through it all he always believed in America and her ideals. A patriot in the most generous sense of the word, Ronald Reagan gave generations of Americans a new perspective from which to view the world.

We've done our part. And as I walk off into the city streets, a final word to the men and women of the Reagan revolution, the men and women across America who for 8 years did the work that brought America back. My friends: We did it. We weren't just marking time. We made a difference. We made the city stronger, we made the city freer, and we left her in good hands. All in all, not bad, not bad at all.
-President Ronald Wilson Reagan, Farewell Address to the Nation, January 20th, 1989.

We pay orthodontists an average of $350,000, and no one would say that their impact on the lives of kids is greater than a teacher's.

Dave Eggers writes another Heart Breaking Tale, this one about teachers. Why does America, he wonders, have such a conflicted relationship with teachers? On one hand they are viewed as saints, caregivers, custodians of our collective futures, on the other, they get paid less than many other professions that have relatively less impact on societal well being.

The latest statistics put the average teacher's salary at about $46,000; some teachers earn a little more, some a little less (the average teacher's salaryÂ?not the starting salaryÂ?is $38,000 in Kansas, $36,000 in New Mexico, and $32,000 in South Dakota). Overall, that's about the same that we pay pile-driver operators ($45,980) and about $8,000 less than the average elevator repairman pulls down. Meanwhile, a San Francisco dockworker makes about $115,000, while the clerk who logs shipping records into the longshoreman's computer makes $136,000.

Some of the conflict in people's minds may stem from the view that teachers and their unions are more concerned with their job security than with educating the young. Other's consider salary not to be the true indicator of the esteem in which we hold various professions, (noting that the President of the US gets paid less than the man who greenlighted The Swan). Eggers retorts, "When teachers are forced to tend the yards of students' homes, to clean houses, or to sell stereos on nights and weekends, the quality of education is diminished, the profession is disrespected, and we parody the notion that we hold our schools and teachers in the highest regard."

Finally! Donald Rumsfeld's words have been turned from poetry to song.

The Unknown

As we know,
There are known knowns.
There are things we know we know.
We also know
There are known unknowns.
That is to say
We know there are some things
We do not know.
But there are also unknown unknowns,
The ones we don't know
We don't know.

From the "I don't know whether to laugh or cry" department; Last April Don Emilio Fulci, a shadowy terrorist, made it to the top of the government's daily threat briefing. The FBI discovered he planned chemical attacks on London and Washington D.C. When the attacks never came an enterprising staffer Googled Fulci and was surprised to find he was actually a character from the video game Headhunter.

Amazing and shocking photos from Iraq.

Michael Jordan was one of the greatest basketball players of all time. Endowed with seemlessly endless athletic prowess, he was humbled by the intense hand-eye requirements of hitting a breaking ball. Rugby players, collegiate wrestlers, hoopsters, and armchair QB’s have long argued which sport is the most difficult. ESPN has set out to settle this issue once and for all.

Jim Caple described the challenge facing the committee:

What is the most important element in athletics, anyway?

Is it strength? Endurance? Speed and quickness? Hand-eye coordination? The ability to withstand physical pain and mental stress? Ability to block out nerves and fear to focus on the task at hand when 50,000 fans are screaming? A combination of all those? If so, what combination?… We polled Olympic trainers and multi-sport athletes. We created a spreadsheet ranking 60 sports and breaking each into 10 categories of athleticism. We asked players who they thought were the greatest athletes and what the most amazing thing they ever saw another athlete do (we heard a lot of Bo Jackson stories).

The athlete’s arguments for their sports are telling and poignant, and further reflects what a difficult task it is to quantify athletic prowess. So while ESPN.com has proven that boxing is the most difficult sport, and Jim Brown the greatest all-around athlete, I’d like to hear your views.

"They don't have to worry because I do not pose any danger. I deserve a fair chance."- Cary Verse, recently released sex offender.

California communities are struggling to balance justice and fairness with community safety. A number of recent, and soon to be released, violent sexual predators are looking for places to stay. Not surprisingly, many of the communities where these ex-cons are placed are fighting to keep them out of their town and away from their children.

The battle over the placement of recently paroled sex offenders took an ugly and unusual turn with the spill over from the Cary Verse situation. After being shuttled from city to city, Verse ended up in Oakland’s St. Patrick's Abbey. The Rev. Donald Weeks uses the abbey as a halfway house, helping slews of ex-cons gets their footing and ideally working their way back into society. When local residents found out that Verse would be staying at the Abbey (which until recently, was located across from a school) the predictable outrage ensued. Oakland City Council President Ignacio De La Fuente saw an issue with legs and led the ensuing campaign against St. Patrick’s Abbey and the Rev. Donald Weeks. First a variety of code violations were levied against the Abbey. When the Rev. vowed to stay and fight the Councilman he was arrested on child molestation charges. The abbey was closed and the ex-cons, including Verse, were dispersed. Soon afterwards the charges against Rev. Weeks were dropped when a cursory investigation proved that the accused wasn’t in California at the time of the alleged incidents. Though Weeks was released from jail the police maintain, “the book on the case is still open”. Week’s attorney John Burris considers the case little more than a witchunt, noting, "Any reasonable investigation by the Oakland Police Department would have shown that it could not have happened in the location or the time period in which the allegations were made,'' Burris said. "There was no crime. There was no underage victim. This all could have been proven without arresting Father Weeks and ruining his life.''

Few people, (and even fewer with children) would like to live near a sexual predator but California is increasingly confronted with the issue of placing convicted sexual deviants once they are paroled. As Rev. Weeks discovered, forgiveness isn’t always free.

California lawmakers are attempting to head off a crisis in the worker?s compensation system by authoring bipartisan legislation intended to cure the increasingly problematic system.

California's 91-year-old system has been troubled for the better part of the past decade. But with premiums doubling and tripling, the economy stagnant and businesses threatening to leave the state, fixing it has become a priority for lawmakers and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The system is costly (payments have increased from $6.4 billion in 1997 to an estimated $25 billion in 2003), confusing, and rife with fraud and mismanagement. California employers pay the highest workers? comp premiums in the nation and yet payouts fall well short of most other states. Legislators have been cajoled by the governor to come up with meaningful changes or face a ballot initiative mandating structural changes. While all sides agree the current system is unworkable, the details of the reform are hotly contested.

Some of the hottest sticking points are:
--Stricter guidelines for permanent-partial disabilities Permanent disabilities makes up to an estimated 80% of all costs. Employers desire stricter oversight in this area.
-- Physician choice Employers want more say over the doctors who make treatment recommendations.
-- Rate regulation and immediate benefits Labor would like the anticipated cost savings of reform passed on to employers rather than to insurance companies.

Schwarzenegger wants to require doctors to use "objective medical findings" to determine if an employee has a work-related injury. Injuries would have to be "reproducible, measurable or observable." He also wants to require employees to show that a cumulative injury -- one that develops over time -- was substantially caused by work.

Another troublesome factor is the disproportional payouts for different industries. For instance, the payout for workers in the construction industry or farm workers are considerably higher than many white collar professions, like the currently depressed IT industry. This discrepancy is so worrysome that some industries are examining their own, separate solutions.

While late word has lawmakers close on general terms, it appears that the major overhaul demanded by most won't occur in this proposal.

At this moment in time, like "Seinfeld" before it, "Arrested Development" is an under appreciated slice of comedic perfection, its writing so good as to be staggering and the acting both subtle and wildly physical, a meshing of words and deeds we haven't seen since, well, since "Seinfeld."-Tim Goodman, San Francisco Chronicle

Critically praised, but lightly watched, Arrested Development is struggling for its life on Fox. The laugh-track free show centers around Justin Bateman’s straight man Michael Bluth. He's a responsible widower who works to raise a son and run a business while the company’s founder (and Michael’s father) sits in prison awaiting trail for corporate malfeasance. Such notables round out the cast as Mr. Show’s David Cross (who is a never-nude), Jessica Walter as the deliciously drunken WASP Kitty Bluth, and Portia de Rossi as Michael’s twin sister Lindsay.

Fox is well known for taking critically acclaimed shows off the air before an audience can be found and replacing it with cheaper, more profitable programming. The wit and relative depth of the show isn’t making it any easier. Bateman describes the challenge well, Bateman says: "The show is unpredictable, and it takes time to get it. You miss a word in the first act, and four jokes in the third act aren't going to pay off. That's one of the reasons we are having problems building an audience."

So folks warm up the Tivos, and catch what just might be the funniest sitcom in some time before it’s gone for good.

In the wake of Clarke's apology to families of 9/11 a reporter apologizes for the media's tepid response to the ramp-up to war.

The F.B.I. and D.H.S. are creating a program that will allow private companies to screen individuals against their terror database. (I'm sure there is no cause for concern)

Booger eaters rejoice! It's good for you.

The folks who brought us the Scopes trial have passed a measure making it illegal for homosexuals to live in Rhea County.

The Bush Administration has come under heavy criticism for a series of television spots that defend the President's position on Medicare. Unlike typical campaign commercials, these segments are intended to look like news broadcasts. The Department of Health and Human Services is releasing the segments, complete with fake reporters and talking points for local newscasters. Home Front Communications, which produced the segments, offers guidance to news agencies:

In one script, the administration suggests that anchors use this language: "In December, President Bush signed into law the first-ever prescription drug benefit for people with Medicare. Since then, there have been a lot of questions about how the law will help older Americans and people with disabilities. Reporter Karen Ryan helps sort through the details."

(It appears that Karen Ryan is an actor rather than a reporter)

The GAO is investigating if the videos are actually "covert propaganda". Kevin W. Keane, a spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services claims this is not a new practice, "The use of video news releases is a common, routine practice in government and the private sector," Mr. Keane said. "Anyone who has questions about this practice needs to do some research on modern public information tools."

With even some conservatives concerned about the soaring cost of Medicare, the issue appears to be important to the coming campaign.