Current Affairs

Welcome to the brave new world:

Given all the stories we've seen in the last few years, this isn't really a big shock:

CHICAGO - One of the largest studies of its kind shows just how sluggish American children become once they hit the teen years: While 90 percent of 9-year-olds get a couple of hours of exercise most days, fewer than 3 percent of 15-year-olds do.

Susan Atkins is dying of brain cancer and wanted a "compassionate release" from her life prison sentence so she could "die with digity," surrounded by family and friends instead of prison guards. Yes, that Susan Atkins:

The weasels in D.C. government are responding to the Supreme Court's Heller decision with proposed rules showing they truly do not get it:

Here's what they're proposing:

• Allowing an exception for handgun ownership for self-defense use inside the home.
• If you want to keep a handgun in your home, the MPD will have to perform ballistic testing on it before it can be legally registered.

For the "youth is wasted on the young" file:

In recent months, however, several studies have produced a stream of evidence that mostly points in the same direction, and also happens to overturn one of the most stubborn American stereotypes: the belief that this is a land whose gifts, charms and joys flow mostly to young people.

Pssst. Wanna hear about a strange endorsment by a foreign country of an American presidential candidate? No, not an Islamic country and Obama:

We hope McCain wins," says the 62-year-old Vietnamese. "He remembers us and will do good things for Vietnam."

How to get out of a big mistake -- like the push for corn-based ethanol -- without admitting to the  mistake: Why, that was just Phase One, and now we're moving on to Phase Two.

And they're also not talking about replacement so much as supplementing: using switchgrass or wood waste products, for example, along with corn.

Phil Gramm is sent into political exile, some say, for stumbling into the truth by saying we have a "mental recession" and America has become a nation of whiners:

Campaign Econ says the American economy is a certain way because Americans think it is. Campaign Econ competes with real economics and often wins -- with damage that extends way beyond, say, the political career of either Phil Gramm or John McCain.

[. . .]

Bill Clinton says we are becoming increasingly polarized:

He cited statistics compiled by Bishop that found that in the 1976 presidential election, only 20 percent of the nation's counties voted for Jimmy Carter or President Ford by more than a 20 percent margin.

Dogs haven't quite become man's best friend in China, but at least man will stop being dogs' worst enemy for a time:

Canine cuisine is being sent to the doghouse during next month's Beijing Olympic Games.

Dog meat has been struck from the menus of officially designated Olympic restaurants, and Beijing tourism officials are telling other outlets to discourage consumers from ordering dishes made from dogs, the official Xinhua News Agency reported Friday.