ELSEWHERE

An honest politician at last! All the newly-elected President of Argentina is offering is fresh air: “We are going to bring some fresh Patagonian air to the capital to engineer a change," he said late Thursday.”

Somewhat to my surprise, there is a rather sensible editorial in USA Today about the Jayson Blair affair. It says that it may be justifiable to let minorities in the door under affirmative action programs but once they have been accepted into the institution they should be judged by the same criteria as anyone else. That would be a big improvement on doing anything to keep the minority numbers up -- which is what the usual system seems to be.

Caerdroia has a good formulation of what he thinks is the essential nature of America. He is obviously right but much of the rest of the world is too mean and nasty to believe it.

A great way to encourage motorcycling -- should be more of it: "Motorcyclists would be free to run red lights if they exercise 'due care,' under a bill overwhelmingly approved by the state Senate yesterday. The legislation was needed because many new model motorcycles do not have enough metal in them to trigger magnetic sensors that tell some traffic lights to turn green, Sen. Bill Clabough, R-Maryville, the bill's sponsor, said. 'Many new bikes are almost all plastic, and they sit there for a long time' ..."