Last week Bush was telling graduating Yailies that if they were C students, they could still be president. Do you think he's saying the same thing to do his daughters about their drinking?

Timothy McVeigh has dedicated his life to "bringing integrity to the criminal justice system. So it will all have been worth it.

Many laws have provisions for citizens to sue to enforce them, including civil rights and environmental laws. They typically have provisions for the compensation for court courts to those who bring them and win. The Supreme Court brilliantly just decided that they don't get costs if a deal is done outside of court. So a government that doesn't want to enforce civil rights or environmental laws--not that such a thing is conceivable in this country--might drag a case out as long and expensively as possible, and then give in just before going to court. This is the most important of recent Supreme Court decisions, but not much attention has been paid.

The INS is introducing two-tier service, with faster work visas for those willing to pay more.

The Washington Post has articles on the Florida elections, again. My favorite detail: while a bunch of counties had machines that could detect voting errors, two decided to switch them off. Giving someone a new ballot would cost 25%. The article makes clearer than before how arbitrary and numerous were the differences in aspects of the election from one county to the other.

Trend you didn't need to know about:
THREE million Chinese drink their own urine to improve their
health. "It has no bacteria and is more sanitary than blood,"
said Prof Yang Liansheng, of the Liaoning Institute.