a jaunt through the morning paper

Let's see....

The Chihuly / Rubino flap is officially settled, but part of the settlement means keeping the terms of the settlement for-their-eyes-only. Chihuly sued Rubino for imitating Chihuly's style, although it eventually came out that Chihuly--whose name goes on everything--is more of a conceptual artist, while the actual glassblowers like Rubino did all the work. It'd be like Peggy Noonan running for president, and Ronald Reagan getting upset because all her speeches sounded like his.

Meanwhile, George Allen (R., VA) made an ass of himself at a campaign stop. Pointing to S.R. Sidarth, his opponent's staffmember who's been videotaping the incumbent, Allen said, "This fellow here, over here with the yellow shirt, Macaca, or whatever his name is. He's with my opponent. He's following us around everywhere. And it's just great. Let's give a welcome to Macaca, here. Welcome to America and the real world of Virginia."

Allen later non-apologized, saying, "I would never want to demean him as an individual. I do apologize if he's offended by that. That was no way the point."

Ironically, Sidarth was born in Virginia. 150% ironically, Allen was not.

Last, the U.S. couldn't stick terror charges on three Americans who were buying TracFones in bulk, not to blow up a bridge, but to resell them at a hefty profit. The men were cleared of charges of behaving suspiciously while Palestinian-American, and were commended for their entrepreneurial spirit and released.