Political candidates, at least some of them, will stoop to anything to convince voters that they're the best on the ballot for the office they seek.
Some stoop so low as to spend thousands on haircuts & image advisers.
Media keeps score on who's beating whom in fund-raising.
If the funds are spent on keeping up contrived physical and image appearances to get votes, it's an insult to voters who certainly are capable of seeing through the facade.
Will voters use their smarts when in the voting booth by casting a ballot for candidates with genuine, rather than superficial goals?

ABC claims this news came from an Al Quaeda website.
This, plus official intelligence reports, prompted increased airport and other security efforts across the U.S.
The public has again been urged to maintain vigilance regarding suspicious activity.
Despite all this, Americans go about their daily lives, but with a sense of the need for caution.
Meanwhile the terrorists continue their threatening drumbeat, an effort to create traumatizing fear whether or not they successfully kill and destroy.
Apparently terrorists have no clue.
People who love freedom want to keep it. They refuse to be traumatized by fear-mongering haters.

Farmed catfish from China, were found to be contaminated with antibiotics and antifungal medication which are known to cause cancer in laboratory animals.
Such additives are forbidden in the U.S.
This week, the FDA issued an alert, which also included shrimp and three other species shipped from China - eel, basa & dace. Basa is similar to catfish. Dace is similar to carp.
Ten percent of catfish consumed by Americans come from China.
Last year the purchase of such imports doubled, increasing the threat of problems for consumers.
The alert was good news to Mississippi catfish farmers, suffering from loss of sales.

What better way to spend an afternoon than playing Scrabble with a couple of high school kids !
The brainy senior student beat the other two of us, as he focused on words for high-numbered spaces.
It was a fun way to spend a lazy summer day after they helped with garden watering and after we fortified ourselves with dishes of chocolate mint ice cream.
As the teens focused on the game, they seemed also to enjoy it.
It was more than obvious that both of these teens love learning, including spelling.
So, why are there so many school children (and adults) who can not spell?

The New York Times today featured a summary of various political views on the 2008 Presidential election, as expressed by bloggers.
Obviously print Media pays attention to what's going on out there in cyberspace by a mass of bloggers expressing views where they can throw caution to the winds, saying exactly what's on their minds.
One wonders how much bloggers can swing an election.
Will it depend on which political views are expressed most often, most objectively, and well? Or will it come down to the persistent bloggers who spin the pitch their way, deliberately avoiding a fair approach to any given issue?