Thursday digest

- No doubt readers who were ready to string up the US Vice-President and his staff over the Valerie Plame non-story are as outraged over the recent leak concerning the National Intelligence Estimate.

The New York Times has compromised itself once again.

Oh, and by the way, just in case your favourite mainstream media outlet failed to mention it, I thought I'd let you all know that the Dow Jones stock index is trading at record highs, eclipsing the former high-water mark set in January 2000.

I'm just sayin'.

- I'm sure official Washington is shaking in its boots as a coup attempt is scheduled for Thursday, October 5.

The call to arms includes the following passage:

That which you will not resist and mobilize to stop, you will learn - or be forced - to accept. There is no escaping it: the whole disastrous course of this Bush regime must be STOPPED. And we must take the responsibility to do it. And there is a way. We are talking about something on a scale that can really make a huge change in this country and in the world. We need more than fighting Bush's outrages one at a time, constantly losing ground to the whole onslaught. We must, and can, aim to create a political situation where the Bush regime's program is repudiated, where Bush himself is driven from office, and where the whole direction he has been taking society is reversed. We, in our millions, must and can take responsibility to change the course of history. Acting in this way, we join with and give support and heart to people all over the globe who so urgently need and want this regime to be stopped.

Endorsers of this outlandish and ridiculous stunt include Steve Earle, Jane Fonda, Jesse L. Jackson, US Rep. Cynthia McKinney, Susan Sarandon, Rev. Al Sharpton, Cindy Sheehan, Martin Sheen, Gloria Steinem, US Rep. Maxine Waters, Cornel West, & Howard Zinn.

Haven't they learned that these antics are counter-productive?

- Yo, boooiiiieeee: a look at how gangster culture harms black youth, here.

- To borrow a phrase, we are all Israelis now.

- Finally, when I think of victim-of-the-day Belinda Stronach, I'm reminded for some reason of the line from As Good As It Gets as offered by romance novel author Melvin Udall, as portrayed by Jack Nicholson:

Fan: "How do you write women so well?"
Udall: "I think of a man, and I take away reason and accountability."

Cue up the Stephanie McMahon chants.