namely Union Pacific. They demand that passenger trains get out of the way for freight, leading to the infamous never-on-time AMTRAK schedule. I recently thought it would be fun to take a train from LA's Union Station to Santa Barbara. Not thinking, I booked tickets on the AMTRAK train rather than the California train, and when I arrived at Union Station, found that AMTRAK, running out of San Diego 150 miles south, was already 3 hours late. I took a refund on my tickets and hopped on the LA light rail line to Long Beach instead. Next time I'll make sure to take Amtrak California instead. (http://www.amtrakcalifornia.com/rail/go/amtrak/index.cfm), which is really only loosely associated with AMTRAK itself, and does run on time.

"Joan of Arc" was riveting, and he had Leelee Sobieski's amazing performance to play off - which he did, and wonderfully. Made-for-tv-movie, but it was full of outstanding actors giving truly great performances.

And I'll tell the story and make it longish since this is one that has cropped up yet. My wife says she also likes the intellect, the caring about others, and especially, sense of humor. For this reason, she picks someone she met and was acquainted with over a period of 6 months or so when she was college. This man was a political refugee who was down on his luck and was frankly in my wife's country, Korea, doing some fund - and consciousness - raising. He stayed during his visit at a dorm room in the Catholic college where my wife attended. She was struck by his humor in the face of harsh circumstances, which was not pollyannish at all, but an ability to maintain equilibrium based on a strong philosophic foundation. She has followed his career since, reads his books, catches his lectures when possible and her respect for him has has grown much over the years. For your consideration, the Dalai Lama.

Elizabeth Holly at UCSF discovered tobacco carcinogens in cervical mucosa 15 years ago or so. I suppose this latest is a step beyond that.

I lived in Omaha for a number of years, as an epidemiologist in academia. I consulted with the local health department frequently, and the guy who ran the lead program told me one of their biggest problems was parents' refusal to have their child tested for lead. This was a social class thing - the parents thought that lead poisoning happens only to poor families in old, bad neighborhoods, which in Omaha also implies black. Therefore a large segment of the population did not get tested. And given the age and decripitude of Omaha's water system, I would bet a large number of those have high lead levels.

so people like this can go and do these sorts of things while being "the king" or "the duke of Crawford" and be self-important while not actually running and ruining the country. It'd be a place to stash all the families with aristocratic ambitions, and it'd help the gossip rag industry a ton! Look at the UK.

So the highest cause of death for pregnant women is murder...what's the highest cause of death for non-pregnant women of the same age? The whole article and all the letters are meaningless.

"Our new detergent is better......"

when I was in the Peace Corps in Korea in the early 70s, for a part of my term there the US ambassador was Philip Habib. Mr. Habib has been viewed as an experienced Asia expert based in part upon that experience, but he did not speak Korean, nor did most of his staff, and consequently his interface and knowledge of the Korean community and culture was limited, and not just limited, but filtered through the Koreans who were fluent in English and who had interests in presenting certain perspectives.

To some degree I'm still annoyed because people like Habib garnered so much undeserved credibility while people like old or current Peace Corps people, both volunteers and staff, are a hugely underutilized resource.

So the story in Iraq is nothing new at all. And of course, the local perception of embassy staffers who do have ability in the language is that they must be spies of one sort or another - and that's often pretty close to the mark.

it's always the cover-up that gets them into serious trouble.

I had a series of similar conversations in the early 80s when both my wife and a friend were pregnant with first babies, sons. The other couple was same-sex of the female persuasion, and the non-pregnant partner of the pair and I talked quite a bit on this matter. She was chewing over some ideas about raising children, especially boys, as a lesbian in a committed relationship, and those talks and ideas eventually resulted in a book.

http://www.amazon.com/Lesbian-Parenting-Book-Creating-Families/dp/1580050905/sr=1-4/qid=1165854555/ref=sr_1_4/102-5336497-3857705?ie=UTF8&s=books

which has since had some newer iterations. I've visited Seattle every so often since leaving 20 years ago, and their baby has grown up to be a very decent young man.

doesn't the word "veil" imply the face is at least partially covered? I checked both photos, and her face isn't covered at all - neither is her suit all that 'hugging'.

Surely he's not viable, but.....you don't suppose he would get the repub nomination in '08? I can see all kinds of reasons that wouldn't happen, but Clinton v. Powell? Hmmm.