"The danger is that Obama's much more agreeable approach will be misconstrued as weakness."

---Perle

This is idiotic. And to illustrate it, let me use a simple analogy from my own teaching career. I am kind and approachable to my students and go out of my way to help them, so new students often mistake this for a sort of wimpiness that will allow them to cut corners or beg for points after a test, even when I tell them I have high standards that I won't bend. However, after the first exam when they get their grades and realize that I meant what I said, they quickly figure out that they can count on me to help them but not to dumb things down to make it easy for them.

The same thing would be true of Iran with respect to Obama's willingness to engage it diplomatically. Were Iran to make that mistake they would soon modify their expectations when he didn't give in just because he was willing to talk with them. That Perle cannot or will not see this says more about him and his shortcomings than it does about Obama.

I completely agree that the swooping cameras during the retrospective were awful. (My son and I talked about it live!) But there was one other programming decision that I found equally awful. I don't know the technical term for it so I'll just describe it.

Occasionally, a sort of split screen technique was used to show the presenter on stage and an individual in the audience simultaneously. This would have been fine, but they had to gussy it up by framing the individuals with a series of small "screens" showing clips from movies in shades of blue. These were often distracting and entirely inappropriate to what was being said. I was especially irked by one in the lower center of the screen of a cartoon panda catching something in its mouth.

Graphic designers are still so entranced with their toys that they haven't figured out how to use them effectively. Very much like the early days of digital animation, which were infatuated with what they could do rather than with figuring out how to use the technology to tell a good story.

I suppose the sports (and cable news) equivalent is all the dancing baloney graphics that have to accompany any discussion these days on the boob tube. God forbid, the conversation itself might be sufficiently weighty and entertaining to suffice.

A most welcome development. Obama's no savior, but it is such a pleasure to have a thinking, compassionate person in the White House. Restoration of science's role in environmental and other decision making processes within the Federal government is a great step forward from the Bush administration.

Policy will always be the result of competing interests, but at least what is at stake--within the bounds of scientific certainty--will no longer be in question.

as far as I know, most credit unions are fine. It helps when the people own and control the institutions that handle their money.

By the way, an excellent strip this week. The things that scare us most are not necessarily the ones we should be directing our fearful attention at.

Credit Unions are much more viable today as a primary "banking" institution for most citizens than they were about 15 years ago. Until the mid-90s, bank lobbying forced credit unions to be organized around a particular employer or group, which meant that someone who was not a member of a local group that had formed a credit union couldn't join the union (another form of "union" busting from corporate America). Somehow when Clinton was in office the law was changed to allow anyone who wanted to become a member of a credit union.

Since that time they have flourished. I've gotten my car loans and mortgage through my credit union and couldn't be happier with both the rates and the service. In addition, with ATM cards and credit union credit cards, I have no trouble accessing my funds anywhere in the world. I've taken out cash in Mexico and New Zealand without a hitch. And to add the icing on that cake, because my CU has reciprocal agreements with CUs all across the U.S., I can often access my funds without a fee even when I'm in other states.

The people united can do for themselves just fine if they are willing to make it happen.