Hillary Clinton's clearly qualified, and Obama's a strong enough personality to make clear who's in charge. She's not going to "go rogue," to use an over-used buzzphrase.

And as far Clinton re-treads go...where exactly will the President-elect draw experienced hands from to serve in a Democratic White House? Ask Bill Clinton or Jimmy Carter how well having a completely green team worked for them. I want to see Obama cultivate new blood, but he's correctly assessed that he needs to hit the ground running, and for that he needs people who have been down this road before.

Alaska's most famous political figure (though Mike Gravel gave her a run for the money this year) was warned ahead of time by the cameraman, at least according to David Schuster on Countdown last night.

But yes, the shit-eating grin of the worker slaughtering the turkeys in the background is the true comedy gold in this piece. It'd be funny even if it weren't Palin, but she does rather put the icing on the cake.

Thanks for the hat tip to one of my personal favorite movies, a classic that's more timely now than ever. Not to mention one of the great romantic comedies of all time.

Your analogy's not bad, but actually Irene's older sister would be a better parallel for Peggy Noonan and people like her. Irene actually had a heart, even if she was sheltered and clueless. The sister, though, is another story, cold and mean-spirited. And yes, since Noonan works for and idolizes a man, Ronald Reagan, who put the mentally disabled on the streets by de-funding state and federal mental homes, who stood by as the death toll from AIDS mounted, and helped foster a culture of greed, indifference, and every man for themselves, I think it's fair to characterize Noonan as cold and mean-spirited.

Ever since seeing Winslet in her first movie--Peter Jackson's underrated Heavenly Creatures (in which she also did not appear naked)--I've never seen a performance of hers I've disliked. She is a true artist, always pushing the envelope and taking different kinds of roles.

The thing about Winslet's nude scenes is not so much that she's very attractive, but that she has a woman's body, not a stick's. She actually allows herself to have curves. That is becoming unfortunately ever rarer in Hollywood these days.

Not all remakes are horrible (the original and first remakes of Invasion of the Body Snatchers) and fewer still, such as the Sci-Fi Channel's miniseries version of Dune correct originals that were inexcusably bad.

But why even try to remake something so iconic and memorable, like The Day the Earth Stood Still? Science fiction movies, it seems to me, live and die on good word of mouth from a core of fans who can't wait to see it. You could have cast DiCaprio and Winslet in this movie and you'd never have had that kind of reaction. More importantly--in the current atmosphere, who is going to see an inferior remake when they could Netflix or rent the original for a fraction of what a movie ticket is going to cost them?

Now there's an SF series that would look great on screen, a straight-ahead military space opera with all the trimmings: a strong female lead; a scrappy crew against a powerful enemy; space battles; an alien race unlike any we've quite seen before. And the series owes quite a bit to forerunners in British naval fiction like Horatio Hornblower and the "Master and Commander" series (itself adapted with some critical and commercial success).

Even better, author David Weber's written a crap-ton of books in the series, so if the first one's successful you've got more where it came from.

There's also Open Salon blogger and author David Brin's "Uplift" saga, another rich SF world ripe for a screen treatment in the right hands.

IMO (for what it's worth) is that yours and your baby's health are what counts. If you don't trust your doctor, get a second opinion, maybe even a third, so that you can make an informed decision.

At the end of my wife's pregnancy she was on bed rest because of high blood pressure. The OB broached the idea of scheduling a C-section. He felt that my wife was in all likelihood going to require one and in his opinion it would be better to do it rather than labor for hours and then do one. He did not try to pressure us.

We ended up opting for the scheduled section and had a healthy, 9 pound boy who is now a two year-old wreaking happy havoc even as I type. We made the right decision for us. Best wishes to you and your baby.

But encourage your friend as gently but insistently as you can to at least get her son tested. Sam is at an age where early intervention can make all the difference.

My 3 year-old nephew was recently diagnosed at the very mild end of the spectrum; I have made a point of telling my brother-in-law and his wife that they are doing the right thing and whatever other encouragement I can offer. If you feel it is appropriate, you may even offer to do research or help out in some other way.