the classic example of what is and isnt news goes like this:

'dog bites man'  aint news
'man bites dog" thats NEWS.

i once was given a copy of the ussr's version of 'the readers' digest'  (cant remember the name of the silly thing) which was exactly the same size and format only with even worse content.  one of the articles stuck in my memory tho: "what ukrainians eat".  turns out, the story coulda been much better digested cuz it focused mainly on dishes made of potatoes and sour cream (voila! i just digested it from about 700 words to a single sentence).

im a lot more interested in what ukrainians eat today.  maybe if the justices on our supreme court enjoyed a similar diet, we wouldnt have had to wait 4 years to see how an unbiased supreme court deals with a significantly flawed election.

in a somewhat related story, the official bush lead in ohio has dropped by nearly 15,000 votes to roughly 119,000 over kerry.  ohio election officials were unsuccessful in quashing a recount demanded jointly by the libtertarian and green parties (as noted here Link ). 

as reported by today's la times:

The narrowing of Bush's margin increases the possibility that the election results could be changed, the Green Party said. "Who knows what else will turn up when we examine the discarded ballots," Green spokesman Blair Bobier said.

"If we thought the recount would change the outcome of the election, we might feel differently," said Larry Long, executive director of the state's County Commissioners Assn.

of course you would larry. and if i lived in the ukraine today id feel pretty damn proud of my supreme court justices.