From the news

Duke gives out iPods. Don't see how this will be educationally advantageous, but, ok.

Israel Denies Spying on American Allies. There's no doubt in my mind that Israel is spying on us and that we're spying on them.

Bush Targets Key States Ahead of RNC. This is one thing that's wrong with our electoral system, of course: presidential candidates, including Kerry, only have to pay attention to the 'swing state'. That's not good for representative government, for paying attention to people's concerns.

Another, maybe minor criticism: these guys have jobs they're getting paid to do right now. Are they so light that they can spend so much time working on campaigning?

Kerry, Greenspan Differ on Social Security. Kerry says, "I will never privatize Social Security. I will not cut Social Security benefits. And I will not raise the retirement age." He may not, but I bet all three of these things will happen: the first as a result of market pressures, and all three as a result of factors that will begin to emerge soon. The smart money is on Social Security being totally different by the time most of us get to it than it is today. But you don't have to be psychic to know that.

Democrats Seek More Benefits for Iraq Reservists. I've written about this before and it makes sense to me.

Powell Scraps Plan to Attend Olympics Ceremony. Or, alternatively, Greek hooligans embarrass their nation again. They have a right to behave this way, but it's still asinine. 'Later, about 1,500 members of the Greek Communist Party peacefully marched through Athens chanting "Get the Killer Imperialists Out of Greece."' I didn't know there were any true-believing communists left in the world. I wonder if the Greek government asked Powell not to come. It would certainly be a reasonable request.