Mark Hare of the D&C puts in what is, ideologically at least, a decent op-ed for the paper on city violence and the role schools must play in curbing it.  My quibble is in this question:

Three years ago, a blue ribbon task force called for, among other things, the recruitment of 10,000 mentors over 10 years to work with children in need. Where are they?

Well, Mark.  You’re a journalist.  Rather than asking us the question, why not get us the answer?

Hillary is questioned about one of her supporter’s contention that Barack has a problem because he’s black.  Inflamatory stuff from a local Texan activist, no doubt, and the kind of thing you’d want to distance yourself from at least as much as you require Barack Obama to do.  Right?  Well, maybe not so much:

The interviewer asked Clinton whether she rejected or denounced Callejo’s comment.

“People have every reason to express their opinions, I just don’t agree with that,” she said, adding “You know, this is a free country. People get to express their opinions.”

Do not click on this link unless you’re sure you’re ready.  This was done at Abu Ghraib in your name.  Let us not pretend that this was either an isolated incident or the act of a few bad apples.

For all of you who’ve been logging into my website to see the latest on the Wease situation, thank you! Interest in Wease has been really incredible, and the number of hits on this one little website alone has been awesome. I hope some of you stick around to see what else this site has to offer.

But apparently there is news in the wind about Wease, as reported on 13Wham.com, and there is to be an announcement at 3pm. You can be sure any news will also be posted here.

What does this mean? Doesn’t seem like he’ll be back on the morning show, since that wouldn’t have required his absence. I have absolutely no insight or insider information to go on, here, but somehow, I think this may have something to do with a launch of a new format on HD radio starring Wease. Pure conjecture, you understand, but that’s what I’ve been thinking.

Late Update: The 13Wham article changed to state that Wease will be moving to 95.1, The Fox, to host their new morning show.  Very odd, since this is simply a switch from one channel to another in Clear Channel’s harem of Rochester stations and because it puts him opposite his partner of several years, Tom Mule.  It’s also just fla-disconcerting to those of us who’ve grown up with the understanding that WCMF was the Wease channel and Wease was the WCMF DJ of record.  Time marches on. . .

But it’s good to have him back.  Welcome back on the air, Brother Wease!

Seven freakin’ years of this is quite enough.  Yesterday, the EU spanked Microsoft for it’s anti-competitive practicing of over-charging developers for rights to ASP.NET projects.  And they spanked them hard: 1.3 billion dollars in penalties.  Ouch.

But when the same company that makes it nearly impossible for other companies to compete in the same market - the same company which threatens to sue any company with even appearance of violating one of their dubiously-held patents - violates the patent of another company and gets pinched for it in the U.S., what do you suppose happens?

Why, the penalty established in a lower court gets bounced back once it gets to a high enough court, close enough to the Justice Department.  But of course.  Practically from the inauguration of this ill-gotten president, this White House has done everything it can to keep Micro$oft out of whatever trouble it might have gotten itself into.

The celebration is all over Democratic New York: Assemblyman Aubertine won his bid to fill the 48th district State Senate position, edging out Will Barclay. That narrows the majority in the Senate to a single vote for the Republicans:

Dems’ win in NY Senate race shrinks GOP edge — Newsday.com

Republicans’ longtime control of the Senate weakened Tuesday night as their majority shrank to a single seat with the upset victory of Democrat Darrel Aubertine in a special election in northern New York. With all precincts reporting, Aubertine had 52 percent, compared with 48 percent for Republican Will Barclay.

Those of us who’ve been advocating for CMCE for the last few years know that the Conservative Party will not allow such a thing, but with the majority greatly weaked, things begin to look possible.

Well, that’s interesting.  The Wall Street Journal’s blogging community took a look at where 201k (the median price for a home in the U.S.) would be best-invested.  Guess what?  They picked none other than our own Rochester, NY:

In the places we searched, our dollar went the furthest in Rochester, N.Y., where we found a brand-new three-bedroom house with two and one-half baths and 2,109 square feet on more than one-half acre listed for $201,400.

In January, the number of homes sales in the city showed little change from the year before, while the median price fell 4.5% to $105,000, per Rochester’s Democrat & Chronicle.

So there are advantages to living in a city slowly losing it’s manufacturing base: our home prices haven’t been overvalued in the last decade and hence haven’t been dropping like elsewhere.  The bad news?  Even if it’s a good deal, no one wants to move here.

Exile at RT picked up on a gem this morning which I’m only just now catching up to. Apparently, Tom Reynolds is in trouble again for his role as Republican Congressional Committee chairman. I suppose that it’s only to be expected that the man at the top of the sleaze heap should be found guilty of still more sleaze. Hopefully, some will stick on him for good this time.

When you’re trying to make the media and the voters swallow a completely incomprehensible explanation for your campaign’s alleged activities, does it help or hurt your cause to introduce another apologist who makes even less sense and introduces new absurd claims?  I’m not sure, but I’m guessing the Clinton Camp thinks it does.  And Stephanie Tubbs Jones seems to think that Barack is, in fact, Somali:

Looks like Senator and former presidential candidate Chris Dodd has decided to get behind Barack Obama’s bid for the Democratic nomination. Below is the body of the email I got just a second ago:

Dear Thomas,

We have been through a lot in this past year and your friendship and support have meant so much to me. That is why I wanted to let you know of my decision to endorse a Democratic candidate for President - and that I have decided to support Barack Obama.

We all understand how much is at stake in this election and that it is more important than ever that we put a Democrat in the White House.

And while both of our Party’s remaining candidates are extremely talented and would make excellent commanders-in-chief, I am throwing my support to the candidate who I believe will open the most eyes to our shared Democratic vision.

I’m deeply proud to be the first 2008 Democratic presidential candidate to endorse Barack Obama. He is ready to be President. And I am ready to support him - to work with him and for him and help elect him our 44th President.

Put simply, I believe Barack Obama is uniquely qualified to help us face this housing crisis, create good jobs, strengthen America’s families in this 21st century global economy, unite the world against terrorism and end the war in Iraq - and perhaps most importantly, call the American people to shared service and sacrifice. In this campaign, he has drawn millions of voters into politics for the first time in their lives and shown us that we are united by so much more than that which divides us.

That is why I believe the time has come for Democrats to come together as a Party and focus on winning the general election. The stakes are too high not to.

The last seven years have been as difficult as any I can remember. More than ever, we need a President who will inspire us to take part in the political process and change our country’s path.

Today, when we need it most, we are hearing a new call from Barack Obama. And I hope you, like me, will answer it in the affirmative.

Please get involved in Barack Obama’s campaign now: http://action.barackobama.com/doddsupporters