Below The Beltway

Yes it’s from Drudge, and yes it’s only microbes.
But still, this is pretty cool news if true:
 Martian soil may contain life
Thu Aug 23 2007 11:30:10 ET
The soil on Mars may contain microbial life!
Joop Houtkooper of the University of Giessen, Germany, will declare on Friday the Viking spacecraft may have found signs of a weird life [...]

It all started about a day or two ago. Someone registered the domain name olddominionblogalliance.com, and decided that it would be funny to redirect that domain to the website of an an organization of a bunch of pedophiles.
The joker in question is a guy by the name of Joe Stanley. who quite frankly, I’d never [...]

The Baltimore Orioles haven’t had a good season in some years, but this has got to be the worst game ever:
BALTIMORE, Aug. 22 — The Texas Rangers rounded the bases at a dizzying pace and became the first team in 110 years to score 30 runs in a game, setting an American League record Wednesday [...]

Today’s Washington Post reports that Virginia Republican legislators are set to announce plans to overhaul the much-derided abusive driver fees plan:
RICHMOND, Aug. 22 — Republican leaders in the Virginia General Assembly said they will introduce a plan Thursday to overhaul the controversial abusive-driving fees by applying them to out-of-state motorists and trying to limit [...]

Most Americans have little knowledge about the outside world, and little desire to learn anything either, according to a new poll:
Two-thirds of US adults admit to being in the dark about political issues outside the United States, and only a third are well-versed in US politics, the results of a poll published Tuesday showed.
Candidates in [...]

Apparently, when he’s elected President, Barack Obama will single-handedly change Canada’s form of government:
U.S. presidential hopeful Barack Obama, already under fire from fellow Democratic candidates for his supposed inexperience and unguarded comments on American foreign policy issues, is raising eyebrows again after vowing to call “the president of Canada” if elected to the White House [...]

According to a new poll, one quarter of Americans didn’t pick up a single book in the past year:
There it sits on your night stand, that book you’ve meant to read for who knows how long but haven’t yet cracked open. Tonight, as you feel its stare from beneath that teetering pile of magazines, know [...]

They are refusing to stock the O.J. Simpson book “If I Did It” in their stores:
NEW YORK (AP) — If you’re hoping to buy the new edition of O.J. Simpson’s ”If I Did It,” don’t expect to find a copy at Barnes & Noble.
Citing a perceived lack of customer interest, the chain said the book [...]

That’s the only conclusion you can reach after reading something like this:
ABC News’ Rick Klein Reports: When an Iowa resident asked former senator John Edwards Thursday whether the United States should follow the Cuban healthcare model, the 2004 vice presidential contender deflected the question by saying he didn’t know enough to answer the question.
“I’m going [...]

Michelle Obama made an off-the-cuff remark last week that is making some waves:
It’s not clear how intended the slap was.
But the sting of Michelle Obama’s words last week while campaigning with her husband in Iowa has roughed up the Democratic race for president.
The wife of Barack Obama told an audience in Atlantic, Iowa: “If you [...]