The "culture wars" have ended in a strange standoff, even a detente. The left seems bankrupt of new ideas and cannot be a partner in any really interesting conversation. The recent collapse of the Dean campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination is a case in point: his only platform, as the delegates perceived, was to be against things….

The rift, I will argue, is not between left and right but between libertarian and communitarian. Or perhaps we could say that in the intellectual absence of the left, an inherent rift in the right is becoming the new locus of debate, and the remnants of the left are having to choose one side or the other.

One point of contention within the campaign is a theme song. Clark favors a hit from the 1980s.
"I like Journey. It's this song called `Don't Stop Believin'.' It's the music I remember," said Clark. Campaign advisers want him to go with a country tune.

"We appreciate your query concerning the mailing of the air conditioner units. The issue here is one of basic safety. Neither the United States Postal Service - nor any other of the world's postal administrations - accepts compressed gas for international air shipment."

A potential Democratic voter on Dean: "My only hesitation is whether Dean's electable. I have some real fears about that."

From US News & World Report: “Ane Roseborough-Eberhard, a self-employed marketing consultant, says she likes Clark's intellect and calm demeanor. Married with two children, she thinks his broad appeal makes him electable.”

Even the Brits love it. From the Independent: “The Tories have become more electable under their new leader, Michael Howard, the head of Britain's biggest business organisation, the CBI, said yesterday.”

[Gephart and Dean] share a liability that makes them weaker candidates than the other Democratic prospects: they would repeal all of the Bush tax cuts. Senators Kerry, Edwards, and Lieberman, as well as General Wesley Clark, would repeal only the cuts for the wealthiest Americans, leaving in place the child tax credit and other elements of the cuts for the middle class. In the first presidential debate, if either Dean or Gephardt is the nominee, George W. Bush will point to his opponent and say, "If your family income is $40,000 a year, this man will raise your taxes by over $1,200" — and for once, he'd be telling the truth about the distribution of his tax cuts.

Rock Paper Scissors -- alternatively known around the world as Roshambo, Shnik Shnak Shnuk, Ching Chong Chow and Farggling -- has been holding a world championship only since 1995. But its guiding organization, the RPS Society, was founded in 1842 (as the Scissors Paper Stone Club, in London) and changed its name in 1918, when it relocated to Toronto, where [new world champion] Krueger lives.

"In every sport there's going to be luck," said Krueger, 31. "It could be the lucky bounce that Larry Bird got back in 1981, or whenever, that went straight up off the rim then back through in the final second of the semifinals. It could be somebody hitting a home run on just the right pitch."

But, he says, RPS is much more than a simple game of chance.

Even with luck and the odds on your side, you've still got to know whom you're up against, Krueger pointed out. You've got to scout the other players, observe their style, make a mental note of their habits and then read them when you come face to face.

You've got to strategerize.

Dean’s public reaction to the mini-furor was revealing. When Matthews asked about the records, Dean — with a straight face — came up with this defiant howler: He had had the records sealed not to protect himself, God forbid, but to protect the privacy of HIV-AIDS patients. I think Chris was too stunned to laugh. As it turns out, the identity of such patients is automatically shielded; and, of course, Dean had long since gone on record with the refreshingly candid admission that the advent of the presidential campaign was the real reason.

Yes, mommy and daddy are paying my tuition, but not too much because most of it is covered by my scholarship. I'm also not going for a liberal arts degree, I'm an accounting major with possible minors in marketing and psychology and an intent to go to law school after graduation. I guess Pizza Hut will have to wait a few more years for me!