And most of the globally 'hottest' years on record have been within the past decade and a half. The correlated link between atmospheric CO2 levels and the global temperature is delayed- meaning that if all CO2 and methane outputs were to stop right now the global average temperature would continue to rise for decades, and likely centuries before it stabilized. In fact, this snowpack is more of a mark of climate change as well- towns in Colorado are paralyzed as they've already blown through their snow removal budgets. 'Global warming' doesn't mean that we're not having winter- it just means that whatever weather we get, we're going to get more of it in a shorter span of time.

Recipient E-mail

Windows Vista has received a sour reputation in the year it has been on the market. Some users of complained about driver incompatibility and performance issues -- among other things -- compared to the venerable Windows XP operating system the came before it. Microsoft addressed a number of these issues with Service Pack 1, but many consumers and businesses are still sticking with Windows XP.

Hominy & Hash

SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- This morning in an e-mail to all our children, I mentioned it was my mother's 119th birthday. Her lifetime was one from 1887 to 1969 and included electricity, telephones, automobiles, airplanes, two World Wars, Korea, Vietnam and then, actually, on the night of her last birthday, man landed on the Moon, in that giant step for mankind.

The lifespan of one child of mine has spanned events from President Lyndon Johnson's declaration of the War on Poverty in 1964 and through the Moon landing, the "pill," the Beatles, the Vietnam War, the building of the World Trade Center and the invention of the Internet, all in a day-to-day life filled with more of the same.

There have been been wars, race riots, terrorist attacks, political scandals, heartfelt moments and all kinds of crises around the world - all seen from the comfort of his own living room.

McCain's endangered pander.

Anyway, if the GOP has to move left in Western states to compete accommodate a Dem-tending Latino vote (as it almost certainly will, whatever happens) is that such a bad thing? If you move the GOP left you might get a more appealing GOP--the GOP of Gov. Schwarzenegger, for example. ...

Yes it is. It usually is. The whole structure of our Constitution--which makes it very difficult to pass new laws--is based on the premise that doing nothing is not only an option but often the best option. For one thing, doing nothing let's you postpone a decision until you come up with a more prudent plan. Or a more prudent President.

Border Wall Slashes Through Texas’ Soul

After hurricane Katrina, we had a block party to aid in relief efforts. All of this has changed. The crime rate is up. Property values are down. We have abandoned houses. I worry about who is going to move into the "Rent to own" across the street. My new neighbors throw their trash and garbage everywhere. They stripped a car one night and pulled in next to my house. Their kids take mail out of the mail boxes. They park their cars in my yard. When I explained that that was not their property, their comment was "But you're not using it". We used to have a lovely flower garden in the patio. I'm getting rid of most of the pots and flowers. We never go out (except to pick up the trash they throw around).

I'm ashamed to live here now. I try to explain to people I know that this is not the way it used to be.

All the King's Women

But first-time director Gilroy (who scripted the first two Bourne movies and collaborated on the third) has a knack for tunneling deep into cliché and coming out the other side.

The title character, elegantly embodied by George Clooney, is something of a spiritual brother to Matt Damon's tormented amnesiac spy. Michael Clayton is a Jason Bourne who, unlucky for him, actually does remember all the terrible things he's done. Michael is the fixer for a top-drawer New York legal firm, a former public prosecutor who resides somewhere in the shadowy space between attorney and bagman. In essence, he's paid to protect wealthy fuckups from publicity, and from their own consciences. As the movie opens—the first 20 minutes are slow but dense, packed with details that become important later—Clayton is heading upstate to provide counsel to a well-heeled hit-and-run driver.