The Supreme Court's illegitimate installation of the loser in the Oval Office following the deeply flawed - the cynics would even say "rigged" - 2000 presidential election, left more than a bad taste in many American mouths. For some, it was the straw that broke the camel's (or Donkey's) back - they were entirely repulsed at the political (and judicial, such as it was) process.

After years of self-imposed exile, former acting Governor of Massachusetts Jane Swift has reemerged onto the political scene. This time, rather than spending taxpayer money on babysitters and helicopter rides, she is heading - in all seriousness - the "Palin Truth Squad." This righteous group of fact-finding crusaders has come to the defense of Republican Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin, denouncing the nasty, truly despicable sexist slander cast by Obama and his camp.

You need not dig deep into the annals of history to find examples of religious bloodshed. From the Crusades to the Inquisition to the terrorist attacks seven years ago today, dogmatic interpretations of religious doctrine - spanning almost every set of beliefs - have contributed to countless deaths and persisting cleavages.

I'm as vicious a critic of cigarettes as there is - my father, who smoked four packs of Camels a day, befouled our small Brooklyn apartment (as well as his lungs and heart) and died of a massive heart attack two months before my college graduation, at the age of 48. But I think that the current mania for seeking to ban the nasty habit without actually outlawing the product has finally gone too far.

Despite breaching multiple security classification laws, former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, who departed the office on Sept. 17, 2007 in the wake of multiple scandals, will not face criminal prosecution, the Department of Justice announced on Sept. 2. The documents, which Gonzales improperly carried to his home and failed to store in a safe, reportedly discussed aspects of the administration's top-secret wiretapping program.