The Evening Quickie

West Virginia airport evacuated in explosive alert. Some lady carried on two containers that "tested positive for explosive materials". Geez, it's West Virigina. She probably didn't know about the ban on liquids and gels, and brought along her Aquanet and lighter fluid in her luggage in ignorance.

White House sees "huge challenges" in Iraq. I see something huge in Iraq, too, and it's called a quagmire.

Vice president stumps for Burns at fundraiser. Where Cheney proceeded to blast Democrats, claiming that putting them in charge of Congress allow the terrorists to win. We've heard this one time and time again, Dick. Find some new material.

TV Stations' 'Fake News' Scrutinized. The Federal Communications Commission has mailed letters to the owners of 77 television stations inquiring about their use of video news releases, a type of programming critics refer to as "fake news." The letters were sparked by allegations that television stations have been airing the videos as part of their news programs without telling viewers who paid for them.

France Throws U.N Peacekeeping Plans Into Disarray; Chirac Rebuffs Pleas to Make Major Contribution to Mission. French President Jacques Chirac instead committed Thursday to send a relatively small military engineering company of 200 soldiers to serve in a reinforced U.N. peacekeeping mission that is expected to grow to 15,000 strong and that will help Lebanon police a demilitarized zone in southern Lebanon. He also said that a force of 1,700 French troops and crew stationed in ships off the coast of Lebanon could be sent in to help the U.N. force during a crisis.

California on brink of global warming breakthrough. And it's pitting Bush against Schwarzenegger because Bush is against the whole idea.

Cracks appear in NASCAR voters' Republican loyalty. While this sounds interesting, I doubt that NASCAR fans will start defecting to the Democratic Party in droves.