Aww, go CJ! would he mind if you posted the poem? I'd love to read it.

That's great news about CJ! A poet! That's not how I pegged him at age 10.

The full version of his poem was written back in November and is here.

The edited/condensed version is...

He should have died many times before.
Why?
Why have my friends died in wars I survived?
Why have I lived through diseases
that my family died from?
But there was on thing he could not
escape, and that is time.
Death celebrates triumphantly.
He has finally caught up to the one
who has eluded him.
But Death is surprised when he is asked
"Is it my time now?"
And they walk, like friends,
to the land of Death.

I like the longer version better, but there was a tight word count requirement for this submission.

Congratulations Dana, and go CJ! Good to see some good news in here.

I am going to keep out of the Polanski discussion as my opinion on the matter has already been said.

Cool apple. Horrible science journalism. (As always in the Telegraph, unnamed experts say the odds are a million to one.) [link]

Barb, I totally get where you're coming from, but this:

What I want most for my kids is for them to be kids and be kept safe from this sort of thing and frankly, I'm a little ashamed of myself that I... not so much let that slip, because as I already said, if anyone ever laid a finger on Abby or Nate, for that matter in such a matter, I'd probably kill, but that I let the victim's adult wishes supercede the child who was violated and all the children that can be protected in the future.

...for me? That gets to the heart of the matter. If, God forbid, something were to happen to one of your kids -- you (or they) wouldn't get the say on the punishment due the perpetrator. We don't let survivors and their families take the child rapists up into the hills, kill them, and bury their bones. The flip side of that sane system is not forgetting about imposing a legal sentence, even after the survivors and their families have had too much. We ask common, objective people to decide cases, because it's all too subjective for those who are involved.

The rule of law is important, maybe especially when it is difficult to uphold. There's a place for mercy, but not to the exclusion of justice.

Him staying away seemed to say that he felt he did nothing wrong and was being unfairly punished. Being brought in smells of a witchunt.

It says to me that he didn't want to go to jail. Even guilty people don't want to go to jail.

And he's being brought in because he finally entered a country that would extradite him and did so publicly enough that California sent over the paperwork in time. This isn't a witch hunt, its a matter of waiting until he slipped up.

I feel horribly for his victim having to continue to deal with the publicity of this. He, apparently, has felt just fine with letting her do so for three decades. Only one of us has the ability to change this fact for her.

stooooooooooopid insomnia fairy.

So, is everyone over there going, "WTF is wrong with Americans?"

I mean, more than usual?

Little bit.

We have a 'We love the NHS' campaign going on at the moment. It's the first time I've *ever* seen people stop complaining about our National Health Service and start being supportive of it. America - inspirational.

And then there were 220 posts and I skipped.

Gave up on trying to sleep and have gotten in an hours worth of work so far. Oh joy.