Sure, he changes his tone based on his audience: to white audiences (Bill Moyers, the National Press Club), he's a bit quieter, softer-spoken, and he doesn't drop his "g's." To black audiences, he's a podium-slamming, fist-pounding, neo-segregationist with a penchant for mocking white people.

But regardless of how it's delivered, his message is the same: black liberation theology, which demands an "apology" for slavery from the current generation, formal U.S. government prostration, and ultimately, reparations. And that, of course, is just the beginning. The list of grievances to be redressed is lengthy, with new insults added all the time.

No, this is not a drill.

You've seen the TV footage of food riots in parts of the developing world. Yes, they're a long way away from the U.S. But most foodstuffs operate in a global market. When the cost of wheat soars in Asia, it will do the same here.

Reality: Food prices are already rising here much faster than the returns you are likely to get from keeping your money in a bank or money-market fund. And there are very good reasons to believe prices on the shelves are about to start rising a lot faster.

"Load up the pantry," says Manu Daftary, one of Wall Street's top investors and the manager of the Quaker Strategic Growth mutual fund. "I think prices are going higher. People are too complacent. They think it isn't going to happen here. But I don't know how the food companies can absorb higher costs." (Full disclosure: I am an investor in Quaker Strategic)

Stocking up on food may not replace your long-term investments, but it may make a sensible home for some of your shorter-term cash. Do the math. If you keep your standby cash in a money-market fund you'll be lucky to get a 2.5% interest rate. Even the best one-year certificate of deposit you can find is only going to pay you about 4.1%, according to Bankrate.com. And those yields are before tax.

"My opponent, Senator Obama, opposes giving consumers a break from the gas tax," Clinton said at a firehouse. "I understand the American people need some relief," she added, implying that Obama doesn't get it.

He has said motorists would not benefit significantly from suspending the gas tax.

"This is his solution to the problems of the energy crisis and your tax bills," Obama told several thousand at a noisy rally in Wilmington. "Keep in mind that the federal gas tax is about 5 percent of your gas bill. If it lasts for three months, you're going to save about $25 or $30, or a half a tank of gas."

Elie Wiesel once remarked that the opposite of love is not aggression but indifference. If he's right, Expelled is unrivaled in its lavish spreading of love. Indeed, it shows that there is yet hope for our society. The lukewarmness that the risen Lord so despised in the Laodicean church is nowhere evident in the reviews of this film.

Expelled documents assaults by a secular elite on the academic freedom of Intelligent Design supporters. Not surprisingly, the secular elite are displeased to have their dirty deeds exposed.

Two-thirds of the nation believes the Iraq war a blunder. Sixty-nine percent disapproves of President Bush. Eighty-one percent thinks America is on the wrong course.

Inflation is at 4 percent and rising. Unemployment is 5 percent and rising. Gasoline, heating oil and food prices are soaring. The dollar has lost half its values against the euro. Homes are being foreclosed upon at Depression rates. The stock market is in a swoon. And 3.5 million manufacturing jobs have vanished under Bush.

Hillary and Obama have both raised far more than John McCain.

It isn't that he went to Damascus to meet with the exiled head of Hamas – everyone, including the Israelis, will one day have to do that too, in accordance with that old rule which says that in the end it is with your enemies not your friends that you have to come to an understanding and make peace.

No.

The problem is how Jimmy Carter went about it.

The problem is the spectacular and useless embrace he exchanged with the senior Hamas dignitary, Nasser Shaer, in Ramallah.