Debate draw in Cleveland

Journalism: The New York Times reports that noted columnist,founder of the National Review magazine and host of the long-running TV show “Firing Line,” William F. Buckley Jr., has died. Buckley was found at his desk, where his son Christopher said “He might have been working on a column.” If so, what a fitting way for this journalistic giant to pass. RIP.

Health: The Voice of America reports that a woman in Vietnam died of the H5N1 strain of bird flu and in Southern China, a third death from the disease has been reported this year.

Health: CBS News reports that studies done on rats shows that curcumin, found in the curry spice turmeric, helped prevent heart failure and in one study, “reversed heart enlargement.” Researchers hope it may also be true for humans.

Science: Reuters reports that the fossil of a “sea monster” found in Arctic Norway showed it had “dagger-like teeth in a mouth large enough to bite a small car.” Beware, Beetle drivers!

Business: The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports that Microsoft has been fined $1.3 billion by the European Union because “the company charged ‘unreasonable prices’ until last October to software developers who wanted to make products compatible with the Windows desktop operating system.”

O P I N I O N

Well the last debate (as of this writing) between Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. Hillary Clinton went out without a bang. Both candidates had good moments last night, both had vulnerabilities. Tim Russert seemed especially rabid (was there foam in the corner of his mouth?) when asking Clinton about disclosing her tax statements.
     Clinton made me laugh when she referenced “Saturday Night Live’s” parody of debate hosts fawning over Obama. And then, in a “oops we screwed up moment,” MSNBC showed controversial video of her instead of the expected one of Obama, proving her point neatly.
     Being in the comfortable position of front-runner, Obama exuded a presidential nominee confidence. In regard to Clinton’s anger at the mailings in Ohio that she said misrepresented her health care proposal, Obama said he’d endured similar false information being spread but he didn’t “whine” about it. (Meeeooow!) He even said in closing statements “When I am the nominee…” That said, in that comfortable position, you wonder why he said he would take back his vote on the Terry Schiavo case. Will he face an unexpected backlash for it?
     As the underdog, Clinton was obviously in a tougher spot. Did she do enough to draw voters to her side? We’ll find out next Tuesday.