Stateside: Some Things Beginning With P

**Prepare yourself for a harrowing couple of weeks**

You can always tell when those are coming up because the entertainment industry gets in and softens you up by scaring the bejeezers out of you. I lost count of the number of trailers I saw on Saturday night TV for new horror movies opening next Friday. And then there was the exclusive video footage taken by the Breslan terrorists themselves and shown in a Saturday night tabloid current affairs program about the school hostage-taking in Russia back in September.

For those of you not familiar with what a harrow is, according to the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary it's "a cultivating implement set with spikes, spring teeth, or disks and used primarily for pulverizing and smoothing the soil." After that, you bring in the plough--aka the January 30th Iraqi elections--and then you plant the seeds. Water well with a good dose of self-congratulatory national ego-pumping during the intermission of the Superbowl football on Sunday, February 6th and you're good to go for another year of warmongering!

**Pulitzer Prize please--birds have wings!**

The February edition of "San Francisco" magazine contains an article suggesting that the two local reporters who broke the story about big-name athletes using steroids ought to get the Pulitzer Prize. Which just goes to show how little journalists expect of each other in this country. Ignore the oh-so-obvious elephant in the locker room long enough and you too could be a prize-winning journalist, merely by verifying said pachyderm's existence!

**Powell on the prowl?**

So, what did Mama Rosa tell you? It's Colin Powell for president in 2008. His son has even resigned his position as chair of the Federal Communications Commission to help in the campaign, or at least so that there can be no whispers of impropriety. At least, that's what my crystal set tells me.

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