What are they polling - er, thinking?

The conventional wisdom, as spouted on talk shows and op-edpages, is that the public is just as sick and tired of "the WhiteHouse in crisis" as the commentariat professes to be. I for one amnot tired. I used to be, but now that this whole mess has turned thecorner and is moving toward some form of catharsis, I'm getting mysecond wind.

But I am sick. I'm sick of the way poll-quoting has become asubstitute not only for debating but also for thinking. Just as weare being forced to accustom ourselves to polling as a substitute forleadership, we now have to get used to politicians awash in thefacts, the law and, presumably, their sense of right and wrong,reaching - when …

Repsol gets Q1 profit boost from higher oil prices

MADRID (AP) — Higher oil and gas prices helped Spanish oil company Repsol SA post a solid profits improvement in the first three months of the year despite the suspension of its Libyan operations.

The company said Thursday that net income during the first quarter rose 11.2 percent to €765 million ($1.1 billion) from €688 million a year earlier. Revenue increased 17 percent to €15.84 billion.

Repsol's chairman Antonio Brufau said the company is in a position to undertake new growth projects and continue …

National League Standings

…

All Times EDT
East Division
W L Pct GB
Atlanta 48 35 .578 _
New York 46 37 .554 2
Philadelphia 43 38 .531 4
Florida 39 43 .476 8 1/2
Washington 36 47 .434 12
Central Division
W L Pct GB
Cincinnati 48 36 .571 _

The Making of the State Enterprise System in Modern China: The Dynamics of Institutional Change

The Making of the State Enterprise System in Modern China: The Dynamics of Institutional Change. By Morris L. Bian. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2005. xi + 331 pp. Index, notes, appendix, maps, photographs. Cloth, $45.00. ISBN: 0-674-01717-X.

Reviewed by Man Bun Kwan

To champions of private enterprise, a state-run system has a dubious reputation as an inefficient, if not a wasteful, intrusion into the economy. Crossing such a system with a communist regime, in their view, inevitably results in the government's becoming an instrument of political tyranny. However, China, which exemplifies just such a blend of economics and politics, has a long tradition of state …

Mass. Governor Wants Gay Wedding Vote

BOSTON - Gov. Mitt Romney said Sunday he would ask the state's highest court to order an anti-gay marriage amendment question onto the ballot if legislators fail to vote on the matter when they reconvene in January.

Romney said he would file a legal action this week asking a justice of the Supreme Judicial Court to direct the secretary of state to place the question on the ballot if lawmakers don't vote directly on the question Jan. 2, the final day of the session.

Romney, an opponent of gay marriage who decided not to seek re-election as he considers running for president, made his announcement to the cheers of hundreds of gay marriage opponents at a rally on the …

MRSA rising in kids' ear, nose, throat infections

Researchers say they found an "alarming" increase in children's ear, nose and throat infections nationwide caused by dangerous drug-resistant staph germs. Other studies have shown rising numbers of skin infections in adults and children caused by these germs, nicknamed MRSA, but this is the first nationwide report on how common they are in deeper tissue infections in the head and neck, the study authors said. These include certain ear and sinus infections, and abcesses that can form in the tonsils and throat.

The study found a total of 21,009 pediatric head and neck infections caused by staph germs from 2001 through 2006. The percentage caused by …

Reagan tilts toward new satellite program to detect Soviet cheating

President Reagan has tipped national security insiders that hewill approve a $6 billion to $12 billion satellite program to lessenSoviet treaty cheating without which, key senators of both partieswarn him, the new START pact he hopes to sign in Moscow will be deadon arrival in the Senate.

This top-secret plan to break last year's budget accord with ahuge supplemental has lukewarm backing at best in the Pentagon andthe CIA, but full support from the national security aide, Lt. Gen.Colin Powell.

Sen. David Boren, Democratic chairman of the Senate IntelligenceCommittee, and Sen. William Cohen, Republican vice chairman, havespent hours pushing the project with Mr. …