From top to rock bottom, from Bournemouth to Beverly Hills, we are customers, cash payers, ad revenue fuellers, gawpers, bloggers.

That's the distressing bit. A deluded 26-year-old has lost her bearings and her two small children. And we're queuing up for a peek and a snigger.

Of course, in the melodrama of music history, women singers have a way of finding the road lonelier and tougher. Judy Garland's star was born again over the wasteland of Christmas television.

Racked by marital disaster, extreme dieting, drugs and drink? She was archetypal.   more »

In perhaps her most public display

of emotion of the campaign,

Hillary Clinton’s eyes welled with tears,

and her voice cracked dramatically,

as she talked about holding up

under the rigors of the race

and her belief that she is the best candidate

   more »

Keywords: 2008, clinton, president, hillary

Our companies should be run for the benefit of workers and shareholders as well as insiders.

Today, too many companies in America are putting far too much of their earnings into excessive CEO and executive pay, when this money could be going to increased worker salaries, better benefits and investments in plants and equipment.

As president, I will immediately cap untaxed deferred compensation for executives.

I will also give shareholders new rights and responsibilities so that they can call shareholder meetings, remove directors who aren't acting responsibly, and have a say on executive pay. - John Edwards   more »

In one swift sweep, almost overnight, Pakistan replaces Iran on the Bush administration's radar screen.

Israel may not like what is happening, but Vice President Dick Cheney and company won't have even a fighting chance of reviving the Iran bogey in the remaining term of the administration.

The Bush administration cannot overlook that the crisis brewing in Pakistan and Afghanistan may turn out to be manifold more serious than all of Tehran's nuclear program and its support of Hamas in Palestine, Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Iraqi Shi'ite militia in Iraq combined together, let alone the political challenge posed by Iran's rising regional influence.

For the first time since it expounded the "axis of evil" theory, exactly six years ago - grouping Iraq, Iran and North Korea - the Bush administration is compelled to view Iran with a sense of proportion.

The hard-line policies aimed at destabilizing the Iranian regime look downright irresponsible in the changed circumstances. A military option is out of the question. A regime change in Tehran? Ridiculous.   more »

Obama gives white voters a chance to feel radical and broad-minded by voting for a black candidate. Really, in policy terms, they are making a very ordinary choice.

Obama is almost as much a creature of the establishment as Clinton. Sadly, I doubt Edwards has much of a chance.

Yes, Obama will reap the benefits of the idealistic college students who don't really understand the more left language of Edwards, and in the general election would also benefit from anti-Bush, anti-Republican sentiment which is sky-high.

But then what will he do with it? It's a good guess that he won't do much of anything, he'll play the game as it's been played for decades.   more »