Heartbreaks

Good Morning. A few new items since the weekend.

• It isn't quantifiable. But it's tangible all the same. The America of 1979, for all its flaws, was more hopeful, more defensible, more admirable, than the America of 2006. To an immigrant, today's America is a heartbreak. See Pierre's Tuesday column, on the 20th anniversary of his naturalization as a U.S. citizen, "Losing America."

• It's media's sickness, and some columnists have to play along; when Denver's Al Lewis compared car salesmen to Chihuahuas, he ended up in a self-described, and apparently self-assigned, "doghouse." His apology was worse than the offense. See "Groveling for Advertisers."
  

• From the American Impression archives: A jaunt through the Idaho Engineering Laboratory, since 1947 the Department of Energy's lead nukes lab. See "Idaho, Nuclear Frontier."

Plenty more in Candide's Daily Journal. Thanks for reading.pt