Quotes From Around Yon Blogosphere

RESCUERS SEARCH FOR MOCK VICTIMS DURING 2005 DRILL

The nation is preparing for its biggest terrorism exercise ever later this month when three fictional "dirty bombs" go off and cripple transportation arteries in two major U.S. cities and Guam, according to a document obtained by The Associated Press.

Yet even as this drill begins, details from the previous national exercise held in 2005 have yet to be publicly released -- information that's supposed to help officials prepare for the next real attack.

-- THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Two months after insisting that they would roll back broad eavesdropping powers won by the Bush administration, Democrats in Congress appear ready to make concessions that could extend some crucial powers given to the National Security Agency.

Administration officials say they are confident they will win approval of the broadened authority that they secured temporarily in August as Congress rushed toward recess. Some Democratic officials concede that they may not come up with enough votes to stop approval.

-- ERIC LICHTBLAU and CARL HULSE

Here's another interesting thing you learn from reading right-wing Web sites: There are no poor people in America. OK, there are a couple, but it's all their fault. This is from an allegedly respectable conservative Web site, National Review Online's The Corner, and from the allegedly respectable Mark Steyn, who's a favorite of some of the opposition commenters here.

It all stems from the fact that the Democrats gave their weekly radio time to a 12-year-old kid who had the nerve to claim that he benefitted from the children's health insurance program vetoed by President Bush. Right-wing bloggers have been in a tizzy ever since to prove the kid doesn't need or deserve government aid.

-- WILL BUNCH

What are we to make of Ron Paul, the libertarian antiwar gadfly who wound up raising $5.1 million this summer for his quixotic GOP presidential campaign? Is this guy a budding phenomenon, or is he destined to be a footnote?

-- DICK POLMAN

Barack Obama has a great thinking look. I mean the look he gets on his face when he's thinking, not the look he presents in debate, where they all control their faces knowing they may be in the reaction shot and fearing they'll look shrewd and clever, as opposed to open and strong. I mean the look he gets in an interview or conversation when he's listening and not conscious of his expression. It's a very present look. He seems more in the moment than handling the moment. I've noticed this the past few months, since he entered the national stage. I wonder if I'm watching him more closely than his fellow Democrats are.

Mr. Obama often seems to be thinking when he speaks, too, and this comes somehow as a relief, in comparison, say, to Hillary Clinton and President Bush, both of whom often seem to be trying to remember the answer they'd agreed upon with staff. What's the phrase we use about education? Hit Search Function. Hit Open. Right-click. "Equity in education is essential, Tim . . ."

You get the impression Mr. Obama trusts himself to think, as if something good might happen if he does. What a concept. Anyway, I've started to lean forward a little when he talks.

-- PEGGY NOONAN

God loves slaughter. Never mind that stuff we tell you about Jesus and love-thy-neighbor; God not only likes you to kill, he'll sometimes hate you if you don't. I'm not just talking about the battle of Jericho, I'm talking about God II, Deus ex Video, the shoot'em up game called Halo.

Microsoft's latest version hit $300,000,000 in sales in its first two weeks and at first glance, you'd think it was the sort of thing that Fundamentalists as well as actual Christians would hate. It not only takes place in worlds the Bible does not discuss, but it's all about the thrill of killing and kids love the wanton destruction of life so much they'll put up with lectures about God and his upcoming first person shooter called Armageddon. Even more so if there's free pizza.

-- CAPT. FOGG

An article in Wednesday's Calendar about Sci Fi Channel's "Ghost Hunters" identified Mark Stern as vice president of original programming at the cable channel. He is executive vice president. The article also said that during filming of the series, former cast member Brian Harnois was constantly on the phone with his girlfriend, to whom he is now married. Harnois was speaking with his ex-girlfriend; he currently is engaged to another woman.

-- THE LOS ANGELES TIMES

Photograph by Don Emmert/AFP-Getty Images