Here I am, trying to beat a deadline again ...
I'm staring down the barrel of midnight running a serious risk of not having a post dated Jan. 9, 2002. Compounding that is that it's really friggin' late (at least in my current world) and I don't have a lot to say. So, if I don't fall asleep at the keyboard, I'll offer up a few thoughts in one-liner form:

--Remember how Americans were going to return to civility after Sept. 11? Spend a few seconds (but no longer) at your local talk radio stop on the dial and see how long that lasted.
--Speaking of Sept. 11 (and I must say I've done a decent job of not doing so) and civility: The next talking head who refers to "Nine-Eleven", for Pete's sake, I'm going to throttle them. Ugh. Say it with me, people: Sep-tem-ber e-lev-enth.
--The next time you think there's anything good about American pop culture, take a look at Michael Jackson. Aieeeee. He popped up on my television set tonight in the minute between the end of "Law and Order" on Ch. 5 and the local news on Ch. 8. That's an image I didn't need.