Brian Gongol
The long-term view is probably the hardest to keep; whether it's my personal ability to put off thise things I want to do "someday" (like learning to play the piano) or our national ability to fail to think through big-picture issues like national security. Remember 1996, when Senator Richard Lugar ran commercials during his Presidential campaign about the threat that terrorists would try to use nuclear materials against American interests? Those commercials were widely thought to have blown up his Presidential campaign -- but the concern sure seems prescient today. Sen. Lugar puts out a nuclear proliferation survey each year that certainly isn't fun reading, but it's certainly worthwhile. Of course, if you want to be aggravated, consider that Congress has pushed through a $11 billion program to change our drivers' licenses, but it's unclear that improving those cards will really make us safer.
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An unofficial patch has been released to fix some newly-discovered security problems with Microsoft programs.
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Target and Wal-Mart are in a price war over generic prescription drugs. While it's up for debate whether it's all just a publicity stunt, shouldn't we at least be thankful that we live in a world where some life-changing medications are available for practically a pittance? 100 years ago, people didn't have the choice to get miracle-working allergy drugs in 60-tablets bottles for $8.
Meanwhile, though, some enterprising individuals in England have persuaded the schools to spend more money on fish-oil tablets for students than the schools are spending on the ingredients for school lunch. It's hard to find a better example of backwards thinking.