Important Legal Precedent

[Law & Order] There are morals to this tragic story:

1. If you're an attentive parent, you should recognize that it's one thing to monitor your child's wellbeing--but it's another to unwisely get caught up in the random details of adolescent social dramas. Any revenge your kid can dream up is cruel enough without the help of his/her jaded, cynical parents.
   
2. The people you encounter online are real. You may never meet them face-to-face, but it is still wise to behave as though they are human beings.
   
3. If you forget No. 2 above, you may end up with a very real $300,000 fine and prison time.
4. The people who, in the 1980s, blamed teen suicide on the deep-pocket music industry are today blaming deep-pocket social-networking Internet sites. That is, it's still possible to cash in on tragic teen deaths.
   

(Brandon Burt)

Ron Paul Would Like to Add You as a Friend

[Politics] The Iowa caucus finally winds up tonight after a seeming eternity--even compared to a writer-less Jay Leno monologue. Despite all the hype, the winners will be chosen by a relatively small number of frozen politicos, but a larger mass has already spoken, and they never even left the house.

In the first-ever MySpace Primary, 150,000 people who probably should have been working clicked on Democrat Barack Obama (46.27 percent) and Republican ... Ron Paul (36.54 percent). Trailing Obama were Hillary Clinton (31.13) and John Edwards (8.24); behind Paul were Rudy Giuliani (17.68) and Mike Huckabee (16.21). No sign of Mitt Romney, and half of his 32,000-plus Friends are relatives!

Of course, MySpace is sooo last year; now it's all about Facebook. Obama also rules Facebook by double, but this roundup of the others' lesser pages is too funny. Fred Thompson starred in all of his own favorite movies--who would have guessed? (Bill Frost)