Dangerous cuts in public health
Some time back, the Romans discovered that if they separated human waste from their water and food supply, the health of citizens improved. They made the tenuous connection between sewage disposal and public health.

• A quick rewrite by lame ducks
• Don't jump into solar
• Become a top-two tester
• Shakespeare you can follow

The Olympic nation that rises and syncs
"The reason was for the national interest," the chief music director of the ongoing Beijing Olympics told Beijing Radio. "The child on camera should be flawless in image, internal feelings and expression. Lin Miaoke is excellent in those aspects. But in the aspect of voice, Yang Peiyi is flawless."

• The Obama people need to reach out to Clinton
• Shame on McCain, and all of us
• What will happen when newspapers disappear?
• System makes kids the victims in divorce

Peace of My Mind: It's not about the stuff
I apparently have too much time for thinking and writing when I'm on vacation. Sitting by the shores of Lake Entiat at Daroga State Park, my journal on my lap, I've been pondering this puzzler: "To have or to be, that is the question." My conclusion, after dabbling my toes in the refreshing waters, is that we affluent citizens in this world often base our value by what we have. We define ourselves by our possessions — our investments, property, bank balances, and the clothes in our closet. But shouldn't we calculate our wealth by who we are, not by the things we've accumulated? Does it really matter how pretty or handsome we are, or the neighborhood where we happen to live? Is our contribution to society diminished because we're only "thousandaires" rather than millionaires?

• Peace of My Mind: What was that about listening?
• Peace of My Mind: A tired patch, but proud of it

So what's POW got to do with it?
So John McCain slipped the cone of silence — no big surprise. What I want to know is: Whatever happened to the cylinder of civility?

• Vapors in the Mile High City
• So, Favre's back, and snackin'
• Now's the time to turn the page
• If not Fannie Mae, there's always Tina Fey

Fairs are all about conversations, and llama judging
I got to go to the Iowa State Fair on Sunday and eat a very excellent pork chop on a stick as I stood by the U.S. Marines booth, where various civilians lined up to do chin-ups on a high bar, counted off by a Marine whose T-shirt said "Pain Is Weakness Leaving The Body." I've seen many things at state fairs but never chin-ups. The look of chagrin on men's faces who had believed they could do chin-ups and then the truth dawned on them. One man looked as if he might blow out his aorta. A small, sharp memory of high school phys-ed. I had to turn away.

• The American vice of self-righteousness is on display
• Of bow ties, charlatans, race, smears and e-mail
• Being president takes more than a mother and a smile
• Summer civility and the promise of more to come

Even in a totalitarian state, imperfection has beauty
Even as China's opening ceremonies for the Olympics inspired awe, there was something repellent in the exactitude of such mass perfection. The military precision of 2,008 drummers moving in perfect synchronicity, pounding out the sound of a billion hearts beating, was both mesmerizing and slightly creepy.

• In these sorry days, politics do not have to be deep
• Ruinous humiliation is what we love
• As VP candidate, Jindal can do everything but juggle machetes

Beijing, Georgia — a new polarity
WASHINGTON — The Democratic and Republican conventions have a couple of tough acts to follow. Two compelling spectacles — one glorious, one shocking — have stolen the spotlight this summer to remind us all that whatever nostrums we hear from Barack Obama and John McCain about it being morning again in America, the truth is that we live in a much more complicated world.

• Edwards goes dancing on the truth
• Republicans interject race into the campaign
• The Bush torture regime is about to end, at last

A Russian invasion makes for serious politics
WASHINGTON — Asked in 1957 what would determine his government's course, Harold Macmillan, Britain's new prime minister, replied, "Events, dear boy, events." Now, into America's trivializing presidential campaign, a pesky event has intruded — a European war. Russian tanks, heavy artillery, strategic bombers, ballistic missiles and a naval blockade batter a European nation. We are not past such things after all. The end of history will be postponed, again.

• Eyes shift to the once and future Gov. Jerry Brown