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Hewlett-Packard independent chairwoman,Patricia Dunn, was forced out.  She will step down in January. 

The point of having an independent chair was to keep close tabs on management.  She may have taken her charge a little too seriously.  In an effort to catch leakers, she hired private-eyes to  secretly investigate board member phone calls.

If HP still wants an outsider, Patrick Fitzgerald may be available soon.

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The ABC docudrama, Path to 9/11, caused protests from Clinton administration members over inaccuracies.  CBS canceled a similar smear job called The Reagans in 2003 after Republican complaints.

Clinton national security adviser, Sandy Berger, was especially miffed over a scene that shows him slamming down the phone when being asked for permission to whack bin Laden.  He says it never happened.  The scene was removed.

Berger was last seen in real life stuffing his pants with secret documents at the National Archive.

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Strickland and Blackwell agreed on one thing in their first Ohio gubernatorial debate.  Stupid rules.

They refused to appear on screen at the same time and reporters weren't allowed in the studio to witness the debate live.

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Richard Armitage, not Karl Rove, first leaked Valerie Plame's identity.  David Broder says it's time to "can the conspiracy theories and stick to the facts".

John Kerry recently sent an e-mail to 100,000 democratic voters pushing a conspiracy theory about Ohio election fraud in the 2004 campaign. 

Party leaders must have missed Broder's column.

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Katie Couric's first night on CBS Evening News was big news.  Tom Shales said it was about no news.  No news must be in demand.  She attracted 13.59 million viewers.

Shales was also unhappy with her wardrobe. 

"Couric, who began the newscast standing up and promoting what was to
come, oddly wore a white blazer over a black top and skirt, the blazer
buttoned in such a way as to make her look chubby, bursting at the
button, which we know she isn't."

Dressing for success wasn't news either.  CBS dressed Dan Rather in sweaters seeking warm and fuzzy ratings.

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The Crocodile Hunter's manager John Stainton initially claimed that Irwin (I didn't know his name was Steve Irwin) pulled the the stinger from his heart before he died.  We'll have to wait for the video to hit the web to know if it's true.

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Appeasement was our power word last week.

Bush and Rumsfeld feel that every time the U.N. appeases our enemies we fall behind in the war on terror.  Critics on both sides were miffed when the Secretary of Defense labeled them appeasers in a speech.

Steve Chapman (you may need to register for the Tribune link) thinks the appeasement thing is overrated and overused.  McCain thinks Rumsfeld needs to put more boots on the ground in Iraq.

Since this cartoon is critical of Bush Mencken probably thinks I'm appeasing him.

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Apparantly a disproportionate response has some deterent value.

The leader of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah:

"We did not think, even one percent, that the
capture would lead to a war at this time and of this magnitude. You ask
me, if I had known on July 11… that the operation would lead to such
a war, would I do it? I say no, absolutely not."

That must mean if Israel had responded only proportionately, as it was urged to by many experts, he would do it.