Some items for your pre-weekend perusal:

- We’re sitting on the sidelines in Montreal, as Bill Clinton pointed out today. The administration’s response? This sort of stuff is great! Because they “are useful opportunities to hear a wide range of views on global climate change.”

This calls to mind a terrific article written by my pal and “Wait Wait” fellow traveler Charlie Pierce in last month’s Esquire, “Greetings from Idiot America.” It’s an incredibly good read, and it accurately characterizes our current trend of keeping a “healthy debate” going about established facts. Remember - our kids should be taught both sides of the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics debate, so that they can make an informed decision about whether or not the Energy Fairy exists.

[I advocate reading the article in print form or paying the online fee. Scurrilous, snazzy-layout-hating types might be tempted to skip the 5 buck monthly subscription fee and read the text of the article elsewhere on the web by Googling, I dunno - “charles pierce idiot america” or something. That is their choice, and I can’t stop them.]

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Another friend, Rob Paravonian, is here with me right now, visiting LA and lamenting the weather that prevents him from wearing his new parka.

You might remember Rob from the days when this site had a nice long list of my friends’ sites on the right-hand side. Those days will return soon, I promise. For now… Rob’s been blogging a lot more in recent months, and his site (and store! Get “Living it Down!”) can be hours of fun.

You may particularly enjoy the pictures and descriptions of Rob’s recent trip to entertain our troops in Afghanistan. This post-tour post is one of my favorites.

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Finally, it’s time for my second, apparently bi-annual pledge drive. (Or is that “semi-annual?” Twice a year, anyway. Don’t bother telling me, I’ll never believe you.)

Yes, the recent bills for this site are adding up. A little. As many of you know, I have no aspirations to make a living off this blog. And the Comments section alone make it worthwhile for me to keep it going. So I’m only looking to break even, really (though I wouldn’t turn down sizable donations and golf trips to England and whatnot… corrupt powerbrokers are welcome here!).

So, if you have the impulse and wherewithal to click that li’l PayPal button to the right and make a small contribution to the site, why, that’d be just great. But honestly, I don’t need much. According to my calculations, something like 10 to 20 bucks from 1-2% of my daily readership would do the trick nicely. Anything significantly more than that will be promptly embezzled, and that is my proimise to you, the American people.

[This may be one of the wimpiest, most mealy-mouthed pledge drives on record. Someone ought to research that - I may be eligible for a grant.]