Here’s what happens when you offer Helen Thomas a forum in which to wax nostalgic: In this piece in The Lincoln Journal Star, she presents herself as a kind of world-weary love child of Yoda and Obi-wan Kenobe; the force — so strong within her — is a burden she bears with nobility and patience, even (alas, ’tis her curse!) as she’s able to recognize all-too readily the unfortunate flaws

Not content to let her recent Common Dreams essay correct the, uh … misperception, Barbara Kingsolver is contemplating legal action against the The National Review, The Wall Street Journal, and the The Weekly Standard for taking her infamous anti-flag screed “out of context,” The Boston Globe reports [link via A Dog’s Life and Balloon Juice]. Kingsolver has been pressing The Wall Street Journal for a correction, but a Journal spokesman,

“Secretary of State Colin Powell has asked President Bush to reverse the president’s position on al Qaeda and Taliban detainees and declare them prisoners of war under the Geneva Convention,” The Washington Times reports. “A four-page internal White House memorandum obtained yesterday by [the paper] shows that Mr. Powell made the request and that the president’s National Security Council plans to meet on the matter Monday morning.” ‘The secretary of