“What people don’t understand is that we Native Americans think of ‘art’ as a communal gift. So the idea that any one person can actually claim ownership over a piece of art is as alien to our culture as Moo-shu pork or ceramic angels, and about as ludicrous, to our way of thinking, as trying to claim ownership over the concept of beauty itself.”* “I hear you.  I stole this

update 5: “But if you don’t mind, I’ll balance the checkbook, okay?”*

Go ahead, help yourself.  I’m not using it.

AP, breaking: Iraqi forces captured the leader of an al-Qaida-affiliated terrorist cell allegedly responsible for carrying out a string of beheadings in Iraq, the government said, and 30 people were killed in a string of bloody attacks, among them three American soldiers. Also Monday, the Iraqi government said that Iraqi forces had captured a key aide to Jordanian-born terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who leads an insurgency affiliated with Osama bin

(1) Despite oodles of scientific experiments, [experts] don’t exactly know how nitrous oxide works. “The best surmise,” it says [in Nitrous Oxide, Edmond Eger, ed.], “is that the gas acts indirectly, perhaps through a pain-inhibiting system in the spinal cord that releases a substance whose effect in turn inhibits a particular neurotransmitter required for pain-signal passage.” Check. (2) No short-term harm is attributed to nitrous oxide, the experts say, although

Puck:  “Which one of you stupidheads forgot to pre-shape the smoked salmon into little Oscars™ before garnishing it with plump and lovely capers?  Because now we must begin all over again.  You realize this, no…? ”Answer Wolfgang, you bitches!”

Forgetting that he himself is a third-rate talk show host (and not, say, a rocket scientist, or a law professor, or a medical doctor, etc), conservative radio personality Mike Gallagher joins Ted Rall in branding bloggers “geeky losers in their basements cranking out crap on a computer,” confiding to his audience that he is “worried about this trend of legitimizing bloggers.” Chief among blogging’s faults?  “Anybody can do it.” Whereas