HEADLINE NEWS

Journalists, as we all know, are the most impartial arbiters of judgement since... well, I was going to make a bad accounting joke here, but I won't in deference to all my college classmates who joined consultancies for, as one of them put it, the fraternity-like atmosphere. Luckily for them, I hear prison's got some of the same ambience.

Har, har. Where was I? Oh, yes -- imparitality. We journalists have it in droves. Sometimes, though, when the hour grows late in the newsroom, in the heated rush to get out the printed product a little morsel -- nay, a soupcon -- of personal opinion manages to sneak into, say, a headline.

It goes without saying that this was not one of those cases.

You gotta love the look on W's face, though -- it's sort of a cross between Speed Racer and Wiley Coyote. GONNA GETCHA, SADDAM!

DEFINING MOMENTS

When I look back at this summer, I think I'll recall a few milestones. Sure, Sara's about to walk and all (and has somehow learned how to escpae from a strapped car seat), but Aimee's made an even bigger leap: at the precocious age of 3 1/2, she's become a consumer.

I'll never forget the first time (of many) that Aimee announced, with a pride belying her few years, "My favorite store is Target, and my favorite restaurant is McDonald's."

Of course, she's no fool, and quickly discovered a potential traitor in her midst. "But Daddy calls Target Tar-geht!" she often continues. "That's not right."

I'm so proud I can barely speak.