It made no economic sense to have a Chevrolet dealer on the corner of Glebe and Wilson in the 21st century, which is why Bob Peck Chevrolet sold the space for $20-$26 million (depending on the press account), but one will miss the Googie architecture, seen here, here (#4), and at 0:04 in this impressively lame 2005 tv ad. The Staples next door, with the world's worst parking lot, appears to be headed a few blocks closer to us on Wilson Boulevard, where the pet store that was never open used to be.

Of such things, favorable press coverage is made. Of course, a Republican who said "Abercrombie and Fitch" in response to the clue "Where gay people buy clothes" would be eviscerated.

Brawndo!, now being advertised. And it's greener than Green River, which was pretty darn green when my Easterbrook co-clerk and I tracked down a couple of bottles at the old Heaven on Seven in Chicago.

(Have I mentioned how awesome Idiocracy is?)

What Kids Are Reading, covered in a WaPo front-pager, would be better titled "What Renaissance Learning Quizzes Kids Are Taking," but I still found it interesting that, in the breakdown of the 592 kids in the top 10% of high-schoolers (who read over 25 books each a year, more than four times the average), Elie Wiesel's Night was #2 and Chaim Potok's The Chosen was #14, suggesting something about the demographics of the top 10%.

The headline emphasis is that the Harry Potter books are not the most read, but I question that conclusion: J.K. Rowling appears in the top ten for each grade between fourth and twelfth, and is five of the top nine books for eighth graders. And the study seems to be time-bound to cut off those who read the seventh book, perhaps because a quiz wasn't readily available after the book was released in the summer of 2007. Further, the study is biased towards books assigned in class: if some teachers are using the testing software for just in-class assignments, out-of-class reading and summer reading will not be fully captured. Since few teachers dare assign J.K. Rowling in a public school lest parents complain about the wizardry theme, Rowling's performance is all the more spectacular.

There's an over-the-top character in one of the fictional television shows in GTA IV (NSFW) named Bas Rutten. Imagine my surprise to learn that it isn't exaggerated satire. (Via Chris Baker.)

1) Tina Fey, as Liz Lemon on 30 Rock, wolfs down an entire Italian sandwich (clearly laden down with fatty meats and cheese and sauce) at a metal detector when the TSA won't let her take it through the airport rather than abandon it, chipmunking the entire last quarter of the sandwich.

2) Generic red-headed leggy model in a Wendy's ad, demonstrating its Chicken Go Wrap sandwich, can barely make herself nibble at the lettuce at the edge of the (250-calorie) sandwich in each of the two or three scenes where she's supposed to be demonstrating the ease of taking a bite while multi-tasking. Where have the Method actors gone?

I have an op-ed in today's New York Sun about the civil trial over the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.

I'm quoted in City Journal on FDA litigation, and in the AARP Bulletin on Senate legislation to expand litigation over wage claims, though the latter's cribbed from my NPR blog post on the subject.

I never thought I'd be involved in a hot-coffee lawsuit, but Gamepolitics covers my intervention and objection to the Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas class action settlement over the Hot Coffee Mod, which I predicted before the suit was even filed.

(Played GTA IV between 1 and 3 last night, and it was totally worth it.)

Britney Spears just hired the law firm that repped me in my divorce. Los Angeles divorce lawyers have a nice racket in that the local courts hold lots of open-call hearings that have no set schedule, and permit the attorneys to run up the clock by sitting around for literally hours waiting for the case to be called; a hearing can be docketed for 9 am and get heard five or six hours later. Permits all sorts of gamesmanship, especially when one spouse is responsible for both attorneys' expenses. (Thankfully, I had a post-nup where I bought my way out of that law, or the divorce would have been more of a financial disaster than it was.)

Related in the Britney Spears divorce context.

If my brother were bald (and didn't have a beard), he'd be the spitting image of Eli Lake, the New York Sun writer.

I'd previously posted about the missing Agam sculpture, and it turns out that it was taken down when the paint faded after exposure to the Chicago elements, restored, and was recently remounted, but it seems they botched the coloring, in part because Agam failed to entirely cooperate. If Agam had sold the work after 1990, he'd have a legal cause of action under the Visual Artist Rights Act to have the restoration done under his auspices, but he didn't, so he doesn't. He's threatening to sue under an attenuated theory of copyright violation.

Next time I'm in Chicago, the Harris Bank branch at LaSalle and Monroe Streets also has a big Agam; I wasn't previously aware of this, and will have to check it out.

The donut hole came up in the ABC Pennsylvania debate, and Obama, given a firm opportunity to clarify his position when Gibson pointed out his inconsistency on taxes, refused to take a firm position, even as he pandered on other expensive propositions. We can thus infer that there is not going to be a donut hole, but Obama doesn't want to acknowledge it.

CLINTON: I'm certainly against one of Senator Obama's ideas, which is to lift the cap on the payroll tax, because that would impose additional taxes on people who are educators here in the Philadelphia area, or in the suburbs, police officers, firefighters and the like.

So I think we have to be very careful about how we navigate this. So the $250,000 mark is where I'm sure we're going. But beyond that, we are going to have to look and see where we are.

GIBSON: Very quickly, because I owe Senator Clinton time, but do you want to respond?

OBAMA: Well, Charlie, I just have to respond real quickly to Senator Clinton's last comment. What I have proposed is that we raise the cap on the payroll tax because millionaires and billionaires don't have to pay beyond $97,000 a year. That is where it is capped. Now, most firefighters, most teachers, you know, they're not making over $100,000 a year. In fact, only 6 percent of the population does.

And I've also said that I'd be willing to look at exempting people who are making slightly above that.

But understand the alternative is that, because we're going to have fewer workers to more retirees, if we don't do anything on Social Security, then those benefits will effectively be cut because we'll be running out of money.

GIBSON: But, Senator, but that's a tax. That's a tax...

OBAMA: Well, no, no, look...

GIBSON: ... on people under $250,000.

OBAMA: Let me finish my point here, Charlie. Senator Clinton said she certainly wouldn't do this, this was a bad idea. In Iowa, when she was outside of camera range, said to an individual there she'd certainly consider the idea and then that was recorded. And she apparently wasn't aware that it was being recorded.

So this is an option that I would strongly consider, because the alternatives, like raising the retirement age or cutting benefits or raising the payroll tax on everybody, including people who make less than $97,000 a year...

GIBSON: But there's a heck of a lot of...

OBAMA: ... those are not good policy options.

GIBSON: There's a heck of a lot of people between $97,000 and $200,000 and $250,000. If you raise the payroll taxes...

OBAMA: And that's...

GIBSON: ... that's going to raise taxes on them.

OBAMA: And that's why I've said, Charlie, that I would look at potentially exempting those who are in between.

But the point is we're going to have to capture some revenue in order to stabilize the Social Security system. You can't get something for nothing. And if we care about Social Security, which I do, and if we are firm in our commitment to make sure that it's going to be there for the next generation, and not just for our generation, then we have an obligation to figure out how to stabilize the system.

And I think we should be honest in presenting our ideas in terms of how we're going to do that and not just say that we're going to form a commission and try to solve the problem some other way.

CLINTON: Well, in fact, I am totally committed to making sure Social Security is solvent. If we had stayed on the path we were on at the end of my husband's administration, we sure would be in a lot better position, because we had a plan to extend the life of the Social Security Trust Fund and, again, President Bush decided that that wasn't a priority, that the war in Iraq and tax cuts for the wealthiest of Americans were his priorities, neither of which he's ever paid for.

I think it's the first time we've ever been taken to war and had a president who wouldn't pay for it.

But when it comes to Social Security, fiscal responsibility is the first and most important step. You've got to begin to rein in the budget, pay as you go, to try to replenish our Social Security Trust Fund.

And, with all due respect, the last time we had a crisis in Social Security was 1983. President Reagan and Speaker Tip O'Neill came up with a commission. That was the best and smartest way, because you've got to get Republicans and Democrats together. That's what I will do.

And I will say, number one, don't cut benefits on current beneficiaries. They're already having a hard enough time. And, number two, do not impose additional tax burdens on middle-class families.

There are lots of ways we can fix Social Security that don't impose those burdens, and I will do that.

OBAMA: That commission raised the retirement age, Charlie, and also raised the payroll tax. And so Senator Clinton -- she can't have it both ways. You can't come at me for proposing a solution that will save Social Security without burdening middle-income Americans and then suggest that somehow she's got a magic solution.

CLINTON: But there are more progressive ways of doing it than, you know, lifting the cap. And I think we'll work it out. I have every confidence we're going to work it out. I know that we can make this happen.