One goes to bed with the feeling that the next six weeks will include a national opportunity for all but the far right to take apart questions of race, gender, class and political integrity. In a way, it is the first 21st century election. Will Obama force Clinton into the new millennium? Can she meet my expectations?

I wonder if I am, as antifeminists are constantly taunting, one of those women who is jealous of other women? Am I harder on women than on men? After all, the first qualified woman who becomes president is not likely to be everything a feminist would like her to be. Am I just not practical enough to hold my nose and go with a qualified woman? Clinton is to be respected for her intelligence, knowledge of the issues and consistent work for social justice.

Mike Smith, lead singer for Dave Clark Five, dies

Although the Beatles were the most popular of the British Invasion bands of the 1960s, the Dave Clark Five claimed a string of U.S. chart-topping hits, many of them co-written by Smith and Clark, including "Because," "Glad All Over," "Any Way You Want It" and "I Like It Like That."

The band made 12 appearances on Ed Sullivan's variety show, the most for any British act.

The group was founded by Clark, who played drums, in 1958. Smith was not an original member. He joined in 1961 as keyboardist, lead singer and the band's most recognizable face.

Smith was born in London on Dec. 12, 1943. He began studying classical music at age 5 and was admitted to Trinity Music College in London at 13.

After the demise of the band in the early 1970s, Clark and Smith continued to release singles as Dave Clark & Friends until 1973.

Juvenile detention frightening

COLUMBIA, Miss. - The Columbia Training School - pleasant on the outside, austere on the inside - has been home to 37 of the most troubled young women in Mississippi.

If some of those girls and their advocates are to be believed, it also is a cruel and frightening place.

The school has been sued twice in the past four years. One suit brought by the U.S. Justice Department, which the state settled in 2005, claimed detainees were thrown naked in to cells and forced to eat their own vomit. The second one, brought by eight girls last year, said they were subjected to "horrendous physical and sexual abuse." Several of the detainees said they were shackled for 12 hours a day.

These are harsh and disturbing charges - and, in the end, they were among the reasons why state officials announced in February that they will close Columbia.

Patriot missiles: Iraq Veterans Against the War

Some of them will be okay. They will live with the secrets. They can dissociate from what happened in combat because it was part of the job. It was what they signed up for. They will keep the secrets out of duty – the silence is part of a code, and they honour that code above all else.

In 1971, the protest group Vietnam Veterans Against the War gathered at a hotel in Detroit. More than 100 veterans talked about the atrocities they had witnessed in southeast Asia.

New Delhi, March 3

A case of polio was recently reported in the Capital with a 14-month-old girl from Darbhanga, Bihar, falling prey to the dreaded disease. Gulnaz, a resident of West Delhis Zakira locality, was diagnosed with the disease in the Kirti Nagar area, health officials said. The child is afflicted with the P1 strain of polio. It is the deadliest of the polio virus. PTI

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SNP 'not fit to govern'

He also backs claims that the proposed new local income tax level of 3p in the pound will actually have to rise to 5p if the party is to balance its books. His comments come at the start of a critical week in the Holyrood election campaign, with the SNP, Labour and the Lib Dems all about to launch their manifestos - and with the SNP apparently stretching its lead. A poll by Scottish Opinion published today has the SNP leading Labour 40% to 28% on the constituency vote, and 39% to 28% on the regional vote. This would give the SNP 56 seats to Labour's 40. Last night Labour promised to cut council tax for pensioners by a quarter, and the SNP said its own plans to replace council tax with a new local income tax amounted to "the biggest tax cut in a generation". Midwinter is a highly-respected former adviser to the Scottish Parliament's powerful Finance Committee, and has been a trenchant critic of the Labour-led Scottish Executive.

Harper's 12

Bruce is our mechanic," says a Harper confidant. "He can fix anything."

Well, maybe not anything. Back in 2006, Carson was loaned to then environment minister Ron Ambrose when her handling of the government's high-profile climate change strategy was spinning out of control. The intervention wasn't enough to save Ambrose, who was later shuffled out of Environment to sink from sight as intergovernmental affairs minister. But Carson wasn't blamed. Established on the file, he stuck with it to play a key behind-the-scenes role as an architect of Environment Minister John Baird's bid last spring to succeed where Ambrose had stumbled in crafting a plausible global warming strategy.

In that role, Carson appeared on the radar screens of powerful industry lobbyists, particularly in the oil and gas sector, who are worried about how any emissions regulations could hit their bottom lines.

The Blotter

Patrick Cochran of the child abuse unit.

On Dec. 15, 2007 at Gold's Gym, 1701 W. Ben White Blvd the unidentified suspect entered the sauna. As the suspect entered, the victim noticed all the other men in the sauna leaving. The suspect then exposed and touched himself for self gratification in front of the victim.

Arrow Electronics Signs Definitive Agreement to Acquire LOGIX S.A ...

MELVILLE, N.Y. --(Business Wire)-- Arrow Electronics, Inc. (NYSE:ARW) today announced that its proposed acquisition of LOGIX S.A. ("LOGIX"), a subsidiary of Groupe OPEN, was approved by the LOGIX works council and the company has signed a definitive agreement pursuant to which Arrow will purchase 100 percent of the shares of LOGIX. Arrow anticipates the acquisition will be immediately accretive to earnings by $.02 to $.04 in the first 12 months. The transaction is subject to customary European Union competition clearance.

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Skateboarding flips make William Spencer a legend

Watch a montage of William Spencer tricks, including a front flip down a staircase and onto a skateboard. Watch the Pepsi commercial "More" featuring the Black Eyed Peas. Spencer does some stunt work, including running up the wall and doing a back flip. See a commerical for Shiseido Uno hair gel featuring Orlando Bloom. Everything that does not show Bloom's face is Spencer, from the hands picking up the gel to the guy flying through a window. Watch a 3-minute movie "Dewmocracy" that features the skating Spencer as the lead character in some Orwellian landscape. The viral video was directed by Forest Whitaker. .

Once-Daily Exjade(R) Shown to Remove Toxic Iron From the Heart and ...

Ongoing assessments of this trial, evaluating cardiac, hepatic and endocrine function, will determine the impact of iron reduction with Exjade on morbidity and mortality in MDS.

This study is a prospective, single-arm, phase II trial of 18 chronically transfused beta-thalassemia patients.