Links to my latest columns:

Scene & Herd — Includes recollections of Chinese New Year’s in Chamblee and College Night at The High

Don’t Panic — Where I answer the question on everyone’s minds, why is civil unrest in Nigeria costing Americans money?

From White House released preview excerpts of tonight’s speech:

“America is addicted to oil, which is often imported from unstable parts of the world,” Bush said in the excerpts. “The best way to break this addiction is through technology.”

Study Ties Political Leanings to Hidden Biases from yesterday’s Washington Post.

That study found that supporters of President Bush and other conservatives had stronger self-admitted and implicit biases against blacks than liberals did.

In related news, a recent University of The Obvious study has determined that lava is hot, ice is cold, and Trix are for kids.

We wish you well.

Oh, jeez, sorry, I should rephrase that.

‘Baby Jessica,’ Now 19, Reportedly Marries
Sun Jan 29, 10:16 PM ET

MIDLAND, Texas – “Baby Jessica,” whose dramatic rescue from an abandoned Texas well was televised across the country 18 years ago, got married in a private ceremony, People magazine reported on its Web site.

Crews struggled for 58 hours to rescue Jessica McClure after she fell into an 8-inch-wide pipe in October 1987.

The celebrity magazine reported that McClure, now 19, married Daniel Morales, 32, at a rural church outside Midland on Saturday. A sign on the door instructed guests not to take pictures or video, the magazine said.

The two met at a day-care center where Morales’ sister worked with McClure, according to the magazine.

The case of 18-month-old Jessica created a nationwide sensation. Emergency crews rescued her — a dramatic moment covered on live television — after digging a parallel shaft and then breaking through the wall of the well.

Me neither.

Here are links to my most recent columns:

Pug Life

Is the Iraq war hastening Japan’s remilitarization?

Who wants to see photos of my vacation?

Ben Jones, the actor/congressman/souvenir vendor who played Cooter on the TV series The Dukes of Hazzard says that the upcoming Dukes of Hazzard feature film is a “sleazy insult” that “trashed” the original “family-friendly” show with profanity and sexual innuendo.

So let’s get this straight: A TV show whose two heroes are jobless, retro-confederate cousins who drive around recklessly all day, evading police and shooting dynamite-tipped arrows, pausing usually only to stop at their favorite bar, is “family-friendly.”

Those same people flirting, winking and saying ‘sh*t’ a few times is sleazy.

So declares a man famous for playing a character whose name is slang for female genitalia.

Gotta love them family values.

On to the next thing . . .

My latest Scene & Herd and Don’t Panic columns are online as well as a review of Brian Eno’s new album, more Metblogs postings, and some new My ‘Lanta Podcasts.

Here’s what I’ve been up to:

My visits to Ikea and the Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest at Zoo Atlanta are chronicled right here.

A short biography of the amazing Aung San Suu Kyi is right here.

A story about China’s bid for Unocal is here.

Phil & I recorded several new podcasts for our My ‘Lanta project and I’ve been blogging like mad on Metroblogging Atlanta.

Christi and I are sitting and watching Live 8, and she just asked the question that we should all be asking:

“Why is Stevie Wonder wearing a watch?”