Last night, France escaped elimination from 2010 World Cup qualifying, sending Ireland home instead. In the last possible seconds of overtime, just before a shoot out would have become necessary, French team captain Thierry Henry forwarded a free kick to William Gallas, who headed it into the goal. Fantastic finish, right? Fantastic except for the fact that to keep the ball in play, Henry basically had to catch it. With his hand.

Laura showed up at my door today. Well actually, a UPS guy. But he handed over a copy of The Original of Laura, Vladimir Nabokov's final, unfinished, fragmentary novel.

I had never ordered a book pre-publication before, without waiting for the reviews or (more likely) for it to go into paperback. This was different. This was Nabokov -- his first "new" work in more than 30 years. And, obviously, his last. I had to have it.

Here's how American politics can be swiftly summarized:

If I give you five dollars in exchange for consideration in your decision-making process in the voting booth, that's illegal.  If I give a member of Congress five-thousand dollars for the same purpose, that's politics.

Many Americans seem to be fond of a sort of ersatz independent politics, though for the most part these people are transparently partisan.  Glenn Beck claims he is independent.  Lou Dobbs calls himself Mr. Independent.  The list goes on.