It's amazing to me to see the New York Times and everyone else wring hands over the fate of Russian billionaire Mikhail Khodorkovsky.

He was one of many known to have ripped off the Russian people during the privatization process a decade ago.

No question that justice is perverted in his case now -- but it's never been different in Russia, and Khodorkovsky is clearly a crook.

Whether Mr. Khodorkovsky is guilty of the fraud and forgery alleged by prosecutors is much debated here and abroad, particularly given the murky nature of most big business in Russia. The real question, however, is whether he has any chance of due process or, should it ever come to it, a fair and open trial.

Excuse me? The real question isn't whether he wiped away the fortunes of thousands of Russians to become the country's wealthiest tycoon? The question isn't whether Putin is finally cracking down on the massive systemic abuse and monopolization of most of Russia's main industries??

Even our most mainstream media's memories are whithering away....

This NYTimes piece points out that until IPOs are priced right at market at the opening, we'll always have Quattrones.

From this Sunday's NYT magazine:

The official line from the White House and the Pentagon is that things in Baghdad and throughout Iraq are improving. But an average of 35 attacks are mounted each day on American forces inside Iraq by armed resisters of one kind or another, whom American commanders concede are operating with greater and greater sophistication. In the back streets of Sadr City, the impoverished Baghdad suburb where almost two million Shiites live -- and where Bush administration officials and Iraqi exiles once imagined American troops would be welcomed with sweets and flowers -- the mood, when I visited in September, was angry and resentful. In October, the 24-member American-appointed Iraqi Governing Council warned of a deteriorating security situation.

At the same time I am not going to be overwhelmingly pessimistic. There is reason for optimism. "Hope Dies Last" (the name of my new book) is a phrase used by Jessie de la Cruz, who worked very closely with Cesar Chavez organizing the farm workers. She said that whenever times were bleak, they had a phrase, "la esperanza muere última -- hope dies last." Because what is the alternative? Despair. And with despair, all that is left is the head in the oven, or about 20 sleeping pills and a couple of martinis -- or in my case a dozen martinis.

I must make a confession here. I am a fellow alumnus of John Ashcroft; we both attended the University of Chicago Law School. I was there about 30 years before he was, but he is much older than I am. I maintain John Ashcroft is at least 300 years old, because he is simply the reincarnation of the Reverend Samuel Parris we saw in Arthur Miller’s play "The Crucible." The subject was witchcraft. We were as afraid of witchcraft then as we are of terrorists today. Reverend Parris came into Salem, as the chief prosecutorial officer, like Ashcroft is now. He pointed to the young hysterical girls and said you are not with me if you challenge me, you are consorting with the devil -- with evil.

--Studs Terkel

UPDATE: Jamestown ordered evacuated at about 12:30 PM. Fire over 600 acres by 1:40 PM.

Evacuations in west Castle Pines for the Cherokee Ranch fire.

You have to wonder about the co-incidence of all of these fires spread almost as far apart as possible in the major metro areas of Los Angeles and Denver...

9News coverage and on Cherokee Ranch here. The Denver Channel coverage.

The Jamestown fire is at 30 acres as of about 11:45 AM today, and just started another small fire a mile north as the winds whipped flames from canyon-top-to-top.

Another lesson that Colorado, and the country, need better and more intergrated plans:

Fire managers have called for an additional 30 firefighters, bulldozers and a helicopter. But they say many resources have already been diverted to fight the wildfires in California.

and...

Boulder Rural Fire Protection Agency Capt. Mike McNamara said that although Boulder County did send firefighters and fire engines to help with the California wildfires, the fire departments are not stripped and do have enough resources to fight the blaze.

However, the department is trying to hire a private helicopter to help out and make water drops because all of the available aircraft have been dispatched to southern California to fight those infernos.

The new Center for American Progress is watching Bush daily.

Excerpts from today:

(Bush said yesterday)that "the world is more peaceful and more free under my leadership." It was an astounding declaration considering the fact that the U.S. is mired in a guerilla war in Iraq, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is escalating, and a nuclear threat is boiling in Iran and North Korea. As Amnesty International noted in its 2003 annual report , "The world has become more dangerous, and governments more repressive, since the effort to fight terrorism began after 9/11."

...The president declared yesterday at his press conference, “Credibility comes when you say something is going to happen and then it does happen…You are not credible if you issue resolutions and then nothing happens.” By this definition, Bush’s own former statements on employment, tax cuts and the war in Iraq fail the credibility test. Three months after being sworn in, Bush declared of his tax cuts, “Tax relief will create new jobs,” a cry he revisited just last month about his second round of cuts with, “Tax relief means new jobs in America.” Those jobs haven’t appeared. Currently, President Bush is poised to become the first American president since Herbert Hoover to preside over a nation with fewer jobs available at the end of his term than when he started; since the first tax cut took effect in June, 2001, the economy has lost 2.75 million jobs. The second tax cut was followed by a drop of 124,000 more.

Juan Pierre leads Marlins...

Chris Drury beats Avs

Brian Griese has dream start for Dolphins

Just in the last two weeks.......

Big sigh...

... and that we're not moving into dangerous environmental zones...

California Wildfires Threaten 30,000 Homes

Fanned by the hot, dry Santa Ana winds and minimal humidity, major fires were raging in at least 10 places, having already burned nearly 200,000 acres. The fires were threatening at least 30,000 homes across the region and have already caused millions of dollars in damages.