Lex writes: "If the journalism bidness gave a damn for its customers’ well-being, it would gauge its performance on the basis of how well informed the populace is and adjust its performance accordingly. In no developed country in the universe should any significant number of people have been able to believe, years after the fact, that Saddam Hussein was responsible for 9/11. But if the journalism bidness did anything at all in reaction to this travesty, it was to blame it on those scruffy, undisciplined, unserious bloggers."

"One potentially ominous sign for the regional economy evident in the banks’ numbers for the second quarter is a big jump in commercial properties they’d taken over. After two quarters of declines, banks reported more than double the value of those assets on their books since the end of the first quarter of this year, $14.3 million worth."