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Thank God it's Friday (and Saturday)!

I confess I only heard the last few minutes of the president's speech Thursday night. I was interviewing some folks about the state of health care in this country. (Another national disaster.) Did he change anybody's mind? By the way, didn't this whole "war on terrorism" start because Osama bin Laden drew first blood on 9/11? How's that search going?

I don't much care whether the prosecutor in the horrific West Virginia case charges the defendants with a "hate crime." We know what they did was rooted in hatred. According to the prosecutor, the attackers face tougher sentences for the myriad of other charges. What I really care about is the prosecutors don't screw this thing up. This young woman deserves justice.Your thoughts?

A weekend post is the appropriate time to thank all the secondhand business owners who have called or e-mailed to invite me to their stores. In a newspaper ad promoting my column, I list one of my hobbies as secondhand store shopping. Some of my furniture and most of my wardrobe comes from secondhand stores, and I've got a pretty nice wardrobe, if I may say so.

I will be making the rounds this weekend, so maybe I'll bump into you. My favorite secondhand find was a pair of Jones New York wool slacks I bought last fall for a quarter. Now that's a steal. Anybody have a similar steal they'd like to share?

Coming Sunday: An update on the blog-naming contest. Keep those names coming. You've got until midnight Sunday.

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