Friday random thoughts...

• Local quandry: Former Rep. Richard Pombo is now working for a firm backing the same special interests who lobbied Pombo to gut the Endangered Species Act and drill for oil in Alaska. An instance of shared goals that happily coincide, or evidence that Pombo was always in the pocket of special interests? The answer probably depends on the perspective of who you ask.

• Irony of the week No. 1: Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich acknowledged he was having an extramarital affair, even as he led the charge to impeach President Clinton over his Monica Lewinsky affair. Gingrich later divorced his wife while she was undergoing treatment for cancer.

• Historical ignorance? George W. Bush, in my opinion, is not a good president. Terrible, actually. But comparing him to Adolf Hitler, like protestors in Brazil did Thursday, might be a wee bit over the top.

• From alert reader "MM": Maybe the "Holy Drinking Water" being sold out of Linden should be taxed as "spirits."

• I could rant for days about the Walter Reed hosptial scandal, and probably will in a later blog. But for starters, does anyone find it unspeakably appaling that politicians who say over and over how important it is to support the troops they sent to war have the gall to make excuses and pretend they had no way of knowing this was going on?

• Rep. Jerry McNerney's first bill through the House, H.R. 700, encourages conservation of energy, one of the goals he laid out during his campaign. Let's hope he doesn't forget ethics reform — another top campaign trial priority — now that he's an incumbent.

• Irony of the week No. 2: Walter Reed Army Medical Center is run by a department in the executive branch of government. Press secretary Tony Snow said the White House — the head of the executive branch and where responsibility should ultimately lie — referred reporters to sources farther down the chain of command for answers.

• Tracy has a new sports park plan. Forget the senseless worries about the PG&E pipeline that runs through the property. What about the off-the-cuff decision by the council and Mayor Brent Ives to add two synthetic turf fields that a previous staff report concluded would cost more money in the long run?

• Randomest thought of the week: "I think that this situation absolutely requires a really futile and stupid gesture be done on somebody's part."

• Calvin & Hobbes quote of the week: "Something doesn't feel right here, and I think it's me sitting in this box."

••• Attention alert readers! Send me stuff you find funny (jmendelson@tracypress.com). I'll post it on the Web or turn it into a column. •••