(Belated) Friday random thoughts...

• I'd run for office, but I don't want to be a criminal: According to this story, the president and Congress are pulling all-time low approval ratings. Could it be because of this? This? This? You tell me.

• Most. Expensive. Ego. Trip. Ever: Mitt Romney's presidential campaign.

• But you could have known he'd drop out a week ago from looking at this blog: Mitt Romney got absolutely no votes for president in my highly unscientific poll that closed Election Day. (If you're keeping track, Obama beat out closest competitior Rudy Guiliani 6-4.)

• And you thought the red-state blue-state battle was bad: A recent Tracy Press report about a kid suspended for wearing too much of a known gang color at school (even though he says he's not in a gang) has drawn more than 200 comments, not a few from local parents. Look them over. If you wonder why kids these days seem so crude and vulgar, this might give you an answer.

• Because they realized they need TV more than viewers do: A tentative resolution to the Hollywood writers' strike.

• Calvin and Hobbes quote of the week: "These are interesting times. We don't trust the government, we don't trust the legal system, we don't trust the media, and we don't trust each other! We've undermined all authority, and with it, the basis for replacing it! It's like a six-year-old's dream come true!"