Last week, the city's attempt to condemn the last privately owned patch of the Bosque and preserve it as open space stalled when a judge ruled the property—125 acres located on the west side of the Rio Grande just north of Montaño Bridge—was outside Albuquerque's municipal limits.

The velvet touch. Hey guys, next time your sweetheart goes in for a PAP smear, thank a trial lawyer for keeping the lust demons at bay. At least, that's how you might interpret President George W. Bush's latest verbal blunder (or was he serious?).

Did you notice the results of the latest polling published in the morning daily? No, not the headline-grabbing "which candidate's ahead if the voting were today" stuff; that's going to change back and forth a dozen times between now and election day.

A couple miles past Isleta Pueblo on northbound I-25, stands the less-than-dazzling attempt by the Albuquerque Convention and Visitors Bureau (ACVB) to promote Old Town Albuquerque, the city's historical home. But you'll probably miss it if you're not paying attention.

Dateline: Belgium—Prison guards in Belgium have come up with a novel solution to the recent rash of breakouts: Keep security lax. Union representatives fear that prisoners will turn to violence to get away if they can no longer escape easily. They argue that allowing crooks to break out of jail using nonviolent methods will stop dangerous situations from developing. Union Leader Filip Dudal said in a radio interview this week that, “It is better for them to escape through a case of mistaken identity than planting bombs or taking the wardens hostage.” In a recent incident, one prisoner was helped from outside over a 15-foot wall while another simply walked out of the prison wearing a visitor's clothes.

It is distressing and disgusting to witness the blatant hypocrisy displayed by Rep. Heather Wilson's ads taunting her support for the Medicare Reform/drug benefit Bill approved by Congress last year. That is the one which, days after its passage, we found out that the Bush administration had suppressed its own staff reports warning that the cost would be a "mere" $150 billion more than reported to Congress. This measure is a cruel hoax on one of our most vulnerable populations; the aged among us.