Pamela Ross, age 57, is dead. Her husband is left a widower fighting foreclosure. He has 10 days to bury the dead and salvage what's left of his life.

There's no time left to study the problem.

Tennessee has joined the ranks of a small and progressive group: states with a female majority on their highest court, in a profession long dominated by men.

Wisconsin, New York and Washington, D.C., are the only other states that can boast the distinction of having a female majority, and those in the legal community say Tennessee can attribute its progress, in part, to Gov. Phil Bredesen.

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Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, the last big independent investment banks on Wall Street, will transform themselves into bank holding companies subject to far greater regulation, the Federal Reserve said Sunday night, a move that fundamentally reshapes an era of high finance that defined the modern Gilded Age.

To understate things completely: this changes everything.

Step 1. If the winner of your democratic primary isn't the winner you'd prefer, all you need do is to claim that the primary outcome is "incurably uncertain," or otherwise tainted. To do this, you need only invoke the possibility of GOP shenanigans and/or claim that a revote to correct for alleged shenanigans would be tainted -- no actual evidence required and you wouldn't want those pesky voters making the same mistake again!

Step 2. Meet and

Showmanship and pretty pictures aside, what message does it send that Obama won't be accepting the nomination in the same room with the people that nominated him? You know, surrounded by real democrats, hardworking delegates even, and at the actual democratic convention...

So why is it that Senator Obama is performing below expectations? Why hasn't he opened up a much larger lead in most tracking polls?