From an AP article of the same title in The Detroit News:

A Wal-Mart cashier who posted a joke on his MySpace Web page lost his job after the company apparently perceived it as a threat.

David Noordewier, of Lapeer County's Almont Township, posted a joke that suggested average IQs would increase if a bomb were dropped on every Wal-Mart store. He said he thought it was crude, but funny.

His bosses at the store in Macomb County's Shelby Township disagreed, and fired him Feb. 27.

He said he believes a co-worker who disliked him copied the MySpace page and showed it to his boss.

"If you have a MySpace site, you better act like you're a politician," he said. "Be politically correct and don't try to be funny."

You might have heard that France recently elected a right-wing candidate. A French friend told me. "We elected our George Bush." It's interesting to see what passes for right-wing among the French. From a recent editorial in The Week:

In the Gallic context, a right-winger doesn't resemble anything close to a Ronald Reagan. He's more like a Bill Clinton or a Tony Blair - tempering a respect for market economics with a strong commitment to social services. Sarkozy's version of tax reform, for example, envisions a cut in the top income tax rate from 60 percent all the way down to 50 percent - still among the highest in Europe. And his plan to reduce France's bloated bureaucracy doesn't call for a single job cut; he simply proposes not replacing some of the civil servants who will retire in the next few years. Add to that his pledges to ban "golden parachute" payouts to corporate executives, make all national museums free, and legalize gay civil unions, and Sarkozy starts to seem more left-wing than most Democrats. In foreign politics, as in foreign policy, perspective is everything. One country's conservative is another country's liberal.

On another blog I've started a new hobby of maintaining a timeline of major news stories about Iraq with links to the articles. For example the next time someone tells you there was a significant pre-war link between Saddam and Al-Qaeda, go there (link) to find a link to the article describing the recently-released Pentagon report debunking that claim. It's also a sad summary of the constant march of death with a rare nugget of good news occasionally mixed in.

We had some friends (Chai, Sitter, Wanous) over Saturday afternoon. Below are some photos and a video of the boys in the backyard. On Monday we watched the parade. The Somasi and Jolly families came over for pizza lunch. Some yard work in the afternoon. Then dinner at the Jolly's place.

• A Candidate, His Minister and the Search for Faith (NY Times, discusses Obama's faith and his relationship with his controversial pastor)
• A Plastic Wrapper Today Could Be Fuel Tomorrow (NY Times, scientists are developing plastics for normal uses that are designed to be easily used as a diesel fuel)