The sincerity, the honest tributes of the blogosphere are what keep bringing me back. Reading what everyone has written about the Columbia tragedy today brings tears to my eyes. There are so many intelligent, compassionate people out there and I feel privileged that I can read and take comfort in their thoughts on this sad event. Check, as always, the links to the left. They can say most anything better than I can. The image that got to me the most while watching the news this morning was footage of a van driving the families of the astronauts away from the landing site. My thoughts and prayers are with them.

Two items in the State of the Union struck me as somewhat surprising (I didn't get to watch it, but I read the transcript). First, the pledge to help fight AIDS in Africa and second the dedication to engineering a hydrogen-powered car. Both of which I think are wonderful proposals, just not something I was expecting to hear in the speech. As for the real political analysis, I'll leave that to those more qulified.