"Whenever there is a lull in the hard-news cycle, other stuff - tabloid fare, culture-war battles, entertaining fluff - immediately flows in and fills the gap. Even in the political realm, the chatter tends to focus on personalities and rivalries more than issues. Hold on, you might say. There's no shortage of hugely important issues facing the country. And that's true. But most of them are mired in incremental developments for the moment."
-Howard Kurtz

LATE FRIDAY NEWS:
* Obama to bring back the trials at Guantanamo but with reforms. Fingers crossed.
* BAGnewsNotes on torture At Bagram. Heavy stuff.
* Sign of the times: GM cuts over 1,000 dealerships. Ouch.
* "Pragmatism is a word Obama aides use suspiciously often."
* Huh. Utah, of all places, has a new type of Republican.
* Ecosystem in trouble: the impending collapse of the Coral Triangle.
* "What can reality TV teach us about clinical drug trials?"
* Should universal health care cover faith healing? (Hell no?)
* Bringing landlocked Bolivia access to the Pacific.