Well, you are absolutely right about that. I just wish the media would focus on some good news more often.

Problem is, good news is boring and no one really tunes in for that. A local station tried a "good news" format for 30 minutes a day, right before the evening news. It lasted about a week. No one watched (including me).

I may just be getting cynical in my old age, but I predict that Mark Becker will soon be claiming that Coach Thomas molested him back in high school, which he'll say was what caused him to start doing drugs. Even if not a word of it is true, it's his only shot to make a jury sympathetic to him.

no I dont think so, he did have mental illness, and he was on meth., which I knew as did others in town. Still, very uncharacteristic of him. No, he wont say that. The town is supporting the Becker family and praying for Mark along with the Thomas family. this is a very small tight knit community and everyone is trying to figure out why. Even the Thomas family has asked that we all support the Becker family in this. Thats how well liked Mark was. Nobody is saying he doesnt deserve to be punished but he did try to get help and was cast aside. he told people that demons were telling him to do bad things and he didnt want to do them. The psychiatric hospital let him go last week, the day before he shot coach. He was only there for 2 days. The system failed Mark, and in turn it failed coach Thomas. They both pay with their lives. sad /sad.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':blink:' />

As you are at ground zero for this story Cowbud, is it true that the hospital fumbled by failing to comply with police instruction that the cops were to be notified in advance of this guy being released so they could pick him up? You hear so many crazy things when you're out of the loop.

I just figured some sleazebag defense attorney would tell him to say that. After all, it worked for the Menendez brothers, and those two deserve to be fried in an electric chair that applies current in tune with Yoko Ono music. Just seem weird that he would shoot one guy out of a whole room full of people.

Possibly because he was an authority figure? We may never know for certain. If this kid had psychological problems to begin w/the meth would've definitely forced a "break". This story just gets worse and worse in it's senselessness. Just so sad.

From CNN: Palin stepping down as governor

"WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Gov. Sarah Palin announced Friday that she will step down as Alaska's chief executive by the end of the month. She will not seek election to a second gubernatorial term in 2010.

"People who know me know that besides faith and family, nothing's more important to me than our beloved Alaska," Palin said at an announcement from her home in Wasilla. "Serving her people is the greatest honor I could imagine."

Palin, a Republican, was elected governor in 2006. She was tapped as Arizona Sen. John McCain's vice presidential running mate last year.

Palin said she was transferring authority to Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell, who will be sworn in at the Governor's Picnic on July 26. Video Watch Palin's announcement »

Palin added in a statement that she was "determined to take the right path for Alaska even though it is not the easiest path. … Once I decided not to run for re-election, I also felt that to embrace the conventional lame duck status in this particular climate would just be another dose of politics as usual, something I campaigned against and will always oppose."

A Republican source close to her political team told CNN's John King that it was a "calculation" she made that "it was time to move on." The governor's "book deal and other issues" were "causing a lot of friction" in her home state, the source said, adding that he believes she is "mapping out a path to 2012."

Another source, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said Palin "thinks she has accomplished goals she has set forward. … She sees what a positive influence she has had on people's lives from traveling the country in the last year."

Following Palin's announcement, the Democratic National Committee blasted what it called her "bizarre behavior."

"Either Sarah Palin is leaving the people of Alaska high and dry to pursue her long shot national political ambitions or she simply can't handle the job now that her popularity has dimmed and oil revenues are down," DNC spokesman Brad Woodhouse said.

"Either way, her decision to abandon her post and the people of Alaska who elected her continues a pattern of bizarre behavior that more than anything else may explain the decision she made today."

Republican strategist and CNN contributor Ed Rollins said, to a certain extent, Palin's announcement makes her look "terribly inept."

"I think everyone is shocked by this, and I think to a certain extent everyone is going to assume there's another story. You don't just quit with a year and a half to go. You certainly don't do this as a stepping stone to run for president. You finish the job that you're in, and obviously she's not doing that," he said.

"I think people are going to be very suspicious because of the timing. You don't quit on the Friday of a three-day holiday. If you are going to do this, you think it through, you give a good speech," Rollins said.

As the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee, Palin had been considered one of the front-runners for the GOP nomination in 2012.

In an interview last month with CNN's Wolf Blitzer, Palin said she was unsure about her re-election bid because she needed to focus on her state and her family.

"So, no decision yet on either 2010 or let alone 2012?" Blitzer asked.

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"No decision that I'd want to announce today," Palin responded.

Palin catapulted on the national stage last August when McCain, the Republican presidential nominee, chose her as his running mate. "

I can't even come up with a comment for this – and I always have a comment for everything.

All I can say is that Jim's taste in women has vastly improved in the past several years. From what he tells me, he hit on her when she was the mayor of Wasilla and was up doing work on their sewer system – or water system – or something like that.

Like she was the only woman I hit on that day. She was just the best-dressed. Besides, I hit on her before I knew who she was.

All happened long before I got together with you, honey.