Majority Says the Risks of Inaction Are Far Greater Than the Risks of Action

And now the most intriguing two minutes in television, the latest from the wartime grapevine:

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Military Action Against Saddam
The latest FOX News Opinion Dynamics poll indicates that while support for military action to remove Saddam Hussein has slipped since last fall, it remains strong with 66 percent in favor, only 22 percent opposed. And a similar majority agreed with Vice President Cheney that the risks of inaction are far greater than the risks of action. Indeed, 69 percent of those questioned believe that Saddam Hussein already has nuclear weapons, and even more — 76 percent — think he would use them against this country.

More Gathering Than Glitzing
The war on terrorism, and the president who's leading it, apparently haven't done much for the Washington social scene, and some people don't like it one bit. An article in the new edition of W, the fashion magazine, reports, "two years into Bush's first term, Washington's social scene is near death, and the natives are restless." The problem, it seems, is that the Bushes prefer informal gatherings of close friends to glitzy black-tie parties, and have so far held only two state dinners. Said the noted hostess Sally Quinn, "Washington, as we know it, is over .…"

Family Firm Fraud Finding
Remember that fraud verdict against the family firm of California Republican Gubernatorial candidate Bill Simon. A jury awarded $78 million to a man who had sold a company that ultimately went bankrupt to a group of investors, including Simon's company. Simon described the July 30 verdict as "crazy" said it wouldn't stand, but it hurt his campaign and Democratic Gov. Gray Davis used it in an ad that is still running. Well, today a Superior Court judge threw the whole thing out, saying the jury was wrong and that the man who brought the suit was the one who'd committed fraud.

South Pole Even Colder!
A new scientific paper says it is much colder at the South Pole than is generally believed, and concludes that the computer models used to predict global warming are seriously flawed. U.S. scientists at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole station say the air temperatures above the pole are between 68 and 86 degrees colder than computer models have estimated. Computer estimates were used because scientists had previously only been able to measure the actual temperatures at the surface or just above. But the U.S. scientists say they were able to use laser technology to actually check the temperatures as much as 68 miles in the air and found they were much colder than estimated.