What was supposed to be a quick trip to the curb with the weekly recycling turned into a bit of a diversion, as we stopped to read several interesting items we encountered in yesterday's New York Times:

- An extensive backgrounder on Fred Thompson -- especially his days as a Capitol Hill lawyer during Watergate. Compared to now, those were the days.

- A full-page display ad accusing People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals of killing more animals than Michael Vick -- with a link here. I have no idea what to make of the accusations.

- An op-ed piece about the difference between classified information and secret information. Which contains the sobering revelation that even some Times op-ed pieces get vetted by the CIA before publication. We Americans brag about our freedom of the press, but there are some glaring exceptions.

- A story about a California pedophile, recently moved down there from Washington State, who's now looking for a new state in which to live because of restrictions placed on him down south. He's been legally enjoined from, among other things, publishing pictures of little girls. Now that the internet has made publishers out of so many of us, that prohibition really means something.

- Finally, a musical note. A big bucks New York law firm had its promotional song leaked into (and ridiculed in) the blogosphere, and it's not happy about it. But its reaction didn't exactly put out the fire.