Detecting Chester Himes: “Absorbing biography of a misfit writer who reinvented the mystery genre.” Idiosyncratic, complex and conflicted, sometimes abstruse, outspoken expatriate crime writer who was a bestseller in France and some of whose titles you’ll recognize as minor films. SF Chronicle

Curve Ball: “The steep downward spiral of the stock markets, while bad news for Americans’ bank accounts, may actually be a good thing for their souls. …(T)here’s simply been too much money around lately for people to be happy.” The New Republic

“With an ally now in the White House, House Republicans yesterday opened a coordinated campaign to begin imposing new restrictions on abortion, starting with a bill that would impose penalties on people who harm a fetus during an assault on a pregnant woman.” Washington Post The strategy seems to be a war of attrition on opponents, starting with a move guaranteed to evoke maximum sympathy in a broad segment of the populace. (After all, who could oppose a measure responding to attacks on pregnant women!) If the opposition doesn’t draw a line in the sand, it appears certain a full constitutional challenge to a woman’s right to choose is in the offing. Let’s hope the Democratic leadership isn’t led to the slaughter singing the same old reconciliation and compromise song.

Palestinian intifada going mainstream. Probably because of Israel’s election of Sharon as well as the draconian isolation of Ramallah, a broader cross-section of Palestinian society is joining the mass protests. But even Palestinian observers are uncertain whether the intifada will move in a nonviolent direction or if belligerency will escalate. Christian Science Monitor

Lydon to reappear with a Web cast “Next Tuesday, nearly three weeks after WBUR-FM severed
ties with ”Connection” host Christopher Lydon and senior producer
Mary McGrath after a bitter contract deadlock, Lydon will resurrect the
popular show with a one-time, one-hour Web cast.” Update on the acrimonious Boston dispute that probably means the end of the most intelligent radio talk show ever, which I’ve blinked before. Boston Globe

Bush lets deadline pass on missile defense. “Pentagon officials said Friday the Bush
administration has let a March 16 deadline pass, without notifying Congress of
any intent to begin building a radar on Alaska’s Shemya island, making it
unlikely that construction of a national missile defense system can begin this
year.” CNN Wisdom or merely indecision?