WHY, ONE COULD HAVE AN AFTER LUNCH ASSIGNATION IN DC AND BE BACK IN THE BIG APPLE BY COCKTAIL HOUR, FOR INSTANCE

Second, why not take an amount equal to the AIG bailout (more than $180 billion) and invest in a product that would be truly worthwhile: high-speed rail along our major economic corridors? If we transform the L.A.-San Francisco corridor with high-speed rail, and D.C.-Boston similarly, the savings and technological advances would be enormous.

Eliot Spitzer in Slate

OR MAYBE NOT (SEE POST BELOW)

The accused teen killer of WABC newsman George Weber had answered a craigslist ad placed by the victim seeking a sadomasochistic partner to smother him, according to police documents unsealed Friday.

John Katehis told NYPD homicide detectives after his arrest that he was neither bisexual nor gay, but was merely seeking to score a quick $60 he had negotiated from Weber for the kinky act.

Katehis, 16, pleaded not guilty at his arraignment Friday on murder charges, where his lawyer Jeffrey Schwartz argued the teen was defending himself from a sexual attack by Weber who called himself "smotherboy" and was wielding a knife.

nydn

MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE?

BOSTON (AP) -- The highest court in Massachusetts has rejected an appeal by an inmate convicted of killing a priest at the center of the Boston clergy sex abuse scandal.

Joseph Druce strangled John Geoghan (GAY'-gan) in his prison cell in August 2003. Geoghan was in prison for fondling a 10-year-old boy, and was accused of sexually abusing more than 100 other children.

The defense argued Druce was mentally ill.

Prosecutors said Druce was a calculating killer who planned the slaying so he could be a "big shot" in prison.

nyt

THE FIRST CLUE

Clean-cut 'Craigslist Killer' suspect Philip Markoff gave off 'creepy vibe'

A high-achieving dentist's son from upstate New York, Philip Markoff is described in various ways, but everyone, even those who didn't like him, is shocked at the charges against him.

At college, he was a member of the College Republicans....

nydn

IT'S THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT

From the Sunday Times

Tales of sexual encounters via Craigslist run the gamut from the erotic to the bizarre. Nola, a 42-year-old saleswoman who lives in Manhattan, posts elegantly written ads seeking a man who will meet her in a public place so she can go to the bathroom and remove her panties, which she will then hand to him in an envelope.

continuing.....

Nola, for instance, said in a telephone interview that she got an erotic thrill from giving men her used underwear, knowing they would serve as fetish objects. She started doing this last June after she thought, “I wear underpants every single day of my life, and somebody’s got to want these underpants.” The recipients, she said, pay her a small replacement fee.

Nola has acquired a stalker as a result of her actions, but still distributes her panties. She does not have sex with the men she meets online, meets them only in public places, and keeps a file of their names and photos, making sure a friend knows where to find it. She doesn’t limit herself to straight men. “I put ads up for lesbians looking for women’s undies, gay men looking for undies, rough-and-tumble guys,” she said. “This is just me sitting and being silly.”

all the news

1. Elegantly written ads? Roll over Jane Austen, tell Kate Chopin the news.

2. A telephone interview? Why didn't the reporter meet her in a public place?

3. A small replacement fee? Aargh! Why, she'a practically a philanthrophist.

4. And note the Nola is an equally opportunity advertiser. God forbid that lesbians and gay men she be deprived the opportunity to, um uh, do um....