Follow-Ups

- To Is This the State of Things: Rep. Sherwood Boehlert's withdrawal as the commencemet speaker at this weekend's St. Elizabeth's School of Nursing graduation was apparently pushed by Utica's Bishop James Moynihan. The school's dean, Elizabeth Monahan, said she was told by the bishop's office that "church policy bars politicians who support abortion rights" from speaking at church facilities. Monahan said that the school's invitation to Boehlert had nothing to do with abortion: "Our reason for asking him to speak was for all he's done to promote health and education in our community. We meant no harm." The Oneonta Daily Star notes "The policy barring Boehlert apparently did not extend to a January appearance by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton at Canisius College, a Catholic school in Buffalo."

- To Free the NYTimes Columnists: Alan at The Yellow Line offers up this great post parodying our soon-to-be-expensive friends.

- To Bipartisan Action on Climate Change: Since I first reported on the efforts of Seattle mayor Greg Nickels on Saturday, nine more mayors have signed on this efforts, pledging to bring their cities into compliance with Kyoto by 2012. Keep up the good work!

- To Grenade Thrown Near Bush: After earlier speculation that it was inert, the grenade tossed toward a platform where President Bush was speaking in Tbilisi, Georgia on May 10 was actually live, but just failed to explode, reports Wednesday said.