By DAN K. THOMASSON, Scripps Howard News Service

The arrangement between George W. Bush and Richard Cheney was never a match made in heaven. As time went on a lot of Americans thought it just may have been contracted at the other end of the spectrum. Now there seems to be a residue of resentment between the two.

The arrangement between George W. Bush and Richard Cheney was never a match made in heaven. As time went on a lot of Americans thought it just may have been contracted at the other end of the spectrum. Now there seems to be a residue of resentment between the two.

Sitting around in a commercial jet on the runway for an extended period while airline officials dither over whether to take off, cancel the flight or wind their watches isn't all that usual but it isn't all that rare either. And when it does occur it can be maddening and dangerous and almost criminally negligent.

Everyone has one -- a health insurance horror story, that is. Some of course are far worse than others, but they all share one common thread, the corporate dedication to excessive profit at the expense of subscribers.

A wise and practical man once said that it is all right to stand on principle if the principle you're standing on has a good foundation, otherwise the consequences may be more than you can bear, particularly in politics. That is exactly the dilemma Republicans may face after voting overwhelmingly not to confirm Sonia Sotomayor to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Poor old Al Gore. Even the North Koreans, who are badly in need of anybody they might propagandize about, don't want him around, preferring his former boss, Bill Clinton.

The sense of outrage that permeated nearly every announcement of obscene compensation for Wall Street's profligate managers and traders a year ago seems to have faded with the public's anticipation that the worst of the economic crisis is over.

It isn't often that those of us struggling to be coherent in our chosen profession praise the work of our competitors, but the other day E.J. Dionne of The Washington Post made a suggestion that deserves passing -- on despite the fact it has little or no chance of ever being carried out.

It was astounding the other day to hear a national television pundit state unequivocally that Americans seldom talk about race, that there is no national dialogue on the subject. Has he been living on another planet or in a locked room with no contact with the outside world?

A key figure in the early days of the Reagan administration tells of one of the first meetings the new president had with his military and security advisers. Speaking of the Soviet Union, Reagan is supposed to have asked how the U.S. sized up with the Russians.