7/18 Morning Communiqué

THESE DAYS

Consumer magazine found both Starbucks' and Gloria Jean's Coffees' super-sized chilled coffee drinks contained more fat than a McDonald's Big Mac hamburger and a medium Coke combined.

The Bush administration says it plans sweeping changes in Medicare payments to hospitals that could cut payments by 20 percent to 30 percent for many complex treatments and new technologies.

MINNESOTA BLOG OF THE DAY

Sojourner is a local student who posts on his/her pagan religion, as well as other religious philosophies at A Pagan Sojourn.

[Minnesota-based blog directory]

TIME WASTERS

Top 10 vehicles with the highest fuel efficiency

Pug Bowling — the best revenge?

FREEDOM OF SPEECH

"Is your spare tire a ticking time bomb?"

-- CNN host Paul Zahn, promoting a segment on tire recalls for last night's episode of Paula Zahn Now

"Well, I think Mellencamp's performance was not very good to begin with, and the comment put it over the top."

-- Former Vice President Dan Quayle, through a spokesperson, on walking out of a John Mellencamp concert in a Nevada casino when the singer dedicated "Walk Tall" to everyone who had been hurt by the policies of the current Bush administration

"In terms of the style of its propaganda, this is a party in which Joseph Goebbels would feel at home."

-- Power Line blogger Paul Mirengoff, on Democrats claiming that President Bush is responsible for the outbreak of war in the Middle East