Neanderthals were slicker than I thought

• I’m as guilty as anybody of using the term “Neanderthal” to suggest coarseness and loutishness. In fact, back when Tom Fuentes replaced Steve Frogue on our board in 2000, I was quoted as saying, “We’ve gotten rid of a crude Neanderthal but replaced him with a slick one” (OC Register, July 13, 2000). I now realize how horribly I maligned Neanderthals with that remark.

According to a piece that appeared in the Guardian over the weekend (In praise of ... Neanderthals), we've grossly underestimated our hairy brethren. Recent research suggests that Neanderthals likely could speak (they sang). Plus their brains were bigger than ours.

Here’s an interesting factoid: there were never more than 10,000 Neandos, or so new genome evidence suggests.

I have no doubt that just one Tom Fuentes can stink up things better than all the Neandos who ever lived rolled together into one hairy ball.

• Amanda Parsons of the OC Weekly updates us on the Democratic protest of Dick Cheney and today’s San Clemente “GOP hobnobery.” Evidently, we’re all invited:

If interested, bring a sign and join the OC Democratic party and friends today at 2:15 p.m. at Trestles State Beach parking lot (5 South to Christianitos Rd.; Left at stop sign and go over the freeway. Make a left at the next stop sign and the parking lot is on your right-hand side). At 3:00 p.m. the group will march to La Casa Pacifica [aka Nixon's "Western Whitehouse"].

• The OC Reg also reports on the protests ( Vice President Cheney's visit draws differing views), noting that things sure have changed since 2001:

The Bush administration’s approval ratings are near the lowest of his presidency, at about 30 percent, according to the Real Clear Politics Website. ¶ And Cheney’s rating is at its lowest in a June Harris poll. After peaking at 69 percent at one point in 2001, only 18 percent now approve of the way the vice president is doing his job, with 74 percent disapproving.

• The Times has a story about Pastor Rick Warren’s “prominence.” (See Visits by McCain, Obama to Orange County church underscore Pastor Rick Warren's prominence.) Too bad they don’t have a story about Warren's dishonesty—or whatever it is. After weeks of telling the public that tickets for the “civil forum” would soon become available, yesterday, he announced, just four days before the event, that no tickets will be made available to the public after all. They’ve been distributed to congregants, at from $500 to $2000 a pop. —It’s a fundraiser, folks, and it's raising millions.