Easy On The Top, Easy On The Sides And, Well, Just Easy: Steve Lopez increases his carbon footprint just to drive to Orange County and make fun of Republicans. People living up to their stereotypes are hi-sterical. Next week’s column: Lunch at Nate ‘n’ Al’s, where Lopez discovers Jews bicker a lot.

Police Academy: The LAPD wants production companies to start hiring off-duty active police officers (and not just guys in LAPD outfits) to work film sets. Hollywood is down on the idea, siting rising costs and red tape, but the real story here: Those guys who shut down freeway lanes and straddle their motorcycles in full cop regalia aren’t cops?! We’re so sneaking into George Clooney‘s dressing room.

Palin Deserves Privacy — And So Does The Rest Of America: Tim Rutten‘s column about Sarah Palin is a must-read. A snippet: “The point is that the Palins were able to make all these decisions according to the dictates of their own consciences, formed by their own religious convictions, within the privacy of their own family and according to its values and traditions. What they decided is nobody’s business but theirs; the fact that they were free to arrive at their own decision is everybody’s business.”