• Having to spend most of this morning in my car, I listened to a considerable amount of state budget analysis on New York City radio stations. Much of the talk focused on Gov. David Paterson's proposal to cut state aid to public schools by more than 3 percent, and every single commentator said such a dramatic cut will force school districts to raise property taxes. I have a better suggestion for the school districts: REDUCE SPENDING!!

• Speaking of Paterson, I noticed the daily poll question in this morning's Freeman (which I didn't write, because I'm off on Mondays) asked whether the recent "Saturday Night Live" sketch that made fun of the governor's blindness was in poor taste. Of course it was in poor taste; that's what made it so darn funny. And forgive me if I have trouble taking seriously Paterson's outrage over the sketch considering that no one pokes more fun at Paterson's blindness than Paterson himself.

• Lastly, I think all the reporters who covered and commented on the now-infamous shoe-throwing incident Sunday in Baghdad missed one important element: How does a guy throwing an object as large as a shoe miss a target that's only 10 feet away — and not once, but twice? No chance now that the Yankees are gonna sign this guy. Seriously, though, the most disturbing element of the incident was that it took Secret Service agents a full seven seconds to surround President Bush after the footwear flew. If the offender's aim had been better, and the objects he threw had been, say, sharp knives, Mr. Bush might very well have suffered a critical or fatal injury.