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Debate coverage at CBS , New York Times , ABC (good lineup of quotes), and the complete transcript from FDCH E-Media.

NOVA will be airing a four-part special fiction program, Origins, tonight and tomorrow on PBS. "Guaranteed free of supernatural causes."

OK, so the program description didn't say that exactly; but nothing they'll be 'exploring' has anything to do with God, or reality. PBS will air four hours of things that never happened. Hour 1 promises to give viewers "a spectacular glimpse of the tumultuous first billion years of Planet Earth--a time of continuous catastrophe." Hour 2 "zeroes in on the mystery of exactly how [life] happened." Hour 3: Where are the Aliens? (And we all know for a fact they haven't found any, so why ask the question.) Hour 4 will focus on the mythical Big Bang and purportedly be "as close as we can get to a 'photograph' of the primordial universe."

Origins will broadcast during tomorrow's highly anticipated (and highly broadcasted) presidential debate between Kerry and Bush. Although PBS' own Jim Lehrer ("News Hour") will be moderating the debate, PBS is running Origins instead of live debate coverage. Make of it what you will.

Although George W. Bush is Protestant and John F. Kerry Catholic, Bush has seen a drop of 12 points from Protestant voters since May, and Kerry has lost a whopping 22 points among the Catholic base (each figure represents total percentage change between the two candidates). Among all voters, those who support Bush do so because of his leadership abilities (35%), his character (29%), or his policies on specific issues (19%). Only 4% of Kerry's supporters say they are voting for him because of his character. Leadership skills comes in at 12%. Read the full Barna report here .

Another question among all this is, Why did Bush lose 12 Protestant percentage points between himself and Kerry these four months? Is it because he hasn't made topics like abortion and gay marriage campaign issues? Could it be that many Protestants are looking at different platforms, like the Constitution Party?

Not that I think we should legalize drug abuse, but it is sometimes eye-opening to hear another side of the story. If you can get ahold of a July issue of National Geographic, read the complete article Cocaine County . Photojournalist Carlos Villalon got an unheard-of free pass to document the farming of cocaine in rebel-controlled Caqueta, Columbia. The peasants who grow and sell coca (to be later made into the drug) get squat in comparison with cocaine's street price, and many of them say they would like to quit growing it if they feasibly could. Get this: The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia (FARC), the rebel force which governs much of Caqueta, collects a 30% tax on the coca each farmer sells - and they keep a firm rein on the peasants, making it illegal to drink on weekdays, to fight, and - you guessed it - use drugs.

What to make of Scott Stapp's confessions? The man is still honest, if anything. The former lead singer of Creed is being interviewed left and right by polar opposite media venues such as MTV , Christianity Today , United Press International , and WORLD . Stapp is finally speaking out after the breakup of Creed, which he says coincided with "a renewal in my heart." His debut as a solo artist begins with "Relearn Love" (on The Passion's Songs Inspired by the Film CD), a song Stapp was working on as he dealt with his personal struggles and which finally came together after watching The Passion of the Christ.  Stapp says he has "come to grips" with his faith but is careful to note:

I'm not evangelical. I'm not doing this to try to preach this to people or to try to make people believe in what I believe in. I'm not handing out Bibles at my shows, and just like with Creed, not all of my [solo] songs are going to be about my spiritual life. It's a part of my life.     -From the MTV interview.

Stapp is telling WORLD and Christianity Today that he is decidedly a Christian, and we'll soon see how his words play out.

"At every critical juncture in Iraq," says John F. Kerry , "and in the war on terrorism, the president has made the wrong choice. I have a plan to make America stronger." It's a top-secret plan, I guess. When we finally get to see it I hope it'll explain what all those "right choices" were at each "critical juncture."

Saddam has taken up gardening. "In the courtyard by his cell, Mr. Hussein has placed white-painted stones around the plants he tends," says a New York Times report by John F. Burns.  

The former dictator is being well-tended himself, enjoying air-conditioning, good food, a small library, daily exercise, medical attention, and the certainty of many months before his trial. And of course we wouldn't want him to develop a complex from past guilt: "An American general said Mr. Hussein had been offered sessions with American military psychologists, but had refused them, as had all his closest associates."

Mr. Hussein still declares himself the "constitutionally elected president," and shows zero remorse for his sadistic (shall we change the word to 'saddamistic'?) actions as dictator. Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi is trying to speed up trial dates for Saddam and his henchmen. If the prosecution is ready, Mr. Hussein's date with the dock could begin as early as next year.

If you can stoop with me to call that early.

Forbes reports that over 20 online terrorists groups (including Arabic ones) are currently being monitored. Last year we only knew of four. Either this means we're getting smarter or that "cyberterrorists" are mushrooming. In June of '03, a online group most likely from Saudi Arabia unsuccessfully attempted to shut down the Bank of Israel's web site (IDefense's cyberterrorism report - pdf ). Even longer ago, some still-at-large hackers from Moscow downloaded sensitive files from the Pentagon. What guys like Jason Larsen are worried about is the outdated network systems in the utility plants that run 80% of the U.S.'s electric. "I could easily turn off the power in a couple dozen cities by the end the day," he claims in the Forbes article. Not to mention water treatment plants: In 2000 a man hacked his way into an Australian sewage plant and electronically dumped over quarter million gallons of raw sewage into surrounding rivers. Other possible cyberterrorist hotspots? VeriSign's Domain Name System and the Border Gateway Protocol> translated> The ground floors of the entire internet.

Actually, we knew about this back in 1998.