The Golden Gate Bridge District board of directors voted overwhelmingly this morning to build a net to prevent suicides on the landmark bridge. Is this because of the economy or because of how the Giants are doing this year?

The economy is bad. They're saying here that Bill Gates lost $1.5 billion dollars…and that's just in the sofa.

The economy is so bad…how bad is it? It's so bad that the Mother's Cookie company has filed for bankruptcy and announced that it will soon cease production and distribution, at least in the United States.

Founded in the early years of last century by a man named N. M. Wheatley — clearly not anyone's mother — in Oakland, California, the company made many different products but was best known for its Sugar Cookies, Double Fudge Cookies, Oatmeal Cookies, Flakey Flix and a childhood fave of mine, Circus Animal cookies. Circus Animal Cookies were animal crackers with a layer of magenta or vanilla frosting plus a sprinkling of rainbow sugar nonpareils.

Nothing I ate as a kid pleased me more or was probably worse for my well-being. I have a vivid memory of eating them one day with a girl named Johanna Matthewson who lived about a block from us. I was around eight, I'd guess, and we made up our own game. You'd close your eyes, the other person would hand you a cookie to bite and you'd have to determine by taste whether it was magenta or white. I was very, very good at this game and I'm still disappointed that I never found a way to parlay that skill into a career.

When I read that the firm is closing down, I instantly thought of running out and buying a bag to eat, just for old time's sake, just in case Circus Animal cookies are soon extinct. Then I remembered (a) that I've given up cookies and other things high in sugar and (b) that I'd probably be disappointed, anyway. The latter would lead me to a long internal debate over whether they'd changed (ruined) the recipe and it would spill out here and I'd probably sound like one of those old guys complaining that nothing's as good today as when I was a kid. Let's leave well enough alone. Circus Animal cookies are the greatest thing in the world and I don't want to know otherwise.

During the debate the other night, you heard Senator McCain claim that Senator Obama had tried to slip an earmark into a bill that would have meant three million dollars for an "overhead projector." That was misleading. You know what the "overhead projector" was he was talking about? It was this.

Scott Innes is a popular Louisiana disc jockey who also does cartoon voices. Since Don Messick passed away, he's been one of the main voices of Scooby Doo and sometimes, his pal Shaggy, as well. (Shaggy's original voice, Casey Kasem, is still happily with us but sometimes chooses to let others handle the role.)

The job was a dream come true for Scott and he's written and recorded an autobiographical country-western song about it. In fact, it's called "Follow Your Dream" and there's a music video that goes along with it. You can view it over at the website for WYNK, the radio station where he works when he isn't going "Ruh ro" for a cartoon. Search for Scott Innes there and you can watch the video, hear the song and get to know a talented guy.

You may not be aware of this but Ralph Nader is still running for President. I can't imagine any way his candidacy could be making things better for the nation, him or his many causes, but he's still in there. On Monday, he spoke at Dartmouth College. Guess how many people turned out to hear him. I'll give you a hint: I've had bigger crowds at comic book conventions for panels about lettering techniques.

I know no one cares about the Bush administration anymore…or about anything other than their bank accounts. But a new report says that people who have nothing to do with terrorism or crimes are having their phone conversations monitored. When they said they had to have this power, we were assured they'd never do just what they've done.

Bush's approval rating is, depending on which poll you consult, somewhere between 19% and 27%, which is about where you'd be if you were caught slapping nuns. Where do we think it'll be in the last month of his term when he starts pardoning everyone around him for anything they've done, including war profiteering and war crimes?

Saturday Night Live has largely turned into a show that people watch for the opening sketch and for Weekend Update. Beginning tomorrow night and continuing through the election, there will be a half-hour edition of Weekend Update on Thursday evenings at 9:30, following The Office. (Actually, to get nitpicky about this, it's on at 9:31.) Assuming the writers can generate enough solid material to fill this show and the one on Saturday, this is probably a great idea…and one of the few times we've seen political satire programmed by any network before late night hours.

Which reminds me of something I've been meaning to ask: Does anyone anywhere have any tapes of That Was the Week That Was? You may not even remember that show but it was a half-hour of topical humor that ran on NBC from January of '64 until May of '65. It was the Americanized version of a popular British series starring David Frost…and Frost was also prominent on the U.S. version, along with Henry Morgan, Buck Henry, Alan Alda, Elliot Reid, some amazing guest stars and the "TW3 Girl," Nancy Ames, who sang the theme each week with sharp, topical lyrics. Tom Lehrer wrote and occasionally performed songs and puppeteer Burr Tillstrom, who'd been responsible for Kukla, Fran and Ollie, did some amazing "hand ballets" that I really can't explain. You'd have to see them to understand.

I was only twelve but I loved that show…and got very angry at Barry Goldwater for taking it away for much of that year's presidential campaign. Back in those days, political parties could and did buy out whole hours or half-hours of prime-time TV to broadcast their commercials, and the G.O.P. made a point of buying out the That Was the Week That Was time slot almost every week, just to keep it off the air. (NBC might have made more of a fuss — or moved it to another time slot temporarily but its ratings weren't fabulous and there were rumors that some NBC execs didn't like its mockery of their favorite candidates.)

After the show went off, it disappeared completely. Not a trace. There was a record album with some bad audio recordings of material from the program but otherwise, I haven't seen a tape, a clip or almost anything since. I suppose I should get my butt down to the Museum of Television and Radio and see what, if anything, they have…but I'm wondering if any reader of this site knows or has anything. I'd like to see if the show was anywhere near as great as I remember.