Those Christian conservatives can be such a plucky group, saving the world and all. God love ‘em.

But Olympic sprinter Tyson Gay might be wishing they would find something better to do with their time.

It seems the mavericks at the American Family Association, who operate the Christian conservative site OneNewsNow.com, changed their filter to auto-search the AP stories they wanted to run and replace the word "gay" with "homosexual."

But the IT folks at American Family hadn't thought this through.

And last week headlines on OneNewsNow began replacing Tyson's last name with "homosexual."

"Homosexual eases into 100 final," reads the headline on one AP story.

Blogger Ben Zimmer at Language Log writes about the hazards of auto-search and spell-check goofs. Microsoft, he writes, had to go into damage control over its Office 2007 which recommended "Osama" whenever it picked up "Obama."

The folks at Microsoft should get a pass.

The phobes at American Family should be dunked in the nearest pond. They've corrected the Tyson Gay problem and the word homosexual is free to arouse OneNewsNow readers in ways that gay didn't.

It may seem fitting to some that Jesse Helms died on Independence Day.

The five-time Republican senator from North Carolina obviously had nothing to do with the colonies gaining independence from the British. But the ultra-conservative Helms built his public image around southern-style patriotism and fierce protection of the homeland.

Somewhere early in his political career, Helms learned how to whip white Christian values into foaming fear and anger.

His campaign battles have become legendary, sometimes defeating his opponents with stinging, race-baiting ads.

He opposed both affirmative action and honoring Dr. Martin Luther King with a national holiday. He also opposed abortion and foreign aid. He voted no on so many bills, some of his colleagues called him Senator No.

But nothing seemed to rile Helms more than gay rights.

He spewed words like "homosexuals" and "lesbians" with such contempt it could make you shiver. Dozens of public figures have protested against the LGBT community. But perhaps because he was elected to one of the country's highest offices, few people were as threatening.

Helms, unlike many of his contemporaries who shared his views, had real power and influence.

He vehemently opposed federal funding for AIDS research, blaming the disease on the immoral and unnatural acts of gay men. And when Ryan White died in 1990, he refused to meet with White's mother who came to Washington to testify before Congress on the need for funding.

Helms's fury with homos is over. But there is some irony in his passing.

Helms died at a time of year when LGBT communities in cities across the country hold "gay pride" festivals and parades. What once occurred in San Francisco and New York now happens in more than 100 cities in North America during the months of June and July.

Celebrating pride and self-affirmation, knowing one is not immoral and unnatural is the perfect antidote to the Helms legacy.

To those of us who want to contain suburban sprawl, Portland, Oregon, has been a model. Now there's another city to watch: Sacramento, California.

This morning's Wall Street Journal reports on Sacramento's increasingly successful effort to encourage denser development and contain sprawl. Even developers have bought into the six-county Sacramento movement. One result, says the Journal: construction of apartments, condominiums, and town houses in developed areas has increased dramatically, and the development of large-lot subdivisions has dropped.

There are numerous differences between Sacramento and Greater Rochester. And California's state government seems more interested in controlling sprawl than New York's does. The California transportation department is giving grants to help communities create anti-sprawl plans.

Still, it's worth keeping an eye on the Sacramento experience. Greater Rochester has plenty of reasons to control sprawl: since our population isn't growing, new housing development creates vacancies in housing elsewhere. And the new development is chewing up valuable open space, affecting our quality of life.

On we go, though. Brighton is considering proposals for major housing development on vacant land along the Erie Canal - including a gated community. And hardly anybody's speaking up.

Do I really need to see Cheryl Dinolfo's face on my TV screen already?

Why is the county clerk running campaign ads five months before the election? The ads themselves are laughable. When was the last time you stopped in at the clerk's office downtown and found Dinolfo there, waiting behind the counter? And tell me how many residents even know who their county clerk is, much less call her on the phone for help with a passport dilemma.

But back to the question: TV ads. Why now?

Could it be that Democrats have found a formidable candidate in Tom Hasman and the GOP is scared? Could be. Probably not.

County Executive Maggie Brooks almost certainly has plenty of spreading-around cash. She's been a money machine for the GOP - and didn't have to spend much on her nonrace last year - so why not throw some Dinolfo's way? There are, after all, only a few competitive races in the county this year.

And Dinolfo has been talked about as a Maggie-in-the-making. But without Brooks' TV background and star power, it's, frankly, difficult to imagine Dinolfo as Monroe's Next Big Thing.

So here's my pet theory: If The People are mad - and boy, they've got reason: the public defender and MCC outrages, the Renaissance Square quagmire, the FAIR Plan - who are they going to take it out on? Maggie's not up this year. Hello, Cheryl.

Not to mention that we have yet to see Maggie's bullpen budget if the court finally kills FAIR for good - which it likely will. Cuts to the zoo, parks, and libraries surely aren't going to make county officials any friends.

In that context, it's not surprising that the GOP would want to give Dinolfo a few yards' head start before the starting gun.

So Senator Joe Bruno is not seeking re-election - let the chaos begin.

Bruno is the state's highest ranking Republican office-holder and his announcement carries a lot of weight in this year's pivotal Senate elections.  Despite controversy around him, Bruno was his party's campaigner-in-chief, and probably still will be, especially now that he doesn't have to run his own race.

But that's a double-edged sword. His resignation leaves one more seat Republicans will have to fight a little harder for, spend a little more cash on. They lose a little safety by losing Bruno. One more race takes away time and resources that could be devoted to some of the other competitive races. Some of these races, including the local contest between Democrat Rick Dollinger and incumbent Republican Joe Robach, are expected to cross the $1 million mark.

State Democratic Party leaders said Bruno is retiring because he knows Democrats will take control of the Senate during this election. The Dems missed the mark here - because of the turmoil in Albany this year and the close margin in the chamber, it's a toss-up which party will prevail. The Democrats do have some advantages; as Elizabeth Benjamin of the New York Daily News points out. It's a presidential election year and Democratic turnout is expected to be high.  But both parties have high hopes and intend to fight.

The California Supreme Court's ruling on same-sex marriage kicked in this week, and thousands of couples went to government offices in towns and cities across the state to receive licenses.

As important as this milestone is, there is something grating about the term "same-sex marriage." It's the label du jour, and it's getting old quickly.

It's the use of same-sex that has grown tiresome. It sounds clinical - like genetically-altered vegetables.

People need some way of explaining these things, without a doubt. And it has to be clear and simple enough for everyone to understand.

But there's also something demeaning about it.

Older gays and lesbians remember the days of having "roommates." That was the label back in the 1950's.

But it didn't work that well. It certainly didn't explain anything. Being college roomies worked briefly, but why would two men still be roommates in their 30's and 40's?

In the 80's, the term was "partner" - my partner this or my partner that. But that didn't work, either. It sounded a bit like a business arrangement.

And in the 90's, it was "lover." After coping with a decade of AIDS, there was something defiant, even liberating about being someone's lover.

Things may change again this fall. There's already movement to amend the State Constitution to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman.

If conservatives get their way, we may have to dust off one of the old terms.

If the ruling stands, maybe we'll finally be done with labels.

It's a good sign that Democrats showed up at today's county budget workshop. There was a hint that they might not. Caucus leaders said they never agreed to a schedule for the workshops.

So now, the County Legislature has its bipartisan budget committee. Its stated goal is to try to find a way to plug the potential $29 million gap that the county would have to close if it loses its FAIR lawsuit appeal.

Today's meeting was devoted to a presentation on the budget. It wasn't a day to discuss solutions. And for a good chunk of the hourlong session, legislators tried to define what constitutes a mandated and nonmandated expense. The answer went answered - just as it has during umpteen Legislature meetings and budget presentations.

"There definitely is some built-in confusion," said Republican Majority Leader Dan Quatro.

It was a start. It remains to be seen how Republicans and Democrats will get along. They acknowledged their philosophical differences several times. It's also up in the air whether they'll make any true progress toward fixing the county's finances. Something numerous committees have failed to achieve.

By this time next week, California will begin marrying same-sex couples. Here in New York, some same-sex marriages are legal. And some are not.

In both states, there are plenty of groups protesting same-sex marriage, and legal battles are making their way through the courts.

But one thing is becoming clear: behavior is more important than gender in creating satisfying, long-term relationships.

After Vermont legalized same-sex civil unions in 2000, researchers surveyed nearly 1,000 couples, including same-sex couples, writes Tara Parker-Pope of the New York Times. They were trying to find out what causes relationships to dissolve.

And the results were pretty interesting.

Straight couples were more likely to stay angry after a fight. Gay and lesbian couples seemed to have a better ability to use humor to defuse negative interactions.

Same-sex couples are more likely to share tasks and responsibilities. Housekeeping doesn't typically fall to one person and financial matters don't typically fall to the other, as they often do with heterosexual couples, the survey showed.

And heterosexual women apparently live with a lot of anger about this because it implies that one gender is more important than the other in the relationship.

When it comes to which type of relationship lasts longer, the verdict is still out.

What is this cry for all of the MCC trustees to resign?

The MCC faculty, students, local Democrats, the Democrat and Chronicle editorial page: everybody has jumped on the bandwagon. Off with their heads! All of them!

You'd think that the problem lies with all 10 trustees, not just those who've tried to give the presidency to Republican insider Bill Smith.

The D&C's editorials have been particularly curious. This morning's piece applauded Lori Van Dusen - who fought hard against Smith - for resigning from the board. "Follow her example," urged the D&C.

Oh, for heaven's sake.

Van Dusen led the board in setting up a search process that resulted in two apparently good candidates, both with a strong community-college background. The presidential search advisory committee was a diverse one that included MCC faculty members, students, trustees, business leader Sandy Parker, Paychex VP Len Redon, and Urban League Director Bill Clark.

That committee determined that Smith was not qualified for the position. Six members of the board - all of them with close ties to the Monroe Republican Party - insisted on adding Smith to the list of finalists anyway.

Political interference is the problem, not the failure to reach an agreement on a new president.

If the current board resigns, nothing will change. Nothing. The Republican-dominated Monroe County Legislature will name five of the replacements. So Smith - or someone similar - will still have at least five votes.

And I wouldn't count on all of the trustees resigning. Four are appointed by the governor, and one of those is former Deputy County Executive Richard Mackey, a strong Smith supporter. If he stays put, that gives the Smith faction six votes.

No matter what happens, with Van Dusen off the board, the Smith supporters will be in charge. Instead of throwing stones at all of the trustees, everybody ought to be thanking the Smith opponents - Van Dusen, Michael Nuccitelli, Richard Warshof, and David Ladwig - for doing the right thing. And everybody ought to be insisting on change in the County Legislature and in the local Republican Party.

Ohio Democratic Congressman Dennis Kucinich is a bit like sparkling wine. Sometimes he can be right on point, but many times he seems like an imitation of leadership.

He was insightful enough to vote against the Iraq war.

But some of his issues are so far to the left that they become a demonstration - his own little wars that never have a chance of getting any traction.

He just started another fire by introducing 35 articles of impeachment against President George W. Bush.

He accuses the president of spying on Americans, illegally detaining both US and foreign citizens, and mishandling the response to hurricane Katrina.

But his most serious charge is that Bush took the country to war under false pretenses.

Kucinich made a similar case against Vice President Cheney last year. But it went nowhere.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi took office proclaiming that impeachment was off the table.

Clearly she didn't want the Democratic victory to become mired in a long and protracted fight while the country was fighting two wars.

But many people elected Democrats to punish Bush and end the Iraq war, and are angry that nothing happened.

Jonathan Turley, the George Washington University constitutional scholar, said on MSNBC that the Kucinich move is significant even though impeachment proceedings are, at best, remote.

"Democratic leaders have stepped in and interceded on behalf of the president," says Turley. "I think history will be very severe, not just on Speaker Pelosi, but on the Democratic leaders who stood silently, allowing this to happen."

Turley said that most Americans are unclear about the degree to which the Constitution has been eroded since Bush took office.

In years to come, Kucinich may be viewed as the authentic patriot everyone ignored.