It's way more than a year before the next presidential election, but we're already well into the candidate debate season. And so far, the debates are some of the best shows on television.On NPR this morning, news commentators speculated that voters will get tired of the debates. I hope not. Americans need to make a better choice than they did in 2004. And since the primary season has been moved up, it's not too early to start studying. Last night's debate on CNN, like the earlier debates, displayed a gratifyingly strong Democratic field. And even with the extreme time limits,

Good merciful heavens. Have the Republican presidential candidates not learned anything from this disastrous presidential rule? At last night's debate on CNN, there was plenty of sparring among the candidates, and a surprising number of attacks on the Bush administration. But mostly, there was strong support for the war in Iraq. The problem, most of them insisted, is not our attack on Iraq. The problem is the war's execution.And there was a dismaying amount of right-wing rhetoric.This is one scary bunch - ready, with few exceptions, to muscle the world to get our own way. John McCain, apparently, will stay the course

Residents of the Beechwood Neighborhood in the northeast section of the city say police emergency response time is getting worse for the east side. And, they say, so is crime. "Mayor Bob Duffy says that public safety is his highest priority and he believes in results," Kyle Crandall said at a news conference today in front of Northeast Area Development office. "We support our police, but we don't think the results are good."Response time data obtained from the Rochester Police Department for 2006 shows that the average response time for priority 1 calls --- 911 calls where the crime is