By John Solomon
How the government's punishing of the exposure of official wrongdoing can linger for years

For a region that has been rocked by an earthquake and slammed by a tropical storm in the space of less than a week, Mother Nature may be providing a silver lining in the form of a business stimulus package.

It would have been embarrassing to overlook Melissa Leo when handing out the Emmy nominations this year. After all, she won an Oscar five months ago. So on Thursday, she got a well-deserved nod for the HBO miniseries "Mildred Pierce." That got Emmy voters off the hook.
Problem solved?
A crowded nightclub is the setting. Ragtime music echoes through the smoke-filled room.
David Simon, creator of the HBO television series "The Wire," is among 23 recipients of this year's MacArthur Foundation "genius grants" _ news that left him with what he described as "a vague sense of guilt."
Dave Eggers and Amiri Baraka are among the winners of the 31st annual American Book Awards, given for literary works that cover "the entire spectrum of America's diverse literary community."