I’ve spent the last hour exploring the public beta of Amazon’s digital music store. One of big selling points of the store is that its tracks are recorded at 256 kbps (the iTunes standard is 128 kbps) and they are DRM-free, which means they can be played on any music device without restrictions. The few songs I downloaded sound crisp and vibrant, but it’s difficult to distinguish any difference in quality on my mid-range computer speakers. The interface isn’t as polished and the selection isn’t as extensive as what you’ll find on iTunes, but I suspect that will change in time. Amazon’s entry into the music download business should offer some competition to Apple and force it to drop the higher prices for its DRM-free songs. In the best of all possible worlds, DRM will become a thing of the past and these stores will compete on price and selection alone.

Bush, at this point, is the Republicans’ worst ally. On no issue is this more evident than in his sustained threat to veto the reauthorization of the State Children’s Health Care Program. SCHIP is due to expire at the end of this month and it seems likely that the president and Congress are headed towards a showdown. As this report from the policy research group Mathematica illustrates, SCHIP has been instrumental in boosting access to health care for disadvantaged children. The administration recognizes the program’s unmitigated success, but it is that success that has inspired the GOP’s opposition. SCHIP’s success undermines the conservative rhetoric that public health care programs are a red menace that will turn Americans into communist layabouts. A veto would be deadly to GOP electoral hopes in 2008 and I really can’t understand the president’s strategy. His efforts to blame the impasse on Democrats are weak and ill-advised. He’s playing to a base that is quickly becoming marginalized from mainstream American politics.

Bush continues to follow the Rove playbook, but Republican legislators in suburban districts know that the game is changing. And denying kids health care is not going to make these lawmakers terribly popular in their districts.

After seeing two episodes of Torchwood, the Doctor Who-inspired science fiction series that has made its way onto BBC America, here’s my verdict: pretty bloody cool. I mean, how can you not like a show featuring an episode about an alien that, well, fucks people until they turn into little piles of dust? Mulder and Scully never investigated anything this interesting. The program’s writing is sharp and clever and somewhat edgier than the more kid-friendly Who. Oh, and did I mention there’s a hot lesbian make-out scene in the same episode? This is a show that understands what its audience wants. You Brits are so much more sophisticated than us simple Americans. Our broadcast networks still get the heebie-jeebies about showing two guys holding hands.

Tomorrow is my first day of the Emerging Leaders Institute, a work-related program that is prepares participants for future leadership roles in state government. You know what this means: my transformation into an instrument of The Man is nearly complete. Actually, I’m looking forward to it, but I did have a flashback to my student days when I asked one of the other participants if I could get copies of the notes she’ll be taking during the program. She agreed and assured me that her handwriting is perfectly legible. I didn’t bother telling her that she could have the penmanship of a drunken first-grader and my practiced eye could still decipher it.