Photo: Vancouver2010.com

Olympic Buzz The Toronto Star asks if the torch designed for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver looks like a marijuana cigarette.  The Stranger's David Schmader thinks it more closely resembles "a pregnancy test that reveals you're having Satan's baby." It reminds me of either an orange-peeling tool that I have in my kitchen but never use, or a fancy new razor that singes off hair in lieu of using blades. Your thoughts?   (Slog) 

Fossil Finds Just what I need before Memorial Day weekend—more relatives trying to lay claim to my (parent's) beach house: the 'missing link" has been found in Germany. Rather than further connecting man and monkey, this skeleton—in surprisingly good shape for being about 47 million years old— helps bridges that elusive gap between "monkeys and lemurs," providing clues about earlier stages of evolution.  (National Geographic)

GOP HMO As President Barack Obama presses forward with his health care agenda— soliciting his followers on Twitter to contact Congress and ask for quick action—Republicans are pushing a plan of their own. They want to eliminate the tax credit employers receive for providing insurance for employees, then give tax credits to individuals to help pay for private health insurance. The government would run a health plan "with the compassion of the IRS, the efficiency of the post office, and the incompetence of Katrina," write the Republicans in their plan summary. Why hate on the post office? For less than 50 cents, they will hand deliver your letter across the country, and the fact that they deliver mail too and from every city in America means that private mail services, like FedEx, are forced to provide more comprehensive service. (WSJ) 

Daniel Hauser Headed To Mexico Is Daniel Hauser (or his mother) a secret PR genius? The 13-year old refusing western treatment for his cancer knows how to keep the media interested. First, his family was taken to court for denying their son chemo, which is an instant headline-generator. Then, he and his mother fled the area so that they wouldn't have to comply with the judge's ruling. Everyone knows that the best way to instantly extend interest in your news story is to add a police chase of some sort. MSNBC is currently reporting speculation that the two are headed to Mexico, thereby combining the two biggest health stories from the past two weeks into one giant super-story.  Now people can discuss both Hauser and swine flu in the same conversation with minimal transition. (MSNBC)