9:30 p.m.

• So Drew Carey is going to follow in Bob Barker’s footsteps.

Genial comic Drew Carey was tapped Monday to replace silver-haired legend Bob Barker on the CBS daytime game show "The Price is Right." The deal was set Monday afternoon shortly before a taping of CBS' "Late Show" with David Letterman, where he confirmed it.

As long as he promises never to do another one of those “Whose Line…” shows, I’m down. Other than that abortion of a show, I’ve never had a problem with Carey. I remember years ago he was on O’Reilly’s show blasting Uncle Sam’s death tax, so he’s A-OK in my book.

• Mom and Pop, look out.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's largest retailer, set the stage for price wars Monday as it announced it's cutting prices on more than 16,000 items starting this week in a bid to turn around sales for the critical back-to-school season.

• Hey environmentalists, please protest in China during the next summer games. Please please please please please please. Let's see how tolerant the Chinese are of your cries of global warming and pollution.

China's intelligence services are gearing up for next year's Beijing Olympics, gathering information on foreigners who might mount protests and spoil the nation's moment in the spotlight.

 

Government spy agencies and think tanks are compiling lists of potentially troublesome foreign organizations, looking beyond the human rights groups long critical of Beijing, security experts and a consultant familiar with the effort said.

 

They include evangelical Christians eager to end China's religious restrictions, activists wanting Beijing to use its oil-buying leverage with Sudan to end the strife in Darfur and environmental campaigners angry about global warming.

3 p.m.

• Uh, oops.

Evon Reid couldn't believe his eyes yesterday morning when he opened an email from the Ontario government's cabinet office where he'd applied for a position.

 

"This is the ghetto dude that I spoke to before," said the email to the University of Toronto honours student from the very person handling his job application.

I have oftentimes identified people by their appearance, and one time it could have bitten me in the rump. I was at the Quickie Mart, and this one guy forgot to pay for his fuel. He was a frequent patron, but I didn’t know his name. I left a note for the next cashier that the “bald guy” with the beard that drove a particular vehicle forgot to pay for his fill up. He, of course, read this note a day or so later when he stopped in for something-or-other. Fortunately, he had a sense of humor and just found the note funny. What else was I supposed to say – the 6’1” white male with a beard?

I find it funny that some people have a problem with saying somebody is of a particular race. Picture this: you are at a table with nine white guys and a black guy, and the black guy just told a funny story, leaving the other people in stitches. A stranger walks buy and asks you what happened, and you reply, “Bob just told a funny joke.” The stranger then says, “Who’s Bob?” What do you say – the man with the green pants and brown Polo shirt? No, you say “the black guy.” It’s funny to see some people squirm around this subject.

When I was at community college, my feminazi school newspaper adviser was trying to describe to a student what the subject of his upcoming feature story looked like. She first said, “he’s big,” followed by “he has a beard.” I couldn’t take it anymore and blurted out “he’s black.” Of course, he was one of two or three black professors at this place. The group of students sitting around me just started laughing out loud at how our liberal prof skirted around the most distinctive characteristic this guy had.