And another thing . . .

A pricey placebo. A study conducted by the American Association of Retired Persons could lead to a spike in the sales of anti-depressants. Over the past four years, the price of the most widely used prescription drugs by seniors has risen by an average of 27.6 percent, while inflation has risen by 10.4 percent.

Just as consumer advocates feared, the savings promised under the new Medicare discount cards will be wiped out by the skyrocketing price increases on existing drugs. And barring a miraculous drop in prices, that isn’t likely to change when Medicare prescription drug coverage starts up in 2006.

Now that AARP has conducted the study, it might want to consider why it endorsed the Medicare drug plan, which will cost an estimated $534 billion for the next 10 years with little to no cost savings for seniors.

Kerry to save one coin — for flipping. Not so long ago, Sen. John Kerry was struggling to overtake the rampaging Howard Dean for the Democratic presidential nomination. That was then.

But once Kerry was assured of his party’s nomination at its national convention this July in Boston, he toyed with the idea of delaying his acceptance.

The rationale — surprise — had a dollar sign attached to it. Under federal election campaign laws, Kerry could continue to spend from his campaign treasury until nominated. After that, federal campaign financing funds — and restrictions — would take over.

Now, it seems, Kerry has abandoned the ploy and will accept the nomination at the convention after all. Thus he may avoid being labeled a shameless cynic, but at the cost of adding to his reputation as a flip-flopper.

Justice is blind, not cheap. Spokane County commissioners met Public Defender John Rodgers part way. He wanted 10 new employees, six of them attorneys, to help ease his staff’s workload. Commissioners gave him three entry-level attorneys.

Like every other expenditure of public funds, hiring lawyers to represent indigent defendants is a claim on limited funds. Not every reasonable expense is affordable.

In Rodgers’ case, his attorneys have been handling significantly higher caseloads than recommended — more than double in one category.

This case may be out of county commissioners’ hands, however. Come the day Rodgers’ staff can’t represent clients adequately, the courts could step in. In that light, their action this week may have bought only a deferred prosecution.