Our legislators in Albany are always fighting against the misperception that Long Island is a wealthy suburb that gets more than its share of state aid. So Forbes’ list of the country's 100 most expensive ZIP codes, which includes 10 from Nassau and Suffolk, isn’t exactly welcome -- particularly given the state's and region's current fiscal crisis.

Yes, Long Island has its Gold Coast enclaves. And the Hamptons, which are funded primarily by New York City dollars. But the glare coming off these glitzy districts shouldn't blind anyone to our struggling communities. Don't expect Forbes to come out with a list of those, though.

PBS's Gwen Ifill will no doubt perform with utmost competence and professionalism at the vice-presidential debate Thursday night. But the Women's Media Center couldn't help but notice that it's the veep event she's moderating, not one of the Big Three presidential debates. As is so frequently the case, those are all being moderated by men. In fact, as Carole Jenkins, president of the WMC, pointed out in a recent mailing, "Of the 27 Presidential debates televised nationally since 1960, only 4 have been moderated by women -- the last being Carole Simpson in 1992 -- 16 years ago!"

The WMC lobbied the Commission on Presidential Debates about the issue. And as a result, Bob Schieffer, who's moderating the Oct. 15 matchup that's being held right in our backyard, at Hofstra, will be accepting questions for McCain and Obama submitted by the organization.

Right now, WMC is gathering questions from regular folks, and they'll send a representative and relevant sample of them along to Schieffer. The theme for this debate is domestic issues. So add your voice to the mix. Everyone -- both men and women -- is invited. The deadline is tomorrow, Oct. 1, at 5 pm.

It's not surprising that theft goes up when times are tough, but sometimes a particular crime really grabs you with its thoughtlessness. Late Thursday night or early Friday morning, a bronze statue memorializing Shana Kay, a 19-year-old from Commack who died suddenly in 2005 of viral encephalitis, was stolen from its home in front of the Commack Public Library.

Shana had been an avid reader, and so her family honored that love with this statue of a young girl with a book on a bench. It was dedicated at the library last November.

John McCain made headlines yesterday afternoon when he said he was suspending his campaign to focus on the fiscal crisis. He would be hightailing it to Washington today to help lead his Senate colleagues in hammering out an acceptable bailout plan. "It is time for both parties to come together to solve this problem," he said

So why was this airing on TV this morning?

Guess the folks cuing up the television ads didn't get the memo.

The Newsday editorial page was one voice of many in the chorus calling for Mets owner Fred Wilpon to resist the siren song of naming-rights money for the team’s new stadium. In April of 2006 we wrote:

Wilpon has strong Dodger connections, including his friendship with the great Sandy Koufax. So we urge him to think Dodger Blue, not Dollar Green, and name the stadium for the greatest Dodger of them all: Hall of Famer Jack Roosevelt Robinson.

We dreamed of one day being on a first-name basis with the new park, calling it “The Jack.” Instead, we'll be calling it Citi Field. The Wilpons ignored the chorus and went green, signing the rights away to Citigroup in a 20-year, $400-million-plus deal. Cold financial realities always seem to beat out nostalgia.

Unless you’re talking about the Yankees, that is. Ask anybody. There was never any question that the new Yankee Stadium would carry the same name as the old one: Yankee Stadium.

Check out this photo of Sarah Palin, Laura Bush and Cindy McCain, released this week by the McCain campaign. Notice anything?

Why is the VP pick hanging out with the spouses of the president and the presidential nominee? Wouldn't Todd Palin, Sarah's husband, be a better fit for this scene? Shouldn't we see photos of the governor sitting down and talking to John McCain himself, along with President George W. Bush or, since he didn't make it to the convention, his father, President George H.W. Bush?

Representatives of McCain's campaign are making the media circuit, complaining about sexist treatment of Sarah Palin. Then they release a "just us girls" photo like this. Seems like they're trying to have it both ways.

We all know there are two kinds of people in this world ... Mac people and Microsoft people. And for those who didn't know it before, Apple Computer ads--featuring a buttoned-up John Hodgman as a PC and hipster Justin Long as a Mac--hammer the point home. Microsoft is now trying to crash the hipster party by hiring Jerry Seinfeld as a pitchman.

Putting aside the question of whether a 1990s sitcom star will bring the cachet to Microsoft it desires, there's the issue that till now, Seinfeld has been one of the Mac people. His character's apartment always featured the latest-model Apple computer on the desk. As a commenter named Jonathan Wise wrote on TUAW (The Unofficial Apple Weblog): "I always look for the Mac on his desk to identify what season of the show I'm watching."

This won't be the first time Seinfeld has appeared in a commercial for a computer company, either. During the 1998 series finale of "Seinfeld," Apple aired a version of its "Think Different" ad that closed with footage of the comedian in younger days.

All's fair in love and war and business. And you have to wonder whether Seinfeld's switch -- which is rumored to come with a $10 million payout -- might be a sign of more switches to come. After all, the economy is sinking while gas, food and utility prices are on the rise. How many other Mac people will be persuaded by their pocket books, and find they can no longer justify paying premium prices for flashy Apple products, when Microsoft's frumpy ones will suffice?

Word that Plum Island was on Aafia Siddiqui's list of alleged possible terror targets got the editorial board talking about the island and its Animal Disease Center this morning. More specifically, we talked about the news that the center will probably be closed if a higher-risk-level facility is built elsewhere.

As the editorial board of a Long Island paper, we could take two approaches to this story. One is a purely parochial one: Preserve the research center, preserve the 220 jobs there, protect our turf. But we have to ask ourselves, is doing this kind of research the best use for this land?

It doesn't really bother me that some of the fireworks from the Olympic Games Opening Ceremony in Beijing were computer-generated -- visible only to those of us watching the display on TV. Fireworks are cool, granted, but what was so amazing about this spectacular production was its human element. The cast of thousands. The sheer athleticism of the runner in the sky. The sweet, pure voice of that red-dressed 9-year-old singing "Hymn to the Motherland."

Oh, wait a minute. Now we know that lovely voice didn't belong to that lovely girl. A 7-year-old, Yang Peiyi, won a competition to sing the anthem, but at the last minute, a Chinese official decided she didn't have the right look. Something about buck teeth. The BBC also reported a complaint about chubby cheeks. In other words, she looked like many 7-year-olds. So a more supposedly suitable-looking girl, Lin Miaoke, appeared in the ceremony, while Yang Peiyi's voice was broadcast to the gazillion spectators at the stadium and around the world.

We all know China has a lot to prove with this Olympics, but it's hard to imagine how replacing the girl on the right here with the girl on the left would make a shred of difference -- to anyone except for the 7-year-old who was told she didn't look right. She's a beautiful girl with a beautiful voice, and I think we all know who's looking ugly right now.

Photo: Getty/AFP

Today's editorial about the chutzpah of the Setauket Fire District, whose commissioners are trying to build a new administrative building even after a similar plan was rejected by voters in March, provides another opportunity to beat the drum about special district election reform.

Here it is August, and the date is as yet unknown for the election of fire district commissioners. We do know that it will be in December, on one of those jam-packed days between Thanksgiving and Christmas, when folks might just have a few other dates on their calendars to keep them busy.

You do everything right: You haven’t lost your wallet or checkbook, and you shred sensitive information before tossing it. You cover the keypad at the ATM when you punch in your PIN. You’ve secured your wireless network at home, and you make sure you’re on an “https” Web site before you enter your account number for an online purchase.

And it’s still not enough. As we heard a couple days ago, a vast hacker scheme snared more than 40 million credit and debit card numbers through security holes in the wireless networks of a number of popular retailers.

Personal responsibility only goes so far. Hackers are experts at finding and exploiting weaknesses, leaving everyone else to play catch up. So retailers and the banking industry need to get out ahead. If they want to keep customers, they need to work with technology companies to find better ways to keep our financial data safe.

Those of us in the Opinion Department here at Newsday were particularly saddened to hear about the death of our former colleague, Mike Dorman, yesterday.

Mike was an assistant editor for our section, handling everything from regular weekly columns to one-time op-ed essays to letters to the editor. For several years before he retired in 2007, he worked with readers and students when he edited their submissions to the 500 Words or Less and New Voices columns (which have now been blended into our current reader-based feature, Expressway), a role that must have reminded him of his days teaching journalism classes at C.W. Post.

But while he finished his career at Newsday as an editor, he was always a writer and a reporter at heart. In this 1960 photo, a 27-year-old Mike (in the hat -- you can just imagine the "press" badge tucked in the band) is on the beat for Newsday, checking out reconstructed pieces of a National Airlines plane after it crashed in North Carolina.

Ever the story-teller, Mike was quick with an anecdote about his days sniffing out news and scandal. And even as a septuagenarian, he channeled his days as a 17-year-old wunderkind at the Wall Street Journal when he greeted people on the phone: "Michael Dorman, Boy Reporter." That enthusiasm for journalism, and for life, is what we're all thinking about today.

Photo: UPI

You know, it just shouldn’t be this hard. Long Island should be the best place in the world to build a museum for our favorite Rough Rider, Teddy Roosevelt. But alas, we’re talking about Oyster Bay here, and the museum has been controversial from the start. One of the sticking points: The site picked by the Theodore Roosevelt Association is where local firefighters perform their drills.

While the association, which has already scaled back the museum’s footprint, had said it would preserve the paved strip at Firemen’s Field for the maneuvers, new plans absorb that space, pushing the firefighters out.

To his credit, Supervisor John Venditto has said the new proposal is fine, “very impressive” even, and a good fit with the hamlet — so long as a suitable replacement site for the firefighters can be found. How hard can that be?

Anybody with a paved strip suitable for firematic activities, please come forward...

We likely haven't heard the whole story about why a Saturday night 911 call from Hicksville was put on hold for nearly two minutes. Meena Kohli, the mother of the caller, had been fatally stabbed. Officials say that high volume is one reason callers with emergencies sometimes have to wait to speak to an operator. So it's ironic -- not to mention unfortunate -- that anyone with information about Harpal Hira, a "person of interest" in Kohli's murder, is being urged to call ... 911.

To keep that line open for emergencies, Hira-spotters can call CrimeStoppers at 800-244-TIPS instead.

The New York Times' rejection of an op-ed piece by John McCain has gotten a lot of blogosphere attention.

And it brings up some of the issues that I deal with myself as the op-ed editor for Newsday's daily Opinion section. Whenever an election nears, I'm approached by candidates of all stripes with submissions. Sometimes the essays are little more than press releases about this or that accomplishment an incumbent wants to remind voters about. Or they're predictable complaints about the incumbents from challengers. Less frequently -- but it does happen! -- the submissions are thoughtful and nuanced essays about important issues facing the community and the electorate. I reject them all.

Why? Because even if I did run the thoughtful, nuanced, issue-driven essay, I would feel obligated to give equal time to the candidate's challenger. And the challenger's piece might not be well-written or relevant or even the slightest bit interesting. But if I'd accepted the first piece, out of fairness, I'd have to accept the second.

That's how the Times got into this situation.

The dust-up over Bernie Mac's crude jokes at an Obama fundraiser brings to mind all the fuss a couple years ago, when Stephen Colbert played the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner. Back then, I had to wonder if the people in charge of booking entertainers for the dinner had ever actually watched "The Colbert Report," or if they had, if they got the joke.

Fast-forward to this past weekend, when first Barack Obama distanced himself from Mac -- even while adding an "I'm just messing with you, man" -- and later a spokeswoman for his campaign denounced the jokes outright. I'm thinking this is not the first time Mac has referenced "hos" in his stand-up routine, however. Could the campaign really have been surprised?

Some of the best comedy is controversial, eyebrow-raising stuff. Candidates and politicians --whose staffs should have all the resources they need in this YouTube age to thoroughly vet entertainers -- should extend invitations with their eyes open or not at all. The flustered, after-the-fact backtracking is pretty ridiculous.

July Saturdays have to rank as about the worst time to have a beach closure. Make it the Saturday of the July 4 holiday weekend -- and then make it Jones Beach of all beaches -- and you've got a major summer bummer on your hands. But officials made the right call when they closed the beach Saturday afternoon, after more than 80 unexploded fireworks shells were found on shore. A few more shells were found on Sunday.

As it has for the past seven years, Bay Fireworks of Farmingdale put on the big July 4 spectacular, the night before the shells -- which were labeled with the company name -- washed up. The company president doesn't seem to know how this "anomaly" could have happened. Fair enough, we guess, for now. But Bay Fireworks says it will be bidding next year to renew its contract, and before the Parks Department accepts that bid or any other, it should seek answers and protocols to avoid more July 5 beach closures in the future.

Even if you haven't flown recently, it's hard to miss the news that it's getting more expensive to take to the skies.

Struggling airlines are trying out more new business practices to trim costs, and cutting jobs and adding fees to combat high fuel prices.

The so-called low-cost carriers are hardly immune. So for travelers, the trick is to watch out for the fees. A couple months ago, I searched for the best fare for a July flight for my family and made reservations with Spirit Airlines (which is now flying out of MacArthur). I knew we'd have to pay extra to check our bags, but it was an unpleasant surprise to learn that we will also have to pay fees to reserve seats and even to bring along our children -- toddlers who won't have their own seats but will be sitting in our laps.

In all, the fees added 30 percent more to the cost of the trip. And, of course, that's before we get to the $3 sodas and juices on board. I guess the lesson for fliers is, if there's any conceivable way to assess a fee, most airlines will do it.

Budget accordingly.

And speaking of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and driving less, it's great news that MacArthur Airport has designated a cell-phone lot, where folks meeting air passengers can park their cars gratis, and wait for a call from their arrivees. The lot is an environmentally friendly and efficient courtesy that plenty other airports around the country are offering, too, preventing the endless circling, waiting for a plane to land and friends or family members to emerge.

If only it were so simple at the other area airports. LaGuardia doesn't have a cell phone lot yet. JFK claims to have one -- I even saw the sign for it at a recent pick-up expedition. But has anyone ever actually found it? I hear it's somewhere near the Belt, but I wasted just as much gas looking for it as I ultimately did driving around in circles, after I finally gave up.

The editorial board meets every morning to talk about what's going on, what we want to editorialize about in the next day's paper, and what those editorials are going to say. But sometimes our most animated discussions aren't represented on the page. That happened today, when we started talking about the A2 story about how text messaging is corrupting students' language.

Yes, the language purists and grammarians who worried a dozen years ago about what the rising popularity of e-mail was doing to ordinary discourse can now worry about texting, as teachers on Long Island report that more and more student papers reflect the broken English, all-lowercase, hyper-abbreviated style that kids thumb out on their cell phones and other IM devices all day long.

As folks who make their livings constructing paragraphs, trying to tame the wild sea of language into cogent arguments, we may have more of an investment than most in spelling, grammar and proper usage. But we still had a lot of different reactions to the story. One reason for that could be that among the six of us in the meeting today, we had people in their 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s and 60s talking about what is certainly a generational issue.

Apparently, in my column today about how unfair the media was to Hillary Clinton, I was unfair to Bill O'Reilly. A producer from his show called today to ask why I said it "wasn't surprising" that a guest on his show would joke about PMS in the White House, and why I hadn't included O'Reilly's response to the quip. Fair enough. The guest was Marc Rudov, author of "The Man's No-Nonsense Guide to Women," and O'Reilly's response was, "But guys have mood swings, Marc, and they have other control issues..."

You can watch the March 10 exchange here:

You decide.

On our Opinion page in Tuesday's paper, we're going to be publishing an essay by Kansas City Star columnist Mary Sanchez about the controversy over a massive statue of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. that's being planned for the National Mall in D.C.

The artist, Chinese sculptor Lei Yixin, is being criticized by some for designing the statue in a "confrontational" way that recalls Lenin and other historical bad guys. The U.S. Commission of Fine Arts believes that "the colossal scale and Social Realist style of the proposed statue recalls a genre of political sculpture that has recently been pulled down in other countries." Hmmm. But Sanchez cautions that "to erect a likeness of King devoid of any air of defiance is inaccurate, even ludicrous."

Read more about it on Tuesday, but in the meantime, here's a Getty Images photo of the statue, so you can decide for yourself...

There have been stories about how Gov. David Paterson, the first legally blind person to reach the executive post in New York, does his job -- aides recite to him information that other governors would read in briefing books, for example. But as the saying goes, a picture can often communicate much more. Take this one, by photojournalist Nathaniel Brooks:

When I saw the photo in the New York Times this morning, it stopped me. What was I looking at? Then I read the caption: "Gov. David A. Paterson signed a bill on Wednesday at the State Capitol ..."

What a moving image of a man who has refused to be held back by the tough hand life dealt him.

Portrayals of Hillary Clinton as a delusional windmill-tilter are pretty insulting to the millions of people who have pulled the lever (or the 21st-century equivalent) for her since January. Sure, neither the math nor the momentum are on her side, and Barack Obama seems poised to be the Democratic nominee. But there's no denying that she has connected with lots and lots of voters: The blog Real Clear Politics has several estimates of the popular vote, and the widest margin for Obama is just 2.5%. Of course, as in the general election, the popular vote doesn't decide this contest (and even if it did, she's still a little bit behind), but it is a fair gauge of candidate popularity.

We editorialized after Clinton's Pennsylvania win that in such a close and exciting contest, every voter should get his or her chance to be heard: "voter enthusiasm ... should be nurtured, not squelched." Pundits should back off of the Don Quixote talk and appreciate that a candidate who's garnered this much support, even though she's almost certain not to win, isn't just a crazy, fringe also-ran.