PUBLIC MARKS with tags back & internet

The debut of a video on the Internet this week is causing more headaches for potential Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney. The former Massachusetts governor and recent pro-life convert was forced to defend his newfound beliefs after a 1994 video surfaced showing him defending legalized abortion. Responding to the video, Romney appeared on a radio talk show and said, "I was wrong on some issues back then." "If you want to know where I stand by the way, you don't just have to listen to my words, you can go to look at my record as governor," Romney said during an appearance on the "Glenn and Helen Show," a radio program.

The cringe factor is back in American politics. It suddenly doesn't seem all that long ago we were wincing over the significance of a stained blue dress; now, one finds oneself looking back on Mr. Clinton's proclivity for porcine young women with a certain nostalgia. Hummers, interns, cigars and ''I did not have sex with that woman'' suddenly seem almost respectable, even statesmanlike, compared with underage pages, Internet chats and ''do I make you a little horny?''

With the federal government having a perceived do-nothing attitude to stop the ongoing invasion of illegal aliens into the U.S., fed-up Americans are logging on to the Internet to fight their own battle. A number of websites have popped up in recent days to not only help authorities identify and locate the unlawful workers, but also expose the employers who provide them jobs and help consumers patronize businesses that hire only legal citizens.