The Bell Curve:

In a split decision and on the advice of county lawyers, Orange County supervisors were bloody but still unbowed at having to back off suspending an eight-year contract to use tobacco settlement money to pay Planned Parenthood for providing health education for girls and young women.

Although only 3% of the funding was involved in a safe and legal way for women to choose to end a pregnancy, the supervisors left no doubt that they hadn’t softened their animosity toward an organization that performs abortions.

But they can now retreat behind that stand to a new policy of using the funding for direct health services like clinic care only rather than education, thus excluding Planned Parenthood.

Finally, in a week of conflicting news on the nature and presence of the swine flu, Los Angeles Times readers were greeted one recent morning with these two adjacent headlines: “Possibility of pandemic ‘very high’” and “Scientists see flu strain as relatively mild.”

Which illogically takes us back to Irshad Manji, whose closing advice to us was: “Above all, have the courage of your confusion.”

JOSEPH N. BELL lives in Newport Beach. His column runs Thursdays.