Schneider runs through the history of the 1872 law and explains the extremely favorable terms the federal government gave to companies that mined in the west. It's personal for Schneider, whose family owns land affected by the law.

Schneider also explains the reform that Obama said he opposed. (There was no mention of the law in the Nevada debate Thursday night, which is too bad.) Backers of the reform say it was the support of hunters and fishermen that helped pass the bill through the House.

Rural Americans tend to think of their communities as safer than metropolitan or urban neighborhoods, according to the June 2007 Rural Tracker poll. That's one reason this quote about the rate of suicide among rural young people caught our attention: "Rural suicide rates by firearms among kids surpass the rate of violence from homicide in the inner city," said Dr. Nels Sanddal, president of the Critical Illness and Trauma Foundation . "Rural kids are also more likely to complete suicide than urban kids."

We always thought Imus' show was pretty urban, despite the cattle ranch accoutrements. There was Howard Fineman from Newsweek and Frank Rich from the New York Times. The editor of the New York Times Book Review looks forward to joining Imus . And Imus still spends most of his time on Central Park West in NYC.

This will be good for RFD-TV, which is shown almost exclusively on satellite. "If urban-based cable doesn't carry us with "˜Imus in the Morning' and "˜Imus in the Evening,' they never will," said RFD's owner.