Richard Grosso, the environmental attorney ordered by the 1st District Court of Appeal to repay court costs because he filed a frivolous appeal, may not have to pay back the taxpayers of Martin County after all.

WASHINGTON -- Children, children.

Here we are in the midst of a bloody clash in Egypt, more than 100,000 slaughtered in Syria, another looming debt crisis at home, and we're consumed with angst over a rodeo clown who wore an Obama mask and invited the crowd to cheer for the bulls.

"Sire, clear the square with gunfire or abdicate."

That was the message one of his generals gave the young czar Nicholas I in December of 1825, as thousands of civilians and soldiers massed in Senate Square to challenge his claim to the throne.