Sometimes democracy and a market-oriented economy just don't work.

Take America's current financial crisis. Fat cat politicians on Capitol Hill go home to their trophy wives and eat steaks lined with gold shavings, letting the economic nightmare grow worse amid partisan bickering. Meanwhile, the rest of us are eating our shoes for sustenance.

It's time for a dictator. It's time for Hulk Hogan.

As we find ourselves on the eve of a new presidency, I am reminded of how important it was to Americans for each candidate to establish his or her religion during the primaries.

President-elect Obama struggled throughout the campaign with rumors that he was a Muslim. When this turned out to be unfounded, the religious liberal left, confident that Obama's Christianity was as solid as theirs, were off to the voting booths.

We are now left to wonder though, how much his Christianity will be an evident guiding factor in his decisions during the next four years.

"Notorious" follows the life of Christopher "Biggie" Wallace as he ascends to rap superstardom in a short amount of time, and at the price of fame on relationships with family and friends. The film will cover his collaborations with Sean "P. Diddy" Combs at Bad Boy Productions, his marriage to singer Faith Evans and his feud with West Coast rappers like Tupac Shakur leading up to his murder, which still remains unsolved.

As a teenager, TCU alumna Starr Spangler and her brother Nick Spangler would watch every episode of the CBS reality show "The Amazing Race" together. Now 22 years old, Starr Spangler has competed in and won the race, and had viewers just like her hanging on the edge of their seats.

Starr Spangler said, like many things she does in life, applying for the race was quite spontaneous. When Starr Spangler turned 21, the minimum age required for the show, she looked online and the applications were due in a week.

Alex Lemon, a first-year English professor at TCU, looks much younger in a wrinkled blue shirt, yellow paisley tie, brown suit jacket and jeans than the authors he reads.

But Lemon, who has written two books of poetry, "Mosquito" and "Hallelujah Blackout," and has a third on the way, didn't start writing seriously until he had a surgery in 1999 to remove an abnormal growth in his brain stem. The growth was removed and the bleeding in his brain was stopped, but the surgery deprived Lemon of the ability to speak, walk or see.

This weekend's matchups feature similarly talented teams, but certain strengths will help Eagles and Steelers rise above competition.

NFC Championship Game: Philadelphia Eagles at Arizona Cardinals.

Sunday's first championship game features two teams that few could have predicted would meet at this point in the season.

Almost two months ago, Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb was benched during a 36-7 blowout loss to the Baltimore Ravens. His team fell to 5-5-1 with the loss.

The fate of the Texas horned lizard might rest in its DNA.

Biology department faculty members Amanda Hale and Dean Williams said they plan to use horned lizard DNA samples from across the state to generate DNA fingerprints and form patterns mapping their population structures.

The Texas horned lizard used to roam freely on campus, but since the 1980s, there has been a decrease in sightings, Hale said. It has been on the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department threatened list since 1967, according to the organization's Web site.