And by "critical, " I doubt very much that Ebert would have meant a position of carping or complaining or even cutting-down-to-size so much as a state of heightened perception, of being open enough to the possibility that whatever you're looking at or listening to may not be what it seems -- or should be.

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Australia, plunged into grief despite its carping, talked of holding a state funeral for him.

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Carping, too, about whether he has the gravitas for a talk show that takes itself so seriously.

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So reforming the professions is likely to remain a grinding, thankless task, subject to endless carping and obstruction from practitioners.

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There may be carping about the hardships of the extra games now, but watch: It will dissipate in a swirl of horse-trading necessary to make a deal.

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He said criticism of the tax package reminded him of the carping he faced during the health-care debate, when many on the left fixated on the inability to create a government-run health-insurance option instead of lauding an expansion of health-insurance coverage to 30 million people.

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