No offense to any of the excellent guest bloggers, but I'm so glad you're back!

"[Romney] did admit to making only his first pilgrimage to Fenway Park this season for Thursday night's playoff game..."

I hope that's what he said and not just a misquote. The Sox didn't play on Thursday, they played on Wednesday and they play tonight!

http://www.demockratees.com/retireindianmascots.htm

I've been wearing this t-shirt whenever I go out to a bar in Boston to watch the Sox-Indians games. I think it's the only Indians shirt I could wear around this city right now and still have Boston fans giving me high-fives.

...and the Red Sox would have liked to have won that game.

The subject line of the email -- which I am publishing in full, unedited form here -- is "The growing link between the U.S. military and right-wing media and blogs"...

Gosh, Glenn, I thought that was the full, unedited email subject line you were publishing. I sure am glad you didn't edit that subject line down, since it was crucial to your argument.

This is why Thursdays are the highlight of my week.

wait.... people still read newspapers?

You can't pretend that something like a lousy little NIE report will stop the Washington war machine. In a month everyone will have forgotten about this report, just like they forgot about Hans Blix. The administration is counting on it.

I can't wait until we all vote for a Democrat in 2008!! Then the war will be over and everything will be okay!!! Just like when we voted for all those Democrats in the House and Senate in 2006!! They sure gave those wackos in the White House a tough time!!! Go Hillary!!!

C'mon now. The whole "at least they're not as bad as the Republicans! Really, they're not, I swear!" routine is getting really old really fast. You can bash Nader all you want, but the only power we have to influence the actions of our elected officials is to make sure they know we have the power to NOT vote for them. If they know that they're our only option, what incentive is there for them to do ANYTHING besides what their corporate backers want them to do? I would think that the fact that the 2006 midterm election failed to put even a speed bump in the path of of this derailed administration might wake you up just the teensiest little bit.

But whatever. You can vote for Hillary and laugh at me when the heavens open and shower the world with love and light on January 21st, 2009. But over here in reality land, I'm having a little bit more trouble drinking that particular glass of Kool-Aid. But I guess we gotta throw our lot in with the Democrats, eh? They're sure better than them Republicans, huh?

I'm looking forward to the TMW strip that shows Sparky as the 1940's private dick, uncovering Police Commissioner Harry Reid as the kingpin for the evil cartel.

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2007/12/16/telecoms/index.html

Oh, come on now. There's a world of difference between calling Hillary names and pointing out the disturbing inconsistencies between what she does and what she says. These are valid points about the weakness of her candidacy that should be addressed. By equating this cartoon with sexist mudslinging, you're trying to make all attacks on Hillary off limits. I imagine it would be okay to be critical of Obama's voting record without making it seem like the poor guy has to endure all sorts of slings and arrows because of his race, right? The same should go for Hillary.

Yes, I agree that she has been unfairly attacked as a "feminazi commie bitch et. al." by the blowhards on the Right, but you can hardly put this six panel satire on that level. I'm sick of the "quit picking on her because she's a girl" card being used inappropriately. Call it when you see it, but don't try to shut down the discussion with it. It's intellectually dishonest.

Wow.

I never thought I'd ever say anything like that.

I was expecting this article to touch some on companies that advertise by hiring buzz agents, who spread the word through loud public conversations, positive online reviews, etc.

From "Ten Disturbing Trends in Subliminal Advertising":

"Positive buzz can be triggered artificially for a price. Marketers now recruit secret 'buzz agents' to promote to their friends and family. One buzz agency claims to have an army of agents in every major US city. Their job is to mention or display certain products as they go about their day, using their relationships as marketing channels. Music labels, book sellers, entertainment venues, and fashion outlets are using this method to establish new brands. Today’s billion dollar 12-16 year olds are so immune to traditional advertising, mass media is no longer a reliable persuasive device - so the alternative is a 'synthetic grapevine.’ "

http://www.mindpowernews.com/SubliminalAds.htm

http://www.bzzagent.com/

That's the real reason I'm wary of ecstatic online reviews of toothbrushes and facial tissue. NO ONE should get that excited about crap like that.

Rereading your original post, I can see how it can be interpreted as a reflection on the current climate of discourse and posing the question of whether or not Hillary is prime for a sympathy vote. But that's if I read it completely out of context and pretend it's not a part of a comment thread for this TT cartoon. If I misunderstood your comment, I apologize.

But since the comment was titled "This Modern World/The Trouble with Hillary," I reacted the same way I would have if someone had said "Why do you liberals hate America?" or some other show stopper like that. It seemed inappropriate to equate the Tom Tomorrow cartoon with that vile list of names.

But again, I apologize if I over reacted.