And it didn't really start with Stern and Imus. It began with the slow, complete hijacking of AM radio by a legion of right-wing DJs. These people made listening to that band impossible by anyone left of Ghengis Khan. By the late 80s and early 90s, with the ascendancy of Limbaugh, there was no escaping it. It was only then that Stern and Imus began to make a serious dent in the national culture.

It didn't matter how much Limbaugh lied (as demonstrated in Solomon and Cohen's book "The Way Things Aren't"), or how much muck was flung by newly empowered right-wing ideologues on the air. People ate it up. As they still eat up Stern. As they still eat up countless "Morning Zoo" guys who say things every bit as bad as Imus.

So "witch hunt" is actually NOT the appropriate description of all this. Because if a genuine witch hunt was to be undertaken, here's who'd be burned at the proverbial stake:

*Rush Limbaugh

*Michael Savage

*Every right-wing shock jock on every AM station in the country.

*Howard Stern

*Most rappers

*Ann Coulter

*Sean Hannity

*Bill O'Reilly

Get me? The madness must stop. We're tearing our culture apart, people.

Don't try and argue principles with the likes of Emily. Her ilk couldn't care less. All hail the almight dollar, and the anestheisized populace that allows for the accumulation of vast amounts of same.

Yes, Paul, I DO know what freedom of speech means. And I know how that principle has been utterly perverted over the last thirty years via the corporate acculturalization of our society. The United States does not end at the front door of any business, large or small. The people within have a right to speak freely as long as it is not deliberately or inadvertantly disruptive. What Imus said would have slipped away into the ether, except that two opportunistic, hypocritical attack dogs decided to make it a national issue. And I am truly stunned that a self-described group of mature, intelligent, athtletes decided that their whole lives have been practically ruined by the bloviations of a single radio shock jock. What a crock of shit.

But I don't suppose any of this is penetrating that flat, cement head of your's, is it? Like Emily, you're one of those sheep who likes nothing more than to be sheered as long as you get to go back to your SUV, McMansion and your PlayStation. Well, fuck you. This nation's socio-political heritage is worth a hell of a lot more than that.

About a year ago I posted an EXTREMELY confrontational essay to my blog, then posted it in the Free Republic forums and sent the link to a variety of Christian Dominionists, including Gary DeMarr. I knew exactly what I was doing. I received innumerable death threats, most of them quite specific. I also received the usual "fuck you you fat fuck, you" dipshittery. I shrugged it off as the price of expressing myself, of being provocative.

When I was still active on Francis Coppola's American Zoetrope On-Line Studio there was a guy, a troll, an Ubertroll really, who was an accomplished hacker/cracker. His favorite thing was to post not just a target's address, but every single bit of personal information he could find, which was usually all of it: Social security number, driver's license number, address, phone number(s), private e-mail, office address, company name, office phone number, medical history, doctor's name, etc., etc. The only concession to decency he ever made was putting "X"s in various strategic places so that no one could actually use the information. But his point was clear: "I can find anything about anyone, and post it."

It took months for the Zoe Sysops to ban him.

No one died. No one had their identity stolen. Lots of people - male and female - got rattled, but then they were involved in flame wars with the guy and so should have expected some type of retaliation. Now if those folks could handle that, I think Kathy Sierra can handle some moron posting her address.

This is the Internet. It is not for the faint of heart. And lastly, I think it is the height of sexism to imply that somehow women are "different", that they can't take it. And it is disingenuous in the extreme to then ipso-facto state that therefore the Internet has to be "cleaned up." To hell with that.

It's entitled "Sewer Teen Release Spew", and it's main characters are PissPool, LoafPinch and Boil. Nothing much happens as they slooooooowlllyyyyy float around a major urban sewer. Super villains include Rat Bastard, Flush and Undiscovered Cadaver.

Ok...where's my development deal???

So what if he's "related" to both Al Gore and the Kennedys? He's critical of both. But I would agree with you that he is wrong about Kurt Vonnegut, who wasn't the worst writer in America at that time. But he was the worst celebrated writer, ever. His only decent novel was Mother Night, and his only good short story was the aforementioned Harrison Bergeron. That's more than a clear majority of writers can boast, but as boasts go it doesn't justify all the lionizing.

Fergie and the BEPs have long admitted that "My Humps" was intended as a joke, and in fact was the result of a lot of goofing around in the studio. It was never intended to be released, but when their company got wind of it they were contractually bound to record and release it. Then came the inevitable video...which, if you watch it carefully, is every bit as funny as Morissette's but in a different way.

Oh, and Fergie is very gracious considering she's twice as hot as Morissette has ever been or ever will be.

Here I am in my office, at my desk on a Friday evening, and yet....it's actually SATURDAY!!

What mighty, mighty powers Salon wields, hopefully for all that is good.