Derb... I know you've recently mastered this linky thing, but I myself have yet to. I share AnnieW's relief that you survived your kayak trip, and belatedly tip my hat to your pants-wettingly hi-larious description of cinderblocks, chains, etc. But would you mind sending me those links in a nice blue clickable format. I have my talents, but typing is not among them.

Sig at gmail.com

Probably the single greatest travesty of the Bush era, and it's a tough call because there are so many, is that on virtually every level, "justice" in the United States has become just another carnival sideshow, where lives are trampled, criminals act with impunity, and prosecutions and trials have nothing whatever to do with any search for the truth. This is just another depressing example of this trend.

For this administration, everything from wars to disaster relief are conducted as slickly produced shams to bedazzle a narcotized public through a shallow and co-opted media, substance and ultimate outcome be damned. Why should law enforcement and the administration of justice be any different? From Gitmo to Alabama, trials and arrests are planned, staged, and conducted to coincide with the political calendar and the need for distraction in mind, and never before has the public had less reason to trust law enforcement, and more reason to believe that whatever the government says is probably a lie.

It may be a cliche to say we've become a Banana Republic, but the shameless ineptitude and obvious (yet curiously lame) PR stunt this "investigation" is turning out to be is so depressingly familiar it no longer surprises anyone.

And when the whole sham collapses, as all the previous shams have, all the media stars will revert to Emily Litella, "Never mind."

Enjoy your vacation, Glenn. It is well-deserved.

Tiberius, I'd imagine that while Glenn's gone, most people here will use their brains for their intended purpose, thinking. A more salient question would be, what, in heaven's name, do you use yours for? Your every utterance is a mindless recitation off the Right-wing Wuritzer, laced with the most drearily petty and frankly dumb insults I've ever heard. You make our other trolls look like Albert Einstein, and are considerably less lovable.

Bahhumminbug..... I hope your recipe has rum in it.....

T

Jim White....

Amazing work over there at Open Salon, and after reading it, I'm ready to fashion a tinfoil turban (covers the curlers better) myself. What style is your chapeau? A rakish porkpie? A suave derby? Maybe a jaunty engineer's cap?

Be prepared, as you've become a fashion leader around here.

For Pete's sake. I only read transcripts, and never listen to podcasts, basically because I prefer to focus on substance over style. Granted, Glenn doesn't have the velvet, booming depth of your average gasbag, but his questions are just a skosh more substantive, too. I could recommend two packs a day for twenty years, washed down with bourbon, and then we'd probably sound alike. but is that really the point?

The problem here is precisely the absurd subordination of entertainment values over real meaning, and in this area Glenn kicks ass. Why on earth, when an establishment sellout is reduced to a petulant, fact-free tantrum, could any thinking human call that boring, especially when it represents such a dramatic departure from the unmitigated BS we are delivered each day, in Dolby quality and dulcet tones? Forest, meet trees.

While I find the sad and pathetically failed romance of Carol and Todd vaguely interesting, in the same way I might be relieved that there was a gruesome accident to assuage my boredom in a traffic jam, I really think that their observations amount to a pungent and steaming pile of Sh*t.

If all broadcast interviews were to carry the kind of content and relentlessly adversarial questioning Glenn provides, people would tune in, even if Sylvester the Cat were the host.

O/T... Has anyone, anywhere, ever similarly dismissed and discredited John McCain, solely because he sounds like Granny, from the same cartoon?

Carol and Todd, get a room.

Carol, while there are more than a few on this thread that, on some level, I could honestly say I "love," (you know who you are) I have to point out that openly declaring so does tend to dilute the impact of one's arguments. Whatever Mr. Andrew Todd's arguments are, they ought to be able to stand the scrutiny of a less biased observer. Perhaps one of the reasons he summarily unloaded you was your lack of subtlety, since he's otherwise so brilliant and astute. And don't forget sensitive.

While I might entertain your observations, and firmly believe they come from the heart, Cocktailhags aren't known for their wide-eyed credulity. Whether accurately of not, you and Prince Charming come off as a Concern Troll tag team.

Glenn's interview was, to me, a drink of water in a parched desert of co-opted media shills, and Halperin's pathetic and woefully unprepared responses were exactly what I would have expected from the average Fox News Democrat, were the whole media not a watered-down version of Fox News.

Glenn has been doing Salon Radio for only a couple of weeks...

I'd hardly call him a failure yet.

Maybe you could spray paint words to that effect on the Doctor's sidewalk. if the authorities allow you that close.