I am in absolute agreement about Maddow's geekiness. I don't think of her as a butch lesbian; I think of her--and she presents herself as--a policy nerd. And in an ocean of TV and radio personalities in the mold of O'Reilly and Limbaugh, Maddow's nerdliness really stands out. She doesn't speak down to her viewers, she doesn't yell at her guests or cut off their mikes, and she doesn't assume everyone other than her is a bonehead. Frankly, it's damn refreshing.

As for her sexiness, I don't get any off of her, frankly. Indeed, I usually listen to her shows on my iPod while commuting, rather than watch her. She's like a lot of butch lesbians I've know and hung out with in my life; her appeal to me is all in the head, rather than the gonads.

And honestly, isn't it nice to have anyone on the "TV machine" who appeals to the head for a change?

I am reminded why I read Broadsheet articles (and their associated comments) so infrequently.

I can think of nothing that better demonstrates a party that is in decline than the fact that Phyllis Schlafly, age 84, who first starting banging her conservative drum since 1964 and founded The Eagle Forum nearly 4 decades ago, was a speaker at CPAC.

No. No, I want to see Rove strapped down, hooked up to a lie detector, injected with sodium pentathol, and not let up until he spills his guts about all the illegal, slimy crap he did during the Bush Administration.

Then, to quote Brian Dennehy in Silverado, I want him to get "a fair trial, followed by a first-class hangin'."

Bitter and vindictive? Me? Noooooooooo.

In the old West, hangings and lynch mobs were not unknown. While I am not one who usually advocates violence, these clowns will be lucky--very lucky--if they don't find us "peasants" outside their homes, banging on their limos, and staking out their office buildings, armed with pitchforks and torches.

A number of quotes come to mind:

"We're going to give you a fair trial, followed by a first-class hangin'."

"Hanging's too good for him! Burning's too good for him! He ought to be torn into little pieces and buried alive!"

You can go on from there.

At every company *I've* ever worked, when you fail this spectacularly, you are either fired immediately, or given a "performance plan" in which you either perform, or get fired. You certainly don't get bonuses.

If these incompetent nimrods are "critical" to putting the world financial markets back on their feet, we really are screwed.

It doesn't matter; if you don't perform, you shouldn't get bonuses, no matter what is "expected." If your division/department/business unit loses spectacular amounts of money, you don't deserve a bonus.

And these people receiving bonuses get pretty hefty salaries. I'm sure they can struggle by on their "base pay" for a few years. If they can find another job. Which I hope they can't.

Damn right we're scary. You know why? These people screwed us, and now they want *us* to pay for the privilege of being screwed. Nuh uh; no sir.

For a while there, it seemed as if Professor Cole was going to ignore Israel and concentrate on the other players in the Middle-Eastern/Asian mess, like Pakistan and Afghanistan. But worry not, Israel-haters! Good ol' Professor "Israel Can Do Nothing Right" Cole has returned! What a relief! The world makes sense once again!

I neither said nor implied that I think the recent Lebanon incursion was a Bad Idea (tm); it obviously was. No; my problem is with Prof. Cole, who it seems hails from the "every issue is the fault of the Israelis" wing of Middle East scholarship. He is very anti-Israel, for whatever reason, and I find his monochromatic focus on the Middle East problems through that particular lens to be tiresome in the extreme.

Israel has done some spectacularly bone-headed things. So have the Arabs. So have the Palestinians. I prefer my Middle East analysis to take that into account; Mr. Cole's rarely does.

Why on Earth would anyone pay to to read the [choose one: delusional ravings/outright lies/self-serving half-truths] of this man? I can imagine a member of the press having to, as part of their job, peruse this noisome document, but they would be comped, one assumes. Paying for it? Who would do that? Seriously?

Can't this grotesque, malaprop-laden, pathetic excuse for a "public servant" please just fade into the night (or preferably be prosecuted for War Crimes, Felonies, and unConstitutional acts)? Must we have this blather foisted on us?

What next; a book by some AIG executive explaining how the global financial meltdown wasn't their fault after all?

The next time a Republican in the media--particularly one who is pulling down more than, say, $150,000/year--blats on about "class warfare," said Republican should be sprayed with seltzer water, Marx-brothers style. "Class warfare" [spritz! audience laughs]

The Republicans have been engaging in "class warfare" since at least 1981, and probably longer. Now the shoe's on the other foot, and they don't have any other scare tactics to fall back on. Humiliation is the best medicine! Go to it, people!