Still, I suspect that Integrity is probably an important attribute to Ali. And probably to Mark Spitz, and Carl Hiassen, too. And, even more likely, to the consultant to Native American Community.

I agree. And the above would, I would think, also be inclined to take letters more seriously than the megacorporate pharmaceuticals.

Big Pharma is my bugaboo. They really twist my knickers every which way but loose. I work in AIDS clinical trials and when Abbott decided to quadruple the price of Norvir in 2003, it was just one straw, in the middle of a huge pile, that broke the camel's back years ago. Their blatant prophit-mongering is just one of the reasons our health care system is at death's door.

I, too, stopped taking unnecessary drugs and migrated to soy for my milk needs years ago, but I will aim my laser at those advertisers I can and will do my scribblin' best to weigh on their collective consciences (if they have them).

Their blatant prophit-mongering...

Of course, this should have read 'profit-mongering'.

'Prophet-mongering' is Time's job (directly supported by Big Phrma's 'profit-mongering).

Just out of curiosity, are you posting letters like these and sending emails as you've described in order to discredit what Glenn is doing?

This occurred to me too. It's not a particularly subtle attack, though, is it? It's really the kind of thuggery that is the specialty of the right.

Well, now, that didn't take long.

I think it's Rove trying to get a little something going on the side in case that gig at Newsweek falls through. ;->

Threatening people in their homes is the latter. I was struck that the threat included the use of direct mail -- Karl Rove's old beat.

Ha! farragoNW beat me to the Rove speculation! The direct mail thing didn't cross my mind though. The whole thing just, um, 'smells' like ol' Turdblossom.

Rove never got his hands dirty -- that was left to unimportant water carriers.

Until Valerie Plame that is. His game was slipping under pressure there toward the end. I think that's one of the reasons he left. That, and a desire to take his crusty fingernails someplace where he hoped they'd be more difficult to examine.

The "dealing with bullies" frame just isn't doing it for me.

I'm with you on this. It's the same frame the right uses to justify torture.

"But they cut off people's head fer Gawd's sake!"

We've got about 4 inches of white stuff on the ground right now and more falling. I like to take walks on snowy nights and make anonymous snow angels in various folks' lawns then wonder what they thought when they saw them. It feels sorta like scattering blessings around. ;->

Have a safe trip and come back to us soon.

I put him on a prayer list with the request that he "willingly give up his quest for unbounded power."

I fear it will take more than prayer to deflect Teh Quest. I'm rooting for indictments - LOTS of them.

L.W.M. - you need a different metaphor. I used to study martial arts. There was a woman in my class who competed nationally for years and qualified for the '88 Olympic Team trials. She was 5'1" and weighed all of 105 lbs and could whoopass on all but one guy in the class, the instructor. Assumptions can get you hurt.

Puunjab's problem is that his suggestions were verging on stalking, not just harrassment.

I agree he is a plant, but would suggest poison ivy rather than ficus. Other than minor issues with whitefly, I really like my ficus. ;->

Thanks for the Dick Tuck info. That's the kind of mischief I could really get behind!

Would love to share a jug of varnish with a poetic farmer after the farm conference. Send me a wing and a prayer to let me know when the turnip wagon could arrive and I'll get the soggy coffee cups polished up so they're respectable.

There's a lovely fire in the fireplace to go with a cup of varnish or whine.

Competition is different than the real world.

Absolutely. But it's as close as you can get to a rehearsal.

No amount of training is going to matter if you get taken by surprise. The best defense is to remain aware of your surroundings at all times.

No one is immune to surprise but the amount, and quality, of the training should be of some value to how you recover and respond and yes, awareness is the key, though it won't always keep you safe from surprises.

Our boy Poison Sumac may have still been on this side of the legal line but, as someone who has been stalked, all I can say is that my awareness of this behavior tells me that he wasn't too far away from the boundary (unless, of course, he's just foliage, and not the real thing at all). I may be wrong, but the problem with not, at least, being sensitive to his tone is that once someone crosses the line into full-blown stalker, law enforcement usually isn't involved until after a tragedy has already happened.

campaigns are so managed, but with some creative minds, you could still pull off some good pranks.

I think the 'management' aspect is the biggest part of the problem with Dem campaigns (excluding the whole finance thang, of course). It seems to me that 'management' of the Dems has resulted in a total stifling of creativity. It's the "Low Risk, No Reward" approach to losing office. ;->