As a Bears fan myself, those final 11 seconds were like a repeated stomach punch. To me, there were two viable alternatives to a squib (which turned out to be a particularly bad squib - some squibs manage to squib and dance all the way near the goal line - this one didn't):

1) blast it through the end-zone and give them the ball on the 20. If your kicker can't do that indoors, get a new kicker (or have your punter do it);

or 2) kick a popup to about the 20 that the Falcons either have to fair catch or get lunched.

In Lovie's defense, not only was the special teams unit tired, they were also injured, and several players were seeing their first game action on those kicks, one of which led to Norwood's 85 yard return, in which the Bears ST unit completely ignored their lanes. If he kicks deep to Norwood and gets torched again, he never hears the end of it.

The other problem was that the Bears' two starting corners (Vasher and Tillman) were out, and they were relying on an untested rookie to make a play. They should have had 3 nickelbacks in, but instead opted for 2. It still took a perfect pass and a great catch and some hometown clock-keeping to make it happen.

The weird thing is that I still don't think the Bears are very good, but if the ball bounces a few different ways, they could easily be 6-0 right now. Their 3 losses have all been 4th quarter heartbreakers, and Orton is looking more like an NFL quarterback every week. 9-7 gets them in the playoffs in the hapless NFC North, and at that point, anything can happen.

How can you possibly equate your video with the others?

Where in your video are liberals quoted repeating wild-eyed, ridiculously absurd lies about McCain or Palin rife with ignorance and racism? Yes, there is a lack of civility shown, but what did this intrepid group of conservatives expect? The entire purpose of their "march" was to provoke this kind of response in an effort to deflect criticisms from their raving lynch-mob rallies. If anything, this was a disappointing response in that nobody threatened violence, nobody repeated any ridiculous lies or smears, nobody said anything sexist or ageist, and all that really happened was some booing and some extended fingers. Oooohhh ... so dangerous! If all that went on at McCain and Palin rallies was some booing and middle fingers at the mention of Obama, we wouldn't be having this discussion.

Get a grip, man.

The scariest part of that interview, aside from the complete stupidity of her arguments, was that she seemed to honestly believe in what she was saying. For a mind to be so warped as to truly, in your heart of hearts, believe that serving on a non-profit board with a former 60s radical-turned-engaged citizen equals America hatred is terrifying. This woman represents citizens of this country, and she is utterly insane.

Can't the Republicans just all move to Alaska and follow Todd Palin & Co. and just secede? They can call it the USIA, or United State of Idiotic Assholes, and pronounce it "use ya'".

It makes perfect sense - there's plenty of land, they can all have their guns, they can outlaw abortion, they can have the death penalty for every crime, they can let people starve, eliminate progressive taxation and affirmative action, and they can deny entry to immigrants. They can have everything they want.

Please, please - follow the (Pied) Piper Palin back home after the crushing defeat and create your own country of backwater ignoramuses. We really don't care what you do with your new country. Just please stop ruining ours.

I couldn't be happier to see that glassy-eyed lunatic get her comeuppance, but is what she said any loonier than the slime spewing from the typical GOP blathering head?

If I were her, I'd feel like I just got Lynndie Englanded. She was just going on there giving the daily GOP talking points. Maybe she went a little overboard with her zealotry, but it's not like what she said was THAT much worse than what we hear from the candidates themselves.

So when is the RNCC gonna pull the plug on McCain and what's her face?

If her story had taken a few more days to debunk, she sureley would have become the new "face" of the McCain campaign, adopted by Johnny and Caribou Barbie as a martyr and the newest weapon in their ever-changing arsenal of attacks.

But sadly, this story is too ludicrous for them to use (which is saying a lot).

The real question is whether this was the lone act of a seriously disturbed McCain supporter, or whether she had help, and if so, from whom?

You would think a professional rabble-rouser would have paid more attention to detail to make the story more believable, thus implicating the lone wolf theory. However, the McCain campaign has proven to be so incompetent, I wouldn't doubt that they could screw this up, too.

... at Chicago's Adler Planetarium, without mentioning that this "overhead projector" is not just some small piece of classroom equipment, but rather one of the most technologically advanced machines capable of replicating the night sky at any place and time on earth, and used to educate hundreds of thousands of children each year on astronomy and astrophysics, as well as researchers with advanced degrees who are looking for new evidence of interstellar activity.

What a waste of money, eh? Those pork barrelers!

The cluelessness with which these two operate is nothing short of breathtaking. We are watching the last gasps of a political movement steeped in ignorance, fear, and insecurity. Palin is the perfect poster child for the death of this movement - charismatic, telegenic, and utterly devoid of anything resembling substance or thought. How anyone can consider voting for them is completely mind-boggling.