Thanks, everyone!

And in other news, the Giants' Jonathan Sanchez pitched a no hitter. I was all over it on Twitter:

http://twitter.com/joanwalsh

Major diversion from lawbreaking and torture, but we all need a night like this.

Oh, and this is cute:

http://twitpic.com/9sth1

Our puppy, Sadie.

Even I get tired of the serious stuff.

Back to fighting the Cheney regime and trying to lure Obama to dance with the ones that brung him. Thanks for all your help on both. Only nice comments on Sadie welcome; others will be deleted. I don't want her reading the rudeness that can often congeal here.

Uncle Fester, I'm with you on Ashcroft. His wife stood up to the bullying, too. How horrific and illegal were the Bush-Cheney maneuvers when a career Christian conservative and law and order guy like Ashcroft (and his deputies) risk their jobs to block them? And why doesn't Obama want to know?

Or maybe he knows, and he's decided the rest of us can't handle the truth...

Wow, Juliebird, I actually hadn't seen that Bill Dedman story (he's a good reporter). But Fladad, I will continue to look for sourcing on the AP story. I think it's going to be hard to tease out which costs are being incurred because she's fighting the release of public records so hard, but I promise to keep on this and do the math.

How can she quit as Alaska Governor when she was so innovative about ways to bring revenue to her struggling state, charging $15M for her email and another $15M for Todd's? Clearly, Alaska will miss her.

And the larger point is: She's lying about who brought the ethics complaints, and about their frivolity. The State Legislature's Ethics Commission of course found that she did violate ethics laws with her crusade to get her brother-in-law hired; her hand-picked commission, not surprisingly, ruled the other way.

Thanks, lajoya, that was a great letter.

I'm super grateful to virtue001 for his sweet, sweet fan boy suck-up to ABreitbart. I was ready to say it wasn't virt's Celebrity Andrew Breitbart, but...I'm just not sure, it could be.

But whatever, my real point is that it's so sweet to see Virt run around like my own adorable puppy on her papers at the news that maybe A/Andrew/Another A/Breitbart might possibly be posting on Salon.

We see so much cynicism from virt, we rarely see the hyperactive right-wing approval seeking Fan Boy! I just loved it. Thanks, virt. I do have a whole different view of you thanks to that loving window on Breitbart.

An anonymous Republican "writer" complained about my describing "allegations that she's quitting because of a criminal investigation into the Wasilla Sports Complex." The exact wording of Palin's lawyer letter described the controversy as about "the alleged criminal investigation pertaining to the construction of the Wasilla Sports Complex."

The language is pretty identical, so the writer might want to blame Palin's lawyer -- as I did.

But then again, the writer in question neither reads, nor writes, terribly well. In fact, I wouldn't sign my real name to that mess, either.

Readerreader, you've been very gracious, I hate to carp, but I have to say to you, and Sarah Palin: Princess (as in Diana) is a title; Governor is a job. You're elected, you have big responsibilities, you serve. The next time you're tempted to complain that someone at Salon is condescending to Gov. Palin, remember that I never called her something as silly as princess.

But given the blow you suffered this weekend, you've otherwise been very reasonable. Certainly you're not trying to Swift Boat actual Vietnam veterans or make up lies about me and other Salon writers, unlike other Republican "writers" who haunt these threads.

Just got home -- 325 letters, the night before July 4. Readerreader is right about one thing: His girl is some kind of star, to left and right.

Thanks Paris Pace and Svutlov for your work in my stead. There is just a big yawning existential sort of divide here, between those of us who saw that speech and thought: Crazy? Crystal meth? Alaska really is different? Versus those who thought: Crazy like a fox, blaming (I'd say whining about) the "liberal" media. We'll find out the truth in due time, but I think "Crazy" will be the winning pick.

Does anyone here know what happened to SoberInput? Was that hero of free expression targeted by wingnuts like O'Reilly, and so malevolently that he felt he might have needed to change his name?? (Or simply abandon his given Christian name, Sober Input, the way virtue001, a published writer, took refuge in some sort of anonymous stand-in because of the way he was persecuted?)

I just hate this whole anonymous Internet attack culture, where someone like Sober Input, who uses his real name, is attacked by anonymous cowards, and someone like virtue001, who would love to use his real name, simply can't, because he will be attacked by vicious enemies. It's just wrong.

Meanwhile, just to taunt us, someone who's chosen the name Sober Jones has joined us, as if to underscore the loss of Sober Input. I really worry Sober Input was targeted for his talent and his courage -- maybe even by Sober Jones. Please somebody, reassure me he's still OK!