Windows Vista's your problem. Get rid of it! It's notoriously unstable. My sister's laptop crashed three times after she had Vista installed, but has been running fine since she had it uninstalled. I use Windows XP and it's very reliable; since I'm always working on one book or another, that means a lot to me. I can't afford to lose even a day or two when my computer is hors de combat.

And what about Bush's weird clowning around before McCain got there? You can count on the press to either laugh it off or ignore it. Has there ever been a President who treated the office with such disrespect?

Alex, what about his nose? Why is that wider in the darker version?

There's another big problem which I've notice especially in a month where I've been flying a lot. When we're ready to deplane, I always get my carry-on down or out from my seat, hold it or put it down next to me in the aisle while waiting to get out. Far too many people, however, wait until the line is moving forward before they start to yank their carry-ons from the bins. So instead of the line moving smoothly, you have an erratic stop--and-start. It adds a lot more time and frustration to getting out upon arrival.

I'm sure we can expect a major salvo from Clinton or one of her aides denouncing Obama for not tarring and feathering this aide personally, and linking him to Lee Atwater, Karl Rove, Richard Nixon's dirty tricksters, and Torquemada.

Joe, how could someone as astute as you write these weak "the dog ate my homework" lines?

"Like most wealthy senators (and alas, most senators are wealthy), she doesn't spend much time poring over her own finances. Other people are hired to do that, and besides, she's been fairly busy for the past year or so."

She wasn't too busy to loan herself five million dollars, but even if she were busy, since other people handle her finances (we call them accountants and financial advisers), are you saying she was too busy to call or email somebody and say, "Release the info"?

That's beyond risible. Did one of your kids turn in your column by mistake? An intern? Was your computer hacked?

Salon, the NYT, CNN, and everyone else is succumbing to hysteria. "Linked," "tied" are totally inaccurate because they imply that he 1) organized the ring or 2) funded the ring or 3) profited by it through an investment or something close to all of those. David Vitter was always listed as a client of the D.C. Madam, not "linked to" or "involved in" a "prostitution ring."

Harper's has a disturbing analysis that makes it sound like this was a GOP operation:

http://harpers.org/archive/2008/03/hbc-90002589

Why should it matter? Whose business is it? Why should Spitzer's forays have mattered? Did they affect his work?

What should matter, whether it was sexual or not, was John McCain's highly inappropriate relationship with a lobbyist. It clearly affected his work as a Senator and his interactions with the FCC.

I'd rather have my spouse get it on with a "professional" than have an affair. An affair holds the risk of your spouse falling in love or being so obsessed he/she think it's love. Seeing a prostitute or escort seems a lot less dangerous in that sense.

What's also scary and dispiriting is that at every step of the way, the MSM has parroted the Bush line, going so far as to have silly academic debates over "Is it a civil war or not? Well, let's ask some experts." And then we get a "he said/she said" which resolves nothing. The MSM has betrayed the profession, the democracy we used to be, and the American public.

Love Songs is available right now, March 19th, in mid-Michigan, the Land that Time (and good movies) Forgot!

I really wanted to like this: Sagnier, Garrel, Paris. . . What could be bad?

Plenty. First of all, as a francophone, I thought the song subtitles were unbelievably bad--they made me wince at times at their forced attempts to rhyme that blurred the sense of the lyrics. But the plain truth is that there's not enough of any one element in 90 minutes, neither farce nor love nor charm nor tragedy, to make this resonate. The songs themselves are lovely, but they don't illuminate the story, which is shamefully weak. None of the characters have depth (well, maybe the mother, but she just smokes). I kept wishing for the movie to be one of two things: either a full-throttle musical, or a film completely without songs. I suspect that Love Songs delights American reviewers who have "une certaine idée de la France"--to quote de Gaulle out of context.

I waited in vain through all the stupid media frenzy and mock-analysis for one, just one s-called pundit to mention Chalmers Johnson and the concept of "blowback." Nobody did. When Ron Paul talked about our "American Empire," not a single news nimrod said a word about respectable critics feeling the same way. Hell, even Senator Byrd has written about the death of our Republic and the sordid rise of our Empire. All those high-paid talking heads seem utterly unfamiliar with the world of real thought, of analysis, of writing and observation.

Ah yes, The Sopranos, the ne plus ultra of television, of art, of reality. The one and only. The unbeatable. The breathtaking. The sacred touchstone for all time.

I found that show screamingly unbelievable and unwatchable.

The Tudors is written as a soap opera, unashamedly so. Heather--haven't you read interviews with the show's creators? It's not accurate, it's not art, it's trashy fun.