The first two seasons of The Sopranos were masterpieces. But the show continued, and it has deteriorated. The characters are no longer fresh. Livia is dead, and her character fueled the whole premise of the show.

But I still watch it.

I can't help it. Where else can I see a drama where the characters look and sound like real people? I'm so happy not to see dazzlingly white, even teeth or perfectly bobbed noses, or pert breasts and collagenized lips. I am bored by the perfection of most television actors. And I like seeing the Pulaski Skyway in the distance instead of the same 6 blocks of Lower Manhattan on the "Law and Order" shows, or the backlots and soundstages of Hollywood and Toronto. It's a guilty pleasure, I admit it. I know there are plot holes a mile wide on The Sopranos. (What happened to the Russian in the woods? Did any family members ever notify the police when the nude dancer disappeared from Tony's bar after Ralphie murdered her? Did the FBI ever try to find out details about what happened to Adrianna?)

But I'll put up with the inconsistencies because a scripted TV drama looks more like reality to me than the so-called reality shows I've come across while channel surfing; and it's light years away from the sheer fantasy of "Friends".

Some times I just want to see some validation that not everyone in America has spent their lives rearranging their appearance and changing their diction so they can pass a Hollywood screen test.

Richard Bruce Cheney is mad as a March hare.

Nicholas Kristof should take up a collection for Matthews the same way he took pledges to send Bill O'Reilly to Darfur. Perhaps if we all chipped in, we could buy Matthews a clue. He's obviously wasting all those gigantic speaking fees he takes from conservative organizations on something else.

If I were the chief of msnbc, I'd insist on frequent drug testing for my employees ....like Chris Matthews.

That's an interesting choice of words by George Bush, isn't it? I lived in New York City in September 2001. I was a 20+ year veteran of Manhattan life. On September 11, I immediately headed downtown to help (I am a medical first responder and now a member of NY's volunteer medical corps). Unfortunately, there was nobody to help by the time I got there.

At the time I was rushing downtown to help, George W Bush was sitting in a Florida classroom, paralyzed by fear and indecision. He then spent the rest of the day running "the farthest he could get away from September 11, 2001", from the East Coast battlegrounds in Manhattan and Washington, DC. I saw hundreds of ordinary citizens heading for the Twin Towers that day. I saw construction workers helping injured people from the emergency rooms to the subway stations. I saw transit workers taking control on the streets, shouting directions to confused tourists. People from nearby office buildings went to the site and helped others cross the bridges. Shopkeepers gave out water, waitresses grabbed firemen and washed their eyes with water pitchers. None of those people ran away until they had to. After the towers fell, thousands called hotlines to volunteer immediately.

George W Bush showed up 3 days later, grabbed a retired volunteer fireman from Long Island, posed for a picture and quickly left with his escort of low-flying fighter jets which loudly strafed Manhattan, scaring the shit out its citizens.

History will show it was George W Bush who got "farther away from September 11, 2001" in word and in deed.

Once again the blogosphere has trumped the Washington Post by using real investigative techniques to show the Post how it used to be done. First there was the Deb Howell brouhaha, wherein the clueless Howell fell for GOP operatives' bleats claiming Democrats took money from Jack Abramoff. The bloggers and their readers begged to differ and proved this wasn't true. Howell and James Brady refused to admit they'd made a mistake and in the process they made themselves look like horse-and-buggy proponents as they railed against them newfangled internets-type people.

Now the blogosphere has trounced Brady with multiple damning revelations about Ben "My Dad Was NOT an Abramoff Go-Between (Except For the Times When He Was)" Domenech within 24 hours. Good job, guys. Domenech is another son of privilege, another pro-war slacker who deigns it beneath him to go fight for the precious neocon Middle East democratization scheme. Another snide, arrogant white boy who got his position through dint of genetics rather than hard work and even minimal qualifications. Another rich boy racist. Another Bush crony.

Thanks, James Brady. We couldn't have done a better job of showcasing your incompetence if we'd planned it ourselves. Domenech is the gift that keeps on giving, as we discover more of his malicious ploys by the hour.