"In 2006, a Czechoslovakian-made Albatross L-39 combat jet lifted off from Sitka, Alaska, and crashed into a trailer park in the small community of Ketchikan, Alaska. The pilot was found dead 100 yards from the destruction, still strapped into his seat. He had no identification on him. His profession was listed as repo man."

So the pilot without identification had his occupation listed somewhere? Where was it? Written on a tag sewn into his underpants? "Rep Man," written on the elastic waist band?

Moronic writing, worse editing. Nothing in this article is true.

Hi Everyone. I voted for Obama and I love FDR. So don't come trying to get my head on a platter.

Anyway, look,you jack up the pell grant to $3,500 from $500 and the colleges all raise their tuition a corresponding amount. Same goes for raising federal student loan limits. This is the sole reason why college tuition has soared at a rate several times that of inflation over the past 3 decades. My grandparents, a nurse and a turnpike toll collector, put my dad and his two sisters through private colleges without loans. Now, I, who earns a decent living, will never expect to do the same for my children. In fact, I couldn't pay cash for a state college.

I'm not saying that we should eliminate student aid programs. I'm saying that we should eliminate those programs that mess with the market and give colleges an incentive to rip everyone off.

Judging by the volume and vitriol of the responses to Gould's piece, you'd get the impression that everyone, everywhere can't stop talking about Emily Gould, her blabby mouth and her wayward vagina. Something like 1,300 people have now posted replies to her piece on the Times online? Traister herself sat down and wrote a nice long piece retelling the whole saga. This is important stuff that cuts to the quick of our society, right?

But then if you look at the roster of most popular articles on the right margin in the Times online, you find that her bit isn't among the top ten most emailed pieces. Nor is it even among the top blogged about articles. And if you walk around NYC and ask random people about Gould, you'll find that almost no one knows who she is. I know that lots of folks who claim to hate Gould and also claim to be bored by her apparently read every word of the piece and then took the time to comment, but numbers don't lie. For all the smoke and noise, not many people are so interested in Gould. It's just that the people who areinterested in her are obsessed. And it also helps that she's spent most of her short career alternately poking and stroking the egos of NYC media people.

Now, having said all that, I think Gould is obviously a sociopath. Were she a man exhibiting the same behaviors, Traister would be demanding that she be placed in protective custody for the good of all society. And she would be right.

My wife and I went to adopt a child last year. We're good people, so we went into the process with open minds. Ideally we wanted an infant, a boy or girl of any race would be wonderful. If a child past the age of infancy, up to the age of 5 were presented to us, we were willing to bring such a child into our home so long as it seemed like we would get along.

At the start, it seemed like things would go well. The folks at the adoption agency were very warm towards us, and presented a hopeful attitude about helping us start a family. They they showed us the first potential "adoptee."

His name was Jimmy. He was 77 years old and attached to an oxygen tank.

"I smoked a lot until a few years ago," Jimmy told us during our first meeting. "I cut it down to a pack a day after I got the emphysema." Then he doubled over in a coughing fit.

Later my wife said to the adoption agent, "I think there's some confusion. We're looking for a child. Jimmy is an elderly man."

The adoption agent glared at her, then at me. "Are you in accord with your wife Mr. Doyle?" She said.

"He is a bit old. And he smokes. My wife and I don't smoke. We don't approve of tobacco. He also has lung disease."

The agent said, "Oh, I see. You and your wife wanted a cute little baby. God, you yuppies are all the same. You disgust me."

She snapped her folder shut and demanded that we leave her office immediately.

All you knee-jerk liberals beating up on Nick Wadhams, go read Graham Greene's The Comedians.

Wadhams went to Ethiopia. He met some people who aren't like you and I. He reacted to them as people react in a strange land. He wrote about it. His perceptions did not align with your preconceived notions about what Ethiopia and Ethiopians are like. There is nuance and mystery in this story, rather than dogma and harangue. Salon editors, I would like to read more from Nick Wadhams.