I agree with Farhad Manjoo's assessment that this show has jumped the shark many, many times. The MS, the assassination attempt, and the kidnapping are the top three for me. All of which combined turned me off as a viewer years ago. I tried to get back on board with the new election, but to me the show has run out of gas. My only consolation is that I'll be able to catch my favorite episodes via the DVR and the BRAVO! network for years to come.

As a part-time prof of ancient history, I have lectured on the theories concerning the true identity of Homer for years. Kudos to Salon for their commentary on this newest book on Homer. Another theory not mentioned in the article was that Homer was not one person but in fact dozens of people, namely, noble POWs captured in battle and held for ransom. The greek word "Homeros" means "Hostage". It is postulated that these literate noblemen, while held in captivity awaiting ransom, devised and wrote the stories of "Homer" during their incarceration. While there is little proof to support this theory, it has enough of a conspiracy flavor to keep my student engaged.

Being from Arizona (and despite being under Republican rule, still damn proud of my fair state!), all you have to do is request a mail in ballot if you are already registered. If not, all you need is a copy of your water bill to get registered by mail. If you don't have running water, you have bigger problems than not being able to vote.

The Grand Canyon State Rocks!!!

I was so glad to hear Cary lay it all out: Ultimately, you make the call and YOU bear the responsibility. This person never heard of a SECOND OPINION? Just took the word of one doctor and then underwent such a radical surgical procedure? How irresponsible is that?

I had LASIK three years ago and went to THREE different doctors (all of whom gave free consultations) to find out if I was a candidate for the procedure. I still have 20/20 vision and no regrets. You should never have surgery either on the cheap, or without all the facts.

I won't pull any punches here... I HATE Bill Maher. On his HBO show he comes off as a pompus patronizing wind-bag who takes pleasure in making broad generalizations about anyone who might think differently. He is just a smug comment away from being the liberal answer for Sean Hannity.

But his brief editorial in today's Salon has earned him big credits towards re-entering society in my humble opinion. He speaks to the need for a dissenting voice so eloquently that I almost winced when I reacted with pride in his position. Almost.

I think one of the things that gives the left (of center in my case) value is that we can admit when we're wrong. The Republicans and their Fundamentalist Christian allies would rather eat their children that admit they were wrong about anything.

Therefore while I do not change my opinion of Bill Maher all together, I will admit that he can bring flashes of mature discourse to the table and does deserve our respect as being a legitimate voice of the resistance in this country.

Who cares?

Is this Salon.com or the Penthouse Forum??

My overall opinion of vegans in general can be best summed up by one of my personal heroes: Anthony Bourdain.

To quote from his brilliant interview from Salon entitled "Bite Me"...

..."They're rude! People's choice to become vegan, from people I've spoken to, seems motivated by fear. Like, "it's possibly toxic, or ungroovy, or poisonous, or loaded with chemicals or some kind of harmful things that'll make me less healthy." I certainly don't see that as a good reason to do anything, certainly not a good reason to be rude to your host.

How can you travel? Before you've even left home, you've already decided, "I reject most of the world's bounty and the expression of their hopes and dreams and culture." Some nice, possibly impoverished Vietnamese rice farmer is nice enough to offer you the one chicken he can kill a month, or a week, and you say, "Sorry, I can't"? It just seems antihuman. It's antisocial.

And for anyone who says that everyone should eat like that -- it completely ignores the fact that, well, we can't afford to. We've got hungry people in this world. Go stay with the Bushmen for a week. Ninety-eight percent of their diet is meat..."

Enough said.

I think this whole incident has been blown (no pun intended) way out of proportion. Cheney "heard a loud boom" then whisked away by his security detail, end of story.

You'd think by Matt Drudge's links today that he single-handedly saved the whole base from the bomber and then flew the chopper out of harm's way himself.

This is the closet this Chickenhawk has ever come to real combat. And he didn't even have the decency to inspect the carnage first hand. Heaven forbid he actually see the people who died because he wanted to play soldier.