...note that these "dressing up" instances cited (Florida State basketball, N.C. State volleyball, Auburn swimming, Georgia gymnastics) occurred in the south, where gender roles are still revered -- most women's college teams with "Lady" in front of their nicknames hail from Dixie.

Oh, and to tomreedtoon: I'm a University of Maryland fan, and if what you saw is true, Comcast Center sure was full of pre-pubescent lesbians at Terp women's basketball games the past few years (quite a few five-figure crowds). Some of them were even male..

1. Stand up to the Wall Street-Ivy League power structure, instead of being co-opted by it. Just as having more money doesn't make one inherently a better human being, an elite education does not make one inherently morally superior.

2. Focus on economic rather than "lifestyle" issues. (And I count health care in the former, not the latter.) If progressive Democrats kill health care reform because of funding restricting abortion, they're throwing out the baby with the bathwater (pardon the matephor).

3. Win over the working class by showing them who their real enemies are -- even if said enemies happen to be in your social strata. Don't condescend to them with altruism; they can see beyond that.

4. Recognize there is a class divide, as Jim Webb does. Don't sweep it under the rug.

Certainly America has changed since the 1960s, but populism can still work for progressives if they swallow their pride a bit, look at the big picture and recognize these days most Americans are more interested in beating the elite than in joining them. And too often in recent years, liberals have kowtowed to the Manhattan-Cambridge-New Haven crowd, mistakenly believing them to be "liberal." Culturally, perhaps; economically, no. And economics is where the power lies, gang.

...go through supermarket checkout lines, Jennifer Aniston will never go away. They can't get enough of her storyline to compensate for their own pathetic lives. (Sexist to say that? Perhaps, but it's true.)

Aniston's an adequate actress when she wants to be (though not on the terribly overrated "Friends," whose TimeWarner log-rolling machine set this whole thing in motion a decade ago), but someone needs to call her out -- whether privately, perhaps to her face on a talk show -- and tell her she's devolved into self-parody. Shut up, act, and keep your love life to yourself. As a romantic comedy actress, she's no Carole Lombard, and her beaux are no Clark Gables (or William Powells).

...remember Demi Moore's swollen, pregnant belly on a magazine cover?

I don't see the big deal here. As someone stated, sex drive doesn't diminish during pregnancy. If the lingerie is designed to entice the person who got you preggers, fine. And as long as the child's not deprived of milk, breastfeeding between adults can be pretty erotic.

...and I'm glad someone said it. While Michele Bachmann and others are in this cabal, it's largely driven by the South, still the most backward and ill-educated part of the country (remember, it was the South that more or less blocked the Equal Rights Amendment). I realize Obama needs votes from some southern legislators in order to get health care passed, but after that is done, he needs to call out the south for what it is -- an area whose resistance to accept change and our new multicultural society is proving to be an albatross on American progress in the 21st century. Moreover, Obama needs to bypass some of his party's "blue dogs" and build a more forward-thinking Democratic party in some southern states, a party better equipped to take on the know-nothings (an appropriate term!) of the southern GOP, Bull Connors with words instead of dogs and police hoses. Don't sweep southern backwardness under the rug -- shame 'em into changing!

...what's the big deal?

Anyway, given Sawyer's age, she probably won't be doing this for more than a few years. Moreover, the TV network news audience is geriatric as it is. Being a network TV anchor in 2009 doesn't have the same impact as it did in 1969 or 1979.

One wonders who will succeed Sawyer at "GMA." Perhaps Paula Zahn, who did pretty good work at CNN but was overwhelmed by Olbermann and O'Reilly, might get the job. (And it might be a stepping stone for her towards prime-time anchoring.)

...or is it?

Part of me senses she didn't want to risk a re-election campaign in 2010. Anything less than a blowout would have reflected poorly on her, and a lot would have been her political demise.

We're going to see a lot more of her in the "lower 48," whether we like it or not. By mid-2011, she may gauge whether running for the presidency in 2012 is worth it; if not, she could parlay her celebrity status into a radio or TV talk show, Rush Limbaugh for a new generation.

And isn't it interesting how the one-time "hockey mom" now describes herself as a "point guard"? Jeez, if I want a point guard in the White House, I'll wait until former Maryland star Kristi Toliver turns 35 and is eligible to serve.

CNN's Rick Sanchez wondered aloud if Palin could be pregnant again – shocking Candy Crowley

Yeah, Rick, must be those imbalanced hormones affecting Ms. Palin. In the acronym Keith Olbermann now uses on his show, "WTF?" Perhaps Mr. Sanchez next expects Sarah to grow to 50 feet tall and start stomping through the streets of Washington.

No more than having an Ivy League degree inherently makes you morally superior.