This whole steroid business has had the effect of making baseball less important. Maybe it's put baseball in its proper context....just a game played by kids (that grown men take way too seriously).

Should Barry Bonds' home run records stand? Should Barry and Mark McGwire be admitted to the Hall of Fame?

My honest response to those "burning" questions is, I really don't care.

Let the records stand. Or not. I really don't give a shit.

Let Barry and Mark and Sammy Sosa into the hallowed Baseball Hall of Fame? Whatever. I'm focusing on other things....important things...like women's basketball.

That was the funniest, most insightful, delightfully irreverent write-up of the Academy Awards I think I've ever read.

Great job, kiddo!

I normally only watch a few minutes of the Oscars, in between practice sessions on my dobro, so I appreciate your killer commentary.

I hope to read more from you on Salon.com.

• Hugh Jackman was one of the best hosts ever. I've never seen Bob Hope, or Billy Crystal, or David Letterman sing and dance like that. He obviously enjoyed himself thoroughly and his joy was contagious.
• The Dark Knight was rightly snubbed by the Academy (except for Heath Ledger's performance, which deserved the Oscar, even if he hadn't offed himself).
• Tropic Thunder should have been nominated for Worst Picture of the Year. I managed to make it through about 8 minutes of that sophomoric piece of crap before turning it off.
• Isn't Beyonce Knowles' 15 minutes of fame up yet? I'd pay to see Etta James kick her ass.
• For all the people here bitching about the Oscars, why don't you go work on that screenplay you started 20 years ago and then put away so you could sit on your ass and watch re-runs of "Everybody Loves Raymond"? Then maybe you can give an acceptance speech that no-talent wannabe's can carp over and dissect?

Most people who are knowledegable about films would take issue with your assessment of Slumdog. They said it was a great, uplifting story with a well constructed, dramatic plot. It also garnered 7 other Oscars, including the ones for writing. From CNN:

the film is a celebration of India -- from the slums to the Taj Mahal. It pays homage to Bollywood by incorporating many of the industry's norms -- vibrant colors, fast-paced editing, a fairy-tale love story and a feel-good musical dance ending.

" 'Slumdog' is the reason why people go to the movies. It's the whole package," said Gene Newman, editorial director at Premiere.com. "It's an incredible story ... and it makes you feel good."

As for Dark Knight, it had a lot of glitzy action, but not much substance, despite its pretensions in that area. Christian Bale had the exact same Christian Bale lisp as Batman that he had as Bruce Wayne. So he tried to "disguise" his Bruce Wayne identity by affecting a gruff voice as Batman, and the effect was ludicrous.

The Dark Knight had a brilliant psycho performance by Heath Ledger and it was a moderately entertaining film.

But Best Picture nominee? Don't think so....

When I finished college, I went on to grad school. At the time, the Vietnam War was raging and I wangled a 4-F deferment. I later felt guilty about doing that, but with a more mature perspective, I realized that I'd spared myself the horrors that many of my contemporaries had to face, so ultimately I'm glad I weaseled out of the military.

But if I were graduating college now, I'd certainly consider the military. As someone said in an earlier letter, the experiences you'll have in the military....valuable experience...can be found nowhere else.

The problem is, our political leaders keep involving us in these half-assed military adventures that accomplish very little and wind up getting a lot of our best young people killed or maimed.

I include Vietnam, Iraq, and the current misguided adventure in Afghanistan in that category.

Go to grad school.

Ah, the monthly ritual dismemberment of Camille Paglia....

Before I dig in to the venomous letter that have accumulated from Salon readers (one of my guilty pleasures), I have two comments of my own:

• Jesus, Camille, your defense of Rush Limbaugh puts you in some pretty seedy company. If you really want to stand up for that self-important blowhard, I guess that's your free choice. But in a time of genuine crisis like this one, people like Rush who place partisan politics above what's good for the country are only prolonging the economic crisis and making it more difficult for us to get out of it.
• Thanks for providing those insights into the carnival scene in Salvador da Bahia. It was interesting, but waaaaaaaay too much detail. A couple of paragraphs would have sufficed. But you can't distinguish between your own enthusiasms and what your readers want, can you?

Whether we the people are able to negate these bonuses to AIG executives or not, the unified outrage from both the public and the government is encouraging.

Somehow, I doubt that something like this would have happened under a Bush administration.

Yo, Buhh-ddy......

You're single and you've got no kids, so I don't feel badly about your playing. Nice to hear that you're winning more than you're losing. Everybody needs a little excitement in their life. Guess you've found yours in the adrenaline rush of the poker table.

Good luck to you.

If you had managed to eke out the flush on that $2,000 pot, the people around the table would've been calling you a genius.....

"Didja see that? He pulled that one out of his ass."

"Geez, what a pair of balls on that guy!"

Hey, Ben...

Sorry about Saab's demise. But you still have your Birkenstocks, right? (Or maybe you're still wearing your Earth Shoes?........Remember Earth Shoes?)

And hey, did you hear Lands' End is having a big sale this weekend?