And this despite the late hour. And to think I sacrificed reading a chapter from a novel for this. Ugh.

Glenn Greenwald has done a great service by equating this long meaningless award with an Onion-style gag. Meaningless because it is so obviously "starf*ckery," and has virtually nothing to do with actual reality.

Mr. Greenwald rightly points out that Barack Obama's meager accomplishments (while absolutely fabulous in comparison to the failures of George W. Bush), involve mere adjustments in tone diplomatically, but are disappointingly at odds with a dirty laundry list in terms of actual policies.

Drunk on the Kool-Aid of "hope," what the Nobel committee gave President Obama was nothing to celebrate. It is nothing more than a catalyst for the real heavy lifting required for the challenge. Obama's efforts, although welcome, are not gains here, but rather much-needed repair of the damage done by the warmongering puffery from the buffoon that preceded him.

And the response by Michael Moore, introduced by a previous letter writer, is worth repeating: "Congratulations Mr. President on the Nobel Peace Prize. Now please earn it."

And to all of the trolls who are criticizing Mr. Greenwald for criticizing the president? Run along. Go back to your space under the bridge.

Only... a "progressive" could see freeing millions from the rule of brutal dictators as not helping people.

Oh, dear. Well, you have a point. This time it was called the 2008 Presidential election. And this one wasn't stolen. Now we need to hold the winner accountable for his promises, universal healthcare chief among them.

By the way... you look great in that "Irony is Dead" t-shirt.

And sad, nonetheless... I read the referenced article in the Wall Street Journal and always knew there was probably more "story" behind the story. Ignore the critics... this was a refreshing inside look at contemporary political machinery.

I agree with Seth Goldman that this piece "should be an embarrassment to journalists." Not so much for the content as for the seemingly dismissive tone. The "mainstream" isn't usually a catalyst for revolution and change as early opposition to the Vietnam war reminds us. I was out marching in the streets in the fall of 2002, and I donated money to Cindy. If more Americans did as much, rather than fret over whether or not the anti-war effort and its spokespersons are "mainstream," then we might never have gone there.

But we can thank Ms. Winant for being an unwitting tool for the status quo and illuminating what's really wrong with the American public on this issue.

In my early days as a young gay over twenty years ago, "Fag Hag" was already a cliche, a shopworn neighborhood on the fringes of the gay ghetto, generally frequented by fat goth girls with low self esteem.

I have generally preferred the more sophisticated "wife" as opposed to the "fag hag" girlfriend. My friends and would laugh at the antics of Will and Grace, but in a detached, retro-non-relevant kind of way. My "wives" have provided much more deep and meaningful relationships than anything that "fag hag" might imply.

The traditional boundaries may have disappeared... but the dynamics have not.

Translation: Let's admit that we were riding, or actually driving the crazy train. But it's so obviously crazy, that we should paint it, and/or put some lipstick on it to make it appear less crazy.

The subject says it all.

As a long-time desktop publishing professional who has used the Office and Adobe suites on both the Windows and Macintosh platforms for years, I must emphatically disagree with this post, especially so after previewing the complete redesign of the interface of Office 2007 for Windows. The interface and functionality for the Mac are much cleaner and much more intuitive, and thus so much easier to use. While the interface for Windows is finally on par with that for the Mac, the functionality is all over the map, and completely counterintuitive.

Although there are a few bugs along with Microsoft's typical strange addition and subtraction of features (snap-to-grid, apply styles, limited guides), Office 2008 runs circles around it's Windows counterpart, and also that of Apple's iWorks. The latter is outrageously counter-intuitive, and does not take advantages of features, functions, and shortcuts that have been part of the OS for years.

And Office 2007? I don't even know where to begin to start with this utterly useless redesign, which seems as though actual users were left out of the process. Working in this suite is more like a laborious chore than a party. And I should know, because everyone in our agency who was beginning to take on more work instead of outsourcing it to our studio department due to budgetary cutbacks is calling me again, because even veteran Office users have no idea how to do anything any more beyond the basics.

Yet again, Joan Walsh writes an accurate assessment of the current events surrounding one of the most polarizing figures in contemporary American politics, an incompetent, mean-spirited boob given to self destruct more from her own deficiencies rather than any perceived enemy, and the column once again becomes a troll magnet for all of the cut-n-paste Dittoheads on the right. Yet again, we’re subjected to the same tired talking points about the “Democrat” party, Obama conspiracy theories, numerous references to communism and socialism, and perpetual defense of the utterly indefensible subject.

The letters section is hijacked again, and transformed into something like TableTalk, but in all actuality is much more downmarket… more like TrailerTalk.

When are paying subscribers going to be given a tool to manage this section? It’s much worse than the letters thread to the Opinions section of the Wall Street Journal Online. And that’s really saying something.