"Because, let's face it, we're not nearly as cool as we were 40 years ago. Our hairstyles are ugly, our taste in food and music sucks, we don't read, we take ourselves way too seriously but have nothing original to say, we drive like assholes and these pants make our ass look fat."

Heather, you are actually the type of American you refer to. You could be the poster child for the dumb American I don't think that you "get" any show unless it has a certain vapidity that approaches the dummies portayed on Sex in the City. You did get the Leah-Josea aspect of Top Chef correct but, Jaime did need to go, as she lacked any respect for the skill of others. I could not agree less with you regarding Tom Collichio's judgment. He is a chef's chef and offers valid critique regarding the cooking of these candidates. Also, I don't mind Toby Young, His criticisms have been pretty accurate. And I can say that, in all honesty as, Being a professional chef, I usually hate restaurant critics but I know when they are right.

They couldn't wait to divest themselves of LBJ and Vietnam, like Bush and Iraq. There is no power to the incumbent in such a case. Also LBJ chose not to run and spared himself the agony. Now we'll see our country slip further into the abyss as Carter's second term takes hold and buyers' remorse begins. Doesn't help with Pelosi and Reid stuffing bills with pork. It's only taxpayer money.

If there's one thing government could do to improve our lives, it would be to figure out how to do away with this pathetic excuse for a column.

Stefan is Finnish? Is this a factoid invented to be clever? Though i agree with Heather's assessment of Hosea and Jaimie's culinary sloppiness, the rest of her "witty" critique reads like a very good high school journalist's effort to be glib. Forced, fumbling and way off the mark.

Sorry, folks, I was the original dirty-dog saboteur here. You guys might as well exercise your fledgling talents on the Limbaugh wannabe's over at FreeRepublic.com, since it's a fair match between self-deluders. Heck, you'll probably find that would-be Limbaugh, Salon poster Elephantman, over there.

While Havrilesky has improved considerably, I consider this one of her weaker columns. Pontificating about the American decline is being overdone these days, and wishing for style is no good. You either have style or you don't. "Gee, I wish the world had style" is like a high schooler's complaint, "Gee, I wish I could have sex." I said that a lot to myself, and it never happened. See? Pointless.

But not as pointless as Gordon Ramsey, who is also a poseur. I honestly watched his Kitchen Nightmares shows to see if he offered any cooking tips. The only such tip I could glean from between his F-bombs was "cook with fresh food," which ranks up there with "wash your hands after you pee, and if you're a girl, before as well." Duuuuuuuh.

Besides that, all he does is scream curses at people. He has no philosophy, wisdom, or cooking ability. I have never seen him cook anything once; I wouldn't trust him to make a grilled cheese sandwich (since he's British, he'd probably boil it). How can he have a love for cooking, when he has no love for people, who are supposedly the proper destination for food?

I believe in Hell, although I'm in doubt about Heaven, and when George Bush arrives there, he will be served meals for eternity by Gordon Ramsey, who will scream verbal feces at Bush and his dinner date for eternity, Elephantman.

...nothing more need be said.

"Because, let's face it, we're not nearly as cool as we were 40 years ago. Our hairstyles are ugly, our taste in food and music sucks, we don't read, we take ourselves way too seriously but have nothing original to say, we drive like assholes and these pants make our ass look fat."

Who and what is she talking about? I mean seriously, what does this paragraph mean? What is the antecedent for "we"? How old is the writer? Was she alive 40 years ago? Is she talking about herself? What about the "assholes" and "ass" in the last sentence...? Is there a term for that? (I mean a term like alliteration only that's not the term obviously.)

I genuinely had to skip to the letters and ask these questions. I couldn't go on after that paragraph. It needs to be studied. One shouldn't have to keep reading in order to decipher its meaning. A paragraph I feel should stand on its own. This isn't stand up comedy.

Of course, if she is talking about me as opposed to we, that changes everything. Is she guys? Talking about me? Is this something about baby boomers again?

........be an idiot; a trivially, obsessed one at that? Do you even understand what Capitalism's about? We are only about 60% Capitalist, what with the excessive govt interference and taxation we've had since the 1930s......and we'll move to about 50% by the end of Obama/Pelosi's next 4 years........so we will be truly sunk. But Capitalism's about choices......personal choices. Period. You can criticize other people and the ways they spend their money and time. But since our public school systyem and our mainstream media has dumbed many of us down to ignoramuses, therefore explaining how 53% of us actually voted for a semi-socialist........"we" (and I don't mean "I") have elected a President who will actually prevent our economy from recovering. Nice going, if you were one of the 53%. Way to go. And keep pumping out your trivial, nonsensical tripe for me to read 1/4 of before I've had enough.

I just ate at WichCraft here in SF. It was mediocre, at best. The soup was lukewarm, the sandwich was uninspired. I've been disappointed in Top Chef for a while, but am even more so after eating at Tom C's SF digs. Uninspired, man. I'm actually going to call the health inspector because there is no way that you are storing your soup at a high enough temp. I already got the norovirus from an insidious chain once, I can't get it again, but that doesn't mean I don't want to protect others from the horrors of dual projectile vomiting and diarrhea caused by YOUR employees' carelessness.