I would never had thought this would be the final three and I still can't believe Hosea is the winner, but at least his win isn't as awful as Ilan's in season 2. It seemed to me that there was no way Stefan was going to win since it appeared that Coliccio really didn't like the guy. I do have to wonder what the other guests would have thought about the carpaccio if Coliccio hadn't mentioned the freezing method Stefan used.

This morning I read a blog post with comments from Casey where she says that she was made to look bad by the editors and Carla's plans were essentially a mess. After reading it, it did give me pause about how much sympathy I should really feel towards Carla. http://sidedish.dmagazine.com/2009/02/26/casey-thompson-speaks-out-about-top-chef/. Yikes.

While I agree with some other letter writers that the problem was with the casting, I still would like them to focus on casting talented chefs vs. gimmicks like the model/culinary student from season one. Nothing against her personally, but watching someone with her limited skills up against chefs like Harold was cringe-worthy.

As for the final episode, no more past cheftestants as sous chefs. Either find top name chefs who would be willing to assist or bag the idea.

Jason Segal has done full frontal before. I can't imagine those guys wouldn't have done it if asked. Maybe Jonah and Seth were skittish. Maybe Graydon just couldn't stomach it. Who knows. Oh well, I still chuckled, especially Paul Rudd in the Tom Ford role. What I don't get is the frothing hate-on for Annie Liebovitz by Mary Elizabeth Williams. Geez, get a grip.

Just when I thought this non-issue was slowly fading into the ether, you just had to bring it up again! Gee thanks! Heh. Seriously, it would be nice if more media outlets would ignore these faux controversies that are drummed up by people who apparently have way too much time on their hands. It would be great if every time one of these stories reared its head Salon would post a story of greater substance about the first lady than what she's wearing. How will we ever get past this obsession with the appearance of the first lady if y'all keep playing along?

Aside from the Mayan calendar stuff, I couldn't find any other references to the specific date you mentioned. In addition, most scholars have concluded that the Mayans didn't predict any sort of apocalypse associated with that date. In regards to the planetary convergence, I thought it already occurred about 10 years ago with nothing untoward happening. People have been predicting the end of the world for thousands of years. After 2012, they'll come up with some other date to latch onto...and so it goes.

The page linked to with the info about the pharmaceutical industry didn't have a link to where the author got their sales figures, but I think they mixed up trillion and billion. I work in biotechnology, but not for a pharmaceutical company. I asked around and the annual worldwide sales figure for 1997 was more like 300 billion and more recently it's around 500-600 billion. That seems to align with the numbers I've seen online after doing a little research.

I really don't understand Camille's affection for Rush. I have to wonder why a gay person would hold him in such high esteem. It's kind of like an African American being pals with a member of the KKK. Kinda weird and creepy.

Anyway, Rush has been around for 20 years. His audience hasn't changed and it's not growing, so who cares. I know that it's hilarious to see people like Steele grovel at his feet, but really who cares. After he gets too old or too fat to keep doing his show, there will be some other obnoxious blowhard to take his place. It's the circle of life. Hey, maybe he can start grooming that annoyingly precocious "conservative" 14 year old kid.

Hey, conservative and proud, why don't you share your message of love and tolerance with your fellow freepers. Rush is a perfect symbol of tolerance. Hey, it's backwards day!

I just had to forward your "socialists suck" comment to my friends that really do live in countries that come closest to having socialist societies. Their standard of living and education levels trump ours by a long shot. They love it when conservatives level unhinged rants about Obama being a "socialist". They also worry about the poor education our citizens must be receiving when so many don't sem to understand the basic foundational concepts of "socialism" and "communism". I don't blame them for ridiculing us all.

Disagree with Danae777 and she demands that you leave HER country. Now that's what I call tolerance. Sad little troll. 3...2...1 waiting for the inevitable nasty reply. Hey Klytus you better watch out. If you yell socialism one more time, Danae777 is going to come to your house and beat you up.

Now you've done it. The trolls are going to come attack you with the full force of their righteous indignation. Actually, this thread has completely jumped the shark evidenced by the unhinged wingnuttery, discussion of Obama's birth certificate, and the piece de resistance...referring to Obama as Hitler. Bravo, little trolls, bravo.

The current crop of GOP leaders make Barry Goldwater look like a moderate. I'm old enough to remember when you could be a pro-choice Republican and not be run out of town on a rail. All of the Repubs in my family are pro-choice, strangely enough. But, hey if they want to keep marginalizing themselves and find even more creative way to encourage more moderates to jump ship, fine by me.

Gerald and Betty Ford were pro-choice for heavens sake. Bush I was more moderate than Bush II. Barbara Bush is pro-choice. Every Republican in my extended family is pro-choice. The religious right has a death grip on the party right now. The moderates should really be fighting harder to wrestle back control from the wingers.