Another big-money too young future superstar that they can train for that day when he's finally coming into his own, when he will take an even bigger free agent deal from some other team that didn't have to pay him for or suffer through his youthful mistakes.

What more can be said?

The one thing you can be sure of with Hannibal: he discriminates. No wanton mass-murder for him. Plus, you know when he's eating your liver, a good wine will accompany the meal.

All Condi does is oversee mindless acts of slaughter at the behest of her "husband." Booing is too good for her.

As for Bush being a good baseball commissioner? Even compared to the ridiculous performance of Selig, Bush would be a side-grade at best. But good? I don't think so.

American Idol is a celebration of mediocrity constructed on a foundation of cruelty. In other words, given what's happened in America since the onslaught of the "Reagan Revolution," it IS truly Americam. Why shouldn't the season finale of this gleaming exercise in vapidity juxtaposed against humiliation-as-entertainment show us exactly what it really is?

Now we have another manufactured pop star who will sing competent, unremarkable songs and climb the pop charts, and we have completed another social experiment demonstrated just how petty and mean-spirited the average American is.

Yay?

I'm hunin' wabbits!

I'm of mixed opinion on the whole vegan thing. On the one hand, it seems to cause terminal insufferability. On the other hand, I don't really care what other people eat, so long as they shut the hell up about it.

Did veganism cause this baby's death? More like idiocy did. Apple juice in a newborn's belly is evidence enough of that.

The only thing I found truly tiresome about this movie was Kiera Knightley, whose career jumped the shark with that squinty-eyed bounty hunter movie. Otherwise, this latest Pirates was plenty enjoyable.

Dumb as a box of rocks? Sure. A bit muddled and confusing? Okay, I'll grant you that. But I went in to have fun, laugh a bit, and see some spectacle, and I got what I was looking. It was well worth the matinee price.

I won't shed a tear if they never make another one, but I think this rounded out the series plenty fine.

"Wah, women want me to be not such a dick! No faiirrrrr!" *pout*

Shut up, dudes. Seriously, get over it already.

It's called "paraphrazing." Look it up, and then re-read several of "anonymous" posts on the first page!

Reading comprehension! It's what's for dinner!

So forlorn . . . had to say something.

Yay HH. Boo trt. In fact, trt = creepy stalker dood. sssss

It's the character, House, who makes the solid six-figure income, not the actor, Laurie.

And anonymous, if that is your real name, chill dude. There's some hair-pulling and handwringing over in News & Events section.

I was born and raised in Ohio, and while I still consider myself a fan of Ohio sports, to the extent I am a fan of anything, SHUT THE HELL UP ALREADY ABOUT DUMB OL' OHIO!

Toni Morrison is an overrated hack whose purple prose and melodramatic claptrap could drown an Oprah Convention.

Reznor I dig, and Devo is in the pantheon of awesome. Spielberg, mixed. When he's good, he's very good, and when he's bad, and very bad and yet inexplicably successful (nota bene the worst most-beloved movie ever, E.T.).

As for leaving, let's just say I left for a reason and while I don't mind having grown up there and have fond memories of my Ohio youth, I'll never move back. Heaven knows my own success didn't start till I left.

The Laura Lippman and Val McDermid books are particularly good.

But would it kill you to dig a little bit and talk about some of the less well-known gems that aren't supported by 5,000 ARCs and an army of publicists large enough to take Omaha beach? There are a lot of great thrillers out this year, particularly some great, midlist debuts.

Stretch a bit. Break out of the conventions imposed by the publishing behemoths. Risk something and recommend a book a million people haven't already heard of.

Opus is a welcome addition for me. Glad you brought Breathed on board.

Machinist? A waste of bandwidth as far as I'm concerned. Manjoo is an unimpressive journalist who wears his petulance on his sleeve when called out for her errors in reporting and reasoning. Frankly, I see him as the Camille Paglia of technology reporting, so I won't bother with him.

Duchovny would be a fun guest if you can make it happen. He's a smart fellow and I've long found him to have interesting things to say.

. . . in service to the most destructive political philosophy in at least the last thirty years, I'd say his sentence should be at least double whatever the judge might have been considering. Nay, triple. . .

I mean, we can't talk about ongoing investigations, can we?

I've delved into so-called chic lit mysteries -- Harley Jane Kozak and Jess Lourey are two of my favorites -- and have found them entertaining and much richer than one might think based on the way people sometimes talk about chic lit.

I'm looking forward to this one.

...I would think you wouldn't be afraid of revealing your Salon identifier. You're not obligated to identify yourself, of course, and I know that a handle on a letters thread isn't a true identity. Who is Bukk63, for example?

Well, Bukk63 is someone who posts here with regularity. I have an identity here. When I post something in passion, as I sometimes do, I post under that identity.

By posting under your registered name we can evaluate your fury against the context of a posting history. As it is, I'm inclined to think you don't have the courage of your convictions. You speak with passion, but lack even the minimal courage a user name makes possible.

I don't really take fraidy cats seriously.