We already know he can't doing anything about it because Reid has said as much. So here was his choice: take a principled stand that might have a chance to protecting the 4th Amendment for another another day, or spin some bullshit that demonstrates his audacity has nothing to do with hope. He chose to spin, to throw out an obfuscation that his apologists can desperately grasp but which MEANS NOTHING. He took a stand today, and it was the wrong stand. Period.

We can't let these people continue to chip away at the Constitution. The Constitution is the ONLY thing that makes the United States special. Without it, we're just a ravenous gathering of spoiled, frightened children addicted to television and shopping.

Just sayin'.

I'm long past shocked by the things people attach to their babies, but I am occasionally bemused.

I admire anyone who doesn't watch much cable news.

As for Hillary, the nomination was hers to lose, and she lost it fair and square when she decided to let a crowd of 90s hacks run a 90s Rethug-lite campaign in 2008.

Was there sexism? Sure. Racism too. Hillary and her people are no dewy-eyed innocents. Can we move on now?

Obama's tactics were Rovian? Compared to, um, Hillary's?

Yeah. Sure.

WTF?

I have a feeling the people of Seattle will love Brandon Rush almost as much as the people of Oklahoma City will love Russell Westbrook, once this whole Kabuki finally ends.

The best thing about the Salon letters is that the writers often use really good spelling and grammar to express their rage about articles they obviously didn't actually read.

Because the MSM will dutifully repeat everything McCain and his surrogates say as if it's fact.

Well, good luck, I guess. I can't say as I've always agreed with your opinions on things, but you've been fun to read here. Sadly, no way does Slate get my clickthrus. While I've no doubt you will increase the net worth of the site, I can't in good conscience offer my support, even in the form of a few Farhad page views, to such a toilet.

One more click in the Salon death watch. If King and Heather go, so too will I.

But then 9 more soldiers died in Afghanistan, 15 seriously wounded, and I got distracted by something that matters.

Terry Gross focused mostly on the article, devoting only the last minute or so to the New Yorker cover. It was an interesting show.

As for Lizza's defense of the cover, it was pretty tepid, and clearly based on a delusional belief in the rationality and intellectual curiosity of the average American.

The vast majority of the people posting here and elsewhere who "got it" immediately and found it "hilarious," didn't until the discussion it generated created an opportunity for self-congratulatory stroking. "Lookit me, dummieheads, I GOT it. I is a smartenheimer!"

And so, once again, the main use for the internet is to pin the reading on the Smug-o-Meter.

My cousin had a hot dog for lunch and an hour later he was dead, run over by a drunk driver! Ergo, eating hot dogs causes colorectal cancer, which my dead cousin's vegetarian girlfriend suffers from.

So there.

I saw the ads, and I kept expecting the energizer bunny, or someone to start hawking fried chicken or anti-freeze. I even thought, Wow, whoever came up with this spoof movie commercial really scored, getting Meryl Streep to play along.

I mean, no way this is a REAL movie, right?

But, no. It's real.

All I can say is OMGWTFBBQ!

THIS hooey again?

I thought you'd come to your senses before that cesspool which is Slate had dragged you down to its level. Not that Salon is much better anymore, as evidenced by yet another addlepated God apologist article last night or the weakly reasoned yammerfest about how many seats the Dems will or won't pick up this election.

On the Mac side, there are a lot of writing apps that provide fullscreen mode. My personal favorite is StoryMill from Mariner, which also offers MacJournal with full screen mode. Scrivener for Mac does too. These apps do more than just full-screen, so you will want to consider them based on their other merits as well. WriteRoom is nice, and while a bit spendy for what you get, its spare feature set may be part of its attraction. For a few bucks more, I prefer the range of StoryMill. But all these apps offer great benefit over the bloat of Word, which I spend more time fighting with when I do have to use than getting actual work done.

I'd be surprised if such isn't also ubiquitous on the Windows side.

The attraction of just typing on a blank screen and slowly (or quickly) filling it with words is great. I spend most of my time in full screen mode in StoryMill. Lack of distractions definitely helps me.