I don't watch television news of any kind whatsoever, so, no I don't get celebrity news from CNN and similar ilk. When I read the New York Times, which is rarely since I have come to distrust it as a news source, it's really very easy to avoid the celeb news. Same is true with any newspaper.

But you're right. Salon is not my only celebrity news source, and my other source does to a degree support your thesis. I see more of Brangelinajenickica, et. al., than I care to while paying for my groceries. Alas. I could freak out about it, but in the end, I am doing the only thing I can to influence it's pervasiveness -- mostly ignoring it. Beyond that, I feel I need to focus my sadly finite supply of indigation on important things, like this hotdog vendor who put ketchup on my dawg without asking! What on earth was that man thinking?!

I still say that The Fix is just what it is. Optional, catty, occasionally amusing or good-griefing. And you don't have to click the link. Hell, that's head and shoulders above the grocery check out line.

Well, in a way I kinda agree with you about the whole celebrity culture thing, but The Fix here is hardly cramming it down your throat. It's an optional link among many. Pretty easy to avoid.

Personally this is my one source of celebrity news, just as King Kaufmann is my one source of sports news. The rest of my news reading is definitely of a more serious, less entertainment-oriented kind, both here at Salon and from many other news and information sources.

Why do I read The Fix then? Well, it's a brain break once a day. It's news about the irrelevant, presented in a small dose with a mildly catty tone. I chuckle, or shake my head, or shrug my shoulders. It enables me to, occasionally, understand what others are going on about and it provides me with an opportunity, every couple of days, to write a letter to Salon in which I suggest that we are way past due for KFed to be involved in a tragic single car celebrity crash with no survivors.

It's like one of those single serving bags of chips. It's not good for me, but it's just one bag and I kinda enjoy it for what it is. I still eat plenty of vegetables.

Because once again I am compelled to suggest that we are well past due time for Kevin Federline to be in a tragic single car celebrity car wreck with no survivors.

For the record, my mom is not a fan of KFed. She may not even know he exists. But she always told me that if you don't have something nice to say, etc. etc.

...but I think it may be time for Kevin Federline to suffer a tragic single-car celebrity car wreck with no survivors.

I'm a test, rampart? You put words in my mouth and then attack me?

Try Google. Five minutes will give you an initial insight into the impact of amphetamines on baseball going back to at least the forties. Ruth was notorious for taking whatever pick-me-up he could find to recover from his hangovers. Mantle? Speed freak. Aaron, I'm not sure but then I only spent five minutes with Google. But he played in an era when most players not only used amphetamines but weren't concerned about hiding it. What I did learn is that studies have shown that amphetamine use has approached 75% among professional baseball players alone in some years. Not just one player that a buncha people hate already, but a majority of players.

I won't do the research for you, because you won't believe me and because it's too easy to do on your own. Unless you're afraid to face the truth. Which, I suspect you are. Bonds is a simply convenient target for people like you, a man easy to hate and easy to hang your own insecurities on.

Face reality, all your heroes have clay feet. But you know what? Big deal.

Rampart, I didn't defend Bonds. I pointed out that whatever he did, A) no one has successfully demonstrated it would make a difference (that's not advocating intelligent design, it's advocating the scientific method; shrill heresay and personal impressions about 'roids aren't evidence) and B) Bonds isn't special. Drugs have been a part of sports going back at least decades, and some records were set by athletes openly using drugs that demonstrably improve performance. Some of those athletes are now national or international heros.

The most important part of my letter was this: you can come up with a reason why every record ever broken was tainted. This guy was coked up, that guy was on speed, the lady over there dosed with diuretics, and don't forget the guy with a kid in every city. I'm not excusing the choices athletes make, or the behaviors they exhibit -- just pointing out that there is nothing unique or special about Bonds just because he's an ass or might have used a drug that wasn't against the rules

Any moment now, someone will post a long tortured argument explaining why some fellow who hit 67 homeruns is the true record holder because they can prove he never smoke or drank to took an aspirin or spanked his kid.

Barry may be a dick, and he may be a steroid user, but that doesn't make him unusual. It makes him a major league baseball player.