We can only hope this is the last book tour of Tom Delay.

Cary used a recent complaint & his response to it as as avenue to explain what he believes this woman needs to do...let her friend grieve as she must grieve. And Cary will write as he does, thankfully. (I remember that nasty screed from the comments.)

It's difficult to have someone you love & have always been close to pull away from you , particularly when you don't understand why, and all you want is to understand why.

Patience. It's compounded by the fact that the LW needs someone to talk with about her life difficulties. For the time being, she's going to have to find someone else to talk with. Her friend just isn't up to it and she may not be able to articulate why.

What a saga. Thanks for another good column.

I think they should have all deplaned in Maine & drove to Boston. I remember a flight I took, long long ago (20years) from western NY to Burlington VT. A small plane and most likely an airline that is out of operation, someone like Mohawk. For reasons I don't recall we couldn't land in Burlington & were flown to Montreal. We deplaned via stairs onto the runway & went directly onto a bus. The luggage was also loaded onto the bus. We never entered the terminal. Then we were driven straight to Burlington. We avoided customs & all in all it worked out pretty well.

I haven't read any of the other letters yet, so the obvious answer may have been stated already.

You need to dump the superficial friend.

Here's a thought for those who don't see a crime & think that solves everything. Even if we take the issue of a possible crime out of this issue, Congress still has the right to oversight & hearings to that effect. Every hearing is not to sniff out a crime, but to make certain our government is running properly. To make certain that the taxpayer's money is being used appropriately & efficiently.

Eight USAs were fired. It was out of the ordinary. The reasons being given by the powers that be were varied and conflicted with the evidence. This sends up a red flag to thinking people. They wonder why this happened; what's going on. They ask more questions and get more run arounds, so they call for a hearing and testimony to ferret out the truth. This is what Congress does and thank god they do it, at least once in a while.

BTW, thanks, Joe, for another good article.

Aren't these public apologies, or maybe we should say, these public confessions part of the bargain when they plead guilty? It's part of the punishment. There's probably a legal phrase for it.

When I got the part about using Maxim to appeal to younger audiences I stopped reading. That was all I needed to know to form an opinion on this endeavor.

I don't know about titles or earning a living at music, but if you want to play, then play.

Now for my tedious story. I grew up in a generation & at a small school where we had to take a test in grade school to determine if we could be in the elementary school band. I didn't do well & was told I couldn't be in the band even though I wanted to. My older sibling was in the band. My parents & I accepted this decree from the powers that be. I lived the next 25 years with the belief stuck in my head that I had no musical abilities.

Funny thing is that when I was in my mid-30s I really wanted to learn an instrument...the violin. I got a violin & an instructor. It's hard work. I don't like practicing much & I have no real talent. But I find it very satisfying in many ways. I tell people that I see my violin playing as a solo effort. It isn't for anyone but me. I have no ambition to play in front of people. I just want to progress as I can. Also it's good for the brain.

As the saying goes, follow the money. By all means go back to college but carefully decide which one it will be. I think Wonder Woman wrote an excellent comment about all the things to think about. But from my personal perspective I wouldn't spend a lot of money on a name prestige school when you have less expensive options. I'm not worried about the children's education as much as I am about the mortgage/rent payment or food or insurance, etc. When there are dependents involved we can't be as carefree as we might otherwise. Get all the financial apsects ironed out.

Did any of these folks ask Sampson if he did talk to Karl Rove, ever, about anything? From this testimony one could get the impression that Sampson never met the guy let alone talked with him. What a sycophant.

I think it's pretty clear that this woman (yes it's woman, notice she mentioned wearing slacks) needs to connect with someone to discuss the issues in her life. Her letter to Cary was a toe in the water. Of course, the old fling has no right to touch her when she doesn't invite it. She knows that. Her letter is her way of reaching out for help. I suspect she's afraid to get help face to face, so she writes to Cary.

BTW, I loved Cary's thoughts on "overwhelm". I'd like to hear more.

A warm & delightful article. Thanks.

I, too, prefer Scrubs, ignore Grey's Anatomy, & enjoy House while wondering what these docs are doing drawing blood & then doing the lab tests on that blood. But, it's all escapist fun, which is why I watch TV.

Russell, I only found one typo. Glenn posts his columns as he writes them, then corrects errors. So you probably read it a few minutes before I did, but it looks like he got them all.