Wrap-up: We have a new "Think Again" column called "Conflicts by the Rich, for the Rich," here . I also did a Daily Beast post on Palin's defenders on Sunday, which is here.

And I do recommend that if you have a few minutes free, you give them over to the Samminator, here. Those were the days, huh? On to Mr. Pierce. I also recommend if you have a few minutes, try to pick up a copy of Rolling Stone and read the wonderful account of the life of Mr. Gregory Allman, it is a wonderful piece of writing. It's not online and I never heard of the writer, but trust me...

This Week on Moyers:

With almost twenty years inside the health insurance industry, Wendell Potter saw for-profit insurers hijack our healthcare system and put profits before patients. Now, he speaks with Bill Moyers about how those companies are standing in the way of healthcare reform. Potter spoke out against the industry for the first time last month, testifying before the Senate Commerce Committee he said, "Recently it became abundantly clear to me that the industry's charm offensive, which is the most visible part of a duplicitous and well-financed PR and lobbying campaign, may well shape reform in a way that benefits Wall Street far more than average Americans." Wendell Potter is a senior fellow on healthcare for the nonpartisan watchdog group Center for Media and Democracy, for which he writes a blog on healthcare reform.

Charles Pierce
Newton, MA

"He was sitting in the lounge of the Empire Hotel/He was drinking for diversion. He was thinking for himself."

Weekly WWOZ Pick To Click: "When Hollywood Goes Black And Tan" (Cleo Brown)--You know, I asked the most important people (My family!!!!!!) about how much I loved New Orleans. I got two yes's and one Hell, Yeah (!!!!!!).

Part The First: The Continuing Adventures Of Waldo The Drunk Security Guard (Chapter XVI): Waldo was doing his rounds late at night in the handsomely appointed Bay Area offices of Salon, a prominent magazine of the Intertoobz. As he walked, he sipped from his silver flask that had been handed down to him by his grandfather, who used to get drunk while on duty as a guard at the Washington Post. (Family legend had it that George Will got his column one night when Waldo's grandfather was sockless on duty.) Every sip he took was longer and deeper until, finally, Waldo stumbled and fell, passing out with his head on a pile of old newspapers. Unfortunately, just as he drifted off, crazy people again rose from their berths in the mailroom and sat down at computer terminals. "It's why she remains hugely popular with the Republican grassroots base--as I know from listening to talk-radio. Callers coming fresh from her rallies are always heady with infectious enthusiasm." As are, one supposes, all of the many voices in their heads.

However, the really hot stuff is there if you click through to the fourth page. Hubba-hubba.

Part The Second: I will grant you that the prospective 2012 GOP presidential field has experienced certain, ah, modifications over the past month, what with the governor of Alaska abdicating in order the swim upstream against salmon and syntax simultaneously, and what with the South Carolina governor's mansion still being graced against all odds and common sense by the presence of Ivor the Engine Driver. But that's still no excuse for starting to listen to this guy again. I mean, have some pride, people.

Part The Third: Wednesday was a banner day at Ye Olde House of Mulch For Brains. The Democrats are in knots over the stimulus, when they're not in knots over Michael Jackson! GOP on the move in New Hampshire and Virginia! But the real masterpieces--the stuff that you read and think, "Mother of god, where do these people buy their mushrooms?"--comes in the various pieces regarding the present and future of the Tsarina Mooseburger. In only one day's work, we have her as the Renegade Queen of the North, as well as her value as an ATM for the 28 percent crowd. But the true classic is this bubbling cauldron of abject Fail. (Note to the author: When Bob Dole quit his Senate seat? That was a stunt and a fake and he had a nice place in Bal Harbour in which to hang out. Pass it on.) At the risk of sounding sexist--and, my Lord, enough with this, if you don't mind--if you're going to try and treat this sideshow rodeo clown as a serious national political player, you ought to at least take into account that, on the day your attempt appears, she is revealed to believe that the president has something called "The Department Of Law" to take care of pesky ethics complaints and ill-tempered bloggers. The Department of Law? Jack McCoy wept.

Part The Fourth: Can it please be explained to this clodhopper that he... doesn't... count? Never been happier that we in the Udall campaign kicked his pappy's ass all over New Hampshire in '76.

Part The Fifth: No. If this was a trial balloon, the silly bastard who floated it needs to be whacked upside the head with something hard. If it's policy, the whacking should go considerably further up the food chain.

Part The Last: Tell me again why the Civil War was worth all that bother. And at another table here at the 2009 World Series of Morons, we have this chap. This, remember, is the Republican party that makes so many people in the White House nervous.

I noted with interest that Karl Rove apparently put his hand on a Bible this week as regards his role in the US attorneys mess and in sending Don Siegelman up the river. The deposition apparently ran for nearly eight hours. It also was taken privately. My question is why. What is it that makes Karl Rove worthy of special treatment in the summer of 2009? What influence does he still have? What power does he still wield? On what basis can he make demands other than the color of his jumpsuit and the sparkle on his shackles? Why was his deposition not immediately available for public scrutiny? Oh, I see. It is the position of this administration that the institution of the presidency can be permanently harmed if it is revealed that a presidential aide concocted a phony political prosecution through which a sitting governor wound up in prison. This administration belongs in a cage before it does any more real damage.

Name: Terry
Hometown Cheyenne

Eric, As Richard Lindsey valiantly corrects Pierce, I realize that as a liberal tree-hugger in Cheyenne, I am that corrected definition, "the voice of one crying out in the wilderness. Also, the voice of one crying that she lives in the wilderness. But don't print this. Being Wyoming-centric is part of the horrors of this so-called culture. Not having taken my Obama sticker off, I get heavy-revving black trucks on my ass as I make that late-night grocery trip. If anyone every romanticizes this place to you, tell them to get fucked.

Name: Tip Tipton
Hometown: Troy, OH

It having been clearly established that Sarah Palin has a certain class of devotees (see: Joe the Plumber), it is no great surprise to me that she chooses to leave her wilderness digs for the more populated lower forty-eight. The question is: where will Sarah go?

Not that the decision is pressing. As John McCain demonstrated, establishing residency in a vacated district is a snap, so by 2016 she should have plenty of opportunities.

I'm thinking that for now, at least, she will settle somewhere in the deep South. There she can idle away her time reading the classics of Tennessee Williams and Ernest Hemingway, and make appearances at such venues as the KY Derby and the Daytona 500. She could homestead in the Keys, claiming a Hemmingway connection while at the same time coining her cmapaign slogan: "I can see Cuba from my porch!"

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