13) [Paul Hewitt (DBA Bono)] I can't believe I'm not your person of the year. Who'd you pick?

I'd go with Ramsey Clark for defending Saddam Hussein. He actually understands that our rights don't matter until the person using them doesn't deserve them.

Both international law and the Constitution of the United States guarantee the right to effective legal representation to any person accused of a crime. This is especially important in a highly politicized situation, where truth and justice can become even harder to achieve. That's certainly the situation today in Iraq. The war has caused the deaths of tens of thousands of Iraqis and the widespread destruction of civilian properties essential to life. President Bush, who initiated and oversees the war, has manifested his hatred for Hussein, publicly proclaiming that the death penalty would be appropriate.

The United States, and the Bush administration in particular, engineered the demonization of Hussein, and it has a clear political interest in his conviction. Obviously, a fair trial of Hussein will be difficult to ensure — and critically important to the future of democracy in Iraq. This trial will write history, affect the course of violence around the world and have an impact on hopes for reconciliation within Iraq.

from http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0124-26.htm

He understands the damage GITMO and the like do to our nation's reputation.

12) [Carlson Tucker] Who is America's greatest pundit?

That's a snap: Chris Rock. (John Liebowitz, with whom I went to college is a distant second, tied with Bill Mahr.)

Chris Rock: "if Johnny can't read, that's mama's fault, but if Johnny can't read because the electric bill hasn't been paid and the lights have been shut off, then that's daddy's fault"

By the way, how do you know that white people designed Google. Try to google "hoes back up off me", and see what you get "Did you mean: 'hose back up off me'"
(I was trying to find a sequence from Bigger and Blacker, CR's special.)

11) [posted by Billy Joel] What's on your IPOD?

Good question, Billy. Your Stranger album is still one of my favorites, but I don't have it on my IPOD. I am listening to Death Cab for Cutie and Low Millions. And I still keep listening to Evanescence's last album. (It's not just for Good Friday anymore.) I also am listening to the last albums by Sting, the Boss and U2--it's shocking that groups who produced good albums while I was in college are still producing excellent work, arguably their finest.

10) [Submitted by Randy Macho Man Savage] You've indicated that it's embarrassing being a man. Are you trying to tell me something?

No, Randy, I did not audition for a part in the new Ang Lee movie.

But, it is embarrassing being a man. I think I started feeling this way twenty years ago when a senior female faculty member told me that 25% of her counterparts had been sexually harrassed. I asked, "what do you mean, like men gazing down your shirt?" (I suppose that the figure for that would be 75%.) She replied, "No, I mean like 'hey, baby--sleep with me if you want to get tenure'."

I don't know what else to say. Men really are pigs or, on their best days, just primitive.

Can anyone doubt that we would not be in Iraq if women ran the world? Seriously. Even Laura Bush (no favorite of mine) would not have us over there.

I would add as an aside that if I were a woman, I'd be a lesbian and dispense with men altogether (!). My wife tells me that I'm not the first man to have a thing for lesbians. Hmmmm....