I feel ya, Mike. Today's strip sums up the news media very well, for me. It's getting worse by the day. All the wrong info for all the wrong reasons.

Likie many long-term fans, I had to search for "sideboob" to find out what the hell it is. I clicked on a likely link and was promptly infected by a Trojan virus. There's a lesson there, as well as a metaphor.

I have decided to think that sideboobs ( I am sorry to say I needed Google to help me with the definition ) are a sort of coda on American Exceptionalism. Since some of us cannot be relaxed about the human body, we will make a fetish of that which approaches being risque, without revealing any real secrets. Loving it.

Boobs, side or otherwise, will save journalism.

I wish I could change my Straw Poll vote to "Hate it." The HuffPo "sideboob" feature is purile, inane, and barely middle-school level titillating. Nudge nudge, wink, wink. It insults both my intelligence and libido. Brings to mind the classic Fugs tune "Boobs A Lot." 

You know, it's great that Rick has been offered a coveted slide show on "sideboob," but I really preferred not knowing that such a thing even exists.

This is not Rick's first experience of professional humiliation; he ended up working at People for someone called Brenda, back in 1977. Of course, this is worse.

Re GALL: Why assume that the campaign volunteer Rick is talking to is a Mormon? Just because he is clean-cut and nicely dressed? I assumed he was Republican and his contacts were political, not religious. And while the volunteer may have been right, Rick was also right -- he was bad at spinning. On the other hand, so are most people, including the professionals.

Rick Redfern has a lot of gall to criticize the young Mormon gentleman who was gracious enough to invite him to watch the debate. The strip was very close to the mark too, given the actual outcome.

Rick is going to continuously spiral downward until he has a moment where he stands on the edge of a bridge while pondering suicide. An angel will then show him how much worse life would be for everyone else if he were gone. He will then have an awesome turn-around on Halloween Day, and Jeff will say something like "Every time you hear a kid scream, a bat gets its wings." Faaaade to black.

I can relate to what is happening to Rick. He's in a changing industry in a bad economy, and so am I. There are not many similarities otherwise -- he has to compete with an Internet full of amateurs while I work industrial construction in a country that no longer wants industry -- but I don't doubt that the frustration is the same. I'm reminded of something I heard from a younger person the other day; "If I just work hard and do my job, shouldn't I be able to feel secure?" Absolutely, but that just isn't the case!

Watching Rick is like watching a very slow car crash. I can't keep my eyes off it and I can't tell who's at fault.

Some of the best journalism out there today is done at Rolling Stone. I could so see Rick joining the ever-profane but deadly accurate Matt Taibbi. Mother Jones would be a good fit, too. Go, Rick!

Even when Dave Marsh was at Playboy, he was also fronting Rock & Roll Confidential. Rick must know other outcasts who could contribute to a newsletter. He could do that and work with Mark at NPR.

When PM went down and I.F. Stone found himself on the beach he started a subscription newsletter. He relied on his sources and took the opportunity to stop going to press events and flattering suits for access. His product referred to government documents other reporters weren't using. Subscription newsletters are older in Washington than the legitimate press, which appeared late in the 19th Century. If Rick can afford to volunteer he can surely afford to sink time and money into developing a paying audience for his expertise.

Surely a smart veteran journalist like Rick would be well aware he's being blown off without having his nose rubbed in it by Roland being called in. Too bad he's too intelligent and professional to take it out on Roland's makeup. I long for the day that Hedley gets his comeuppance...

It breaks my heart to see what's happening to Rick Redfern! The guy really deserves a break, with all those years he gave to the Washington Post. The New Yorker would be a great fit for him.

You think Rick has it bad freelancing for Huffpo, try pinning your hopes on getting published on Doonesbury's Blowback page.

Ha! The Blowback advice given by IN A HEARTBEAT was turned around and stood on its head by GBT! Instead of Rick lowering himself to "skewering" for MSNBC, we have the real dirtbag, Roland, right there ready to do his duty for Fox.

Re: today's strip -- In a perfect world, this would be an actual question at the Vice Presidential debate. Here's hoping!