MY BROTHER, in his beloved-uncle role, is telling my daughter a bedtime story. We just finished watching Mystery Science Theater together (off the swell Rhino 1st-season DVD collection). So I thought I’d check my email and when I look I’ve got a bunch of messages from somebody using the pseudonym “Henry Flowers.” There are a lot of them, with subject lines like “Den Beste reveals his ignorant bigotry,” and “Typical lying Republicans.” They’re full of typos.

And I wonder — what kind of guy sits up the night before Thanksgiving churning out that kind of embittered, yet utterly pointless, stuff instead of enjoying life and the holidays?

Al, get some help.