La La and the rabble

Even though everyone familiar with the Jefferson County sewer debacle was waiting for the other designer shoe to drop, the 101 count indictment against Mayor (and former TV Reporter) Larry Langford was stunning. There he was in leg shackles in Federal Court, and then, after posting bond, uncharacteristically silent as his criminal defense attorney acted as his mouthpiece outside. And there was this too...the comments following the online Birmingham News story, comments that newspapers now solicit and allow, wallowing in the gutter with TalkRadio. Joey Kennedy of the paper's editorial staff was disgusted with those comments, but that's what happens when you drop the filtering gates in the interest of being "new media". What was it about letters to the editor that wasn't enough of an outlet for readers?