Return of the Flatulent Procyon Lotor?

Recently, I've been reading Carl Zimmer's excellent book, At the Water's Edge : Fish with Fingers, Whales with Legs, and How Life Came Ashore but Then Went Back to Sea, despite the fact that I missed the chance to discuss it at the Linda Hall Library's irregular book group meeting for April. I enjoy Mr Zimmer's writing a good deal, and also find his blog on Science Blogs to be a regular source of interesting writing. And, for a science writer, he coincidentally has the ideal first name if you are thinking in terms of an homage (sorry, I've been reading The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark, and it strikes me once again how much I miss Carl Sagan). But I digress. Again.

In reading today's entry (and the companion piece on the evolution of intelligence), it came to my attention that somehow I'd missed the fact that he'd tangled with the Coultergeist before... Obviously, Ms Coulter has issues of her own that can't be solved easily. But a long stretch in therapy might do the trick. Or possibly an altercation involving her head, a doorway, and an earthquake. If you believe in the mechanisms of Providence, you'd best be prepared for that sort of thing. What I was unaware of, however, is that she'd gone from simply being the target of satire to actually writing something closely akin to satire. This, I suspect, is due to the fact that I would be only marginally less likely to gouge out my own eyes than to read one of her books. I'll do opposition research, but I have my limits (and a quaint appreciation for logic, rationality, and sense which rears up in righteous rage when I try to read drivel akin to some of the things that she has said).

If you haven't seen it, it's worth catching Jeremy Paxman's interview with the Coultergeist, which is here for your viewing pleasure (if you don't know anything about Paxman's interviewing technique, you may be in for a surprise):

A side note to follow that piece: Mr Zimmer also hosts - purely from scientific interest, I am sure - what is, as far as I am aware, the only collection of science tattoos on the web (not that I've looked extensively, tattoos not really being my "bag"). But this fact speaks to the existence of many facets to this man, and I'd urge any casual reader to give his books a look.