_Maddow_

It seems crazy that an ongoing war is an undercovered story, but I wish there was more debate about why and how and if we should still have 60,000 Americans in Afghanistan. It's not done, there are still real decisions to be made, and it's still life and death.

Hi -- thank you for asking this, and thanks for volunteering those details about your closeness to the story. We have not yet covered those killings, mostly because I've been following the story as a crime and a tragedy, but not one that I felt like we could add much to, beyond what's already out there. Your question has me reconsidering that. I'm not sure if we will do something on it, but I will think it over again and start talking with producers and sources about whether we might be able to do something that moved the story forward. Thanks for serving -- I'm glad you're home.

I really like the way Shep Smith (at Fox News Channel) balances anchorman gravitas... with a willingness to put the artifice aside and acknowledge what it really going on. Some of us can pull off seeming like human beings on TV, some of us can pull off V.O.G. authority, but Shep is really very good at both. Better than anyone else, I think. Also, I've met him and he's a nice person!

Maybe the presidential election of 1800? A tie! Decided in Congress! Aaron Burr! All that weird campaigning they had never done before! I find electoral politics mostly enervating, but that one sounds like it would have been a blast.

My parents were very very horrified by the appearance of Dead Kennedys records in the house. I don't remember a particular song that made them crazy -- I think the band name itself did all the work there. I was obsessive about Husker Du. I also liked Meat Puppets and Black Flag, but really I would have done anything for Bob Mould. I actually got grounded when my mom found an SST records sampler LP in my room -- I think it had particularly porny cover art and she was very rattled by it. As a teenager, I thought at the time that it was probably the apex of my coolness. As an adult, looking back, I realize that is true.