Meanwhile, a reader known only as Surfcook has just one word for the Microsoft CEO: "Craaazy." (Dig those vowels, dude.)

In "," I asked, "Can Congress possibly pass a law on Internet privacy that doesn't simply make things worse?" Cringester D. S. has an answer for me:

I have been told that there are no stupid questions, but that is as close to one as I have ever seen. All that Congress has passed for years is gas. Haven't you smelled it? Look at our intellectual property laws. They are so broken that innovation is actually being noticeably stifled in this country. ...So can Congress restore our privacy? Not while lobbyists are allowed in Washington and not while campaign finances are merely legalized bribery.

(Speaking of broken intellectual property laws, I got a slew of great responses to my post "," but I'm saving them for a separate installment of this blog down the road.)

In "," I noted that the last geek to run for governor before Meg Whitman was dishy 26-year-old software engineer Georgy Russell. Reader G. O. points out that former . When I wrote that post, I was only thinking of geeks who ran for governor of California, but point taken just the same.