Gearino:Until last week, the last time I had attended a protest was in 2003, when a group of activists in Chapel Hill announced that they planned to demonstrate in the nude to protest the war in Iraq.

Gearino:If you're not friends with Rodney Marsh, be glad. If you are, you might want to make yourself scarce for the next week or so.

Gearino:Today's topic is Steve Crisp, the Raleigh man who is locally semifamous for several things, most notably his loathing of trees and his inclination to drop mortar rounds of invective into any online forum -- just to relieve the tedium of daily life.

Gearino:There are a lot of ways that people see John Edwards: friend of the working man, advocate for the poor, pretty-boy pretender to the presidency, merciless trial attorney cloaked in faux humility, etc.

Gearino:Forget about New Year's resolutions for 2007. I need to pass around some apologies for 2006.