David Bozeman of Liberty Features urges conservatives to stop pestering Sarah Palin:

"Conservatives such as [Cal] Thomas, [who suggested Ms. Palin brush up on world history and get a speech coach] are perhaps afraid that Palin will slip up and confirm the left's perception that she is a backwater hick with barely a double-digit IQ. The Dennis Millers fear that her slightest foray into the mainstream [such as her upcoming appearance on Oprah] will irrevocably taint her highly regarded outsider status.

"Conservatives need to have faith and just let Sarah be Sarah and lose these demeaning to-do lists. Palin is not some guttersnipe who needs a transformation before she can dance at the political ball with the respectable Washington class ... Political fortune often falls to those who defy conventional wisdom, so stay your course, Sarah. And stay rogue."

The Angry Drunk Bureaucrat remarked on the resignation of Sergei Matveiev, head of Pittsburgh's Bureau of Building Inspection:

"I haven't received a copy of the job description yet, but I imagine it to read [in part] as: A qualified candidate must ...

• "Be able to function on less than 2 hours of sleep per night, following late night phone calls from the mayor's office and City Council persons;

• "Be able to withstand blistering criticism and humiliation in the press;

• "Be able to manage a department that is understaffed and overworked ...

• "Be able to 'creatively interpret' rules for developers who are friends of the mayor.

"Brown-nosing, boot-licking and proficiency in Microsoft Excel a plus."

Joshua Holland at AlterNet promotes a new whistleblowing book by his colleague Nomi Prins, a former managing director at Goldman Sachs: "It Takes a Pillage: Behind the Bailouts, Bonuses and Backroom Deals From Washington to Wall Street." Mr. Holland says:

"In her new book, Prins lays bare the whole fetid corpse of the burst mortgage bubble. It wasn't reckless borrowers and their subprime loans that built the house of cards that has come crashing down around us over the past two years, but an out-of-control finance sector running on a perverse set of incentives that made it incredibly profitable to essentially throw caution to the wind and take on incomprehensible amounts of risk. Prins exposes the revolving door between Wall Street and Washington and shows how it led to a Wild West mentality on 'The Street' that allowed the whole casino to flourish for a time."

William Saletan takes note of the pay-more-if-you're- fat trend at Slate:

"Everywhere you look, fat people are being charged extra. More for plane seats. More for health insurance. More, in the form of reduced incentive payouts, under proposals for Medicare and Medicaid. Now, more for ambulance service. Heather Hollingsworth of the Associated Press does the math:

" 'Transporting extremely heavy people costs about two and a half times as much as normal-weight patients. It takes more time to move them and requires three to four times more crew members, who often must use expensive specialty equipment. ... [One] unit in Topeka recently spent about $10,000 to retrofit an ambulance with equipment that accommodates patients weighing up to 1,600 pounds.' "

No wonder, as Ms. Hollingsworth reports: " 'Ambulance companies ... are adding charges similar to those already imposed on intensive-care patients, people requiring multiple medications and patients on ventilators.' "

Susan Parker of Ligonier, who writes for the PG on occasion, dropped us a line to let us know what she was wearing to a Halloween party last night:

"Greg: Writer costume = dressed in flannel nightgown and unmatched sweat socks; uncombed hair with pencils stuck in it; carrying a coffee cup with more rings than a sequoia tree; hair pulled back with a rubber band and no trace of make-up; rings under eyes from having an idea at 3 a.m. and getting up to write. Don't smoke but if I did, overflowing, stinky, butt-filled ashtray. Robe with dog biscuit and pizza crust in pocket and no belt (belt lost in last move). Copy of my PG articles under my arm. Ink stains from trying to change the damned printer cartridge. No glasses as I can't find them."

Cartoonist Rob Rogers does "Rob's Rough," an early look at his work and his creative process, exclusively at PG+, a members-only web site of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.