'Doonesbury' on Twitter: A sweet tweet

The intrepid egomaniac -- "this most narcissistic of creations," Trudeau says -- takes his political shots as well.

Palin gives incoherent 2,606-word speech in 14:20, or 192 wpm. I've said this before, folks: meth. People laughed. Now?

Trudeau has drawn no journalistic complaints for his correspondent's buffoonery. "Nobody identifies with him, of course," says Trudeau, who is having Hedley hawk the book in this week's newspaper strip. "I think the person who came closest to feeling it was him was Sam Donaldson. I love Sam. He's unique."

With so many anchors, reporters and bloggers flogging their Twitter pages, Trudeau sniffs out the air of desperation that some feel in marketing themselves in this era of layoffs and buyouts. Hedley craves attention, but also compensation.

BTW, effective today, Fox sez have 2 monetize feeds. Shorter tweets. Sucks. [Paid Advt: HI, BILLY MAYS HERE FOR OXI CLEAN!]

Alas, Hedley's brief witticisms will soon fade to black; Trudeau is abandoning Twitter. "The last thing I need is another set of deadlines," he says.

But since they're so short -- and Roland has 13,400 followers! -- why bail now? Can't Trudeau just post something when the spirit moves him? "It's just sort of there, nagging at me," he says.

The time you spent reading this tweet is gone, lost forever, carrying you closer to death. Am trying not to abuse privilege.

Texas-size test

Evan Smith, the longtime editor of Texas Monthly, was helping a wealthy friend put together a nonprofit news site and search for the right person to run it.

As it turned out, says Smith, "I was like Dick Cheney looking to find George Bush's vice president." He quit his job and on Tuesday is launching the Texas Tribune, which is designed to fill the gap left by the shrinking number of newspaper reporters at the state capitol in Austin.

"We'll be flooding the zone on this stuff," says Smith, who has hired 11 journalists, half of them lured from the state's top papers with salaries as high as $90,000.

That reflects a reality that separates the Tribune from most such start-ups: It's rolling in dough. The fledgling operation has raised an impressive $3.6 million, with $1 million coming from Smith's pal, venture capitalist John Thornton.