We told you yesterday about the reports Ann Coulter's syndicate is looking into her alleged plagiarism. The unfolding story at political news site TPMmuckraker.com has some amusing twists to it. The spokeswoman for Universal Press Syndicate told their reporter they never heard back from the plagiarism expert; said expert, John Barrie, explained that "he wasn't going to give them his research for free—they could buy his entire service, and verify that none of their authors are plagiarists, or they could take nothing and like it." So then UPS told Editor & Publisher they might just look into it themselves. Back at TPMmuckraker, Barrie bragged about his overflowing media datebook, including a Wednesday appearance on MSNBC's Countdown. He can't be enjoying himself too much, though. "By the way, if I never read Ann Coulter again, it will be too soon," Barrie said in an earlier interview. "I want to prove the technology, but I don't want to make my eyes bleed."

Karen Spears Zacharias doesn't even care that much about the plagiarism controversy; for her, the problem with Coulter's much simpler to describe. "Coulter is nothing but a shameless hussy," Zacharias wrote in an op-ed piece for the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer, "a publicity lot lizard, who has managed to make millions by misusing her mouth." And she knows just how to make things right, too: "A roll of duct tape and an Ivory bar." Slash writers, you have your opening!