Russians Interested In Deal

This sounds too good to be true (from the Alaska Ear):

NYET . . . Connected lobes have seen the Steven Pearlstein column in Wednesday's Washington Post and in Saturday's Daily News that suggests the U.S. raise money to pay down the federal deficit and "restore some sanity to the annual appropriations process" by selling Alaska back to Russia. The rest of the country will be glad to get rid of us and our incurable addiction to federal subsidies, the column declares.

But did you know the column has been translated into Russian and reprinted in newspapers there, where it is being taken as a serious proposal and is sparking discussions on whether Russia should buy us back? An amused earwig with Russki connections says it's so.