1. You can (I have).
2. It's not easy. I took the cheaters route by working for already well established blogs, but plenty of bloggers who have started in the past few years are doing well (people like Allen Stern or Louis Gray, who were late to the game, come to mind) -- they just work their asses off to get there.
3. It's true that most bloggers won't make money off a personal blog directly (i.e., via advertising). But many will make money _indirectly_ via consulting gigs, other work offers, speaking engagements, book deals. Blogging is one of the absolute best ways to raise your profile in your field and create demand for yourself.
3a. Even Dan Lyons made very good money from Fake Steve -- not from ads, but how about that book deal? All those speaking engagements? Even his switch from Forbes to Newsweek was likely influenced by his blog's success. He conveniently leaves all that out of his article, though.