I like the point about focusing on cities. People living in cities emit significantly less carbon emissions than people living in the suburbs. A serious effort to curb carbon emissions must include enticing people to move back into the cities. A lot of people can be put to work rehabilitating old buildings and renovating rundown neighborhoods. A lot of new ideas can be tried- car free walking/biking neighborhoods, or green gardens watered by grey water from the buildings. One good thing about this aproach is- a lot of this work are very local and small scale. It would create a lot of jobs without the waste and fraud of the large projects pushed by the lobbyists.

Never since the Soviet era has one man health been whispered about and spun so breathlessly.

In my mind th most courageous general during the whoe Iraq debacle was General Taguba- the person who kicked the Abu Ghraib investigation wide open and wrote an unsparing and honest report on it. He needs to be restored to pominence as well.

Despite my wife's worries, I insisted on letting him eat everything we are eating (minus the junk food). I love eating peanuts, and I made sure he got his fill of peanuts too.

I have no doubt tha there are indeed lots of people with this allergy. I also have no doubt that a lot of this is somehow a psychological reaction, as Dr Parikh shos in the UK/Israel study. I have never heard of a peanut allergy back when we were in Asia.

Jessica Simpson is most definitely fatter than she used to be, and much sloppier dressing too. It's like pointing out the emporer has no clothes. It's obvious to everyone. I fail to see why it's such a travesty to point it out. Normally I would never say this about any woman. But since Jessica simpson gets paid multi millions of dollars just for the way she looks- you know what- I don't feel the east bit guilty slamming her looks. If professional athletes are routinely slagged for missing a throw or a catch, then I don't see why overpaid starlets should be exempt from criticism about their appearances.

is just tripe. This is the reality. The army thrives on cruelty and ridicule. Somebody with PTSD is as good a target as any.

NCHippie- your last update letter clears up quite a lot of things. But the bottom line remains- you really do not have time to be hang drying clothes in addition to the 2 jobs you're working. If your husband is a full time grad student- he should be doing the hang-drying or hand-wringing or wash-boarding or whatever else he wants to do with the laundry. Just tell him you don't have time for that. This is not an environmental issue. This is a plain old division of labor issue.

I would love to hear the husband's side of the story though. Please have him respond to this article and the letters!

Haven't we been through this before with TARP? We are putting the taxpayers into a situation where the gains were privatized and the losses are socialized.

Why not do this? Unca Sam will help you pay up to 7% of your income towards your mortgage. BUT, in return Unca Sam gets to keep 20% of your home equity. If and when the market turns around, and you sell your home- Unca Sam gets to keep 20% of the proceeds. Fair enough? If we the taxpayers are asked to absorb the losses, then we should have some equity stake such that when things turn around, we the taxpayers should get our money back, plus share in whatever profits the homeowner gets for himself.

I just want to say that General Taguba has been a true hero for kicking the Abu Ghraib scandal wide open. He has of course paid a heavy price for that. I am glad that Gen Shinseki has been restored to prominence by the Obama administration, but I am saddened that General Taguba hasn't had his vindication yet.

The truth is gun ownership has been on a gradual decline as our country becomes more urbanized. The gun culture largely stems from the hunting culture. Hunting has been on a long decline too. Maybe both of these cultures will die a merciful death within our lifetimes.

I'm not a fan of the right's hyterical ravings bout socialism and what not, but Obama's mortgage rescue plan is indeed problematic. I agree that something needs to be done to curb the real estate free fall. The problem is Obama's solution unfairly rewards both irresponsible buyers and irresponsible lenders, AND sticks the responsible taxpayers with the bill. It's the same problem with the TARP bailouts. The bailed-out banks take all the upsides with no strings attached, and the taxpayers take all the downsides now and in the future.

To make the mortgage bailouts fair, the government must take a share of equity in these bailed out houses. Right now- these houses are all underwater, so there is no equity there obviously. But if the housing market rebounds, and the homeowner is able to sell the house for a profit, the government must be able to take a share of the profit.