Girls, has it occured to you that wanting a strong, protective father figure is the very reason that YOU have voted for so many old white guys over the years and, in so doing, have held back your own gender's progress? Yes, Joe Biden makes a very good impression, but if you are, in any way, attracted to Charlton ("Happiness Is A Warm Gun") Heston or Henry ("Dr. Stangelove") Kissinger--both of whom are ultra-right Republicans--you have some serious psycho-sexual issues. And, you are negating the very praise you showered on Mr. Biden--a legitimate progressive.

It's difficult to imagine the conservative movement getting much dumber. It's always been based on ingorance, paranoia and any kind of intellectual progress. I think we should give Republicans their own country so they could run around bumping into each other and falling down like Monty Python's Upper Class Twits.

I should have said: "a rejection of any kind of intellectual progress."

Exactly which decade are you living in? You are a perfect example of the paranoia that infects the far right. THE COMMIES ARE COMING! THE COMMIES ARE COMING! BE AFRAID! BE VERY AFRAID!

Ooooohhhhh.....the hardships of privileged white women. How do you do it? Your capacity for finding new and more trivial things to whine about is astounding.

John, I think a lot of the people replying to your letter are prematurely "diagnosing" you. They have never met you and do not have the qualifications to do so. Obviously, you should be tested for any organic or psycholigical problems, but your sense of "not knowing what's going on" may have more to do with your age than anything else. I felt like a zombie most of the time in high school. Basically, I was bored out of my skull. Luckily, I was involved in a few activities, like being in the school band (and had a few equally "weird" friends), to get through it. You may also be making the classic mistake of thinking that other people DO know what's going on. It has taken me a long time to figure out that the very people who seem to know what they're doing are the very ones who are more in the dark than any or us. If they are so insecure that they need to make such a show of being in control and appearing to be "normal," they may be the ones with the real problems. High school is like some kind of social tortue chamber with the sole purpose of obliterating all aspects of individuality. It thrives on the herd mentality and can make anyone who does not follow along unquestioningly feel like a complete freak. If I were you, knowing what I know now, I would re-evaluate the people who are calling themselves my "friends" and think about finding more people that I can truly relate to even--and maybe especially--if they are considered outsiders too.

Obviously, you haven't read some of the letters in the more politcal columns. There's not much concern with grammar, spelling, sytax or even content there.

As a lesbian, you are being taken in by the same kind of "girl-next-door" sex appeal that Sarah Palin is selling like there is no tomorrow. (And, if she and McCain are elected, there may not be.) Just because you have the HOTS for her is no reason for anyone to take her seriously as a Vice-Presidential candidate. I'm not sure liberals are underestimeting Palin as much as we are correctly reading the gullability of a certain segment of the Ameirican people.

Is paranoid bigot considered an ethnic group? If so, it must be multigenerational in your family. Unfortunealy, it is a conspiracy itself, but oly by default. You don't have the brains or social skills to form an authentic conpsiracy.

Dear Angel,

At the risk of stating the obvious. (And, maybe someone else has suggested this.) I'm sure there are many more books on the subject of verbal abuse if you doubt the credibility of the one your therapist recommended.

Is it really progress for women to have someone who flirts, giggles, winks and wiggles her way to success? Marilyn Monroe was a lucious sexy woman, but in the end, no one took her seriously. According to Paglia's logic, someone like Matthew McConnehay (sp?) or some other male bimbo should run for president. I enjoy your mythological reading of history and the arts, but symbolism is interpretive and should never be taken literally. People who do that are called FUNDAMENTALIST and most of them are, well, NUTS!

I would say that what you are going through is a universal age-related transition. I was kind of stunned at the number of "friends" I lost when I stopped smoking dope and drinking in my 20's. As it turned out, they weren't so much friends as acquaintances with whom I had nothing in common except smoking dope and drinking. Sadly, many of the people I associated with during that period never knew when to stop or even cut back and are now either addicts, alcoholics, sad old guys trying to live like perpetual teenagers or dead. It is inevitable that your group of casual acquatinances will dwindle as you move out of your 20's. The good news is that your relationships with a few close friends will deepen.

PRIVILEGED WHITE WOMEN STILL COMPLAINING ABOUT TRIVIAL ISSUES!