I was surprised to see the statement that there is a raging controversy about the treatment of hypothyroidism. So I clicked on the link and it brought me to a lunatic site that claims synthetic hormones are barbaric and the only effective treatment is Armour Thyroid.

Armour Thyroid is an animal-derived thyroid hormone. It was all we had before there was biochemically synthesized thyroxine. Armour Thyroid is fine, though most physicians feel the dosing is less reliable than the newer drugs. This is hardly controversial.

The problem with hypothyroidism is that its symptoms are very vague. Another problem is that many women who have fatigue and hypothyroidism may still have fatigue after treatment. This may mean that the thyroid is not the sole cause of the problem.

Hypothyroidism is not the answer to everyone's prayers. The reason there is so much "controversy" about it is because patients want that magic diagnosis that, when treated, will make all the problems go away. That only happens sometimes.

Our bodies are not perfect, and sometimes we need to accept their limits and push on. What bothers me about people who want to blame all their problems on their illness is that they become sick people instead of people who happen to have an illness. We are all dying, after all -- just some faster than others.

In 1990 I bought my first car, a Toyota Paseo. The Paseo, now discontinued, was a sporty version of the Corolla. Nothing fancy, only a 110 hp engine, and pretty small. It also got 43 mpg on the highway, in real world conditions (AC and radio on). There was nothing wrong with it; when I sold it it had 175,000 miles on it and was only in the shop once for major repairs -- a new clutch.

That was 17 years ago, and the car companies are bragging about 40+ mph now? The reason mileage is so poor with new cars is that everyone wants a 200 hp engine. Smaller engines burn far less gas, and are more than sufficient for city driving.

Personally, I won't buy a hybrid (or another car, period, for that matter) until it has a plug on it. Plug-in hybrids are cars that can be recharged from a typical wall outlet. With plug-ins gas is simply not necessary. It should be an easy matter to modify hybrids in the factory for plug-in technology, and I have no idea why car makers constantly come up with excuses for not doing so.

Automakers don't care about fuel efficiency, they care about selling cars. So unless we consumers insist on buying more efficient cars, we will keep getting the same products.

...and it is completely tongue-in-cheek. (Translation for the humor impaired -- it's a joke! Not to be taken seriously!)

The Europeans, and especially the Brits, love to tease Americans for their inability to appreciate irony. I used to resist such stereotypes, but today I give up. Americans wouldn't know an ironic statement if it was tied to a spring and stuffed into a fake peanut can.

I don't usually agree with Ben Stein's libertarian arguments, but come on, people. Conservatives do have a sense of humor on occasion. What makes this all the worse is that Stein was poking fun at HIS OWN SIDE, the Wall Street brokers.

It's enough to make a liberal sell his home, quit his job, and go live in a Cave of 10,000 Whoopie Cushions.

"Don't even get me started about how objectifying this whole bionic woman thing is!"

The objectification of Jaimie Sommers would be a great theme for the show, but Bionic Woman will not explore it.

The old show in the 70s was, as I recall, all about feminism. It was about the powerful Modern Woman who could compete, and win, against male competition. That riff is what made the original "Bionic Woman" better than its male counterpart, the "Six Million Dollar Man."

The new Jaimie, half machine/half hot babe, could have been about how modern life de-feminizes women. About how, for instance, Hillary Clinton can't run for president without her pants suits being an issue.

That, after all, is the entire point of having a Bionic Woman instead of a man. If the series is not going to explore Jaimie Sommer's femininity, then why not get Steven Seagall and let the bones crunch and the bullets fly?

Hillary Clinton can't -- and I mean can't -- win the general election if she is going to complain about the boys piling on. This is child's play to pull apart, as in "When you are President, what will you do with the male-dominated Congress piles it on? You gonna cry then too?"

She is going down the wrong road and the more she hints that it is she-against-the-boys the worse it will be, and the more unsympathetic women will jump ship. Hillary really needs the black vote and the Hispanic vote -- will either of these groups vote for someone who uses her sex as an excuse for a subpar performance?

There wouldn't be a man in the White House either. Say, that might work, since the last president worth a damn was probably Truman.

Anybody up for starting "Manbitch" magazine?

I didn't like GHW Bush when he was president. I thought him too ineffectual for my progressive sensibilities.

But I miss him now. GHW Bush was decent, the last truly decent president we had. Time was politicians, even the corrupt ones, had the ability to be human first and political animal second. This is no longer true, and I extend that criticism not only to Bush 43 but also to the crocodile tears of the Clintons, the 9/11 yammer of Guiliani, the toothless Obama, and the manufactured prettyboy Edwards.

I want a real person as a president. Even if he is a bad president, if he (or she) could just be decent, that would be great.