You know, "Ben Dover" (wow, that takes me back to high school) Picasso was "just a goddamn painter." What exalted professon do you practice that you feel you're able to mock a whole art form? Maybe Leibovitz's work isn't the pinnacle of artistry, but she's a whole lot better that Thomas Kinkade. And a lot better at what she does than most people are at what they do.

This article sounds a little too much like "Welome to the real America...."

True, Keillor said the U.S. is a "christian culture, not a "Christian nation." France also has a Christian culture, as do Poland, Portugal, Denmark, Mexico, and the Philippines. India has a Hindu culture. Turkey has a Muslim culture. I presently live in a country with a Buddhist culture. The difference, and the reason why so many non-Christian Americans may be touchy and even "legalistic" is that, in many other countries, both Christian and non-Christian, one doesn't have the culturally dominant religion constantly rammed down one's throat by aggressive proseletizers. In many other countries, an honest atheist can be elected to public office. Elsewhere in the "free" world, religion is, by and large, a personal matter.

How can one actually make a "conscious decision to keep believing"? I'd like to make a conscious decision to beieve that my green fairies from Neptune will pay my rent, but I don't think my landlord will accept that excuse when he shows up at my door. What you really made was a conscious decision to lie about believing, to pretend to believe to please others. Sadly, this sort of thing is all too common.

I have to be curmudgeon #2 regarding the kid. American culture is full of references to the unreality of Santa Claus, from "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" to jokes to TV sitcoms to YA fiction to junior high classroom talk. Any 13-year-old who's managed to miss out on all that is a few crayons short of a box, regardless of her commitment to social justice. Please, please, tell the poor child the truth and tell her now. Years of ridicule and humiliation await her otherwise.

Relationships, friendships, flirtations-- they begin and end (and sometimes inexplicably fade away) all the time. Other than the fact that the LW's was with a semi-celebrity, what's at all noteworthy about this? And why does the LW even need to mention the woman's fame? Does that change the personal situation, or accomplish anything other than revealing his own shallowness?

Someone should tell Neslon Mandela that he's not black.

Debra Dickerson's sniffing at Obama's origins is as petty as Protestant whites' distust of Kennedy for his Catholicism. Does she think that a real racist cares about the Obama's specific country of ancestry and the exact circumstances of his family's arrival in America? No, DD, they see skin color (plus a "Muslim" name) and the hate and fear kick in.

Hmmm.... If she can play this game, so can I. Please don't be deceived by my blond hair, blue eyes and pale skin. My ancestors weren't slaveowners; in fact, they weren't even in this country during the era of slavery. Therefore I'm not "white." (As I choose to define it.)

"Field Slave" wrote:

That DD's mere suggestion - that a foreigner might not feel the same obligation and, therefore, make white folks in this country feel a little more comfortable - provokes such outrage is telling.

Can you and Rush Limbaugh not get it through your heads that Obama is NOT a foreigner? Last I checked, anyone born in this country is an American, regardless or race, religion, or parentage. Or would you like to go the George Allen route and start talking about "the real America"?

Would Hillary Clinton make a good president? "No." Why not? "Because she's a Democrat. I don't agree with her philosophically and from a policy standpoint."

Not a wise statement from an administration that's always invoking the example of World War 2.

I'm a white man living in a small Asian country and am often shocked by the casually bigoted comments about African-Americans I hear from otherwise sophisticated local people. But what should I expect? When most of them have never met a real, live black person, and their image of black Americans is derived mostly from rap music & videos and cinematic tripe like this? Congratulations, Eddie Murphy-- you're maligning your people, men and women alike, more effectlively than the KKK could ever have dreamed of.

It's not shallow to expect to be attracted, physically as well as intellectually and emotionally, to one's partner. (The fact that the LW is even in this relationship indicates that there is an attraction.) What is shallow, sad, and thoroughly adolescent is her worrying about the opinions of random strangers on the street. LW, you really should think about getting your GED, since it's obvious you never graduated from high school.

Unfortunately, not every murderous racist thug is going to be as comically inept as these two. Obama hasn't even been elected yet, and the fear and hatred he inspires in the far right is already far worse even than their legendary contempt for Bill Clinton -- just look at the vileness Palin's rallies have brought out into the open. Then consider how much that hatred will grow during the next four years. I honestly fear for Obamas's safety, and for the sanity of the nation, should the worst happen.

Is Sarah Palin the new George Wallace?

I agree that "whack job" isn't specifically sexist. One could just as easily apply the term to any number of male polical figues. Yes, there's a literary & culteral history of labelling women as hysterical or unhinged, but does that mean I can't say that Palin's ideas are loony when they so demonstrably are?

If Joan really has a problem with sexism in language, why does she choose to ridicule Palin as "Veepzilla", which she admits is a play on "Bridezilla"? Now THAT'S gender-specific.