First you get a dozen of your eggs aspirated
Frozen in the freezer of a doctor's 'frigerator
In 10 or 20 or 30 years (whenever you wish)
You thaw them out to romance wigglies in a petri dish
Implant the little goober in a girl of 17
Who's into natural living and Prevention Magazine
No muss, no fuss, no stretch marks! (Well, not on you)
Maternal instinct satisfied, the modern thing to do!

- "Biological Time Bomb" from Beau Woes And Other Problems of Modern Life, 1987

I'm surprised that their flight plan for buzzing Notre Dame during the President's visit was approved, given our national fear of terrorist air strikes.

I don't want to let idiots like him near my kids, either.

If prosecuting torture enablers and re-regulating banking drives out the "best and brightest," bring it on! These are the people who trashed our nation's good name and brought our economy to its knees; getting rid of them would be a good thing.

Think of all the B movies of the 1950s that played to our fears of nuclear war and the USSR with mutants and alien invasions. Or the dystopian flicks of the 1970s when society seemed to be coming apart at the seams.

In the 2000s, we're fearful of threats from both within and without, and disease is a great metaphor for that.

When do we get to see Prejean's ads against things like divorce, spousal abuse, and alcohol/substance abuse? Unlike same-sex marriage, these things are real, actual, documented threats to marriage.

Edwards first betrayed his wife with his affair. He then betrayed his supporters by continuing his run for president afterwards. Surely he knew that rumors of his infidelity would eventually leak out, torpedoing his candidacy (or even his presidency). The right would have given him the full-blown hysterical Bill Clinton treatment and that would have been that.

I used to like Edwards. He is charismatic, has some good ideas, and is one of the few politicans who've addressed the growing inequalities in our country. But this matter raised big questions about his judgment and discretion and I'm relieved that he dropped out of the presidential race.

As for Elizabeth Edwards, she's a gutsy person and I have a lot more respect for her than for her husband. It's mystifying to me why she's stuck with him, though, but love is irrational. Perhaps she simply doesn't want to blow her last years on earth wrangling with him in divorce court.

In the "every dark cloud has a silver lining" category, their shares have risen on this news.

A friend's ex got their marriage annulled by falsely claiming that she fed their children garbage. She had no idea he was even getting one and only found out afterwards.

As for Gibson, he talks the talk but can't walk the walk.

Conservatives talk a good game about taking personal responsibility for one's actions. But I have yet to see one actually do it. Apparently personal responsibility only applies to poor people and women.

Would Texans living in the other 49 states be considered illegal immigrants?

If a Democratic senator votes against the bill, doesn't that automatically make it bipartisan?

Seriously, they should call the Republicans' bluff and make them actually filibuster, as in "camped out in the Senate reading the phone book."

You're totally overthinking this.

She brings back memories of my own Depression-surviving grandma, who passed away in 2000. My grandma made the German variant of a lot of Clara's dishes, including hot dog salad. (Hers was a German potato salad featuring sliced weiners and fried onions, useful for when you had more kids than weiners.)

We ate a lot of "Depression dishes" as kids because we had a big family and Clara's recipes are like comfort food. I've been using some of her and my own grandma's cooking tips lately to save a bit of money. Her Depression stories are fascinating, too, especially the ones about bootlegging and spaghetti sandwiches.

I'd have a lot more sympathy for the anti-same-sex marriage crew if they showed more respect for marriage themselves. Divorce and domestic violence are tremendously damaging to the institution of marriage, and their rates are higher in conservative areas of the country. However, I have yet to see a concentrated outpouring of outrage against these actual threats to marriage like that generated against same-sex marriage. What gives?

Perhaps supporters of traditional marriage should spend their energy and money in healing the wounds in their own marriages and families, counseling young couples before marriage, helping married couples work through their problems and avoid divorce, assisting those who are victims of domestic violence, and teaching their children to respect and love their spouses. These efforts would strengthen the institution of marriage far more than denying it to same-sex couples.