Gabby has every right to be upset about the pathetic state of her softball league's field compared to the baseball league's field. What's she supposed to do? Sit back and tamely accept her divinely-ordained second class status? Act all demure and compliant and feminine so as not to make waves or upset anyone? Screw that!

By applying to the "Diamonds in the Rough" program to win funds to fix her team's field, Gabby is doing something positive about the problem. (And it doesn't involve spending anyone's precious tax money on the field, either.) She sounds like a good kid and should be applauded for her initiative, not dimissed as a crybaby.

What the Greenfield baseball and softball leagues should have done is pool their fields when scheduling games. There's no reason why one group of kids in a community should get stuck with the bad playing fields -- whether it's the boys league or the girls league! If all of the teams had to play on Gabby's ballfield and experienced firsthand how lousy it was, I bet it would have been fixed up years ago.

For the simple reason that three people can keep a secret only if two of them are dead.

However, the Bush administration has exploited the 9/11 attacks and dragged its feet on their investigations to such a degree that it's only natural to assume they are hiding something.

Women are an untapped market for the gun industry. Most men who want to own a gun have probably bought one already. Most women probably have not -- they may have been intimidated by guns and gun culture, or felt that they were unfeminine, or felt uncomfortable using them. The gun industry wants to change that. So gun manufacturers are doing more marketing to women and developing guns that are more comfortable for women to use (lighter, smaller handgrips, etc.). They also downplay the dangers of gun accidents and misuse.

The previous point about women becoming involved in activities that were once purely masculine is spot on. More women hunt these days. More women enjoy target shooting. These hobbies involve guns and it's only natural for a woman to want to buy her own weapon instead of borrowing one.

Also, our culture is awash in fear -- not just fear of terrorists, but fear of rape, robbery, and anything else that is dangerous or smacks of "the other." So some women buy guns because they are frightened. Having a gun makes them feel more powerful and better able to protect themselves and their families. (I've seen this firsthand -- a former roommate bought a handgun because she was scared about being attacked while walking home.)

I have had mostly good luck with Lands End swimming suits, although the last one I bought disappointingly only lasted a year and a half. (The one before that made it through five years of heavy use!)

Mostly I stick to Tyr and Speedo; both have a nice variety of one-piece suits geared towards competitive swimmers and lap swimmers. I've swum in this kind of suit most of my life and feel most comfortable in it. They hold up pretty well, although the chlorine always gets them in the end if you put in a lot of pool time. I also have a Jantzen tankini for hanging out at the pool or beach.

Speedo has a line of swimming suits for aqua aerobics that are more conservatively cut (some even have little skirts) and come in a larger range of sizes than their competition suits. (Competition suits typically only go up to size 40, the equivalent of 14/16, although lycra suits have a fair amount of stretch and can accomodate larger-sized women.)

Speedo and Tyr also have two-piece styles that are more conservative than a typical bikini but don't cover up as much as a tankini.

They started when Bush's approval ratings really went south, so I'm not sure if they're leading a trend or just following it.