I was gonna say that. Quiet type, I laughed out loud, so very funny. What scares me is that my son who is 16, physically but not mentally disabled, will often quote lines from movies or TV shows like the Simpsons during normal conversation. Usually it's in the proper context and sometimes it's pretty funny and/or touching. I think that, but then I'm his mother. Guess he'd better watch it. But again QT, the image you describe is just hysterical.

Someone said to me the other day, "Welcome to America, we're all miserable." This story seems to support that offhand remark. No one seems to have patience or empathy for anyone with any difficulties. It seems the struggle of day-to-day life is so intense that we all feel we can't afford to expend any extra effort to understand or tolerate others with problems worse than ours. In fact, it seems to be that if weakness is perceived, pouncing ensues. It also seems to be getting to the point where anyone with just a teeny bit of power can do us in. To quote Sam Waterston in an old Law & Order regarding an extortion case by a powerful man against a black woman attorney: "Give me the keys to your house or I'll arrest you for murder. I'm the DA, I can do it." I feel as if I should be very careful.

How much better we all feel when we extend a little help or kindness rather than belittle people and put them down. My kids are all grown up now, but I flew with my dog recently, and the ticket agent couldn't have been ruder. I did all the preparations according to airline standards and had letters and documentation from the vet. The airline stated I had to have a signed statement from the vet that the dog had BEEN OFFERED water a certain amount of time prior to the flight, which I had. Those are airline regulations. The vet said that the dog should not eat or drink on the flight due to the possibility of motion sickness (6-hour flight). The ticket agent threatened not to let the dog board because she had no water in her carrier. I think she just liked to threaten because after scaring me half to death, she allowed it. Power trip.

thank you so much for articulating in such a charming and succinct fashion the ghosts of ideas and opinions that slink around the back of my mind but aren't actually recognized until someone brilliant like yourself actually puts them into words. So relieved to hear that no one had sex w/that woman and that everybody did a heckuva job. Just keep telling us what we wanna hear.

You are so wrong and so vocal about it. Guess you didn't need this column as you are obviously brimming with enthusiasm over the way things are going under the current administration. Just keep looking on the bright side. I'm glad the past 7 years have been so fabulous for you. You must be an insane and bizarre individual, so now is a good time for you.

how can you blame Nader when Gore won the election? Why don't you blame the supreme court and the designer of the butterfly ballot or Gore himself for not being able to stand up to Bush's thievery? Why not just blame crooked, hateful Florida for the whole mess? I can't be mad at Ralph Nader because even if he was wrong (or lying) about Gore and Bush being the same. He's got balls and says stuff that needs being said. Will we hear Hillary or Barack or John Edwards talk about corporate welfare or violence? No.

"the facist are a foot"? I don't usually criticize people's grammar, but that phrase conjures a comical picture. It should be "the facist IS a foot." I hate church.

worse things have happened to me and people I know so I don't feel terribly sorry for you. I have epilepsy, something that has affected my whole life even if it was able to be controlled with medication, it still sucks, and the reason I have that is that my mother had it, and her father had it. That's all I need to know. I have five sisters and brothers and none of them have it. They have other problems. I have a son with spina bifida which he did nothing to deserve. Whenever he feels left out or unlucky I tell him that everyone, no matter how perfect or how lucky, has something, and it's true. So calm down. Try acupuncture. Here in Oregon it's all the rage. My ex had Bell's palsy, lasted like two weeks. I don't think he even remembers having it. Pull yourself together.

Once when my son was a baby and I was with him in the hospital with another mother whose child had spina bifida, she said to the doctor "I can't believe this happened to us, we're Christians, we don't drink, we don't do drugs--we're good people! How could this have happened to US?" Honestly I just cannot believe people sometimes. The nerve.