Don't blame the real estate agents for the economic problems of today. As an earlier post said, the mortgages were legal. As far as the value that agents bring to the table, there is plenty.

If you are listing, the agent figures out the value of the home (a dark art in itself), advertises it, arranges open houses and showings, and negotiates the best price possible. You pay a percentage of the final sale price for this.

If you are buying, they find houses inside your price point, help arrange financing, watch for potential traps (anywhere here know about condo reserve funds?) drive you around, arrange their life around yours, negotiate for you, arrange the closing, shepherd the whole process along for you to ensure you get in the home you want, and you don't pay a goddamn thing, you whiny bastards. (They get a cut of the commission the seller pays.)

My wife works sixteen hour days, has dinner on the computer and cell phone, spends her evenings and weekends away from the family, and carries a second job in retail to pay for the cost of being a real estate agent. She gets a small commission check every couple of months. There are not many professions now that work their people so hard for such little pay. If she held an office job we would have more money and my son and I would see her more.

So why does she do it? It sure isn't the money. It is because she knows how important homes are to people and she enjoys helping people. She isn't a salesman, she is a facilitator: she takes care of all the problems and petty roadblocks that prevent people from getting into or out of their home. We have used appliances in our garage, left over in a house by the sellers and her buyers didn't want to deal with them. We have helped load U-Haul trailers with her sellers. I have seen her talk clients out of buying a house because she figured that their purchase would leave them house-poor and miserable. You do business with my wife and you're family.

So let's all stop blaming the little people. This is how I see it: rich bankers convince their buddies in government to slip the reins. They make obscene amounts of money by encouraging a housing bubble, knowing that the American Dream is home ownership. The whole thing finally collapses, and the pitchfork crowds goes after the poor for buying homes, and the real estate agents for helping them to buy. The rich bankers get bailed out with our money. Does this seem fair to you?

Why does a great nation like the US pay attention to a buffoon like Glenn Beck? Wouldn't it be nice if television punditry were a meritocracy, where the more intelligent and sophisticated got access to the airwaves for the public good? (I'm thinking of Fareed Zakarias here.) What if people started measuring a nation by the faces it puts on the air?

I must admit I was hoping that other poor guy would kick him in the nuts. Welcome to Fox News. Please have a seat and let this raving lunatic dump water all over you while he rants about the President of the United States trying to do his job in a time of almost unprecedented economic emergency. It's how Fox News has been treating its audiences for years - now they are turning on their staff.

I saw a couple of minutes of CNN today, and Lou Dobbs had a GOP spokesman on who casually mentioned that President Obama 'did not love America', and he went unchallenged by Dobbs. (When a Democrat called him on it, Dobbs found it amusing.) This on the same day the President was visiting the troops in Iraq. Amazing. Also interesting was the way another GOP spokesman referred to the President as 'Obama', instead of by his title. Whatever happened to the Loyal Opposition?

Women already have the right of self defense. This law seems unnecessary, but looks like an attempt to grant special status to the fetus.

Just what is needed when the economy is collapsing: politicians arguing about another distracting hot-button issue. It beats tackling real problems and risking failure.

He isn't particularly good, or creative, or original. He is just another guy making a living slinging manure at conservatives.

I'm sorry that people take out their anger with your cousin on you.

I share your suspicion - I think that he is probably a lot more centrist than he lets on. He has an excellent business model.

Thank you for writing your story - it was very interesting.

I am so sorry for your loss. He sounds like he was quite a decent man.

Anagram or not, Mister Mambo is a bit much for me. The whole column was a strange one, and not a particularly pleasant read.

Few things are as poisonous to progress as constant linkage of issues. Everyone is busy disqualifying each other because of their opinions on other issues. Free expression of opinion is discouraged, because your words will come back to haunt you.

Barack Obama has demonstrated a better understanding of politics today than anyone else - especially the professional pundits. I have stopped listening to them - they have little to add to the debate, and Obama does what he thinks is right, and follows up with full and meaningful explanations if asked. I trust his judgement on this and other issues.

I had a conversation with a young Indian woman in Canada the other day. She told me that because the US and Britain were so well protected, terrorists had to strike them elsewhere, and that Indians were dying because of it. She saw the deaths in Mumbai as collateral damage in the terrorists' attempt to kill Americans and Brits. The woman who told me this is bright, well-educated, and has a good job.

I wonder if this view is held by other Indians?