The readers of Salon have written some wonderful comments regarding the article. But one concept is often not thought about: Does one really escape a troubled life by suicide?

Eastern religions believe in reincarnation, and as such, one lives life after life. Worn out bodies are replaced with new bodies.

If someone commits suicide, they are forced to live the time they would have lived normally, but they are in a "ghost-like state." They live off the smell of food. It is a tiring and unpleasant ghostly existence. Then when the time comes to be reborn, they will find themselves in the exact same situation that caused their suicide in a previous life. Hopefully their subtle memory of the last suicide will inspire them to not give up the present life.

So I say to a person contemplating suicide: "Are you sure that your problems will cease if you die now? Is there really escape?"

I don't know if we are overly sensitive from the Bush era and falsely see a problem with Obama. I regard Obama as a decent human being who is on our side. He is quite intelligent and has to balance the politics with getting our agenda through.

So rather than to just assume he is all for trampling our liberties and gathering power, I have to wonder if we need to trust him for now, and maybe keep his feet to the fire.

So Glenn, I ask that you search to understand what Obama is trying to do without automatically assuming that he is supporting old bush policies. Bush had eight years to do his evil. Obama is in his sixth month. He can only do so much. It's like chess where you have to plan your moves way ahead to win the game. Don't forget that the Democrats in Congress were part of the problem in the Bush era, and Obama has to work with them.

But we have to keep Obama's feet to the fire. No doubt about that. The Beltway mentality has to be challenged by people like you and us.

Watching a little of CNN, I realized that it's their BIG story. The reporter was almost breathless as he talked about the Swine Flu. He had a mask around his neck, just in case.

Anything for ratings. I just flipped the channel. Jeesh, our media is so bad these days. I mean, who watches that stuff?

While most of the investment firms that funneled money to Madoff were unaware of Madoff's treachery, they clearly neglected to perform due diligence...

Don't believe a word of that. I have a friend who worked in Wall Street over 20 years ago, and she said that even then, people knew that Madoff was a crook. They just kept quiet.

The interesting part is that my friend finally had to quit Wall Street, leaving the big bucks and all because Wall Street was so corrupt, she couldn't stand what it was doing to her personally.

So what crookedness had not been uncovered?

I guess the author has forgotten how Bush politicians re-wrote scientific reports of govt. agencies so they hued the party line. If that isn't anti-science, I don't know what is.

Why is Cheney speaking out? Simple...

He's afraid that he'll be tried for war crimes.

And since the best defense is an offense...he's speaking out.

Laying out his defense before he's tried. The problem, as usual, is that he's lying. Here's hoping he's brought to justice.

Did you like the McDonald hamburger - the smell and taste are a product of modern chemistry.

Do you want the old-fashioned recipe of KFC - they discontinued that years ago. The Colonel was furious and demanded that his name and picture be removed. Yes, the chain used to be called Colonel Sanders Kentucky Fried Chicken. Seems that the people who later bought out the chain wanted a cheaper recipe.

Taco Bell - should we even call that stuff food?

When does highly processed stop being food? Do you really want that stuff in your body?

Other letter-writers are correct - let's support the small mom and pop eating places. At least they sell food.

Not mentioned in the article are the predatory practices in the loan industry allowed by the Bush administration and the privatizing of the student loan business. Salon has had articles about this in the past.

For example, one article talks about how the student loan company would suddenly change the interest rate on the person paying off the student loan.

Sigh, yet one more example of greed unleashed by Bush and company.

Why is America flunking science? I think society neither encourages people to think for themselves, to read, or be curious.

Are you yourself guilty? Car radio on whenever you drive? IPOD in your ear with tunes and podcasts? TV on most of the night? Our society doesn't encourage thinking. Better to distract the mind. Did I mention that the US is an anti-intellectual society?

So the mysteries of life tend to be not thought about. Life becomes a constant distraction. Why study science or even have time to think about it, Now what is Paris Hilton up to now?