Lots of good letters here!

I just wanted to remind y'all that people can do a few things to increase their metabolic rate. Regular aerobic exercise and strength training will actually bump up your metabolism so that you burn more calories, even when at rest.

Probably more important, however, is that for many people, regular exercising can cause you to crave different, healthier things - that juicy slice of watermelon over the handful of cookies, the ice cold water over a sugary coke, a turkey sandwich on whole wheat rather than a triple cheeseburger with extra mayo. Plus, regular exercise is a good home remedy for mild depression.

As is evident from the variety of letters, different things work for different people, so you should do what works for you and try other strategies until you hit upon the ones that are most effective - and workable.

Then keep this in mind when you're advising others.

Nancy Ott writes "But Palin has yet to explain why she insisted on flying back to Alaska to give birth to him in a Wasilla clinic, bypassing several hospitals with a full range of modern birth and neonatal medical services along the way."

None of them were "in-network"?

If Gov Sanford actually was off hiking, and if in fact nobody knew this, or where he was, he was extraordinarily foolish. Every year, people go out into the mountains and manage to die, or at least require rescue - often both.

It's incredibly stupid and irresponsible to not tell people where you're going and when you expect to get back. If Gov Standford was, in fact, hiking alone, not only should his family and the Lt. Gov's office been informed about this, they should have been provided with a more plausible cover story, to avoid the bizarre Internet conspiracy speculations that are now sweeping the web.

I love the Tom Tomorrow comics, too, but all he usually does is repeat current news and quotes, mainly from Republicans but also from weak-spined Dems.

Now, when the day comes when Americans will laugh THE FIRST TIME these statements come out of our political leaders and pundits, rather than waiting for them to appear in cartoon form, that's when Tom Tomorrow will have truly succeeded.

I'm thinking that day is in the foreseeable future.

"I don't see why we shouldn't just ban abortion like they want. They'll keep murdering people until they get their way, and no one will lift a finger to stop them, so what's the point? What they say goes, period."

Clearly, Mr Crumb, you don't have any skin in the game.

(okay, so it just arrived today - mail from the United States is generally delayed...)

I'd like to recommend checking out "Reagan Was Wrong", an article by Jeremy McCarter about Henry Fairlie, an English Torie who moved to the US in 1966 and became a keen observer of the political scene. He thought of himself as a Conservative - and was bewildered by America's Republican Party. He foresaw the downfall of the party when it turned to the Reagan philosophy of worshipping The Market and distrusting democracy.

Lots of good quotes! Here's one from the 1980 Republican Convention, in which he describes the delegates as being members of "the booboisie":

"Narrow minded, book banning, truth censoring, mean spirited; ungenerous, envious, intolerant, afraid; chicken, bullying, trivially moral, falsely patriotic; family cheapening, flag cheapening, God cheapening; the common man, shallow, small, sanctimonious."

Thirty years ago, yet it seems torn from today's headlines.

"Andrew Klavan"? Any chance he's Cliff Klavan's (less popular) little brother?

... to get in a reference to Aberforth Dumbledore.

So it's official. God has left the Republican Party.

Sounds like Bob is a neoCon.

I think this article, by revisiting the humble but ubiquitous potato salad, will end up making the Independence Day holiday a little better for a lot of people. The number of widely different recipes amazed me. Capers? That could work. Probably better than jalopenos... (No, don't ask.)

Personally, I hope sales of the store-bought glop go down this weekend. The last time I had any, it appeared to consist of MASHED POTATOES with a ton of mayo, maybe a little mustard, and PICKLE RELISH stirred in. Zero flavor, zero texture - as if it had been concocted for toothless infants or something.

This weekend, make potato salad - either your own successful recipe, or experiment with some of those offered by the Readers. Assert your independence.

Oh, and anyone who asserts that, in a DEMOCRACY, the gummint is "the enemy" - well, he's a treasonous dog. MHO.

... if Mr Keillor were to dedicate an essay to why he was wrong about going easy on our home-grown, All-Amurkin torturers? How about if he penned an editorial for the NY Times? Did a few humorous spots on his radio show? Say, waterboarding Mr.'s Cheney, Bush, Rumsfeld, Yu, and Addison, to confirm that they jointly kidnapped and killed the Lindburgh baby, and work closely with Osama bin Ladin?

Frankly, I hope y'all are bombarding the Congress, Justice Dept and White House with your justifiable call for prosecution. You'll make better headway, talking to the folks who actually have some power to do something about it.

I hope you're not just persecuting Mr. Keillor because he's an easy mark.

Moslem fundies insist that women must wear the burqua. French libertarians insist that women be forbidden to wear the burqua.

What's the difference? In neither case, do women have any say.

And yet, these Republicans are always going on about "personal responsibility" and "independence" and sneering at Democrats as proponents of "the mommy state."

I guess nobody should be surprised by now that they're as hypocritical about adulthood as they are about sexual ethics, military service, fiscal responsibility, ... well, EVERYTHING.