Ummm.... much as I admire QEI, she was also a lot more Cheney-sque (secret courts, torturing prisoners, subverting the rule of law to suit her own purposes, assassinating a fellow head of state, some general pettiness, and a loooooong enemies' list) than people realize. She did a great job of shepherding England out of the dark ages, was scary smart and politically shrewd, and kicked serious ass, but I doubt she'd be a fan of our constitution.

WTF are we talking about her on this thread anyway?

To ret8urn to the subject: an Obama spokesperson said that Fox News is clearly biased against the administration. The emperor has no clothes. This is neither shocking, inaccurate, or sinister. Move on.

Don't be an idiot.

CPR will have my check.

can the man project.

I heard rumors that apple is coming out with an e-reader for Christmas.

we are finally acting like a nation of laws.

1. that's not what congress is doing and you know it.

2. according to the former CIA spook interviewed today on npr (Forum or Talk of the Nation, archives aren' up yet), congress apparently has the power to declare "secret wars" on whomever it pleases, without telling the public. Which ideas scares you more? Congress plotting to save your life? Or congress plotting to kill you overseas?

If you dance with a guy I am crushing on, then I will leave you to bleed out in the streets and laugh at your possible rape and/or mugging, beeyatch.

In bizarro world.

In the universe I inhabit, I will still help you when you are the victim of a crime, alone and vulnerable in the middle of the night.

These are crappy friends.

when your budget ideas are scrawled on cocktail napkins, and lack any numbers, I guess a bill written by grownups would look intimidating.

What if she wanted to abort an unwanted pregnancy while sailing around the world? Would she need her parents' consent first?

Then I guess she's too young to go.

(And Unbannable, you crack me up).

To a point. But it's about way more than the total number of calories consumed. It's about what the calories are, how they are consumed, and how they are burned. And it's simply not healthy for a woman to be so underweight her periods cease.A reduced-calorie diet, where the calories consumed are mostly plants (ie fruits and vegetables) with a little lean meat now and then, is good. Especially when combined with moderate exercise/physical labor, and adequate rest, and time for meditation.

Are you seriously confusing that with the typical diet and lifestyle of an A-list model? Because they typically consume more junk food, alcohol, caffeine, nicotine, cocaine (or street drug of the moment), exercise more sporadically, sleep much more erratically, and generally live more stressed-out lives than the average ascetic or Mennonite or Buddhist monk. Add to that the toxins or complications from chemical and surgical beauty treatments, and the stress of constantly being in the public gaze, and I don't think you end up with a fabulously healthy person with low body weight. Instead you end up with an infertile woman in ketosis with triggers locked for an addiction or mental breakdown.

Not that all models are disasters waiting to happen. Of course, many go on to have perfectly healthy, lovely lives - my friend being only one case in point. (They also put on some weight and look more like normal women. Even Brooke Shields can't fit into her Calvins any more.) But the lifestyle the industry facilitates - demands? - of its models certainly is not conduicve to a long and healthy life.

Excuse me but you are wrongity-wrong.

ccording to wiki, the average height and weight of a runway model is: Weight: 100-125, Height: 5'10." That's a BMI of 14.3-17.9. A BMI of <18.5 is underweight. Low weight is unhealthy. It's bad for muscles, bones, fertility, and the brain. You'll likely go crazy, could probably die, but hey, what a fabulous corpse!

Yes. Many of the models are genetically skinny and tall. BUT. From the models to whom I have spoken, staying that thin is a full-time job, one that requires as much cheating as an MLB player in the late 90's. My good friend was a "regular" model when she was 16, 6'0" and 120 lbs. When she was 24, 6'0" and 140 lbs, she became a "plus-sized model." Was she "fat"? Hell to the no. She had grown breasts and hips. Her body had reached its full maturity. And she had started to eat actual food, instead of consuming salads and cigarettes to stay at 120. A

But it's not even the models themselves that are too thin. Let's not forget the magic of photoshop, and all the "perfecting" of the human form into Barbie proportions.

And it cracks me up that people assume anyone who criticizes models or the fashion industry must be a total fattie. Wrong. I am a good-looking woman (and sorry Svutlov, but I;m not going into detail about my sex life. Just use your imagination if you must) who happens to be the mother of girls. But I would trade bodies with Roseanne Barr if it would prevent them from getting depressed about their normal, beautiful, healthy bodies when they become adolescents. Here's a secret: if models more closely resembled better-than-average women in the looks and fitness department, women would be inspired to look like them, and more would be able to *achieve* it. But hold up as "models" women who are genetically attenuated, kept underweight, and then retouched into physically impossible form, and women give up and grab the Haggen Daas.

Of course the models aren't "the enemy." (Dumb as this sounds, a very good friend of mine is a former model. I also work in theater and the actor/dancer/model/pageant queen worlds do overlap quite a bit. So I've known many models over the years.) But the fashion industry that chooses overly-thin, women to be models, insists that said models maintain their unnaturally thin physique, design clothes that really only look good on overly thin models who have been artfully padded and photoshopped, are.

Just stupid.

Models can be too thin *and* many Americans can be too fat at the same time.

One can be a healthy weight (or even be overweight) and still observe the wrongness of grotesquely thin models.

Overly thin models did not make people fat. But they sure aren't helping anyone get healthy. And the beauty industry's obsession with 0% body fat women with silicone breasts and collagen-injected lips is decidedly unhealthy for women and girls of all sizes.

Duh.

It's such a relief to have a grownup in the White House.

I'm also curious: if the administration's efforts result in a modest improvement in the Sudan, will people drop the Kanye West act vis a vis Obama's Nobel Peace Prize?

Buying a sports team isn't like buying a sweater, a house, or a troubled company; it's more complicated than "I have the cash. Gimme." It's more like a date: you an offer to take someone out, but they have the right to refuse if they find you repulsive. The players, the team management, the sponsors, and the League all get to have input.

Limbaugh made a complete ass of himself during his short-lived stint as an NFL commentator. He demonstrated a sub-par understanding of the game (though to be fair, he had a better grasp than did Dennis Miller), no respect for the players, and precious little ability to promote the game (instead of just himself). It is for those reasons that Limbaugh's offer is being rejected.

Wow. Talk about tone-deaf.

How's about "I hope she's ok" or "Thank goodness it doesn't sound like anything serious?"