I used to live in a fairly well-off, coastal New England village with a great plan for this kind of recycling. There's a transfer station where residents have to bring their trash - there's no curbside pickup at all. It used to be that on Saturdays, when most residents brought their household garbage to the dump, there was a little building open where they could leave their better castoffs.

It was always a local sport, seeing what great stuff you could pick up at the Swap Shop, and there were always plenty of good things to choose from. If you were invited to a potluck, the local custom was to bring your casserole in a dish from the Swap Shop, so you could just leave it behind! The best scavenged item I ever heard of, was a big weathervane with a whale that somebody left!

Around the time I moved away, the town fathers got concerned with liability issues and shut the Swap Shop, but I think there was a groundswell of demand and it's since been reactivated.

It's very hard to fathom why there are no massive demonstrations in the streets by the approximately one out of six of the US population with no health insurance. It's even more difficult to understand why there is no uprising of those who have been bankrupted by the medical insurance on which they faithfully paid premiums for years and were subsequently denied access to the care their doctor prescribed.

Anyone who seriously believes that GOP bullshit about faceless Federal bureaucrats telling them what doctor they might see or what specific treatment they're allowed to receive has never had to deal with the insurance company's bureaucrat whose specific job is to do just that.

This isn't socialized medicine we're talking about, it's a different form of health insurance, not based on the profit motive. No wonder the insurance industry was so willing to work with the Administration for the inclusion of a universal mandate. The millions of presently uninsured are a whole new untapped market from which they will simultaneously be able to siphon money and deny care!

The polarization of this country has been obvious for a long time, but for most of the time we at the liberal-progressive end of the spectrum have been on the outside looking in, wringing our hands and trying to remain optimistic.

Now, as luck would have it, we were given reason to think we might be in the majority and have some clout. Instead, we find ourselves gazing into the ambient air and worrying about the viciousness of the desperate wackjobs who seem to have lost any coherent leadership but are nonetheless being given a full airing by the always fair-and-balanced MSM as the de facto loyal opposition.

The conservative/Libertarian fringe has no doubt about their right to stand up and make themselves heard - whether or not they have anything to say on the subject at hand, regardless of the truth of their claims. The entire tone of the debate this summer is based on the loudest and most outrageous sound-byte-worthy turn of phrase.

There is no bipartisanship that's capable of standing up to the demands of television ratings and the utility of the catchy slogan. It's too bad we didn't have this example of insanity in front of us to learn from when it might have done us some good!

It's well past time to get loud, call them on the lies, and give the media some creatively phrased outrage. Crazies get air time. Dignified reasoned discussion gets ignored.

The issue of the youngest circumnavigator is a topic that has been much discussed at my job. I work in a marina, and we've all talked about the various kids who have either already done or been talking about sailing around the world.

Yes, it's an adventure that lots of sailors have dreamed of. Yes, it's something that needs to be done before jobs and responsibilities and relationships get in the way. Yes, it's a dangerous venture for both girls and boys, although the dangers are definitely magnified for girls - and that pink boat is a foolish and unnecessary target. But there is more to this debate than the danger and the skills required to make it all the way around.

What surprises me is that very few discussions of this phenomenon have mentioned the effect on these very young kids of spending months completely alone. Thirteen seems too young, and sixteen is hardly better.

Equating this quest with going off to war misses the point - you're far from alone in the military. You can travel anywhere else on the planet and rarely find yourself completely alone - even if no one else speaks your language. Single-handed sailing is hard physical work, but the real test is mental.

Circumnavigating the globe is a serious effort for adults who have long since formed their personalities enough to know they're solitary people and that they will enjoy that aspect of the trip. The adventure will still be there, but the notoriety of being the youngest-ever is an honor that hardly seems worth the risk.

This is a country so polarized that there is simply nothing we can agree on. In any issue there's just about a 50/50 split, and if there is a way it can be politicized, the opinions are so quickly entrenched that there's no turning back.

The blogosphere plays to the cheap seats of either side, always preaching to their choir. The media claims fair-and-balanced by giving equal time to the Administration and the pundits of the never-loyal opposition.

Despite the realization of his failings by his liberal base, who probably should have realized that he wasn't one of us anyway, I'm still thankful that we have a President who can string together an intelligent and thoughtful sentence and not alienate the rest of the world. He's never going to win over the GOP, never mind the gun-toting wackjobs on the right!