I too am struck by LW's reference to "disgusting" religious habits. If she really wants to do something about her security situation (which is quite valid) then she needs to get her distaste for her neighbors lifestyle choices under control.

LW, you have a reasonable beef about security. Go talk nicely to these folks about your concerns. It's the right first step, and actually, they should be concerned, too, that people are walking into their building willy-nilly on Shabbat. I like the idea of the observant families in the building hiring someone to watch the door, especially since there is precedent for that. Alternatively, a family member could hang out by the door to identify guests, until all the guests have arrived.

If you don't get a helpful response from your neighbors, ask where they go to shul (synagogue.) Pay the rabbi a visit, and explain (again nicely) that this practice is endangering your life and limb, and that it has been presented to you as religious. He should be concerned, and he can propose solutions to them and remind them of the commandments against endangering people. Alternatively, if in your past somewhere you have or have had a rabbi, ask your rabbi to call their rabbi.

All of this will require getting over your "disgust." Having "disgust" for one's fellow Jew is a choice, much like the choice to have disgust for homosexuals, people of other races, etc.

I'm a liberal feminist observant Jew. I'm the first to admit that sometimes people (of whatever background) can be difficult, but I have never known disgust to make anything easier.

If, after approaching both the neighbors and their rabbi nicely, you still haven't gotten anywhere, document all your discussions and approach the landlord. You have a reasonable request, so make it in a reasonable way.

If you value your safety, you need to get over the disgust. If you value your disgust more than you value your safety, then, well, good luck to you.

Pie is no more in need of defense than is the marriage of heterosexuals. It is as delicious, however, as any gay humor.

At my house, pie takes the cake. Every time.

So true!... gosh, you brought some funny memories back.

The third trimester of pregnancy rendered me certifiable. Pregnant, I tackled huge projects in the yard with utter abandon, working on them at whatever hour felt appropriate. I remember an elderly neighbor standing at the fence at 6 am, clucking that it just "wasn't natural" and phoning my husband to suggest a "nice yard man."

I remember pursuing a marauding raccoon down the front drive in my bathrobe, which didn't begin to meet over my belly, brandishing a broom and screaming. The raccoon had made the mistake of rattling a doorknob on an outside door and convincing me that the Boogie Man had come to get me and/or Offspring #1. I phoned the cops, but then decided to deal with matters myself. (They didn't come quickly enough.) When I saw it was a RACCOON, I went nuts. Memphis's Finest wanted to take me to the hospital, but fortunately my husband came home just then and they released me to his custody.

It didn't occur to me until just now that I don't know for sure which hospital they meant. Hmmm.

Good luck to you AND your family, Heather.

Obituaries are my favorite part of the paper, and the obits in small town papers are the best of all, because I love a good story. Buried amongst the respectable are the folks whose lives were just too darn interesting for a small town paper. Sometimes you have to read between the lines a bit to spot them, but they are usually there.

We write our obits every day of our lives. Might as well have an interesting one.

I think I said it all in the head, actually: we don't want "bipartisanship" for all the reasons you cited.

I do believe, though, that a lot of ordinary folks like myself are sick and tired of the screaming matches and the name-calling and the nastiness that has come to characterize the rhetoric of the extreme right and left. We're tired of the politics of intimidation and scorched earth. We're tired of hearing the word "Nazi" slung around.

We're tired of whining, too.

What appeals to me about the President is that he appears to be an actual grownup with actual manners. My reading of his attention to "bipartisanship" is that he treats the opposition with courtesy, he invites them over for drinks, he listens to their ideas -- in other words, he acts like a grownup, and pretends that they are grownups too.

What a concept.

If all he was interested in was votes, then helping the poor was a very dumb way to go after votes. He had MY vote because he cared about poor people, but I'm weird.

So I don't know. I definitely don't think Edwards matters any more; nobody's going to trust him with much any more.

Why is Salon spending time on this? Come to think of it, why am I spending time on it?

I couldn't listen to the media drivel about Cronkite for longer than about 10 minutes, for precisely the reasons you give. Thanks for putting it so clearly where others can read it.

I'm a regular business passenger on Southwest, on the Oakland - Las Vegas run. For my own sanity, I carry a small plastic bag with me for trash, and I give it to the flight attendant on his or her last pass through the cabin before landing.

The Southwest crews do an amazing job during those short turn-arounds, but they can't catch everything hidden in seat pockets.

I think that the airlines could cut down a lot on the weird and gross things stuffed into seat pockets by making them clear plastic. The fact that something of the sort is necessary just blows my mind.