At the same time, the campaign has received huge funding from large numbers of people desperate to escape the unimaginable disaster of a McCain presidency. How about spending some of it?

After the conventions McCain will be limited to public funds. Obama will have his entire warchest to spend. If he continues holding onto the funds and not pushing hard, then I'll be pissed, too, but I think in the long term it pays to wait until his financial advantage kicks in. (Plus, I suspect there will soon be Swift Boat ads to counter.)

Also, the lead is smokin' hot.

Great piece, and it's nice to hear the full background on that 'author and journalist.'

But Obama goes on Fox News for two very good reasons:

1. To make himself less scary. It's also why he's talking to evangelicals. The more apathetic the right is, the fewer campaign contributions McCain gets, the fewer sleazy email forwards are sent, and the more Republican voters stay home.

2. To send the message that Obama will be a President for *everyone*, not just the people who vote for him. It's part of the greater strategy (IMO) to court centrists.

Perhaps someone's already addressed this but your comment that Obama's willingness to appear on Fox is "part of the greater strategy (IMO) to court centrists," is clearly unfounded, as no "centrists" watch Fox.

But Obama's willingness to go on Fox (on the O'Reilly factor, no less) was then picked up by the mainstream media. (Also note that the interview was scheduled on the heels of the Republican convention.) Message to swing voters and independents: Obama isn't afraid of Fox News. He's willing to talk to people who disagree with him. They don't have to watch the network or the interview to 'get the message.'

As Lister pointed out, many of those 'ready for college' kids in the top half really aren't. And I'd like to add that some of the under-50% may well be struggling for other reasons: a rotten environment at home (which disappears with a move to the dorm), unchallenging school work, immaturity (which does indeed go away...for most kids...eventually. Remember, even if a kid gets his/her act together senior year, horrible grades from 9-11th grade still go on the transcript), etc. The cutoff feels way too arbitrary to me and, well, a bit 'elitist.'

Having said that, there are plenty of other ways to be successful in life. Trade schools, vocational programs (my niece is in a vocational program now and getting the first As of her life), community colleges and 2-year colleges are all good things. I think we over-fetishize the Four Year Liberal Arts Degree.

You answered your own question-- you didn't try to shoplift or get an older kid to buy you that Playgirl. You found the pictures online. We'll all be getting our porn from the Internet, which can cater to all our specialized tastes.

I stopped buying magazines years ago; I'm not the only one by a long shot.

Like "conservative," "progressive" is a term associated with a particular view of history. The conservative wants to stand still or go back; the progressive wants to move forward. Progressivism implies a view of history as perpetual progress; conservatism, a view of history as decline from a better world in the past. Needless to say, nobody who actually thinks this way could function.

Really? Because I do. It's lurching, slow progress, but progress nonetheless. In the United States we have moved from tyranny to democracy. We have freed slaves. We have let women and blacks and lots of other people vote. We outlawed alcohol and then thought better of it. Perhaps we will soon think better of outlawing marijuana. We started allowing gays and lesbians to live openly, then to marry. Sounds like progress to me. And it's what I want to continue to see in this country.

Good luck with the new schedule, and so glad you're not going away. Give your little coin-flippers a hug for me.

Virtually all world religions prohibit homosexuality, and not as a minor transgression or "no-no" but as a truly major sin -- an abomination.

Hate to be the first to inform you but 'my definion of Christianity and Islam' does not equal 'virtually all world religions.' (Numerically, Judaism isn't a 'big' religion.) Islam and Christianity have had a bug up their ass about homosexuality for some years, but that hardly constitutes a consensus.

Editorlaura has some wonderful things to say, too.

Hearing problems are endemic in little kids and can easily lead to speech problems-- especially in light of the ear infections he's gotten (and the fact his mother probably only took him to the doctor when they got nasty) that's the first thing I'd look at. Say, 'little X is so bright, and I've read that early hearing problems can really put a damper on a kid's future. Why don't you get him checked out?' It has the virtue of being completely true, verifiable by even the hippie-crunchy mothering types, and really might be what's wrong with the kid-- not hearing well can lead to a host of behavioral issues. Most importantly, it steers the conversation away from autism, which clearly terrifies her as a diagnosis. You don't know what's wrong with this kid-- clearly mom doesn't either-- why not steer her toward a less scary theory?

To make an old joke, some of my best friends are on the spectrum, and it's important to note that not only is the stigma placed on autisum counter-productive but that autists have a lot of contributions to make in society-- just like all of us.