This book sounds a lot like "The Road Less Traveled" by M. Scott Peck. The first line in the book is "Life is Difficult." I am not saying this isn't a profound truth that we need a large dose of in our society that seems to think consuming fixes all ills. I just don't find this to be a very original concept.

There are also similar concepts in Buddhist writings, and elsewhere I am sure.

Traister should have acknowledged this in her article.

I thought Stephen was right on the money, very funny. However I feel very sad that we are in a situation where a comedian is the only one out there telling the truth about this administration. Most of the mainstream media has failed us and has basically rolled over and played dead while the Bushies have gotten us into a disastrous war, run up a huge deficit, presided over a tragic response to Katrina, I could go on and on. It is great that Stephen stood up and said what he did but the rest of it just makes me very sad.

This article reminded me of when I was getting married 6 yrs ago and wanted to have a "casual" wedding. I called a local bridal store and asked if they had any casual dresses and they told me I had to make an appointment to look at dresses. I said "you are telling me that if I show up without an appt you will not let me in the store?" and they said yes. I thought that was crazy. I ended up in a small boutique and found the just the right dress for way under $1K. I sensed that there was this whole "bridal alternate universe" out there but I chose to stay clear. Getting married is stressful enough without having a lot of salespeople hounding you.

I will say up front, I did not watch much of this, only about 10 mins or so. The reason is that during that time I heard one song and the rest was all propaganda...little videos about recycling, etc. I totally agree with the message of Live Earth and Al Gore but I found the web coverage to be tedious in the extreme and not very user-friendly. I did hear Al's DC remarks, and I agree with them, and I am sure people who were at the concerts enjoyed the music but rather than sit through all the lecturing I am hoping for a compilation CD or DVD.

All this early polling is not only irritating, but the idea that someone is "leading" at this point is preposterous, and these polls can have deleterious effects. I think the polls have the unfortunate effect of influencing the outcome of the "real" poll (that is, when the minority of us who bother get out and vote do so), because there are some people who think if they vote for someone who loses they have "wasted" their vote. So, these polls will tend to influence the way these sorts vote. I do not agree with this approach at all, but have heard people say this enough that I think it has some effect. And worse, much of the media are addicted to polls and use them as an excuse not to cover all the candidates. They make for easy "non-news" stories that don't take a lot of digging to report.

Agree with the writer about no music day...while I love music, I appreciate quiet much more, esp when there is no choice about what music I am hearing. There is so little quiet in our world, and that is a true impediment to peace of mind.

I also agree with the person who proposed No TV in Airports Year...let's do that forever! And I would also add "No TV in hospital waiting rooms" (did I really need screechy talk shows playing while I very tensely waited for my husband's surgery to be completed this summer?) and "No TV in restaurants or hotel breakfast areas." I am not talking about sports bars where people go to watch a specific game or event. I am talking about blaring, idiotic, TV morning news shows disturbing the peace while you eat your breakfast. I don't know why anyone thinks this is an appropriate practice but my cynical assumption is that someone, somewhere is getting a fee for shoving all that advertising down my throat. And if you manage to get the tube turned off, there is often Musak playing underneath! Are we a culture that is afraid of silence?

Bush has been (and continues to be) the worst president ever. He started a horrible and unnecessary war, used fear of terror to subvert the Constitution, took nasty politicking to new depths, I could go on and on. That Democrats are angry is not news. What is outrageous is that there is anyone who is NOT angry at Bush and everything he represents.

Our country is in horrendous debt. This so-called "stimulus" is a loan that future taxpayers will have to repay.