I have to agree with jsheb. I have size 6 1/2 EE feet. Not many shoes come in that size. I guess women aren't supposed to have wide feet. Anyway, to get shoes that fit me, I have to pay a premium price, at a wide shoe specialty store, online, or at a store selling European shoes (which tend to be wider). Are the larger bras exactly the same as the smaller bras (same pattern just sized up)? If so, they should cost the same. Or are they a different design, engineered and made differently? Is there a smaller market for them? I assume the smaller market for wide women's shoes explains the premium price. Similarly, a smaller market for plus-size bras is probably the main explanation for the cost differential. (Additional fabric, etc. is negligible compared to labor, distribution, and marketing costs.) Doesn't seem fair but that's reality.

So Bruce, Glenn, Duane, Kent for boys and Nancy, Judy, Barbara, Carol for girls won't be in favor again until the grandchildren or possibly great-grandchildren of those who bear the name (meaning people born in the late 40s and 1950s) are having their own children. By then the names will be old and quaint (as Emily and Adelaide and Owen and Simon are perceived now) rather than old and common. But, ironically, being old and quaint will inevitably lead to their quickly becoming common (as Emily and Adelaide and Owen and Simon are becoming now).

Stick straight. I look white but I have the hair of my ancestors. Absolutely straight, won't hold a curl, so thick and straight and heavy that a comb or clip won't stay in it. With a huge cowlick in the front and several more in the back that straight hair doesn't do a thing to hide. I can't put it "up" (it falls down) or pull it back. If I don't wash it every day, it's either plastered to my head or sticks out in funny places. It's a hassle. I wish I had curly hair. I know it can be a hassle, too--my niece is half black and has wonderful, wild, crazy hair that she dreads to comb. It's all beautiful, isn't it? Why does it have to be a loaded subject? We're all women, trying to conform to some idea of looking attractive (and still being comfortable).

How can we persuade all media outlets to ignore this person? She is not only mean but ignorant. Her attacks and arguments make no sense and are based on prejudice rather than reality.

I've been trying to start a grassroots campaign to rehabilitate "Liberal." A few years ago I designed a "Proud Liberal" bumper sticker on zazzle.com and talked to the local Democratic party about distributing them, making them available at the county fair, handing them out at the caucus, etc. Although it didn't catch on, I often get an enthusiastic thumbs up from other drivers when I'm out and about in the car.

It's Jeff Merkley who defeated incumbent Gordon Smith for the Oregon senatorial position. Being from Oregon, however, I'm used to the rest of the country not having any idea of what's going on out there.

but what's to stop the Republican Party from stealing this election, too? It doesn't seem to matter who the better candidate is or even how many people support him. What matters is who owns the voting machines, the election supervisors, and the courts.

I'm disappointed that Hillary Clinton encountered as much uncensured misogyny as she did from the media. She wasn't a perfect candidate but I don't think she was treated fairly, in large part because she is a woman. Now I am fully supporting Barack Obama. In other words, I can be angry but still support Obama, who is a much better choice for president than John McCain. As a woman, I'm tired of being condescended to, but I'm still aware that our own best interests mean voting for Barack Obama.

people traveling with children (now in addition to wrangling your child you have to schlep suitcases, carseat, and stroller or pay $15-$45 apiece to check them). A carseat is not a luxury; it's a legal requirement. A diaper bag and minimum of one suitcase are necessities. A stroller is a necessity, too, unless you're able to carry a child everywhere you go. Charging to check a bag also discriminates against people with bad backs or any other sort of infirmity (except for official disabilities, for which you can get help and perhaps a cart ride), the elderly, pregnant women, and others. In other words, charging for a bag sticks it everyone who'd just rather not carry their suitcase through the long lines of security (even longer now, with more carry-ons to screen), who don't want to hassle with managing bags in public bathrooms and waiting areas and down the ramp and up into the overhead bin. Using the space at your ever-shrinking space around your own seat is madness, so those bags are all going to be shoved above. And what will become of the unused space in the cargo hold--will American have a side business as a freight shipper?

and ruined the show for me. In an interview after the show ended, she confirmed the diagnosis when she said that it was time for her to move on and that it was her call--and hers alone--to end the show, regardless of what was important for the three actors playing her friends. I think the unhealthy amount of attention SJP got when she had a baby might have pushed her over the edge. (Parade Magazine recently calling her "America's Most Fabulous Mom" is the sort of thing I'm talking about.) Also I don't think she's attractive--scraggly hair with dyed roots showing, unflattering (yet expensive) "fashionable" clothes, pointy chin, mole--what is the big deal with her? Why overlook her fellow actors and emphasize her alone?