Only in a country as dumb as ours would someone like Camille Paglia be considered a pundit or have her own column.

Susan Jacoby was on Bill Moyers' last night, discussing her book. She was cogent and witty, and listening in on their discussion was enlightening as well as encouraging--good to know there are still public intellectuals contributing ideas that matter to the public sphere. (Has Camille ever said anything of value in her column? Don't think so... Just another hype job courtesy of the dumb and the shamelessly self-serving.)

Sidebar: one of Jacoby's statistics says that one out five Americans believe in ghosts. I just talked to my niece, who is doing her student teaching with a supervisor who believes in ghosts and thinks her house is haunted. Wow. At least the woman realized she wasn't up to teaching fifth grade b/c she's only as smart as a fourth grader.

I know it's not nice to take potshots at well-meaning women who are trying to do what they believe is in their power to do to combat global warming. And as other letter writers have pointed out, no doubt in very little time they will figure out even more meaningful ways to deepen their effectiveness. But my gut reaction to the original article was, what a bunch of crap. More trivial things to add to moms' long, long, lists of things about which to feel guilty and put upon.

I'm an overworked mom, also an environmentalist. I don't have time to get together w/ other moms to discuss how many earth-saving lightbulbs I've screwed in this week. Mostly because it's a trivial thing to do in the face of global warming and without a place to recycle them very possibly countereffective (like nuclear waste). But also because I refuse to take it on as my job just because I'm the mother. These women need to jumpstart their education about global warming with a good reading and discussion group. There are so many nonfiction books that can help them and all of us figure out more meaningful things to do than just screw in different lightbulbs. And yes, they will have to ditch the SUV. I just do not think you can drive an SUV and say you're worried about global warming. Unless you're hauling around a sailboat in back, one you actually live on.

Winter is magnificent. But you have to get out in it to feel that way--to view it from behind the frosted windows of your house or car is not good enough. You have to feel like you are up to its challenge, that it is NOT oppressing you (too much).

I only hate the ritual at the door--the search for MY gloves and hat and scarf and boots in the mountain of others' outerwear. When you have children who have many destinations to be schlepped to, and a dog that needs to go out and to be walked, and a husband who can't be bothered to shovel b/c he thinks global warming means the snow will eventually melt, then the frustration can mount and you can end up thinking a big slug of red wine is your due at the end of each day.

But the snow-covered trees and bushes are quite something to behold. There's a silence that lends itself to thinking more deeply. If you cross-country ski, you feel very robust and yes, smug, because the glow follows you the rest of the day.

I love winter, and feel sorry for people who don't understand its pleasures. Thanks, Garrison, for another piece of writing that reminds me it's not all bad to live in the upper Midwest. I'll forward it to my friend in CA but I don't think her imagination is up to it.

This essay came right in time: I had just about decided to shelve my own plans for a Midwestern getaway to the Bay area. Economics, low momentum, the usual justifications for staying put. This has been a dire winter, even for those of us who cross-co. ski. You start to watch too much tv because you're sick of reading, and tv is always depressing to the human spirit and bad for marital life. And you eat too much heavy food, which gives you a belly, which is also depressing and bad for marital life. So, I will go to San Francisco and soak up the vibe, then return to a guaranteed state of depression. The Happiness experts tell us that happiness is always relative, so it stands to reason that Iowa will be even more excruciating in late winter after a visit to the delicious city called just the City by those in the know. How lucky some people are to be living in a decent climate with plentiful coffee shops where people actually communicate with some exuberance, versus just bitch and moan about the weather.

People like Peggy Noonan, Tim Russert, Pat Buchanan, Maureen Dowd, and Chris Matthews make me ashamed of being Irish American. What is it about these fantasists and Establishment-kissers? Why are there so many of them, and how come they have been so successful? Glib-tongued? In thrall to authority? Perhaps this analysis is too glib itself, but it is a remarkable phenomenon.

Thank you Glenn for articulating the brazen insanity of these people's views.

On a peripheral note: where is the leadership that will shut down NASCAR and make it the embarrassment that it should be in the age of Peak Oil? To have a network news anchor brag that he watches this little boys' "sport" is astonishing...when gas is at $4 a gallon and we're at war to make sure our tanks can stay full a while longer.