The more these hyperself-conscious celebrities push the limits of plastic surgery in the pursuit of a youthful facade, the more they make culturally unacceptable the natural process of aging. It's like the GOP swinging so far to the right that the political middle ground is now considered hard conservative.

There is nothing wrong with looking old. The problems of aging are not external, but internal. Can you walk? Can you hold your hands steady? Can you see? Do your organs function properly? Those are the things to worry about.

I imagine a scenario a few decades from now where Madonna looks like a smooth, pink 20 year-old, but she has to use a walker and wear diapers. It will be like a horror movie.

What do Jews or Israel have to do with the difference in the number of letters going to each article?

Answer carefully; a foot is a hard thing to dislodge from a mouth.

Have you felt the pressure to shave your chest hair? I certainly haven't, but they're trying to make it something shameful, aren't they?

I don't otherwise feel the pressure to look young. Dealing with graying hair has been around for a long time, as has dealing with balding. I'm neither, but the ads so far don't phase me if and when I go both. Same goes for love handles.

I think we men still have it a lot better than the womenfolk. However, just as VISA is trying to stigmatize using cash with its latest demonic ads, I have no doubt that the fashion fascists will turn their anti-aging guns on us men soon enough.

Are you an anti-semite, or a kneejerk Israel supporter?

Are you an anti-semite, or a kneejerk Israel supporter?

I sorry I asked! :)

It's time to say goodnight.

There should be negative image Vietnam Memorial on the National Mall. It would be shaped like a C and painted pee yellow. On it would be the names of all the cowardly, hypocritical Republican chickenhawks like Rush Limbaugh who talk tough but run away at the first sign of danger. The problem is, there wouldn't be enough room on the continental United States to house a memorial big enough to include all the names.

As others have said, the Democrats will stay silent on this. No denunciations of Rush Limbaugh, no votes of condemnation. Maybe that memorial should be amended to include the names of all the chickenshit Democrats as well. But then, there isn't enough room on planet Earth for something that big.

You're right AnnieW: it's hard to believe, but millions of Americans are fans of Rush Limbaugh. Those are the same Americans who will pull a shoulder muscle in their rush to get on their jackboots should a fascist movement ever explode onto the scene.

How many individual animals, and entire species, are now suffering and dying, and will suffer and die in the future, due to climate change? It's not as if these animals simply go *poof* and disappear. They die of thirst, they starve to death, they drown. Their deaths, due to humanity's selfishness, are miserable.

You can fantasize about tinkering in your lab all you want, but it doesn't change the fact that while you mentally masturbate at all the nifty things you can conjure up, the natural world needlessly cries out in pain. No doubt in the future, your new lab creations will suffer and die due to the arrogance and indifference of men just like you.

The freaks on the religious right would vote for a gay abortion-rights professional poker player if he won the Republican nomination. They care nothing for religion, but everything for power.

So long as the Repug nominee promises to throw taxpayer funds at the religious right freaks, and kill lots of evil people overseas, he will get their support.

Northern Virginia is a traffic nightmare. I'm glad I don't live there, and that's on top of the fact that your state government is infested with redneck nazis.

Montgomery County, Maryland is a very good place to live, in part because we have excellent public transportation. You can walk to the metro (subway), or take a RideOn bus; either way, if you commute to work, there is no need to get in your car to go to work (assuming your workplace is within walking distance of the Metro, which is true for almost all Federal Government workers).

Anyway, this is all academic. Folks, the oil is running out, and what's left is beneath the soil of countries which hate us. China and India want that oil, too; the exporting countries are going to export less and less, because they need oil, too. Change is coming whether we like it or not (we won't). The fact is, our current way of life: suburban sprawl, flying between regional cities, shopping at big box stores which truck in their cheap shit from Chinese sweatshops) is unstainable. It will all end in our lifetimes, and you know what? We're all fucked. Our government and society will not accept the inevitable, so it will hit us hard, like a left hook that you sense a few seconds after you're sprawled on the floor wondering how you got there.

And that's on top of global climate change.

Stock up on liquor and toilet paper: you're going to need both.

I like your answer about improvised weapons. You're absolutely right that nightime buses in Montgomery County can be a zoo. I avoid them like the plague. In addition to the ballpoint pens and rolled up papers, I recommend a tactical flashlight: blind 'em and hammer punch 'em. A walking stick is also the perfect chaperone. It's legal and highly visible. Studies show that creeps shy away from attacking people holding clubs, even if those clubs are only umbrellas. A sturdy walking stick makes a fine weapon, and the homeland security goons won't hassle you over carrying one.