One of the reasons I don't want to have kids: for every woman that at least tries to get back in decent shape after poppin' out a rugrat, there are 100 other moms who use pregnancy/childbirth as an excuse to just let themselves go, and start hitting the Ho-Hos Oprah-style...

And no, I'm not saying/expecting a new mother to sprout a toned-six pack, cellulite-free thighs and an overall Jane Fonda circa-'82 figure. Weight loss and getting into shape is difficult; trust me, I know!

But jeez...somewhere between Fonda and pre-surgery Starr Jones, can't y'all find a happy, healthy, athletic middle ground?

I wonder how many husbands cheat/fantasize about other women because their wives never recover even close to their figure. I wonder how many marriages end up in divorce or perpetual sexual misery because of it. (Of course, many hubbies let themselves go too...in which case I pity the wives! Staying hot for your bethrothed is a gender-neutral act of kindness...just sayin'.)

It's pioneers like these who first enter their dirty minds.

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In all seriousness, though, congrats to these ladies for gettin' hitched!

...when even Dubya himself can begin admitting fault in the Iraq War debacle - but they cannot?

Clearly, Malkin and her ilk are going to stubbornly cling to the burning, sinking ship that is Neoconservatism...to the bitter end.

And I say good riddance. Our nation is served best by having the two political ideologies serving as effective counterpoints to each other - and for 8 loooong years, the gung-ho neoconservatives have not lived up to their end of the bargain!

It is time for fresh, sensible voices with new strains of thinking to emerge on the Right...

It's a cutesy-wutesy car perfect for an Apple user/fan, i.e. - someone who values form over function.

Me? I love my PC. AND I love the Honda Fit: for the same price as the, ummm, "Smart", you get a real car instead of a toy!

The Fit seats four adults comfortably and has shitloads of cargo space, esp. compared to the Smart; the peppy high-rev engine, that sweeeeeet Honda 5-spd manual and the sport-tuned suspension make it actually fun to drive, and not just to look at; great mileage, great reliability (esp. compared to the Smart - built by *cough** Mercedes *cough**) and you can actually use it at American freeway speeds! Huzzah!

Lisa = Jesse Jackson in '88, Hilary Rodham Clinton in '08

Stephanie = Barack Obama, future female presidential candidate who is actually palatable/electable

But as a straight guy, I simply get nothing out of the Tonys, and musicals at large..."Chicago"?? Blleecch.

Then again, there are rare exceptions that I do find entertaining - Sweeney Todd, for example, is so deliciously dark that I'd be happy to see the play version of it!

The problem isn't porn or masturbation; it's the total emotional withdrawal into another (secret) world, the obsessive-compulsive behavior, and numbing disconnection to anything real.

Certainly this may apply to some people who look at porn...but everyone?? That is a crappy, unjustified generalization.

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First, regarding the "addiction" part: yes, LW you are an addict. Your drug of choice in this case happens to be porn. And you should seek help from an addiction counselor for this.

BUT...and let me be clear here - porn in and of itself does not cause addiction.

If a woman were to write in saying she's addicted to chocolate, weighs 400 lbs and has serious health problems, would anyone be saying chocolate is evil, amoral and the problem at hand?

Of course not. The problem is the addiction, not the chocolate.

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I'll be the first to agree that the pornography industry has some serious problems to deal with. Drug use, abused girls and so on are issues that need to be addressed.

But to the women on this thread claiming to be hurt by porn, porn is immoral, "right" men don't use porn etc. etc.: I respectfully disagree with your rabid opinions.

Frankly, you would be amazed to find out some of the "moral, decent" people in your lives occasionally get their rocks off to porn once in a while. And they DO NOT turn into abusers, perverts, womanizers, misogynists etc. just because they watched a sexual act, say on video!

I realize I probably cannot convince you of otherwise, but please realize:

a.) As long as humanity has existed, there has always been "porn". (I can suggest history books addressing it, but they certainly would offend the hell outta you all - filled with 4000-year old carvings of a couple 69-ing and whatnot. Oh, the ungodly humanity!)

Sex is an act of pleasure that is also necessary for the continuation of our species. The Powers That Be - in the process of creating organized religions to impose social control on the masses - thought that too much pleasure would lead to abandonment of work, and thus made Sex and all associated things taboo.

This is why nudity is considered obscene. It's why if a couple dares to kiss open-mouthed in public, they will get hostile glares and probably reproached by an Evangelical. It's why a girl in Iran who isn't covered from head to toe might just get arrested and stoned to death.

As long as taboo is associated with an act, there will be a rebellious counterbalance in existence. Some of the most erotic, naughty porn ever created was born in the uber-prudish Victorian era!

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b.) If you subscribe to the "porn objectifies women and is hence evil" theology, I suggest you chew on this for a sec:

If no man/woman ever (even temporarily objectified) another person, would our species have been able to propagate using sexual reproduction?

Or do you think it is (only) your views on string theory and macroeconomics that gives (or should give) your husbands or boyfriends hard-ons?