Isn't it really hard to drive a taxicab if you don't have a face?

Berkeley is certainly in the forefront on many issues, but Madison, Wisconsin, was the first city to offer curbside recycling.

I was a student in West Africa a long time ago. This column reminded me of what I loved so much about the region.

After his appearance on Saturday Night Live, I guess Williams has decided his real future is in comedy.

There's no point sending her a copy. If she were still Mayor of Wasilla, she'd probably have the book banned from the library.

@Melanie68:

The more Sarah Palin exercises her right to free speech, the more she keeps shooting herself in the foot.

Of course her right to shoot herself in the foot is protected by the Second Amendment.

I supported Obama because I thought he was our best chance to spark a revival of progressive politics from the bottom up, which is the only way it's going to happen.

Even if Obama fills his cabinet with centrist technocrats, he ran his campaign like a community organizer, and the networks his campaign created and developed are not going away. Just this week, for example, MoveOn held meetings all around the country to form a network that will "hold Obama accountable." That's what needs to happen if we want real change.

I'm old enough to remember JFK's presidency, and I know the JFK administration was not all that great -- his actions to protect civil rights were lukewarm, he almost blew up the world, and he got us into Vietnam -- but his election and his rhetoric (along with some of his actions) created a sense of optimism and idealism that energized the movements that really made the Sixties exciting.

I hope the next few years are not as bumpy a ride as the Sixties were, but I do think Obama will make a difference -- perhaps despite himself.

I'm opposed to bonuses for AIG employees, but if the company buys some Bebop-a-rebop rhubarb pie with bailout money and serves it at coffee break, I won't object.

Oddly enough, while the NY Times had an anthropological report on teenage hugging, Good Morning America was interviewing a woman who had just produced a film about oral sex as "the new goodnight kiss."

So oral sex is now replacing kissing, while hugs are the new handshake. Interesting.

• To get coverage under the duck's health insurance?
• For survivor benefits under Social Security or your pension plan?
• to assure that you and the duck can visit each other if one of you is hospitalized?
• to arrange for alimony and child support in case of divorce?

If you're in love with a duck and none of these considerations is important to you, you'd probably be better off living together without getting married.

I have a sub-compact (unlike a Prius, which is actually mid-sized, I think) and I live in snowy Wisconsin. Our street has a high crown, and sometimes when there's a lot of snow and the street hasn't been plowed yet, one or two of us has to push the car from a parking space to the middle of the street. It's usually not too bad, and all our neighbors, whatever they drive, have the same problem.

Once, however, after a big wet snowstorm, a walked past a big Ford SUV (an Expedition, I think) that was trying to get out of its space. The SUV had four-wheel drive and lots of weight on each of the wheels, but it skidded and floundered helplessly until ten passers-by managed, after fifteen minutes, to push it out of its parking space.

So I think my little sub-compact is better suited than a big-ass SUV to Wisconsin winters. But my most practical winter transportation is provided by my bicycle. After a snow, it's fun to ride around watching the cars and SUVs spin their wheels at stop signs.

"Conservative cranks" believe that families should raise their children independently, with no help or concessions from the rest of society. This usually means that Daddy gets a job and works whatever hours the boss decides, while Mommy stays home, keeps house and raises the kids. One would hope that "liberals" would understand that this model of family life doesn't work any more, and workplaces, as well as families, have to adjust.

I agree that children will continue to be born in this country, no matter how employers and governments treat families, and that we are not in imminent danger of a population crash in this country. But we do need to make sure that these children are raised with good education, good character and good values, which are more likely in (relatively) stress-free families, with (relatively) non-frazzled adults.

Those of us who are adults now will eventually be dependent for care and support on the future adults who are children today. Childfree people like achilleselbow will inevitably be cared for by other peoples' children, since they have none of their own.

It's probably too much to ask childfree people to be grateful to the parents who are raising their future caregivers, but it would be nice if they didn't treat their families as parasites.

Keef's son is lucky to have a father who will tell him these things. Our generation had to learn this truth through hard and painful experience.