What a great article, Wil! I look forward to reading more from you in the future.

My father is a retired United Airlines pilot, who graduated from a Catholic high school in Texas in 1955. He was always fairly conservative and really liked Ronald Reagan- until he saw Reagan do his best to destroy unions. Then, my dad's outlook really changed. Today, he refers to George W. Bush as "the idiot", is emotionally supportive of his gay kids (two out of five!) and their adopted kids, votes Democrat, and doesn't hold back when it comes to voicing his opinions about fairness and inclusion.

I'm so proud of him and the way he's never stopped learning and growing. It also gives me hope that other older folks aren't all becoming more conservative as they get older, some actually become more liberal!

Thanks, Wil!

Oh, Heather! I usually love your column and agree with your opinions, but I could see threads hanging from Daniels' clothes even on TV (and in your links to GettyImages- thanks for the preview). Santino never did create anything elegant or anything a woman would actually want to wear until the very last episode. He has a "point of view", but ugh, does anyone like it? Granted, Chloe's clothes were a little too 80s retro, thick and poofy, but I think they're wearable (by certain people). Her green summery dress was gorgeous. You could also remove the poofy sleeves on some of them.

I say good luck to all of them. Daniel may have lucked out most of all when he was offered a job by Michael Kors! Oh well, now have we have a new troop of really homely top model prospects to watch (hence the "transformation" theme- they have lots of work ahead). There's just too much fashion on tv to keep up right now! (8th and Ocean? Couldn't watch past the first 10 minutes-aigh, maybe I'm getting too old for MTV)

What about our purchases at the grocery store? Is the U.S. government buying data from Safeway that tells them what everyone has purchased? If you buy the wrong shampoo, do you have to worry about the late-night knock on the door? This is terrifying and wrong. A citezenry is not free if it is spied upon constantly.

The important difference between marriage and civil unions, as they exist now anyway, is that a marriage is recognized by the federal government. Civil unions are recognized in Vermont and Connecticut- that's it. Even if other states implement civil unions, the benefits conferred will still vary by state, so if a gay couple moves, they may end up in a state that doesn't recognize civil unions or in a state that provides little or no benefits to gay partners in a civil union.

Civil unions are still a way to make gay people second-class citizens and to infer that gay people and relationships are inferior and undeserving of the rights of marriage. Marriage for gay people is fair. Civil unions aren't.

This is a great commentary about political "journalism" today. Chris Matthews sucks, and gets worse every day. He's a pundit, not a journalist. Just because he believes something, doesn't mean "the common folks" believe it too. I hate to say it, but Keith Olbermann's reaction to Hillary's "teary-eyed moment" was also obnoxious. They all assumed we'd be put off by it. Hillary ISN'T Muskie and it's 2008. We've all come a long way. At the N.H. debates, Clinton spoke about the issues with a depth the other candidates didn't match. Maybe the voters were responding to that. Maybe voters there like all the Democrats and don't actually hate Hillary.

The goal of the "art" project was to be as controversial as she could be. I hope her health isn't permanently destroyed because of this. I wonder if she'll be able to get pregnant. And if she ever has a child, would she want her daughter doing something like that? To me, it's horrific and I support a woman's right to choose. She's an idiot. Putting yourself on death's door isn't art- it's foolish. Wow, some dialog we're having about her "project".

If a woman stood in front of you and told you she was going to do this for your entertainment, or edification or whatever, what would you do? I would try to stop her, because I think it's messed up and puts her body through way too much stress and possible danger.

I'm just a work from home nobody, but since it's so easy for anybody to speak for "the average people". Let me do so. We want to know:

What the candidates think about domestic spying and what Total Information Awareness-type programs they'll keep and what they'll work to abolish.

How they'll maintain stability in the Middle East as they pull our troops out.

How (or if) they will get power back into the hands of us "little people" and out of the hands of big business.

What they're going to do about all the laws the Bush Administration broke and about the politicization of government pushed by Karl Rove and his ilk, whether they think we can have a government "of the people, by the people and for the people" again.

What are the limits of presidential power?

What's their opinion of International Law and International agreements? Do they think it was okay to trash the Kyoto Protocol and the Geneva Conventions?

What they're going to do about the rising income inequalities in America and all the issues that go with that, like access to health care.

What they're going to do to save our planet.

Umm, and what they think about burning the flag, wearing flag pins and holding your hand over your heart during the National Anthem - just kidding. We don't care at all about those things.

Seriously. What happened to journalism in America? It' pathetic.