While Sopranos and The Wire are in my top 3 Favorite Shows of All Time, the hands-down best is Six Feet Under.

6FU was the most creative, most original show ever to appear on the small screen (or even the silver screen) and deals with death, love and sex in ways that neither Sopranos or The Wire ever could. The character development was so complex and authentic that your affection and frustration with the characters flipped around half a dozen times over the life of the show.

The Wire wins, no contest.

Even when somebody DOES show up, the topic is not going to be how to stop the biggest engine of racial inequality in America today. That would be the one issue nobody is allowed to talk about in this campaign. The precious, beloved War on Drugs.

Actually they did talk about the War on Drugs, surprisingly, and they even talked about how it disproportinately affected poor black folks. Huckabee gave the most amazing answer (for a Republican)-- that our prisons are overcrowded with people with substance abuse problems who never should have been put in prison, they should be getting treatment for their addiction problems instead.(!) You could have knocked me over with a feather. Suddenly Republicans are sounding more and more like Democrats...at least on certain issues.

Although now that Alan Keyes has joined the fray the GOP debates should be much more interesting-- their only candidate who isn't a pasty white guy is a rightwing nutcase with strong Christo-fascist/theocratic tendancies. Keyes so believes in the importance of The Traditional American Family that he disowned his daughter when she came out as a lesbian.

Like an alarm that goes off every four years, the Theocratic Right threatens to vote with their feet if they are not appropriately appeased and pandered to by the GOP-- although most years it is a hollow challenge with a predictable outcome.

This time it *is* a little different because of the multitude of issues that Giuliani himself poses, although that doesn't mean the outcome isn't still predictable. They're simply going to make Giuliani really work for it, he needs to get down on his knees, bring them roses, and convince them he's One of Them.

The fact is that the Theocratic Right is not a true kingmaker-- otherwise they'd have gotten behind Huckabee or Brownback early on and successfully pushed him as a frontrunner. But all they can do is give a thumb's up or thumb's down at this point, huff and puff and pitch a fit and demand that Guiliani does more to prove his love.

I think where they might have erred is they should have done this in private, not quite so publicly, because now it's up to Giuliani to decide what to do...that is the unpredictable part. If the acquieces, he's screwed, if he doesn't, he's screwed.

Just yesterday on his radio show Sean Hannity was interviewing Dobson and Hannity said he'd have no trouble voting for Giuliani-- because to do anything different is a vote for Hillary. Dobson agreed. Hannity said that Guiliani is a lesser of two evils, that even with his pro-choice stance that his promise of anti-abortion judges is enough for him to be acceptable. Plus the lionization of Giuliani as a post-9/11 hero might be enough to cloud their judgement. Not to mention their fear and hatred of Hillary. I really don't think they'll stay home.

Also, just this week Pat Robertson has been making noises that Giuliani is acceptable. So the Theocratic Right itself might split over what to do.

Davis has been making the rounds and was on Terry Gross last week. Maybe it doesn't come across in print, but she's far from hysterical. Most of what she says is common sense if you set aside your emotions and approach it all rationally and calmly; she basically hints that there are some things we are doing now without thinking that have not been adequately studied-- like cell phone use.

I also don't think a very short article from Reason in 1996 where she says "it is important for people to "control [their] exposure to elements in the environment"" remotely proves that she's hysterical. If anything it proves that she's been thinking about this stuff for a while and might even be well-informed.

Essentially Davis is asking people to think before they voluntarily use strong chemicals in their houses to clean them, to maybe use an ear microphone instead of pressing a cell phone against their head, and so on.

The fact is that there are all kinds of families where children do and can thrive. The two-parent heterosexual family is in no way a guarentee of a happy, well-adjusted stable home. Single parents who choose to be single parents, who are emotionally and financially prepared to do so, do so for the same reasons that other people chose to have kids-- they're no more narcassistic or self-centered than anyone else. The same goes for other non-traditional family structures. Kids need love, they need to be wanted, they need lots of support and guidance.

Based on some of the comments of the people on this board one of the hardships they might face is encountering the unfounded opinions of know-it-all judgemental folks. Seriously, bug off. They're not your kids, they're not your responsibility, it's not your life. So bug off already. Get a hobby. Do something productive with your life other than sitting in narrow-minded judgement of people you don't even know.

Family-- and life-- is way more complicated than many of the folks around here seem to comprehend.