When I read Conley's original op-ed piece, this scene from Monty Python's Life of Brian immediately popped into my head. Conley's argument doesn't advance the one proposed by "Loretta" thousands of years ago.

FRANCIS: Why are you always on about women, Stan?

STAN: I want to be one.

REG: What?

STAN: I want to be a woman. From now on, I want you all to call me 'Loretta'.

REG: What?!

LORETTA: It's my right as a man.

JUDITH: Well, why do you want to be Loretta, Stan?

LORETTA: I want to have babies.

REG: You want to have babies?!

LORETTA: It's every man's right to have babies if he wants them.

REG: But... you can't have babies.

LORETTA: Don't you oppress me.

REG: I'm not oppressing you, Stan. You haven't got a womb! Where's the foetus going to gestate?! You going to keep it in a box?!

LORETTA: [crying]

JUDITH: Here! I-- I've got an idea. Suppose you agree that he can't actually have babies, not having a womb, which is nobody's fault, not even the Romans', but that he can have the right to have babies.

FRANCIS: Good idea, Judith. We shall fight the oppressors for your right to have babies, brother. Sister. Sorry.

REG: What's the point?

FRANCIS: What?

REG: What's the point of fighting for his right to have babies when he can't have babies?!

FRANCIS: It is symbolic of our struggle against oppression.

REG: Symbolic of his struggle against reality.

Tim writes: "Nearly 2,300 U.S. soldiers and maybe 10 times as many Iraqis have died in the war so far."

Actually, using the most conservative number of Iraqi civilian deaths caused by military action listed on Iraq Body Count (28,535), at least 12.5 times as many Iraqi civilians have been killed in this war versus U.S. forces. Estimates go up from there -- and of course many more deaths are the indirect, not direct result of our military actions. Bush himself estimated civilian deaths at around 30,000 months ago, and it has risen considerably since. Human Rights Watch put the number at 100,000 more than a year ago.

I'm a premium subscriber, and many of these video dog postings lack links. Should I assume these problems are related? How am I supposed to go on without seeing the world's nastiest super model or dumbest exhibitionist?

So is it your new business model not to allow premium subscribers to view videos hosted by Video Dog? Under the circumstances, watching an ad seems like a small price to pay. If you're trying to drive me away altogether, you're going about it just right. You might want to rethink this fab new approach.

I gamed the DISC test after learning that our division president thought only high D's like himself could be leaders. I didn't particularly want to be a leader -- not at that company, anyway -- but everyone told me it's impossible to fake out this test, because poof! It's magic! I like a challenge, and I've always been a good test-taker, so I quickly figured out which "shape" I should be seeking out on the answer key, and after that it was simplicity itself. I mean, come on! These tests aren't written by rocket surgeons! I snottily pointed out what I'd done on the last day of the three-day seminar, and everyone oohed and aahed: "Only a REALLY high D could have could have pulled off a stunt like that."

I agree with a psych professor I had at business school who said that these tests are flawed because, as social creatures, our personalities are in large part determined by our network of social interactions. Not many people act like extroverts in a roomful of disapproving, snooty strangers. I truly have no idea whether I'd be measured as an introvert or an extrovert, and I have no doubt my circle of acquaintence would have strong but contradictory opinions about me. But maybe I'm unusual. Other people seem to be very comfortable with the "in-" or "ex-" label...

This is really getting pretty annoying. I'm a premium subscriber, and I don't seem to be able to get any of your hosted videos. Are you ever going to fix this?

Wow, I think I know this guy. And I might be his Long-Lost Love. Yuck. Through my upper-lower-mid-twenties, I thought he was The One. I took him back way too many times, we finally broke up once and for all, I came to my senses, and he still comes sniffing around once in a while. I occasionally have actual no-foolin' nightmares about him. From the outside looking in, he would undoubtedly, in his Eurotrash way, be horrified at how my life without him has turned out, what with my messy house, three loud kids, gentle unglamorous American husband, second-hand car. He would absolutely refuse to believe that I'm happier now than ever before, and certainly happier than I ever was with him. Yuck.

I'd sure love to be able to see this. Am I the only one having this problem? If so, I'll shut up now.

Appointing a thug to piss all over the UN -- over the objections of those given the role of approving him -- is just another example of our President's contempt for those who play by the rules. It's not as bad as spying on political opponents and using lies to get us into a war of choice, but it's in the same category. Bush couldn't get his boy approved, so he said "Fuck you, I'm appointing him anyway." That's why I feel so strongly that we shouldn't give in now.