Cheap or free, culturally celebrated, accepted as reality. Birth control. Condoms are cool. Even for johns. Birth control. Otherwise, it's all just "blah blah blah hypocrisy" out of TN.

I don't understand why you can't talk about this with your friends. I could see why he'd be embarrassed (although he doesn't seem to be), but this has nothing to do with you! I hope you feel that you have a support system aside from this guy, because whether he treats you with affection or not, we all need more than one person.

...before I knew much about her at all. But then again, I have two types of women, and one of them looks just like Maddow.

"World ending. Women and minorities hardest hit."

If Roland Burris is dirty, he's no more so than the average politician. I doubt he's blago-level dirty. I was over him before this, but whatever, stop giving him a microphone.

Marilyn Monroe was a today size 10 like I'm a 1950s size 4--i.e. nowhere close. It's fine to embrace a wider range of sexy, but let's hold on to reality a little.

Or am I supposed to feel sorry for him?

"It's very hard to find any virtuous attribute of the contemporary Republican Party, but one thing that can be said for them is that -- unlike Democrats, whose overarching desire in life is to please the needy harmony fetishists by adopting as many GOP views as possible -- Republicans are willing to incur criticisms by opposing what they oppose and supporting what they support."

god, exactly.

And most of the people in prison for non-violent drug crimes are men.

It's worse because one or two of them are in my family. They are truly bad people. They are *profoundly* un-Christian. I don't want to share a country with them anymore. But I want THEM to leave.

Since her religious beliefs are most likely behind this criminal act. I am somewhat heartened by the almost universal outrage I see here.

or the line between legal and illegal is meaningful.

You've drawn a line that would exclude some illegal drugs.

Whining about how spoiled Americans are is a tired cliche, equal to the worst of the addiction/recovery language. Most drugs of abuse do not have long-term effects in the body--the brain is different--so when we talk about addiction for, say, heroin, it must encompass more than the short-term effects of withdrawal. Longer-term effects in the brain are not necessarily related to the drug per se, but to cravings and reward. Behaviors are also capable of causing these changes. So why can't a behavior be "addictive"? As we currently define addiction, even for substances, behaviors CAN be addictive. Say what you want about the concept of addiction in general, but there's no reason to exclude behaviors.

She's 29 years old and obviously has hit pay dirt with a man so wealthy and spoiled he has apparently outsourced the raising of his daughter. This is after she was abandoned in another country by her mentally ill mother, mind you. If that's not a mandate for actual parenting, I don't know what is. This father is a perfect match for the LW, sounds like--neither one wants a child, and both enjoy the good life.

Cary's advice is right on, of course--it just doesn't seem likely anyone's going to follow it.

my sympathies lie most with the miserable philosophy student turned "handyman" (and what's wrong with that?). Graduate students are miserable and doubting for a reason--it's a fairly miserable profession.

Kate Winslet hardly needs my help, being the best actress living as well as maybe of all time, but she has been out there being better than everyone else since her teens. Her acknowledged role as most best while being least rewarded was the joke in the first episode of genius Ricky Gervais' show Extras.

He sure is something. I'm leaning toward classic narcissist.

I appreciate your thoughtful response. I do often find you grouchy, however. Perhaps you don't intend it.

For people who hate to cook or indulge in their children's pickiness, then true, it is more difficult to get them to swallow the idea of cooking. But Pollan and people like him are not vegetarians, and I've read scores of recipes that involve meat and are meant to be easy. I was giving lentil-type examples because it's what I know, but can't the weekend meal for several be a bowl of meaty chili? And forget organic--you're right, it's too expensive by far for most of the population. Something you make from scratch from normal (not "artisinal") ingredients is still going to be healthier and probably cheaper than take-out.

Cleaning dishes, by the way, is really no big deal. People with a pathological aversion to doing it should be checked out.