Chill.

Linney is some trolling dude trying to be sarcastic.

Parson Jim just seems a bit angry today, he's usually a lot better than this.

Salon already knows the registration info of everyone who posts as anon. If that person is a problem, deal with 'em. They can be anon to the thread, but not to salon's IT dept.

So, link a person's anon postings to their rego (but don't display 'em as "other letters").

Anonymity can be a great force for good as well as for evil. I've noticed some very good anon content and would hate to lose it.

Can we have a contest to decide which is worst? I particularly hate what cartoon network does. They will obscure easily one third of the screen with graphics during a show. It makes cutting the scenes and squishing the picture seem benign.

community voting is a great way to quell dissent and allow salon to become merely a lefty echo chamber. That would be borish.

Why determine that the results will equate post abortion depression (PAD) and PPD before the study even happens? Julia has determined that outcome instead of waiting for the results. It seems that the argument is that PAD must be ignored or trivialized without study because ... ummm ... it interferes with a womans rights? !?? Or is it just because a republican and/or a man got the PAD part added?

Perhaps the results will discover something new. Maybe there's a common hormonal cause. Maybe PDD is an advanced stage of PAD. Maybe the results will show that PAD occurs when an abortion triggers another form of depression.

Admittedly, in these days of politicized scientific reporting, the result could be improperly biased toward a desired result. Perhaps the point of Julia's argument is that it would be the wrong bias instead of her preferred bias.

Should the study be cancelled because it doesn't presuppose the correct outcome?

They should've asked colbert.

One of you sarcastically asks:

what's the harm of more information???

I wish more folks had honestly asked that before the iraq adventure.

Getting the information and presenting the information are two different things. For example, abstinence (including oral, anal ...) does prevent spreading STDs. That is information. Claiming abstinence is the only reasonable solution is a presentation. A very stupid presentation.

Information enlightens. Presentations, not so much. Should we dispense with AIDS testing because the resulting information is so damn harsh? Because it might be presented unkindly? Because it might lead to discrimination?

The other anonymous says "follow the funding". Yeah, federal funding will skew the data less than funding from NOW. Sure. I will, however, back you up on your conclusion. Why waste our money on a study when either the fundies or the abortionists will reject the results out of hand.

Many people incorrectly think

It's vastly more important that a Democrat win in 2008 when it is more important that the power of congress and respect of the constitution are restored. Further down the list is getting the best person elected - either dem, GOP, or independent.. Having bush in place doesn't matter because no one is running against the man but many are running against his legacy.

No, impeach the bastards now. Let future presidents know that it can and will happen. Restore congress to the position of making laws that the president obeys and enforces. Those are more important than who gets the oval office next. The way things are going, we'll get another proto-dictator. Perhaps even hilary.

No math isn't sexy. Women that understand math, however, have a sexy facet that others lack. It's about the way people think. For example, when studying a language you eventually understand ideas that can only be expressed in that language The attic greek word kalistos is my favorite example. Additional languages lead to additional ideas and levels of understanding.

Similarly, people that understand mathematical logic have additional strata of ideas and expression.

In my research engineer decades, I dated/befriended/loved a few women who operate at a PhD level in physics, engineering, chemistry, and biochemistry. A pretty face wears thin without a brain behind it. A less pretty face gets fascinating when an inner light shines through. It reminds me of that bit about cleopatra:

Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale

Her infinite variety; other women cloy

The appetites they feed; but she makes hungry

Where most she satisfies: for vilest things

Become themselves in her, that the holy priests

Bless her when she is riggish

The dems passed the latest spying bill because they approve it, not because they fear bush. Under bush, the mantra is to fear terrorists and islamo-fascists. Under the dems, the mantra will be to fear the pedophiles, hate speakers, right wing militias, and fornicators.

Either way, the message is the same:

Get your fear on!

But don't worry. The government is here to help, you shouldn't worry if you've nothing to hide, and you weren't using those civil rights anyway.

I suspect that his company's faltering stock price is as unwelcome to him as it is to China.

I disagree. An IPO is the mechanism by which the earlier investors cash out and (hopefully) realize their profit. Also, Blackstone is a bunch of finance dudes who profit from buying and selling but not from creating. They priced the IPO to extract maximum cash from the market. If the price had gone UP, they would have been upset because it means they left cash on the table.

Sure, the value of their remaining stock has dropped, but that is paper - not cash. Finance guys are critically aware of the difference between billionaire and paper billionaire.