I was able to have both of my daughters in a hospital that fostered a home-like environment, and had dedicated nurses who rarely left the room and who catered to my every whim. I felt like a queen both times, and my children didn't seem any worse for having been born to a mother with pain medication. Power to you if you want to have an at home birth, or a natural birth, but for God's sake don't go through all of that pain to satisfy someone who isn't going to feel it for you.

That those "woman" jobs being insourced would have primarily been the job of another woman, who is now out of work. I know it's not the point, but it's a point nonetheless.

Real is sexy.

The implication that women should have perfect bodies did me in. My sex drive was intense until I had children and started looking like a deflated balloon. I can't fix the way I look, I don't look like the sexy ideal, and I have a hard time focusing on sex when I am worried about how I look. I could have gotten past it, except my erstwhile husband was an avid reader of Maxim, had a porn site subscription or six, and felt it necessary to point out new and interesting body changes that were outside of my control. We got a divorce; he can have sex when he wants, and I have more time for good books and can be naked without worrying about stretchmarks. Sex with another person is not the central point of my life. I miss it less than you might imagine--and the sexual urges I can handle on my own have not diminished at all.

The moving bookshelf got me, too. Plus, once moving, the face did not much look like Plath.

I will be waiting to see how it is received.

The cutters are a gag gift. I found them on stupid.com, if that is any indication.

As a woman who has personally made and eaten catsh*t cookies, this doesn't have much of an effect on me.

That didn't take long. I thought the dress looked great and moved on without thinking about the long-term political effects the fabric she was wearing would have on the world.

And I doubt she dressed her children--there's bound to be a staffer for that now.

There's something distinctly anti-feminist about assuming that a woman's ability to experience sexual pleasure is dependent on having the right man or the right vibrator. I could have someone tinkering away down there for hours on some days and have nothing happen because my head isn't in the right place. It is a tremendous oversimplification of women to think that there are only a couple of easy fixes to a woman's sexual dilemma.

John McCain's concession was moving. People celebrating--quite civilly!--in the streets gave me goosebumps. And every time Barack Obama said, "Yes we can," I said it too, alone in my living room, lump in my throat. I hope the momentum keeps going.

The video bothered me a little, because some sites are holding it up as "proof" of Barack Obama's universal popularity, when in reality it is just a bunch of little kids who like saying "Obama" because they've just learned to talk and it's a cool word.

I told my kids that if they like a candidate, that is their prerogative. At 13 and 6, their understanding of the issues is limited, but they are probably better informed than many voting adults. Though I am an Obama supporter, they go back and forth between the candidates, sometimes calling me out when I'm being hard on John McCain.

The unfortunate thing is that while I am trying to be open-minded in my home, other people are not. When either of my children has defended or supported Obama in certain situations at church or school, they have been loudly and rudely shot down not only by other children but by adults who, as they say, should know better. Then I have to tend to their egos and help them understand both sides of an issue in a way that doesn't favor one over the other.

I've felt, from the moment Sarah Palin was chosen, that it was for superficial reasons instead of policy or experience. She is not a running mate; she is a prop. That is why her media appearances are few and far between. That is why her personal life has been treated as "off limits" by the McCain campaign. And that is why they had to package her in clothes that cost more than I make in three years.

You'd think that a campaign that can spend $150K on clothes for a Vice Presidential candidate and their family could spring for a $30 box of White Strips. Seriously, that creepy yellow grin has probably cost McCain at least two points in the polls.

It is not Palin's happiness, success or attractiveness that makes us crazy. It is the idea that she and McCain might impose policies on our lives that take away OUR chances at happiness (no gay marriage) and success (no equal pay for equal work). And, under McCain's "health" plan, I could feasibly lose my own lovely glow due to a pre-existing condition and lack of health insurance, thus diminishing my attractiveness--but I'm not as concerned about that.

"I'll let you decide for yourself whether this is sexist, clever pop commentary or simply one Sarah Palin parody too many."

It not just one of those options; it is all three.

What are the qualifiers of being anti-American? Sometimes, exercising your freedom to oppose the current authority is one of the most American actions you can take. Being an American is defined by the freedoms we have. It's a lot more than just being white, wealthy and waving the US flag on major holidays.