This obsession with what other people choose to wear is a lot like that other obsession with what people choose not to wear. To argue that women wearing veils are 'forced' to do so by an oppressive religion is as simplistic as saying that women in short skirts are forced by male lust to show some leg. In either case, 'choice' is a combination of personal comfort and social expectations. Britain's recent inclination to go the French way is a particularly disheartening revelation, not of some commendable sympathy for Muslim women but of the revival of a Thatcherite desire to put minorities in their place. Meanwhile, this link adds some welcome complexity to the issue: http://www.telegraphindia.com/1061012/asp/opinion/story_6857141.asp

As much as I support Gary Kamiya's idea, I can't help being a little cynical and bitter as well. (Sorry, Timbuktom.) This is because the apology to the Iraqi people will have to be followed by apologies to the Vietnamese, Cambodians, Laotians and Filipinos, not to mention a really big one to the Native Americans. And perhaps we should apologize in advance to the Iranians. Perhaps it would be better if we simply promised never to do it again and actually meant it, like the Japanese after WWII.

A renegade spy, involved in cloak-and-dagger affairs in his country of exile or adoption, has been bumped off. Should this be remotely surprising? Is it somehow unprecedented? Mr. Litvinenko was not a major political figure - he was simply a spy and a defector. He met a fate that spies and defectors must surely anticipate, and not just in Bond films and Le Carre novels. It baffles me that this so-called "story" has dominated the headlines in England (and now in America) for weeks. Why the hell should anybody give a damn?

What's shocking about that picture of the blonde posing with the Japanese skull is that it was NOT shocking at the time. It was not shocking not only because of deeply imbedded racial prejudices in white American society, but also because of the nature of the Pacific War. Collecting body parts - fingers, ears, penises, scalps, teeth - of dead (and sometimes wounded) Japanese soldiers was so common that the US government had to forbid the practice of GIs and Marines mailing these "souvenirs" home to America. This sort of souvenir-hunting did not begin in WWII: it began during the Indian wars of the American West, picked up momentum (and the word "gook") in the war to colonize the Philipines, accelerated through the Pacific War and Korea, and climaxed in Vietnam, with its necklaces of "gook ears" and fingers. One of the reasons that the Japanese on Iwo Jima and Okinawa fought so "fanatically" was the more or less reasonable fear that they would be tortured, mutilated or killed if captured alive. (To this list of anxieties, their own officers added "eaten," although it's not clear how seriously that was taken.)

By the way, Fussell's "Thank God for the Atom Bomb" is not among his more thoughtful work, nor is it remotely well-researched. It's rather unfortunate that Ms. Zacharek bases her historical perspective - and her review - primarily on this one text. The best history of the conduct of the Pacific War is John Dower's WAR WITHOUT MERCY, which is recognized by other historians as an outstanding piece of scholarship, and is eminently readable. Richard Drinnon's FACING WEST is another excellent read, which traces the culture (i.e., the combination of battlefield behavior and homefront attitudes) of America's wars in Asia. Abu Ghraib is, in a small way, the most recent resurrection of this culture.

Ah, Boney M... It's one of those early thrills that make you wince later, like groping your ugly cousin when you're twelve, horny and desperate. Growing up in a provincial town in India in the 70s and early 80s, my friends and I were starved for choices. There was one record store in town and the only "English" music they had was Boney M and Abba. Kids in the bigger cities had access to Pink Floyd and Deep Purple in second-hand record shops, but "Daddy Cool" was about as cool as we could be.

Then again, disco strikes a chord with a pretty broad segment of the Indian middle class, even in these days of the new economy when all music is instantly available and nobody NEEDS to listen to crap. There's something about kitsch - and disco is nothing but musical kitsch - that's very appealing to people who suddenly have the money to buy what they want, but can't be bothered to decipher REM lyrics.

I can't imagine that being fucked by a man would be much of a thrill for a horse.

She's a senator for New York - a generally liberal state which also happens to be strongly supportive of Israel. The war on Iraq was in 2003, and is today, recognized as favorable to Israeli interests - rightly or wrongly. HC has to find a way to please the anti-war crowd without alienating the Israel lobby. Hence the contortions. Barak Obama and John Edwards don't have to walk the same tightrope.

If returning to the gate to offload passengers is not practical, then how about the old stairway-and-bus method? After two hours on the tarmac (or three, as Barbara Boxer would have it), anybody who wants to get off the bloody thing should have the option of doing so safely and legally. And it needs to be the law. Taking your business elsewhere is not a solution when every airline is equally callous.

Where's Dan Savage when you need him? He would have told this mature and charming woman exactly what she can do with herself.