I'm just old enough to remember seeing the last year or two of Bloom County in the paper. I remember Opus's iconic presence on various items, and, at some point a few years after the strip's demise, I bought (or asked my parents to buy) Tales Too Ticklish to Tell. After that I became a big fan, and I gradually got every book except for Toons for our Times, most of which is contained within Bloom County Babylon.

The upshot of all of this is that I read lots and lots of Bloom County, and while many of the political and cultural references sailed over my head, I absorbed quite a bit. Fast forward to my sophomore year of high school, in 1997-1998. I was on the Academic Octathlon team, and the "wild card" event had to do with the 1980s. I completely and totally dominated. I knew almost everything, and won a gold medal.

It's sort of a cliche to mope about how bad change is, and it's a shame to see Breathed do it himself. I see plenty of 11-year old girls who still dress like children... not that he doesn't make some good points.

No, AKA Smith, religion always screws people up. It poisons everything.

I've always thought I would go to my reunions, at least since I saw "Grosse Pointe Blank" and started thinking about it. I graduated in 2000, so my 10th is coming up.

I never moved, so I knew some of the same people from age 5 to age 18. I think I'll always be curious to see how people change, and to see what they become. Like others, I feel like, in principle, I'll get a little thrill out of showing certain people I'm doing OK after all. Similarly, I was very eccentric growing up and I didn't quite know how to deal with it. I behaved bizarrely/terribly to some people, and, again in principle, I would like to make amends.

I guess it's just because I'm a late bloomer, but my "story," such as it is, follows a slightly different trajectory from most of those mentioned here: Even when I felt terrible growing up (which, towards the end, was often,) I felt really alive. Life was interesting, life was happening, life was dramatic, we were all going places, our lives had so much promise... My senior year changed my life in profound ways, and I thought I'd go to college ready to make a wonderful start and have a wonderful time. Enter several years of endless frustration and, at times, frightening depression.

There might not be anyone from college with whom I'd like to speak. In contrast, I'm fascinated by the ongoing stories of my peers from childhood. One woman in particular, as recently as last summer, seemed to have fulfilled her wish to completely and totally sever her ties with high school... and yet now, her Facebook page contains a link to our reunion.

I guess I don't understand the trendy cynicism. If you hated high school, don't you want to return as a conquering hero? Aren't you curious?

The title of the article is an attention-grabber. The article itself is not really about emigration. Many people here don't seem to notice this, on all sides.

To the Obama haters: Brace yourselves, this might make your heads explode... He is not a leftist. He does not oppose American imperialism. His presidency will mean more predatory capitalism and endless war. He, and the rest of the establishment Democrats, are far to the right of any objective political center. They'd certainly be on the right in any Scandinavian country.

Scandinavia is so often held up as a model because it reflects what people somewhere on the Left want: health and safety, fairness, peace, and basically all of the things this article mentions. That leads to a question I have for all the haters on this message board: Do you know the objective facts about the Scandinavian countries? Do you understand that the US falls behind in so many desirable categories?

If I desire conditions like that, I shouldn't have to run away to find them. I want the whole world to be *something* like Scandinavia. Why would you not like this? Why does it scare and offend you?

It often seems to me that much of the Middle East is something like a US-Conservative dreamland. Women are repressed, religion is pushed down everybody's throats, deviance from social norms is brutally punished, dissent is treason, science is repressed, all actual labor is done by exploited immigrants, venal, corrupt elite families hold and keep all the wealth, et cetera.

So, here's your choice: Sweden/Norway/Finland/Denmark/Iceland versus Saudi Arabia/Kuwait/Iran/Oman/UAE/. This, incidentally, is the reason why the reddest states are also the most backward. Alabama's own governor mentioned a few years ago that his state ranked last in everything good and first in everything bad. Do you ever wonder why?

When I first saw the poster for this movie, I hoped it was some kind of documentary about JCVD. I'm glad all of his bizarre aphorisms are now back on Wikiquote:

http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jean-Claude_Van_Damme

"If you work with a jackhammer during an earthquake, stop, otherwise you are working for nothing."

They get better. Check the link. You will probably laugh out loud.

In 2000, Californians banned gay marriage with 61% of the vote. That law was found unconstitutional, but then the referendum (Prop 8) passed in 2008 with 52% of the vote. That was only after a multi-million dollar campaign, often featuring outright lies, funded by the magical-underpants Mormons.

Next time, gay marriage will pass in California. Follow the numbers and the demographics.

1. The religious types who oppose abortion believe in a "heaven," which is perfect and eternal.

2. They believe that the "souls" of aborted fetuses go to this "heaven."

3. Actions during one's lifetime can jeopardize one's afterlife destination.

So what's their objection to a guaranteed, and quick, trip to perfection in perpetuity?