>I’m not sure the writer hasn’t done a disservice to families in Texas who are paying the price for the president’s war. What they’re enduring is what families all over America are enduring.<

1) Did they support Bush without question?

2) Will they folks vote Democrat in the next election?

2) Will they take a hard look at the next candidate who rolls up spouting "guns, God, and famblee" and playing to their prejudices to try to see if he can actually do the job?

If the answers to the above are yes, no, and no--well, actions have consequences. And they will let the same damm thing happen again, so they haven't learned a damm thing.

>Times are changing, though, and the disastrous Bush administration is only helping to catalyze that change. The real change is demographic in nature, and inexorable.<

But it's not just the voting that needs to change. It's the "guns, God, and famblee uber allies" mindset that needs to change down there--and it won't.

>Liberals would do well not to antagonize the place and some of

its more common-sense, leaning-only-slightly-to-the-right denizens. You may wake up one day to find you need them.<

1) Where were they when Bush got elected?

2) Please, for the love of God, spare us the "better make nice to these folks" concern-troll crap. They made a series of bad calls that destroyed any number of lives and screwed up this country badly. Now they have the nerve to not want to admit they fucked up, they want to wiggle out of any criticism for doing so--and blame liberals for calling them out on their mistakes. Sorry--part of living in this world as an adult means learning from your mistakes and stop trying to blame everyone else for them. When do these folks _ever_ grow up?

...when you live in a homogenous state where everyone thinks and acts like you--and most importantly looks like you. The real test of friendliness is if you can get along with different types of people out in the real world. And it's a sure bet that most Mormons' friendliness wouldn't last five minutes if they had to deal with one black person too many or a lesbian couple or... As well, there were a lot of friendly folks in Southern towns during the pre-Civil Rights Era. Friendly until something threatened their race-based power...

>Mormons get along with everybody as far as i can tell. They are nice friendly folks<

>But are you seriously trying to make the case that childless workers are all paragons of virtue and work ethic?<

Nobody said that. What some of us _did_ say is that childless workers are often taken for granted/treated as second-rate citizens because their time and lives aren't regarded as important by the childed. And I would bet this particular workplace problem is at its worst down South and out in the midwest, where being married-with-child is vital to fitting in.

>I'm still confused that this was her career day outfit. I guess she would stand out - in my day you got dressed up for such things.<

MIT Career Day is a way-different head than your standard college "dress up in suit" CD. You get jobs by demonstrating your electronic/computing/whatever skills to recruiters. And the latter know that they ain't exactly visting the Harvard Business School when they come in the first place...:)

>why aren't all these smart women-many now partners in law firms-circling the wagons around their sisters that need protection from this economic reality unchanged in 40 years?<

Probably because they decided to let smug "I'll have my mayn and baby to keep me safe and loved while you cold career women will have nothing" wifeys like yourself get hoist on your own petard. Or maybe they figured that since women like you swore up and down you were smart enough to make "choices," you were smart enough to know the consequences of said choices. What? You weren't? Too bad, so sad...

>My take, because these women in need of help aren't Faludi's sisters. They're just housewives.<

Oh, please. Such women saw their mothers and grandmothers go through this exact same mess--the reason why feminism came about. But did they learn from that? Hell, no--it was going to be "different" with them because they were going to do it "right." They were going to be uber-dedicated to kinder and kuche, and do anything it took to prove they weren't one of those "feminists" or "women who couldn't get a mayn." Well, babe--they--and you--reap what you sow. And those who refuse to learn from history get to suffer through it again. As Judge Judy would put it, life is tough, but it's especially tough if you are stupid.

1) Cary, you _really_ need to stop advising people to abide by the "peace at any price" rule--especially when those involved are dealing with rigid conservative folks. The kind of dissembling you are advocating here is not only dishonest, but fails to take in account how virulent and unreasonable fundamentalism of any kind is to deal with. Those folks never settle for half-measures--like Old Scratch himself, they want the whole deal and nothing less.

2) For this father to go against his beliefs would be lying to his daughter--a much worse sin than not going to church. (And it's a sure bet his ex-wife will smell a rat--and might tell his daughter the truth, which won't help the daughter/dad trust issue.) And, trust me, no matter how much he goes to church, that inch he gives won't be enough for his daughter (or the mother, who will most certainly hear about this from daughter and egg her on.)

3) I'll second Michael Huggins' last-paragraph advice--the father needs to make a stand for himself and his daughter. Showing her that the world is not black and white and that there is a middle ground is a good way to start allieviating her fears--and helping her find her own path.