I can't believe I just read through that whole mess. I guess I did it because I was hoping that Rose would have something redemptive to share by the time it was over. But nope, nothing redemptive and I find myself sitting here kind of bummed out and thinking, "Wow, how sad for those little boys."

After watching lots of dads of all ages playing with their kids on the beach yesterday and being really moved by what I saw, I commented to my friend that dads these days seem to be a lot more involved with parenting than in years past. I'm thinking that Salon's editors could have found something more appropriate to the holiday than this cynical mess of an essay because there are a lot of gifted writers out here sharing a lot of really interesting stories about their relationships with their dads.

Rose's essay wasn't interesting, much less uplifting and it seems like a very poor choice for a holiday that's supposed to honor fathers. Perhaps it could be replaced with something more appropriate before the end of the day?

The best show ever on TV, cable or otherwise, was Six Feet Under.

Be gracious and admit defeat.

OK JayV, your post is a work of art. (scroll down aways) I'm sitting here laughing, giggling and thinking, wow, somebody is more opinionated than I am; a difficult thing to match, let alone best.

I ssuck cock by choice and I think your reference to that, as a put-down, is classic and ssublimely telling. Instead of taking offense, I take delight. Those who don't do it couldn't even begin to imagine what they're missing.

Thank you!

Knox Bronson's letter made me laugh - not coffee spewed on the monitor laugh but kind of an amused grin to myself kind of a laugh. He was responding to another article when he said the reason we have such a problem with sodomy is because it's gross. I wish grand generalizationists like Knox would speak for themselves when they say stuff like that. I happen to love buttsex and most of the guys I've had it with seem to like it a lot too. But you know what's really funny? It's not us gay guys talking about it all the time now, it's the straight guys yammering on incessantly about it. We're doing and they're analyzing it. I think you straight guys just need to get on with doing it and stop talking about it so much because doing it is a lot more fun than talking about it.

As to the current article being talked about, Hard Drive, I kept thinking through the whole thing that the reason why I have sex now and had lots of sex with women back before I got turned into a homosexual (by going to the ballet too much) was because of the orgasm. It surely wasn't some great intellectual endeavor. I just wanted those orgasms and over the years have done amazingly stupid, risky, strange, wonderful, exciting things to get them; including but not limited to having sex with *gasp* women.

Do we accomplish much by dissecting it down any further than the orgasm?

As parents we can't always make perfect choices for everyone involved in our lives, including our kids. I don't think Ann is a jerk for having brought Gisele into the kid's lives so quickly - under the circumstances she did in the moment what she felt was a good thing to do. Hindsight is 20/20. It's easy to get seduced by a helping hand when we're overwhelmed and lonely.

Even though I don't think she made a very wise choice I can see why Ann chose the way she did; it's tough being alone with kids depending on you night & day. Gisele helped take the edge off. I've made worse mistakes and raised an extraordinarily well-adjusted daughter anyway. I think Ann's kids are gonna be fine.

This didn't feel like a lesbian story to me at all. It just felt like a story about a woman who is learning some tough lessons in life. Hey, at least Ann's willing to look at her life and share some of what she's learning there. I'd love to see some of her critics here go public with their stories and see how quickly we get to the screw-ups. Pull back the curtains a little on anybody's life and you're going to find some shit.

Under the circumstances I probably would have made worse choices than Ann did, so she gets a pass from me because I'm in no position to be throwing the first stone. Thanks for sharing Ann. There's always something to learn from everyone's story.

Thanks for the candor Tracy. There is often criticism directed towards those of us who offer up what some perceive as too much information about our sex lives and attitudes. I like to think of sex as having a sacred quality to it at some level, but I sure don't like the idea that it has to be secret to satisfy religious prudishness.

You're close to my daughter's age and I'm somewhat familiar with a lot of the attitudes you talked about because my daughter and I are good friends and we talk about sex comfortably and easily. I like what I see happening with you guys, I really do. It seems healthier on the whole than a lot of the supressive attitudes of older generations. Calling the shots according to your own internal dictates and doing so unapologetically seems like a significant step forward.

As a guy I've never considered myself a true feminist but I love the word choice. Thanks again for the great article and insight.

After reading what Paglia wrote about Palin it became clear to me that I'm done reading anything Paglia might ever have to say again. About anything.