My earliest memory is of watching the home birth of my sister, when I was all of 3.5 years old. I was also present (and acting as an amateur doula, wiping my mother's forehead and, in one instance, clamping the newborn's cord)for my two brothers' births, when I was 8 and 10. Watching the births of my siblings were some of the best times of my life- and yeah, I do think it's helped me feel closer to them. I wasn't traumatized, and it's made me feel more comfortable with the idea of myself giving birth, if I ever decide to create some spawn of my own.

Obviously, the LW has a different situation on her hands than my parents did with me- I think all parties involved, ESPECIALLY the stepmother and daughter, have to be comfortable with the situation to make it work. Assuming a 14-year-old can't handle birth, though, is pretty lame.

You really don't want us fans of the "battle ax" to vote for your guy in the general, do you?

I think reassuring ourselves by the vast disparity between the devastation of the heart of the Depression and current times is misleading. Things weren't so bad in 1929, either- nonetheless, that is when the trouble started. I draw a lot more parallels between 1929 and 2008 than I would like. And I'm really not looking forward to 2012.

I also agree with the LW who talked about the lack of physical capital- oil, clean air, healthy oceans -we have now, as compared to the 1930s. I really don't think we can overstate the importance of this, and how it might affect the economy, along with- well, everything else. We can't fall back on plentiful oil any longer, and a fucked-up environment is going to leave us all the more screwed.

As for those who think we should all just stop whinging, get to work and stop depending on the government- fine, but bear in mind that if you're not living off-grid growing all your own food, you've got some dependency issues of your own. No matter how much money you're making, you're still going to starve if the trucks stop running due to lack of oil. To think you're independent because you make enough money to pay someone else to grow your food, is delusional.

A modern Depression wouldn't be your grandparents' Depression for the problem of resource depletion alone. I don't think you can overestimate how important cheap, available oil is to the economy. Natural Gas (which is in worse shape than oil) is another huge problem (as much for its use in agriculture as for people's dependence on it for heat).

I don't know how bad the economy will get. It could bounce back, conceivably, riding some new wave of consumer confidence. I think blind faith that it will always come around is misplaced, however.

I realized Obama worship had jumped the shark when I saw someone in a t-shirt yesterday that had Obama's face on it. This wasn't a caricature face, or even a realistic, straight-up portrayal: his features were just sort of floating there, earless, like the face in a cloud. Um, yeah.

I don't wonder what will happen if Obama loses. I think it's a lot more likely that he'll win, which leads me to wonder what will happen to all his young devotees when he proves not to be some wondrous face in a cloud but a real President, who has to compromise and get ground down by the job like any other real President.

As to the sexism against Hillary: what's the point of even mentioning it? You'll just get pelted by cries of I'll-vote-for-a-woman-just-not-this-woman/I-don't-hate-her-because...." Personally, I think sexism is as engrained in people's brains as the urge to keep breathing. Hillary, of course, is not a good test case for the will we elect a woman? test case because of the very real, gender-neutral baggage she carries, but I think I'll wait 'til this country actually does elect a female President before I decide we're the kind of country that elects a female President. Until then, I'm holding onto my cynicism with both hands.

EXACTLY. As canaldoc said, the fact we've had nothing but male Presidents proves the fact people are averse to the idea of a female President. How can anyone see it otherwise? The fact that we can elect a douchebag like W, but can't elect a single female President, is just mind-boggling to me (of course, there were loads of men more qualified to be President than him, too)- how can anyone explain that away (anyone care to)? Maybe it's because we're such a militaristic country, and in our reptilian brains we think leading such a country is a job only a man can do. Whatever the reason, my gut feeling is women will always come up just short, and will never be President.

I agree this campaign just needs to be over. I mean, this bitterness is brutal and toxic. Above all else, we need to be grown-ups, and not give McCain our votes out of resentment. I do have one request of people, however: stop telling me we'll "inevitably" or "soon" or "some day" have a female President. There's no way you can know that.