Anyone who has the money can legally own a car. Cars kill orders of magnitude more people than dogs ever do. A poorly operated car can kill several people at one time. Almost all traffic fatalities are caused by improper operation.

Anyone who has sex can create a new person. Humans kill orders of magnitude more people than dogs ever do. A poorly raised person can cause, either directly or indirectly, many many deaths.

We just accept the deaths and injuries caused by cars and other people. We try to legislate in such a way to minimize the damage. But we accept the fact that there will be a certain level of mortality that results from cars and sex.

Yes, "pit bulls" are more potentially dangerous than almost all other dogs. There are numerous reasons for this. Dogs with responsible owners are much less likely to attack other dogs or humans.

My personal experience with the breeds of dogs known as pit bulls has been extremely positive. They are generally sweet ,kind, fun, happy dogs. But I will never own one. I have no desire to take on the responsibility of being in control of such a powerful animal.

I drive a car because it would be very difficult to exist in modern culture without one. Not impossible, but more difficult than I want to deal with.

I will never father a child. I don't want the responsibility. I am far too selfish. I don't want to spend the money child-rearing requires.

We are never going to legislate perfect safety. It may be necessary to highly regulate pet ownership. But what is important is to keep this all in perspective. Singling out a certain type of dog, without addressing the issues behind the perceived benefit is unfair and short-sighted. It also isnever going to work.

Do you really think Michael Vick will do hard time? No matter where he is incarcerated, he will still be a famous millionaire athlete. Unless he ends up in some all-white Aryan Nation prison, he will be the king of the cell block.

The definition of "hot" is very different for "reporters,"

or

These are very bad pictures.

The guy just looks scruffy. With that kind of beard and those glasses, all you can see is a beard and glasses. The woman is not unattractive in the picture, but she is far short of "hot."

I guess there is another possibility: DC "reporters" are an unattractive bunch, and these two are just the best of slim pickings. But that is not how they are described.

breschau clearly demonstrated how to get an Editor's Choice star from Manjoo: Kiss up to him.

Yes, the point was that the "poll" was gimmicked. We noticed that. But we also noticed how Manjoo called two very plain looking "reporters" hot. We felt that his extended fawning over their very run-of-the-mill looks was an apt point to reflect upon, since this article was so pointless.

But I bet you are way proud of your star!

I think they are knowingly and willfully lying. I think they know what the truth is, but they hope that if they lie enough they will be able to convince a few people to swallow their lies.

I'm always amazed at the weird level of vitriol directed at Farhad Manjoo on these comment boards

Perhaps the reason Manjoo engenders so much vitriol is because he is such a bad journalist. His Machinist blog isn't as bad as his political reporting was before they reassigned him, but this piece is really weak.

He totally lost all credibility discussing rigged elections when he rejected well-supported claims that the vote count in Ohio was questionable in the 2004 presidential election. Not only that, he spent far too many words of this posting discussing how attractive these two plain "reporters" are.

He should have lost his job several years ago. He just isn't very good at it. It shouldn't surprise anyone that his writing constantly spurs people to complain about its quality.

It's Haley Barbour's man or the terrorists have won!

Two of the most important people in my life, a couple who are the closest to my parents besides my parents, proudly display a picture of George and Laura in their den. Their son, who is my best friend, holds the same feelings of distaste that I have for all things Republican.

The way we handle it is we never discuss it. I never bring it up. When they have brought it up, I have simply countered whatever they say. They no longer bring it up.

My relationship with them has nothing to do with politics. We agreed to disagree long ago, and we never let it get in the way of our relationship.