I can only speak for myself.

I played "take away" with my lousy subscription because Salon was no longer worth paying for. I had already let my subscription lapse before Paglia made her return. After her return, I am even less likely to re-subscribe.

I don't know what you mean when you say "play the game to the best of your ability." Every month, letter-writer after letter-writer posts proof of Paglia's factual errors, inconsistencies, hypocrisies, self-aggrandizement, and navel-gazing. Yet every month she returns. It seems to me that merely pointing out the reasons I don't want to read Paglia is not enough. What then is left, besides voting with my money?

Would you stop patronizing a restaurant that insisted upon charging you for a dish that you do not want, do not order, and is so poorly prepared as to be inedible? Or would you keep coming back, go ahead and pay, and eat it anyway, because that means "playing the game to the best of your ability?"

It is not well-researched and well-argued opinions that are the issue here. It is incoherence, ineptitude, incorrectness and irrelevance that are the issue. I don't want to read this drivel. I am certainly not going to pay for it.

If that makes me "childish" then so be it.

Are we saying that "winning" means a pro-US government in Baghdad? Is that possible? Can we make it happen with our military?

Are we saying that "winning" means no more terrorists ever? Or no more Islamic terrorists ever?

I don't see how we can "win" this "war" until we have a clear idea of what "winning" means, and a clear idea of how to achieve it. Absent such clarity, how can we do anything but lose?

I am not being snarky. At this point I don't see any outcome that isn't a disaster for the US.

Yes, leaving now would be bad. But how is staying any better?

I count winning meaning that we help the good people against the bad ones

Oh, that clarifies it.

P.S. An ellipsis is three dots. Just three. Not more than three. Exactly three.

First, I found this to be the worst Bateman cartoon so far. A stroke usually means that part of your brain has died. People who have had strokes often make non sequitur comments. So this was not funny, or poignant, or clever, or insightful. Whatever.

Second, Rob Anderson can be annoying. He can be very annoying. But he can also be funny, clever, and insightful. Kind of like everyone else.

Third, Rob Anderson does not hide behind Anonymous. There are several reasons to hide behind anonymous. Few of them are good reasons in a forum where your handle can be made up anyway. That you would hide behind anonymous to flame someone smacks of rank cowardice.

Please, if you are going to flame someone, have the courage to at least use your Salon Letters handle. Otherwise, really, just shut up.

From the Heinlein novel Stranger in a Strange Land. I can only assume you haven't read the book, since you misspelled the word.

As your penance, you are hereby assigned to read the book. It will not be a punishment.

The time has come to stop responding to RealName. If the best he can do is accuse those who disagree with him as only disagreeing because they have been smoking marijuana, is he really worth the time and effort to refute? It seems to me that reaction is his sole motive. So, the best way to punish him is to stop reacting.

The restaurant owner just got a bunch of free publicity. Don't you think that's the thing he cares about most?

Are there people out there who hate Bonds simply because of his race? Of course.

Are there people out there who tell themselves that it is about steroids, when for them it is actually about race? Probably.

Is race the primary reason for people wanting Aaron to keep the record? I doubt it.

Yes, I am white. And yes, I don't want Bonds to break the record. Does Bonds' race have anything to do with that? I truly believe it does not. Hank Aaron is the same race as Bonds, and I remember being thrilled when Aaron broke Ruth's record. I certainly honor Aaron now.

Bonds is a known cheater. Someone wrote that Bonds was not a proven cheater. He admitted it. He also claimed that he didn't know what it was when he took it, but that is laughable.

Bonds will break the record because he used steroids. He will not break the record because he is black. I think Aaron's reaction tells you all you need to know about that.

Garry Owen states:

The word is an anachronistic grotesque that is used in everyday speech by fewer and fewer people each year.

That is not my experience. I have seen more and more high school students using the term every year. Including the young man who said, "It just means 'person' to me."

I wish it were true that it was being used by fewer and fewer people each year.

I don't care how much the WSJ deserves to be taken over based on its past support of takeovers. Rupert Murdoch has thoroughly demonstrated, through Fox News, that he has no interest whatsoever in objectivity or reality.

If you think the WSJ is bad now, wait until Murdoch Foxifies it.