If you don't want her to bounce them, tell her not to bounce them.

I agree that this probably doesn't damage the cats. I agree that the cats wouldn't put up with it if they didn't like it. But they are your cats. You don't have to put up with it if you don't want to.

A further issue, though, is how you approach the subject. If you are even slightly hesitant or defensive, your roommate is likely to argue or scoff and continue to do it despite your wishes. If you can't set the requirement without emotion or hesitation, you are better off just dropping the issue. Making a demand that ends up ignored, for whatever reason, will negatively affect your relationship in other areas as well.

Don't argue, don't justify, don't bargain, don't reason. Just say, "Don't bounce my cats." Don't tell her why, other than "I don't like it." She may call you unreasonable. So what.

Be calm, polite, firm, and dictatorial. If you can't do it that way, don't do it at all.

If there is anything that should be a last straw for Gonzales, it is an endorsement from Cheney. Let's start getting a jail cell ready for him, shall we?

I have no children.

I just broke up with a 40-year-old woman because she wanted to have a child. And I do not.

Should I therefore conclude that all women are selfish?

Wait till he hears about the '56 Giants, who went 8-3-1 and pounded the Chicago Bears 47-7 in the NFL Championship Game -- without Strahan even being alive!

ROFL!

Practice using the phone at home. Practice while you are in the same room. Practice while at opposite ends of the house. Practice with one of you on a land line. Practice!

And also, you have demonstrated that you hate to use cell phones. You are burdened by the misconception that cell phones will go away when they are "exposed for the blight they have become." This is not going to happen. Ever.

If you continue to think this, you will never relax while using a cell phone. Perhaps your wife is responding to the tension you radiate whenever either party is talking on a cell phone. Land lines are much more likely to go away than cell phones are. Until you can relax while talking on a cell phone, it is unreasonable to expect your wife to relax.

the Zonbu uses very little energy -- 131 killowat-hours per year compared to 1,534 killowat-hours per year for a standard PC, according to Zonbu. To put it another way, an ordinary PC uses energy equivalent to 107 gallons of gasoline a year, producing 2,071 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions. The Zonbu uses less than one gallon of gas and produces less than a pound of global-warming emissions.

1534 kilowatt-hours versus 131 kilowatt-hours, that is less than 12 times as much power. But the amount of gasoline needed to create that power is more than 100 times as much. Is there something exponential about the kilowatt-hour to gasoline ratio, or is there some kind of math error?

Have the courage to flame with your name, coward. Don't hide sniveling behind anonymous.

I wish I had been there when this exchange occurred:

Caller: "Remember when you played for the 49ers?"

Simpson: "Yeah."

Caller: "Yeah, did you kill Bill Walsh?"

That is one of the classic exchanges in the history of sports journalism. Is there some Prize the caller can win? I will chip in a few bucks. Let's make this happen!

Yes.

One of the underlying assumptions here is that people want to think about the news.

While there is a minority of the public who regularly think, I am afraid that most people do not. I am not saying they can't think, I am saying that they don't. There is little in our culture that requires thinking. It is quite possible to go through your entire existence letting others do your thinking for you.

We have it so easy here in the US. Fake your way through school, fake your way through college (or not), then fake your way through your working years. You will get your car, your home, your refrigerator, your air conditioner, and most especially your TV. Someone will tell you what to believe, tell you what to buy, tell you how to vote. No thinking ever required.

And here we have a segment of the minority, those who actually think occasionally, discussing whether the media should target thinkers with news programming. If you want a niche market, that is the way to go. But if you want obscene unearned wealth and power, you supply predigested pap and distraction.

The current state of the media is a symptom of our cultural illness. And as anyone who thinks should know, merely treating the symptoms does not make the disease go away.

We need to change the discussion. We need to find a way to make the public demand real news. Talking about getting the media to fix itself is not going to lead to a solution.

What is to keep them from postponing the election next year, or postponing the inauguration in '09? This is just horrific. I am as scared now as I have been.

The only way to make Democratic politicians look good is to compare them to Republican politicians. Seen on their own, they are short-sighted, cowardly, and stupid.

We are soooooo screwed.