Is he trying to set some kind of record for the number of times he can use the words "left" and "leftist" in a sentence? Seriously, haven't these people noticed yet that the word "leftist" doesn't have the scare factor it did 25 years ago? Just one more way in which they show how out of touch they are.

"...that all checks be signed by two RNC officers; that party staff be prohibited from signing on behalf of an officer;...."

Does this mean that every time the office manager wants to buy supplies or pay the phone bill the check has to be signed by TWO RNC officers? I thought they were for less bureaucracy and more individual responsibility. I guess in this instance, as it always seems to be with the GOP, it's a case of "do as I say, not as I do."

On the bright side, if they have two officers weighed down by day-to-day minutia, that should make them even more ineffectual than they already are.

You said it. If I were serious about moving my life in a more spiritual -- nevermind contemplative -- direction, the first person I'd ask about it wouldn't be an advice columnist.

This person sounds like he wants to "check out" from the world and has grasped on the idea of a contemplative life as a way to legitimize what he wants to do.

Fortunately, Cary very gently called him on his bullshit.

I agree that it's being jammed in with a bunch of people that's the real health hazard. If, as was stated above, the radius of disease transmission is 6 feet, then the estimate of exposure to 4-6 people is a gross underestimate.

Let's say you're sitting in the aisle seat of a plane with three seats on either side of the aisle. You are within six feet of the two people next to you, the three people in front of you, the three people behind you, at least two of the people directly across the aisle from you, and at least one of the people sitting diagonally across the aisle from you. That's 12 people, not 6! (and that's a conservative estimate --I wouldn't be surprised if you were within 6 feet of the people two rows behind and in front of you).

Applause!

When Broadsheet veers away from the political I find it to be seriously annoying. It doesn't really matter what they're commenting on, but the knee-jerk default position is that it's sexist.

As for Ms. Jones -- I'm for anything that counters the prevailing pop culture norm that anyone over the age of 40 is a perv if they even think about sex. How dare older people have bodies! Younger people might have to look at them! Gross!

This is just one more example of a phenomenon I'm constantly amazed by: that large numbers of people still have their perceptions shaped by stereotypes formed by '50s and '60s television. I see it all the time in attitudes towards older people: they expect people in their sixties to be like "old people" *in* the '60s, not really thinking that people who are in their sixties today grew up *in* the '60s with rock and roll and the sexual revolution. Yet somehow they're supposed to be prudes who have forgotten how to swear and only like "old people" music.

PCs have been in the workplace for over 20 years. Almost anyone who has worked in the last 15 years has been exposed to a computer. That includes most women and a large number of older people. My boss retired a couple of years ago at the age of 71, at which time she had been using computers for 10+ years. So yes, even though she looks (and talks) like a nice little old lady out of the '50s, she very much lives in the 21st century.

And maybe people should adjust their ideas about parents. My Dad is almost 80 has been programming computers since before most of you were born. His first home computer was a TRS-80 that he wrote his own software for, including a word processor my Mom (also a card-carrying old person) used to write a book. And I know a woman in her 80s who loves texting!

"In this case, my guess is that men and women act more alike online because their gender is unknown and they don't have to prove their masculinity or femininity."

That was my first reaction, too, Agnos. People who because of their gender might feel uncomfortable in certain situations don't feel that way on the web. A guy who might be hesitant to walk into Victoria's Secret or a baby shop would have no problem shopping from them on line. A woman who feels intimidated asking a banker a lot of questions for fear of been seen as a "silly woman" can do all the research she wants. Etc.

The anonymity of the web is a freeing thing -- sometimes too freeing, as the presence of so many obnoxious trolls (who are probably perfectly reasonable face-to-face) demonstrates.

Professional attire is professional attire. Male attorneys don't show up to court wearing nothing but board shorts -- women should dress professionally, period. And by "professionally" I mean something that doesn't draw undue attention to your body. Surely any woman who is smart enough to pass the bar can figure out what is appropriate to wear to court.

BTW, Broadsheet editors, a laywer is a "counsel" not a "council."