Honey, guess what. You will not be the sweet young dynamic agent of change forever. Time happens. It will creep up on you. So just for a moment, imagine that you actually own some empathy and pretend what it must be like for those "white hairs" to deal with your snotty little self.

There were a dozen ways to deal with your office mate (who has always been nice to you, apparently) that could have been a win/win. You chose otherwise. And most of your statements about the people you now work with indicate a whopping degree of youthful snobbery and disrespect for others.

Time to take a long look at yourself. You won't survive, let alone prosper, if you can't figure out a way to get along with people.

Cary, you blew it on this one.

It all boils down to this: being a female and being an asshole are not mutually exclusive.

Sarah Palin is an asshole. She's wielding her uterus as a political tool to parry the perfectly valid level of hard scrutiny anyone who pursues this position deserves. Can you imagine if an unknown man had been added to this ticket? Same level of micro-examination, and with damned good reason.

Instead, Ms. Palin is using her gender and her family as both resume filler and as a shield against any criticism--after all, if you question her logic and/or experience, you're "sexist."

Godamighty I can only hope her fifteen minutes are over soon.

For most thinking Americans, the last seven and three-quarters years have been a waking nightmare. Trust me, we know what you're saying. We're embarrassed. We're scared. Today, if you're Muslim in this country you're probably on six watch lists and are having your phone tapped, and if you're really unlucky, you're rotting away without due process in Git-mo. Tomorrow, if the McCain faction wins...if you're not a card-carrying Christian of the "correct" denomination...can detention camps be far behind? Your comparison to Nazi Germany is horrifying...and accurate.

So here's a request. Four years ago this November I spent three days trying to figure out how to emigrate to Canada. Unfortunately, if memory serves, I couldn't afford it, because it costs something like $65k per person.

How about setting up some kind of low-cost refugee program for disaffected Americans? We're a good group, generally speaking. Educated, thoughtful...and fucking terrified.