but not once did you say that you enjoy his company or that you love him or that you'd miss his companionship.

You've twisted yourself into a pretzel trying to make him happy. And apparently he is, as you have earned that "love in his eyes."

I did this my first marriage. I tried harder and harder to do the things that he wanted, so that I would obtain his approval. And one day after three years I looked up and realized that yes, he "loved" me, but only as, as the economists would say, a bundle of goods and services. Good paycheck, sex on demand, okay arm candy, cleans the house and does what I tell her to, ergo, I love her.

I wanted to be more than a product. I wanted to be a person and to be loved for being that person.

So I left him. It was hard, and terrifying, and I doubted myself a thousand times. But in the end, it was very much worth it because I got to know myself again, and it was a huge relief.

Today, in my second marriage, I look back at that poor woman and wonder why she waited so long.

You don't have to call him abusive, you don't even have to call him a MF. Just move out and move on.

she walked to the back of the plane and actually spent all of fifteen minutes chatting with pet reporters !!!!!!!!!!

(With no cameras rolling. And you realize that given the usual quality of Ms. Palin's dialogue, fifteen minutes equals one whopping dose of perky howdy-neighbor preamble plus two actual pseudo-answers. Maybe only one, depending on the "doggone it" and "golly" quotient.)

The raw courage! The gravitas! Yes, yes, I am now convinced she could run the country!!!! I see it now!!!

I need an html tag for heavy sarcasm here...

but doesn't it seem like your average Joe Sixpack Republican would have nothing but contempt for a man who sends women in to do his dirty work?

I really believe that the conservatives are vastly underestimating the Bitch Factor. It's really hard for all of these simpering conservative church-goers to talk about what a "sweet first lady" Cindy would be, or what a lovely Christian example Palin is, when they're out potty-mouthing their brains out on Big John's direction.

Of course, that theory does assume a thinking electorate.

This election can't come fast enough.

can we NOT have Sarah Palin's photograph on the home page so often? Every time I see that woman's face my stomach lining loses another cell layer...it's bad enough that I can't turn on any of the news channels without having to hear that godawful screech.

Please Salon. For the sake of all our health.

I thought that the NYSE had safeguards in effect to suspend trading when exactly this sort of panic selling was happening...no?

If so, why didn't that mechanism kick in?

P.S. On a personal note...we are so screwed.

I'd love to think that McCain's better twin suddenly took hold and he's honestly ashamed of the crap storm they've caused, but my gut says he's reversing tactics only because the polls show it ain't working. Sigh.

In the meantime, now that Troopergate has broken(and with multiple versions...MSNBC is saying the report says that Palin DID break state laws by misusing her power, while CNN is saying that she didn't, so I guess we'll find out later)...isn't this McCain's last chance to have her "volunteer" to step down?

I've bet my husband five bucks (it would have been twenty, but that was before we lost all of our money this week) that dumping Palin will be his last Hail Mary before the election.

After all, the only segment who would be offended are such hard-core anti-Dems that they wouldn't vote for Obama at gun point, so he wouldn't lose anything there. And it just might rescue some of the many more moderate Repubs who were annoyed, mystified and ultimately offended by Palin's lack of qualification.

Thoughts?

can we please just get this election over with?

The constant IV drip of ugliness is so damaging...we have huge problems that will require the best of everyone, politicians/citizens and people of all ethnicities and backgrounds to resolve by working together toward a common goal.

Instead we're witnessing the ugliest, nastiest, pettiest political contest in living memory.

Let's get this election over with before something terrible happens. When I was a child, I believed that public figures being assassinated was normal...because it was. JFK, RFK, MLK...

I am in terrible fear that with this fear-based mob mentality, we're headed down the same horrendous road. I truly do not know how the masterminds behind this strategy sleep at night.

McCain needs to fire the lot of them, and I include Ms. Palin. Then I might have some respect for him.

to those of us who live in states who have nothing to look forward to except five straight months of snow, wind, sleet...and for a change of pace, a nor-easter or two. Run this column in April...give us some hope!

Gardening is many things...I've been a gardener in Seattle, where you could shut your eyes, throw the seeds into the yard and go harvest gorgeous stuff two months later. I've been a gardener in Michigan...also possible, although much more of a challenge. Now I'm a gardener on the coast of Maine...did I mention weeks of salt fog?

It builds character. It teaches you the value of hope over experience. In these horrible, mind-bending times, it gives you one small thing that you have some tiny amount of control over, that is if you don't count that whole pesky nature thing.

Worth it, for all of those reasons. But cost-effective? Location, location, location!