Then I am the next President of the United States. See? I said so. It must be.

At the ripe ol' age of 29, all the research I'm reading is telling me that my ovaries are starting to shrivel and deteriorate AS WE SPEAK. It's enough to make me want to eschew condoms and start popping out babies ASAP before my wrinkly old uterus and cracked eggs are too weak to beget offspring. You know, that apparently happens around age 35 these days.

I don't understand! Should I or shouldn't I have children right away? They want me to wait until after I'm 30 to have sex? Or kids? You know, in China, you're not supposed to have kids until you're 30. Yeah, I went there. We're getting to be like the Chinese government.

Oh, no, I di'in't.

Of course her article makes sense. The idea that anyone can back up misogynist rhetoric with dogma ("My God says so!") is ludicrous in this day and age. She's not saying, "Wow, those Christians are as backwards as those nutty Muslims". She's saying that using ancient texts to justify what constitute blatant violations of human rights is bollocks, no matter what branch of monotheism you're looking at, regardless of whether you are talking about female clergy or honor killings. It's not a comparison on Carol's part so much as a statement: not now, not ever, should faith be used to repress people.

Of course, faith more than anything is used to repress people. So. You know. It sucks.

The ones who scream the loudest about the sins of homosexuality are usually those who fear it the most, and they fear it the most because They. Are. Secretly. Gay.

Mind you, it could be all a hoax (or something cooked up by those pesky Democrats! THIS is the October surprise that Rush has been waiting for! Except it's November!). But I wouldn't be surprised.

I'm terrified that, should the Democrats manage to take over both houses, the mess that we are in will continue to spiral out of control for 2 more years, thus cementing a Reupublican victory in the next election ("See? You gave the Democrats TWO WHOLE YEARS, and they couldn't turn around the Iraqi quagmire. Vote GOP!").

The quote about poor Gayle being a sexually unavailable obese hag has been taken down from the blog. Thank goodness you and others were able to preserve it for us - I think I'm going to email my local news stations, asking them to interview Driscoll and provide us further enlightenment about what we women in Seattle need to do to keep out men faithful - I have to head out to the gym now.

I take that back. It's right there on the blog. My bad. What a bastard.

That certainly doesn't mean that the GOP is going to lose. I will HAPPILY eat my words if they do, but disapproval of Bush and disappointment in the war does not necessarily translate into Americans smartly throwing the Repubs out on their butts.

That was HILARIOUS. What is wrong with this guy that he can't just fade away quietly?

Wow, what an interesting range of letters. I, too, read the NY Times magazine article about the starvin' Marvins of the calories restriction movement. They scared me. Their freakishly controlled calorie-restriction is EXACTLY how my anoreixic sister behaved during the worst of her disease.

Let's be honest: 1,200 calories is not a reasonable number of calories for your average human being. And I mean, a healthy human being that exercises regularly. Unless you are REALLY petite naturally, 1,200 is a severe diet, the kind that doctors put extremely obese people on before (usually after) stomach-reduction surgery.

I agree with Rebecca that this article can make one extremely grumpy, and I don't think that she was being extreme at all. Was she suggesting that we all eat junk food every day? No. Did she endorse multiple desserts? I didn't see that section. But food, and issues surrounding food, can cause extreme anxiety in Americans. For lots of reasons. My own particular fear of starvation (though I've never been within 100 pounds of it) and occasional subsequent overeating stems from my grandmother's near-constant narration during mealtimes of her starvation at the hands of the Nazis. And our news media won't stop! A new study shows that eating potato skins might reduce cervical cancer... every goddamn day! I'm just not listening any more.

And, to a few of the other letter writers: "French Women Don't Get Fat" wasn't simply about eating small portions. Yes, that was a big part of the weight-loss strategy. But the author wrote at length about the need to eat fresh, quality, seasonal food (you can do this while shopping at Safeway, it just takes a little research). To the woman who does yoga and eats unhusked wheat and can't imagine why anyone would want to eat tons of chocolate: shut up. I'm very happy that you've found a happy place in life, but expressing your lack of understanding for why anyone would overeat is disingenous.