And, for you doubters, I learned at my mother's knee how to create good-looking superscript on a circa 1940 manual typewriter.

Better late than never.

If Mr. Haught must argue that atheists are ignorant of religion, then he should do so from a position of greater strength, namely, a clear understanding of modern evolutionary theory. If he were not ignorant of it, he would know that:

1) Self-organizing behavior is a property of the universe and is being understood more and more clearly in mathematics, physics, and biology.

2) Many so-called "moral" behaviors, such as altruism, can be demonstrated to have evolutionary survival value and to have appeared and flourished in non-human life-forms multiple times in the natural history of Earth. They exist in multiple species alive today. Hope, defined, as I define it, as an altruistic incentive to work for the survival and advancement of my progeny, my species, and consciousness wherever it may occur, has clear survival value, too. Nietsche and his evil ilk were the ones who were naive and jumping to conclusions about the implications of atheism. It's downright silly that most religions exhort us to practice some form of altruism, but defenders of Faith like Mr. Haught then foolishly go on to define "hope" purely in terms of PERSONAL survival of the individual.

3) Consciousness, like altruism, is an emergent property. Many contemporary species exhibit aspects of self-awareness, and some in the field of human cognition argue that consciousness as we experience it today is not the only mode in which the human mind can operate, and that it, in fact, evolved in its present form subsequent to the emergence of homo sapiens. To presume that consciousness is some special trait that was magically bestowed only on the human brain in some special, lesser act of Creation is the height of both ignorance and arrogance.

In short, we don't need God or Religion to make us human or to make us civilized. There is early evidence that the inclination to believe in a supreme being is genetically determined. Perhaps the virulent anti-God atheists of today are reacting to an observation that this predisposition seems to be linked to a predisposition to authoritarianism and intolerance - the latter traits, and not faith itself, being what they really find objectionable.

We'll see whether the God Gene ultimately has survival value or not. For my part, I'm far too altruistic to advocate eradicating it by any means other than natural selection.

The trouble (for McCain) with putting Lieberman on the ticket is that he now inspires the kind of visceral hatred among Democrats that Republicans reserve for Hillary Clinton. It's certainly not going to tempt any Dems to cross over and vote McCain. Are there pro-war independents?

I'm one of those who believes that Powell's leaving the Bush administration in 2002-2003 might have stopped the Iraq invasion, or at least discredited the whole thing early enough to put some scrutiny and oversight onto the thing in time to prevent the debacle that it became. I admit that Powell has information about what was going on INSIDE the administration that I don't have, which may have informed his decision in ways I can't understand. If Powell couldn't have stopped it, I don't know who could have. Powell and all of us should have tried harder.

Nevertheless, he's done the right thing now, and has shown the courage to say what few are saying (except in blogs, which doesn't count because it's too easy) about the Republicans and the McCain campaign. Thank you, sir.

I think one thing is left out of Cary's advice: the nanny. Neither the LW nor the so-called Dad are able to raise a child. Anna's behavior is not atypical of an unhappy teen. She needs help, but I don't think we need to assume she's got Asperger's.

The girl needs two things: she needs to care enough about herself to take care of herself, body and mind, and she needs not to expect that she will be cared for as if she were a child. Both those needs can be filled by a loving, caring adult WHO DOES NOT THINK OF HERSELF AS THE CHILD's SERVANT!

The nanny, if she's really the only responsible person in the picture, needs to understand that she must teach Anna to do for herself, not simply do things for Anna. The nanny, as an employee, and one who probably feels sorry for the girl, may not see it this way, but perhaps could be convinced to see it that way. Perhaps on her way out the door the LW could have this conversation with Daddy and Nanny.

Unabashedly left-leaning media ought to be giving this silly phenomenon the same treatment the right gave anti-war protests 2002-2005. They should be ignoring it. I was astounded over and over again at how little coverage much bigger, more serious, and more reasonable protests got. Now we are making a big deal out of these illogical, foolish, and self-centered events. I don't think we of the left are as smart as we think we are.

Why does the right always ignore the real issue?

Gay marriage is about civil rights, not about feel-good. It's about Social Security Survivor Benefits, inheritance, health insurance, and being sure that when your spouse is in a coma after a car crash, you can make the needful arrangements for his/her care without a lawyer.

It's not about forcing anyone to "accept" alternative lifestyles. To use Glenallen's own research dodge, I can't think of any gay-rights activists who wants to force churches to perform gay marriages. The legal institution of marriage and the sacrament of marriage should be entirely separate, as should every other function of "state" and "church" in this republic, as mandated by its constitution.

BTW, GW, why aren't you brave enough to use your real name?