epson. it's defunct.

Walter, if you're ever in Julian, California, you will want a slice of apple pie from Mom's. And if we truly want youth votes, there's only one thing to do: draft their asses.

I went to law school and became a criminal lawyer because of Perry Mason. There was another early 50's legal show that influenced me, too. It was called THE LAW AND MR. JONES and starred James Whitmore as lawyer Abraham Lincoln Jones. He took cases for the little guy and defended the first amendment and was exactly the kind of lawyer every liberal little kid wanted to grow up to be.

And, yes, the romanticization of the prosecution and the cops on current television dismays me. Guys like Dick Wolf aren't just presenting the stories from the prosecution's point of view, they're seeing the criminal justice system totally from that perspective and forgetting that at least sometimes, innocent people are arrested and put on trial. One thing that totally bugs me: the way the writers of these shows buy into the cop mentality that the Internal Affairs Division is "the rat squad." What is so terrible about rooting out corrupt and brutal cops? The only cops who should scorn the "rat squad" are the bad cops.

And the one sort-of pro-defense show is BOSTON LEGAL, where everyone is loony. Bring back Perry! Bring back Jones!

"An election year is no time to debate the issues."

"Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the War Room!"

It wasn't Gershwin that was kitchy; it was "Rhapsody in Blue" being played on about a hundred pianos. American excess at its finest.

It occurs to me that there's another dynamic in here. The GOP has created an atmosphere in which criticism of the president is unpatriotic, and of course, the presidency is theirs. They have no compunction about attacking Congress, which is what they mean by "Washington" and Congress has been ours, by the skin of our teeth, for two years. Nothing unpatriotic about lambasting Congress, but dare to say their president has done anything wrong, and you get called a radical jihad-lover. Interesting that the more democratic institution, particularly the House of Representatives, is the one that it's very much okay to put down. Yes, the GOPs are great at character attacks, but the foundation is built on institutional attacks. They attack in a sense the idea of Congress and love the idea of a strong imperial presidency that must not be questioned or criticized, especially in time of war. Of course, they will be sure to create the reality that there is always a war going on somewhere.

I'm concerned that Cary is underestimating this guy's pathology and capacity for violence. He is not "just" a verbal abuser; he's a controlling man who demands complete subservience. What's he going to do when the LW decides to put theatre back into her life? I would be very surprised if his opposition confined itself to verbal abuse. I thoroughly agree that the LW needs to plan her escape, but her plan needs to put her physical safety first and that means realizing her husband is one trigger away from physical abuse. She needs money and emotional support--a safe place to go while she sorts things out. Sticking around and tweaking the lion's tail is a recipe for disaster.

The very first thing you need to do is give yourself major props for writing this letter to Cary and putting your stuff out there. That's a very hard thing for anyone to do, but at 17--man, there was no way I would have admitted to anyone that I felt different even though I did, all the time. Whatever you learn from testing and counseling, you own the fact that you stepped up and took responsibility by seeking help and advice. This shows a level of maturity that is amazing. Give yourself a huge pat on the back and take a deep breath. The ride has just begun.

I'm 62. I've never been married or lived with someone in an intimate relationship. So, LW, get back to me in 40 years and we'll discuss whether or not you're "strange." You've got two men on a string. This is Jane Austen country, not strange at all. What should you do? In Jane Austen's time, choosing your man was choosing your life. Thank God, in today's world, you can choose yourself before you have to choose a man. So my advice, unlike Cary's, is to drop both guys and get a job teaching English in Thailand.

So one Salon poster is up in arms because the Left wants to plunder the resources accumulated (through good, hard American work, of course) by the successful. Here's the topsy-turvy world of the rightwing "thinker" in a nutshell. Sir, any plundering going on has been plundering from down to up, as these speculators, robber barons, and just plain crooks have stolen wealth that by rights belongs to those Americans who do actually work for a paycheck. The housing bubble everyone is upset about--it's not really a bubble, it's a Ponzi scheme. It was sheer unadulterated fraud on so many levels, and one thing is becoming clear: whatever happens with bailouts, the biggest crooks of all are keeping the money. Socialism simply means that society works for the whole, not just for the loudest, brashest, richest segment of society. What's so bad about that?

There are a couple of other names for a party made up of Joe Six-Packs and no one else: lynching party, Know-Nothing party, Nazi party. That party will proudly wear the face of Ann Coulter and will no longer bother trying to justify its seething resentments with high-sounding economic theory. It will be unmasked for good and all. It will be small, mean, and very dangerous. Look for it to act violently well outside the realm of electoral politics. It will be the party of Timothy McVeigh.