The president sets the example that others are to follow. He is free to stop being a hypocrite anytime he wants to. Others would follow! Won't happen, though.

The American League has dominated for many years now. Every inter-league form of play bears this out: the All-Star Game, the World Series, and Interleague Play. Your DH statistic is not surprising. I wonder if you could break the difference down, it might be something as simple as the fact that the Yankees and the Red Sox (the two teams with the biggest payrolls) are both in the American League.

Nothing's going to get any better until people stop standing up and telling us about how they stand up for their "principles".

When someone says, "I stand up for my principles", what they are really saying is, "I have to be right all the time, and I never change my mind".

This destroys any attempt at reform or progress before it even has a chance to get started. I hope that we have learned this by now, given our current experience.

Tom Tomorrow recently had a very funny comic on this subject.

Here in New England we don't build in wetlands or flood plains. The zoning is pretty strict. We get flooding here in the spring but since there is no development in the flood plain, it's no big deal. Between the flooding and the perk test requirement, most of New England is actually uninhabitable.

Doesn't there exist a uniform set of standards for what makes a place habitable? Different places have different hazards, but we've been doing real estate development for a long time now, it seems like we could have some sort of standards at this point. Building in tinderbrush is a really bad idea, and it should be prevented by zoning. It's not like it isn't obvious that a horrible fire is going to happen sooner or later. Also this business with building houses on the sides of steep hills. There's no way you could convince s zoning board around here to go for that sort if thing.

I had a friend who drove a cab in LA. When he picked someone up at the airport, he would ask, "How's your screenplay coming?" He said that he got an astonished "How did you know?" about half the time.

TV screenwriters get exactly the credit they deserve. As do the rest of us. Big deal. Who "deserves" anything, anyway?

Turn down the sound on your TV, and turn on the radio. The radio broadcast is almost always better than the idiots on TV, with the exception of Rem-Dawg. I live in New England where you can always get the Red Sox (and the Yankees and Mets, too) on the radio, but the World Series is on ESPN radio, isn't this carried nationwide?

conservatism doesn't apply here. That word has been hijacked. The real word is crypto-fascism. Look it up.

I was mistaken there. Not enough coffee. Looking at something else. Sorry, kenwolman, I didn't mean it.

that kenwolman guy really missed the point. It's a perfect example of the misguided thinking that the article so thoroughly discredits. Read his letter carefully and you will see each of the myths repeated.

you're talking with a conservative about socialist issues, ask him about "No Child Left Behind". Ask him what he thinks of the bill's socialist agenda, expanding federal bureaucracy, tramping on states' rights, and imposing standards on every child and every teacher. Ask them to explain how anyone who calls themselves a conservative could possibly think that this bill is a good idea. Whatever response they give will expose them as a hypocrite on health insurance.

You have backed way down from your previous argument and are hanging onto the precious few threads of it that you have left.

Now you are telling me that it's MOST important of you to be able to express your beliefs in something that LITERALLY DOES NOT MATTER?!?

Ever heard of a red herring? Apparently not, because you're fully involved in chasing one, and you don't even know it.

what I am saying is: Why are you all a-tither about not being able to express your religious beliefs? You should be a lot more concerned about your right to clean air and water, and healthy food. Our politicians are busily taking away ALL of your rights, not just your right to wear silly clothes and burn incense. Politicians have been treading on the religious all throughout history; even if you could take that stick away from them, they'd just find another. Your religious beliefs or lack thereof are meaningless if you're not alive to enjoy them.

Here are your words:

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A non-Church going person with religious (For want of a better word) beliefs will not be prejudiced against on the same level as a person without religious beliefs.

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The flaw in what you are saying is that it is NOT your beliefs, it is HOW YOU EXTERNALIZE those beliefs.

A nudist is not going to the grocery store naked, because they will get arrested and they won't get to be a nudist any more. Similarly, one who doesn't toe the spiritual line can make up something, in order to get by. Why not, it's really what EVERYONE is doing.

The simple fact is that you won't get hired if they think you're a nudist, either, or any of a whole range of supposed values that "they" don't like. I could go on all day about all the things that I'm not free to do. There is not a single element of our modern culture that isn't chock full of bogus taboos and fears. Picking out religion as a special case is silly.

Reading the end of your comment, it's clear that you are pre-programmed to see some sort of better-or-worse distinction everywhere. The really sad truth is that you are victimized by your own small thinking.