You are not the only one. And it's not because you are sort of Afr.-Am. I have a couple good friends, mid-thirties Americans like you. One is extremely attractive; one is extremely smart. Both of them were too picky.

Here's how they found love:

1. The extremely attractive woman went down to aid Katrina victims, and fell in love with a victim (I guess), or with somebody else she met down there. And she never came home.

2. The extremely smart guy went to a big internet dating site, and met a slim, well-built, apparently rich doctor. Just exactly the kind of woman he wanted, just exactly the kind I told him he never would find.

What is the moral of this story? Heck if I know! But please be aware that older Americans do not understand you people in your mid-thirties (Are you Gen-X, or what?). Even doltish, ugly older Americans always have had girlfriends, boyfriends, spouses, second spouses, kids, and so on.

Has AIDS scared you? Herpes? Your parents' divorces?

Forget about it, whatever it is. Love the one you're with, for practice, and then zero in. I know a guy: smart, strong, and a near saint. Shall I introduce you?

Gary, you are correct on this. So, here's a scenario:

Al Gore could enter the race, and say what Hilary, Barack, Edwards do not say. He can say the W. Bush is and always has been utterly wrong on Iraq, and that he (Gore) will get us out in one month after inauguration (= February 2009).

I believe Democrats, independents, and the US military will jump straight onto his bandwagon.

If not, no big deal. Gore loses nothing, and the current group just continues on to nomination, election (?), and better government (?).

BUT! If this strikes a chord, and people vote for Gore, and he pulls us out, then, Hallelujah!!!!!

1. We need a big candidate who has a chance to win to speak up for leaving Iraq. Dennis K. and Ron P. are swell, but they will not win.

Note that, only a few months ago, even John McCain could have been this candidate. But now he has joined the other Republicans in the Brutaller Than Thou election strategy. A Democrat still might break with the usual suppositions, and speak, win, and act.

2. If we get out of Iraq, we will be about where we would have been if we never had gone in: Containing Iraq with sanctions and embargoes and No Fly Zones.

It will be about the same as it would have been if we had waited for Saddam to die, rather than invading and then screwing up. But we will have the advantage of being positioned in in Afghanistan, in Iraq's neighborhood, on Iran's shoulder.

And we will stop bleeding red blood and green dollars.

3. It will take decades if we have to retreat to minor candidates, and abandon all hope of Democrats. We cannot wait that long. This time, this election, this war, we must try to work through the Democrats. One more try. God bless America.

You want to meet Mike? Salon should have a back-channel, where we could talk. I cannot tell anything about you because you only have written one letter.

Can you post an hilarious paragraph about yourself?

In "a couple years," maybe three or so, any American who can afford to buy a new car will want something other than a regular gas-burner.

All new-car buyers will want hybrids, or electrics, or whatever else is available. And what will be available?

Enough hybrids and so on? How many will be US-made?

North American manufacturers are making great gas-burners now, but nobody will want them in a very few years. There will be a market for good used cars, but all the new car sales will be hybrids and such.

What are you going to buy in 2010?

W. Bush is famous for ignoring it, and for asserting that he need not pay attention to it.

I hope this case, somehow, helps the case for impeaching the creepy Bush and the execrable Cheney.

She works for UNICEF; she travels outside of the USA; it sounds as if she actually can speak and understand Spanish; she works with and touches people who have AIDS.

The alternative would be blasting the guts out of Iraqis.

That said, she acts too young. She talks and responds too cutesy, too naive for a twenty-five-year-old woman. And, obviously, her father and his pals are trying to use her to further themselves.

They will say that we kill babies via abortion, and then try to help other babies through SCHIP.

It does not prove their case, but this is as clever as many of them can get. They will sit back and believe we have no answer.

This is a little like their, "Clinton used to do it.- Why shouldn't we?" defenses on other issues.

What does he say about torture?

That twit uses this term only because people around him say it. He does not know what it means, but he is impressed with people who say it.