Andrew,

You forgot to mention the LDS's bloody history of massacre and mayhem. Think Mountain Meadows, Bear River Massacre... the Morman militias murdered non-Morman emmigrants and Utah Indians with axes, raping women and bludgeoning children. And this was after they'd successfully taken their land. Religion has been the cause of so much sin, I have come to see it as a truly evil extension of the same human lust for enmity that engenders nationalism and racism.

I grew up poor in a small fishing town in Eastern Canada. My first real boyfriend was from a rich Texan family. I was 17 and he was 23. He was sweet, and just as inexperienced as I was. As our relationship developed, he would open up more about his occasional trips home to Texas and his childhood. Slowly it became clear that, not only had he grown up in a mansion with a swimming pool and tennis court, and spent spring breaks sports fishing in Canada (all the way from Texas!!!), but he had no idea whatsoever how over-the-top and inconceivable such a lifestyle was to me. I became more and more silent about my own background, and ultimately distanced myself from him.

I can now articulate what I could not then, and can admit freely that I cannot be truly intimate and comfortable with someone who did not experience some hardship in their life. When I sit around and talk with my friends, I know that they also went to tough schools, or had to deal with stressed out single moms, or maybe were well-off but geeky as hell and picked on. I don't mean that I would never date or marry someone from a rich background, I just mean that they would have to be especially sensitive to the extreme disparity between their experiences and what constitutes real life for the vast majority of humankind.

And never will be. He died when he was around 16. Juliet was 13 going on 14.

Whinge is a British variation on the word whine that has been around and in use since the middle ages in England, and has been tossed about here in North America for some years. I'm surprised that this is your first encounter. No fan of Brit comedy?

It was largely due to economic pressures that women began to move into industrial factory jobs in the West, first during the dark times of the Industrial Revolution, then during WWII. This led to increased autonomy and self reliance, as well as an increased acceptance of women filling roles that were once predominantly male. The concept of human rights didn't come into it.

Remember, many parts of the third world as well as places like Afganistan, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, have not yet gone through any version of the Industrial Revolution. In Saudi, technology can be bought, and infrastructure built, but the widespread societal changes precipitated by the pressures of production have not occurred.

Normally we think as one, but I've become addicted to Dexter. Stylish, fun, evil, gory...the show's got it all. Plus Michael C. Hall sets my loins aflame.

Because the majority of Democrat politicians are rich white men whose parents were rich white people just like their freakin' ancestors, who came over from England with land endowments and loose connections to royalty to speed their way to success in the new world. They brunch with Republicans, belong to the same Yale and Harvard clubs as Republicans, attend the same $1000 a plate dinners, read the business pages of the New York times in the same palatial homes while underpaid immigrants water their same manicured lawns. Oh, and, here's the kicker: at heart, they believe the same things on most major policy issues. How can they fight the good fight without conviction?

How can Democrat politicians be steely about an issue like health care when they've never had to worry about it, and nor has anyone they ever knew growing up? How can they overcome the niggling suspicion that spending tax money on health care for poor kids is anathema to the oligarchical system that has been so, so good to them and theirs?

So real people eat Kraft slices? Only disconnected snobs eat cheese from France? Pah!

Kraft slices have there place - junk food can really hit the spot sometimes, but, jeeze, who the hell eats that stuff regularly? A nice, on sale chunk of old cheddar lasts months in the fridge (cut off the mold, and voila, extra aged!).

I'm no food snob, but I do love food. Having said that, I've got friends who really could give a good goddamn about artisanal cheese or organic olive oil - doesn't mean they live on K-Dinner and ketchup. Also, I've never noticed any connection between eating plastic food and being more 'real' or salt of the earth.

And what the heck does Barbara Streisand have to do with food snobbery? Or rock snobbery?

Not that I think that Americans are generally dumb, but certainly I would say that education levels are abysmal. They don't want to learn the nuances of the issues, and they don't want to be talked down to, which means they don't want to hear nuanced analysis from leaders. This culture of anti-intellectualism engenders mistrust of would-be leaders who come off as too articulate, too clever, too savvy.

Therefore a really intelligent leader would just alienate a huge part of the population. It's a liability. In order to win, you run an affable idiot (or somebody who is good at playing that role), then depend on the brains and machinations of an unelected cabal of back-room schemers, all of whom are plenty smart.