The only gift I have is praise for your humane and thoughtful advice, your fine way with words, and your great big heart.

Full disclosure: I'm a Canadian follower of American politics, and like most Canadians, I am astounded at how radically conservative heartland Americans are in comparison with Canadians and most Europeans.

Which brings me to my point: The people who are going to vote for Sarah Palin don't give a good goddamn about whether she lies. Most will never watch an interview with Sarah Palin, and, if they do, they will screen out anything that is troubling. If they don't understand an issue (say, they've never heard about the scandal of the Alaskan pork-barrel bridge), then they will completely tune out those portions of the interview, give Palin the benefit of the doubt, and feel distinct antipathy towards that pesky intervier. Their assessment of Palin will not, I repeat, not be based on what she does, but rather on what she says, on a set of talking points, things she says she believes in, mannerisms, hair-style, and other superficial fixations.

George Bush put his foot in it so many times that he became the laughing stock of much of the world, but the Americans who loved him on day one, still loved him after four years, and only started to have second thoughts when the economy tanked and the war in Iraq began to look like a lost cause. So, if there is one thing I've learned about republican voters, and that democrats should get through their heads, they do not form political opinions based on how articulate or intelligent the candidate is. If anything, overt intelligence is troubling to many a republican voter. A republican candidate can contradict themselves, even on an ideological basis, they can be blatantly corrupt, as long as they spout the same ideological rhetoric.

Obama is a dream candidate, and if he loses this election, it will be proof that the republicans could run a sock-puppet candidate and win.

Now sing with the cutsy-tootsy sock puppet: war good! troops good! America uber-alles!, abortion bad! liberals dangerous! elites out to screw the working man! taxes bad! guns good! bippy booo plamapy wahammy blady blady blah.

...your post made my day.

Also: Heather, please stop mentioning Veronica Mars. It is painful for those of us for whom VM was a weekly gettaway (into pure cotton-candy high-school heroine smart badass girl strikes back at the snobs and meanies) are in acute withdrawal, and hate to even hear or read about Ronny and Daddy Mars unless it's news of a comeback. And VM, with its brainy but cute heroine, sun drenched so-cal high-school setting, and hot rich-boys vs. hot poor boys scenarios was pure escapism, better than gossip-girl because Veronica was admirable, not just fashionable.

I'm with you Gaimangirl - Laura Miller has turned me onto some of my favourite books these last few years, and I check out the books section every couple of days, often in vain, hoping to see a new review. We want more Miller!

...so I just read through all the (many, many) letters from Linda Mae in the last few weeks, and I'm pretty sure that she is working for the McCain Palin campaign. Her letters use the same kind of words and phrases, and have a pat sort of writing style that reminds me of times when I've had to write disguised ad copy to pay the buills (not proud!)

Cary, why can't we all have a friend like you? You just gave this woman the exact advice I would have. Sometimes, you sit and think, "well, in a perfect world, this would be fine, but in this world, it's a deal-breaker". Best advice in at least a week. And I'm still processing your amazing 9-11 letter to all of us beautiful losers.

Just a random query. Other than that I have nothing to add to Cary's thoughtful response.

...probably wouldn't have after the debacle that was Run Fatboy Run, but I got a free pass, and picture shows are so expensive these days.

The good news is that this is far, far better that Run Fatboy Run. The bad news is that merely means that it is passably entertaining, a nice romantic popcorn movie with some really good laughs and no feces jokes (I hate shit-jokes!).

Oh, and Kirsten Dunst is stunningly radiant, as usual. Even with her chirpy little voice, she is fantastic.

...and I've never seen the graphic novel.

...I am enjoying the juicy southern-fried cheese that is True Blood.

...but am still profoundly impressed at how scary and disturbing some of his books were to me as a kid and young teenager.

I too get cold shivers at the thought of topiary animals. And I will never forget the menstruation incident in Carrie. Then there's Charlie and her dad in Firestarter, on the run from a government agency that is pure evil and answerable to no one, buying food with quarters stolen from pay-phones through her dads telekineses. Or the end of Cujo, which I won't spoil, but is so totally distressing for anyone who has a kid or has loved a kid. Brrrr.

I read the critics list every week - and I've gotten lots of good tips, mainly from Louis Bayard and the Hav(rilesky). But what I really, really long for is more of Laura Miller's book reviews. She's turned me on to some of my fave writers, I'm a voracious reader, and yet she only seems to have a book review in here every once and a while. I await her next review with baited breath.