I really enjoy reading your letters (well, most of them, anyway) - but, boy, you're angry!! If all the letter-writers on this thread stopped growing their vegetables, would that make a dent in your drought situation?

I have to confess I have a pretty big (by "urban hippie" standards) vegetable patch - not because it will save the earth, not even because it is good exercise - but only because I enjoy growing stuff. I do have a rain barrel and a compost heap - do I still need to feel guilty about your drought?

I thought this was a lovely thread with great ideas - although I don't think I am raising chickens any time soon. Salon should have a regular gardening section - I need someone to tell me why my eggplant seeds won't germinate.

Is it now "Hamas inspired liberation theology" to hope for "a two-state solution with a broad-based land for peace agreement; pursuing diplomatic solutions with places like Iran before military ones"?

Do I have to be a pro-Hamas anti-semite to oppose the Gaza blockade and the continuously expanding Israeli settlements?

Of course, nothing you know changes the fact that there is a Gaza blockade, that Palestinian civilians keep losing their lands and dying in this conflict, and yesterday the Israelis killed a Palestinian mother and her 4 children. Go ahead and blame Hamas for everything. But that won't change the fact that there is a need for a solution and asking for a 2-state solution does not equate to a belief in Hamas-inspired theology.

What solution would you prefer? Or do you think the staus quo is just fine?

No evidence for what? That Palestinians keep losing their land as Israelis keep on expanding their settlements? That Palestinian civilians keep dying in higher numbers?

I would still like to hear whether you think there might be a need for a solution and what that solution might look like.

And also why the goals of J-Street, as stated in the article, constitutes Hamas-inspired theology.

A nice Darjeeling first flush. Not the hideous stuff that comes in those paper bags (ugh!)- but the stuff you buy by weight.

Buy an airtight metal canister and a tea strainer with a lid that you can dip into your cup. No fuss, no alarms to break.

Your Buddha would be happier, I think.

But I know what you are going to do. So go ahead and buy a fancier coffee maker. Your taste buds have probably died from all that coffee anyway, so any tea is going to taste flat. You coffee drinkers are all the same. I should know - I married one.

Hotei or not, the "Laughing Buddha" has been incorporated into Mahayana Buddhism as a Buddha. Maybe if folks really wanted to split hairs on this, they could say that the Laughung Buddha is not a Buddha according to Theravada traditions.

But using the word "misinformation" when it comes to religion, is a tad redundant, no? :)

And what's with calling the Buddha a Chinese God?

a) He is not a God

b) Considering that he was born in present-day Nepal, he was definitely not Chinese.

And he isn't always a young man with coil on his head, either. Take a look at some of the interpretations in the Gandhara school - from the now destroyed Bamyan sculptures to the "Emaciated Buddha" sculptures depicting the period when he chose ascetism in search of enlightenment. Having one of those in the kitchen would probably cure Mr. Leonard's coffee addiction.

But don't worry. It is a cold day in hell when I find myself in agreement with Deepak, the quack.

I am neither a biologist nor a psychologist, but as the mother of an autistic child, I have great interest in the work of Prof Baron-Cohen, even when I have trouble accepting some of his assertions. But what is important to note is that while he talks in terms of a male (sytemising) and female (empathising)brain, he also says that a person's sex cannot tell you what type of brain he/she has (it only works as an average)

In any case, how this translates to support for an asinine claim that men are boring (to whom?) beats me. And feminists, who have always railed against assertions that men are inherently more intelligent, should also be troubled by claims that they are more boring.

1. How do you know that chelation caused the improvement in your nephew? If he is anything like the many autistic children I know, his days are spent working with therapists - behavioral, speech, occupational, you name it.... Why not credit them for his improvement? Or he may be developing at his own pace - why not give him some credit?

2. Just saying that your nephew improved with chelation does not consitute proof that chelation is a "cure" for autism or that vaccines cause autism. There have been studies by qualified people (not uncles and aunts and actress moms) which show no link.

3. Given that children get vaccines right from birth, what makes you think that your otherwise normal nephew turned autistic because he was vaccinated? Which vaccine do you think did that?

4. I sincerely hope that your family realizes that chelation "therapy" can be harmful and even fatal for children. You do know about the case of Abubakar Nadama and Dr. Roy Kerry, right?

It would be rather unusual for men in South Asia to step up to women they were meeting professionally and comment on their looks. And especially in Pakistan, where they generally prefer their women to be covered up from head to toe, this would be unthinkable and depending on the part of the country involved therecould be a kangaroo court declaring the woman to be of loose morals.

Cultural differences.