I really want to know the answer to the dog-hair-falling-off-the-luggage question. My cats would appreciate an answer too, because if I don't get an explanation I'm rubbing them all over my nylon bags as an experiment the next time I fly.

Instead of "lacuna", try using "cloaca". Kloh-ay-kah. Look it up! Use it in conversation! DO NOT name your baby girl Cloaca!

... for an answer on the dog-hair and x-ray question. Good column today, though.

So, when democrats promote a surveillance state in the name of public safety, it's OK? You deserve to be spied on.

Huh? I repeat: Huh?

Anyway, Marty Chavez and his "beautification" schemes resulted in my (really nice) landlord having his property condemned because the stucco wasn't pretty enough. I can't say it's fascist but it is asshole-ist.

If I remember correctly, the washstand in history generally had a compartment underneath to store the chamber pot. Not to denigrate washstands but bathing in a tub doesn't involve being in such close vacinity to a pot o' poop.

Clearly we need to discriminate against overweight people equally. It's not fair that hispanic women, black women, and all men are getting a free ride here.

I'm kidding, of course.

However, given that there is no acceptable form of discrimination, in the big picture this is discrimination that affects a small group which can avoid the discrimination by losing the weight, and consequently becoming healthier and living longer lives. All discrimination is bad, but at least this is something people have control over.

I gather from the overview that this film is the cinematic equivalent of white noise.

I'd love to know what their, like, totally scientific sampling method was. Did they walk down fraternity row and choose parties based on "Wooooooo!" decibel ratings, or maybe they chose the houses with the unhealthiest-looking fetilized-with-vomit shrubbery.

I haven't heard that term in fifteen years. Who is this dinosaur that you're quoting?

Heck, they won't be standing next to me at the urinal anyway. And equality works both ways, so those rare times I walk into the women's bathroom by accident won't be nearly as embarrassing.

...but here's a writing tip from someone who loves travelogues and geography: Please ditch the metaphors and the flowery adjectives. Your stories are interesting enough on their own, and your complicated prose style distracts the reader from what's going on. You don't write your Salon columns that way, so why are writing a manuscript that way? It's like you're trying to impress your high-school English teacher.

I hope I haven't offended you. I mean only the best. And I look forward to your next column as always.

... then they'll act like animals.

Israel will figure this out someday. Maybe.

As a native son of WV (who's first goal upon graduating high school was to get the hell out of WV), I was very disappointed to see Huckabee get the delegates. But now that I see the details, I'm a little proud. Those rednecks may not be geniuses, but they're clever and you underestimate them at your own peril!

I enjoyed your article, and the fact that different types of populations require different kinds of intervention is a tricky public health problem. The more people know about it the better.

I do have a problem with your title. "Aboriginals with STDs" would have been better, because your title plays into the stereotype that sexually transmitted diseases originated with indigenous peoples. Scientifically, the jury is still out on the subject, but throughout history and up to the present indigenous peoples have been marginalized by being called disease-ridden and promiscuous, and associating the origin of STDs with them counts as both.

This was not your intention and I'm probably nitpicking and being too PC here, but please keep this in mind for the future.

I have. Animals die. Animals disappear. When I was a child we had eight cats, all living in the barn. I loved them all, but my father made it very clear to me that we could not afford vet visits for them. When they got sick or injured we did our best to make them better, but if we couldn't, we put them out of their misery. It was an awful awful decision to make, but we did it because we had to.

Interestingly, as an adult I had to make the same decision about my father. That really put the whole cat thing into perspective. Animals are not people, and the same rules to not apply.

I have fond memories of those DC to Atlanta to Orlando trips from my childhood. I think I still have several of those pin-on wings they'd give to kids. Who absorbed Eastern Airlines anyway?

Because it actually hit the target.

My fear of terrorists is that they are monomaniacal extremists hell-bent on achieving their goals at any cost. If they are surfing the internets then I feel a lot better. The internet is probably the most distracting thing ever invented by mankind, and getting terrorists hooked on it should be a national priority. "Dude, I'll go blow up that building after my Lost torrent finishes, I swear!"

If I ever go into politics, now I gotta worry about someone digging up that picture of me in lederhosen...

McCain gets 48%? Nader must be splitting the progressive vote again! Or he will be. He will have done?

I've always thought the appropriate response to the boxers/briefs was this:

"I wear briefs, because I hate it when my dick gets caught in my socks."

Hey, a stupid question deserves a stupid answer.

I'm no McCain fan, but it's a no brainer that he should be allowed to be president. Democrats will only embarass themselves if they try to pursue this angle to keep McCain out of the White House.

Of course, in the Obama/McCain fight, I think it would be perfectly fine for an Obama advertisement to say "Obama: actually born in the USA"