I see that the two red stars were assigned by an anonymous editor (who may be Cary Tennis) to letters agreeing with his advice. So let me change tack and state that not only is Cary's advice absolutely wonderful, but it would be even more wonderful if he advised the letter writer to wait for more than a trial period of six months.

Let's dwell momentarily on the choice of six months. A fellow of the National Academy of Sciences once said that life is too chaotic to predict beyond six months. Is this what Carey has in mind? You have a long shot probability less than the likelihood that the moon will crash into the earth tomorrow, and you know that the furthest out you can reasonably plan is six months, so you plan to wait for the long shot to come through for six months.

This rationale is so sensible it undermines the premise of Carey's advice, which doesn't go far enough. Cary should have advised the letter writer to base his entire life on this failed relationship, and wait for an eternity. Maybe the letter writer will draft the 21-st century Inferno.

The replacement human might never arrive. Good point. Well done. Excellent. Astute. Right on. LW should still split, or else base his life on this relationship. He's young enough to endure decades of pain and pain. If he starts pitying himself now, it's more of an enduring accomplishment than if he were to start in his 90s. And that's granting that giving up late is better than never.

By looking even worse than the drearily negative, fatuously self-righteous blowhard Elliott.

When I was on a consulting gig in Raleigh, North Carolina in 1990, I had a chance to witness the home-spun racism of Jesse Helms on a hotel TV. I found myself so disgusted with the Helms negative campaign commercials against Harvey Gantt, and so shocked by their overt racism that I contributed to Gantt's campaign. "Harvey Gantt: extremely liberal with the facts." "Harvey Gantt, extreme liberal values. Jesse Helms, North Carolina Values." Coming from New York, I could scarcely comprehend how being a liberal was intrinsically bad.

It was some years before I learned of the analysis of common morality of Bernard Gert, according to which equally informed impartial rational persons can disagree over moral questions. Any halfway sophisticated worldview has to account for moral and political disagreements among equally informed, impartial rational persons. Assigning differences of opinion among such persons to intelligence one way or the other is a gross error--persons who believe that moral and political questions have unitary, absolute answers tend to favor governments that limit freedom and democracy. From this remove, partisan judgments of condemnation for being liberal or conservative seem even more dangerous and more of a threat to liberty and democracy than they did in 1990.

Let us pretend he wasn't a vicious homophobic racist and offer to Helms the respect in death he was never owed in life. So many of us will need to die before we earn the respect of the living.

The United States is well on its way to becoming a third world country, where not having an affair is a sign of weakness. Edwards' timing was a little off, but it will not hurt him in the long run.

Edwards is an orc.

"P.S. to dpc61820: anyone who voices the "I'm moving to Canada, man!" meme without a twinge of embarrassment is just a shithead. Too bad Big Pharma doesn't have a pill for that."

You are sadly mistaken: Big Pharma does have a pill for anyone wanting to move to Canada, which has nationalized health care. Unfortunately, the prescription for this pill is to either be a major stockholder in or work in the executive suite of the big pharmaceutical companies, so that you will be compensated well enough to afford your own health care. The big pharmaceutical companies are model monopolistic abusers of the patent system.

And what a silly use of the word meme.

When Bush vetoed funding for stem cell research, I vowed never to vote for a Republican again. All I have to do to revisit my anger over Bush II is to recall the following.

1. Consider that many advances in plastic surgery have occurred during wartime.

2. Consider that President Bush vetoed federal funding of stem cell research.

3. Stem cell research could conceivably help soldiers who were injured during the war. Burns are not uncommon, for example. Stem cells to grow new skin and bone could revolutionize the treatment of war

casualties. The surgeon's credo is Life, Limb, Looks, in that order of priority. Perhaps it is not unreasonable that stem cell research could

lead to techniques for regrowing limbs--a miracle.

4. An avenue for improving techniques in reconstructive surgery during the Iraq war has been cruelly blocked, during conditions under which the field of reconstructive surgery has ordinarily advanced.

By blocking federal funding of stem cell research, the Bush administration signaled its contempt for the people it places in harms way. Hateful monsters.

Why isn't Salon crushing McCain?

Is far more accomplished as a writer than Joan Walsh.

Nancy "off the table Pelosi. The Bush administration has ratcheted up the probability of terminal nuclear war by antagonizing the Russians with the missile defense system in Poland and with their shenanigans in Georgia, to the tune of $1,000,000,000 in arms. I wouldn't put WW III past Bush. It impeachment is off the table, then WW III is on the table.

It's good news that the United States sent Condoleeza Rice to Georgia: it means that the U.S. isn't serious. Rice was a former provost. At worst she could inflict academic sanctions on Russia, or possibly threaten to withhold Putin's transcript.

Please focus on the issues, not personalities.

Please focus on the issues, assuming you know what these are, not on personalities.

Please focus on the issues, if you know what these are, not on personalities.