I know your rants, but I´m gonna say it anyway....

men who don´t want to lose their families shouldn´t abuse their wives. Period.

Women, who face a very steep drop in their standard of living while struggling to care for their children, are usually desperate before they divorce. They´ve thought about the cost and only get out when the pain becomes unbearable.

Women don´t seek divorce on a whim.

It´s like those who argue that late-term abortion is a decision flippantly made by schoolgirls who want to fit into their prom dresses. It´s just false.

before custody is established, and especially if no divorce has happened, either parent may take the child anywhere they please.

While custody is being established, possession is 9/10ths of the law. That is why she needs to take her child with her.

worst. advice. ever.

and it sums out just about everything that´s wrong with American culture these days.

He should max out several credit cards to go see some washed up 80s pop star when he admits he and his sister are in poor shape financially? WTF is wrong with you people?

His sister is jobless and he is about to become so.

What he needs to do is get over the freak show that is MJ and figure out how to survive the next decade without ending up in a tent city.

THAT is what´s important, not his nostalgia about his family life or his celebrity worship.

You all are fucking insane for recommending that he go to London. There is no cheap way to do London; every hotel costs well over $100 a night. When the Jackson concert is there, you can bet everything will go up in price.

but its at least off the table for now, and will probably stay that way, so its probably a moot point. But just saying.

I misread your post--you said "without2 all night arguments.

However, I stand by my original comment. Anybody who threatens to take the children away to prevent the wife from leaving is overstepping the bounds.

"and I made it clear that if she left, the boys stayed with me".

marc, you´re an asshole as this decision was not yours to make. To use this as a threat (successfully) against your wife is inexcusable.

She had postpartum depression and you argued with her for entire nights for TWO YEARS?

So you hounded her into staying, feel proud of yourself?

You are an abusive partner if all of this is true.

exactly the kind of horrible man I hope my daughters never find.

You deserve a lot more than gray hairs. Asshole.

this will have a profound effect on the economy.

sick and scared people don´t spend a lot of money, and they try to avoid risk. This will not help a recovery.

MJ was in the airport, dressed in a brown dildasha but without the headdress, and appeared to be in very poor health. My friend described him as looking like some crazy homeless guy on a street corner, the kind who tries to preach to people or shouts that the world is coming to an end. He has been hiding out in Dubai and Bahrain, dependent on the generosity of the playboy sheikhs (who probably share his proclivities for little boys), for some time now.

One of the Bahraini royal family is tired of being Jackson´s meal ticket and is suing him for a record deal that never happened. But Jackson doesn´t return to the States, where he will almost certainly be accused of something again.

It´s possible that MJ really is in such bad mental/physical health that he cannot perform. He certainly has a great deal of incentive to perform. He has no money, and plenty of people hounding him to pay his bills.

Expect the news any day now that Jackson is found in a hotel room, dead of an overdose.

LW, I´m with the others who say this is really about you and your sister.

Concentrate on that. I don´t agree that you should blow thousands of dollars to go to London. Save your money in these uncertain times, and do something else wonderful with your sister. Create a Michael Jackson memorial website, or something. Join a club with other fans. Celebrate those parts of his life that count, his contribution to music,etc. Also understand that he is human, and a very messed up individual. Don´t hero worship.

Spend time with your sister, and those who need you. Michael Jackson is busy going to seed in Dubai. He doesn´t know you exist.

lots of us have made the same mistake.

Now leave, and take your daughter with you, to make sure you finally break the cycle.

Nobody here in Europe uses the loaded Orwellian term "pro-life". They refer to this menace as the "anti-abortion" movement, its original and true name.

Please Joe, can YOU stop referring to them as "pro-life"?

Because if you call yourself pro-life while shooting down people in a church, you aren´t really, are you?

I´ve written Cary a letter and received a very nice and thoughtful answer a few days later in my personal email. He didn´t choose the letter for his column, but said he might.

So I know the letters are not made up although they may be edited.

However, there´s the rather weird fact that on a couple of occasions I´ve seen Cary Tennis and Dear Prudie address the same question/letter in their resepective columns, Cary here and Prudie over at Slate. I don´t know what to make of that.

But FWIW it´s my opinion the letters are real.