If I'm reading the article correctly, insurers who participate in the exchanges won't be able to offer abortions, whether for women on subsidies or paying their own way.

Pardon the perhaps inflammatory headline, but what is it with the left and labor? As the article points out, unions are a constituency with no constituency. Eight percent of workers??

I recently attended Netroots Nation, the annual powow for wired progressives, and was struck yet again at how out of place the labor union guys seem to be. Everyone tut-tuts when they walk into a room, and everyone nods approvingly when they talk about the "working class" (do you know anyone who doesn't work?), but what is their answer for globalization and the flight of manufacturing to low-cost countries? In a word, protectionism.

Jobs, jobs, jobs. It doesn't matter whether you're a red meat Republican complaining about the impact of climate change legislation or a union leader complaining about the demise of American manufacturing. In the end, all anyone seems to really care about is getting theirs, and keeping it.

Spare me the sob stories about how the big bad corporation took away your meal ticket when it moved the plant to Mexico/China/wherever's next. The truth is, you never had a meal ticket. The corporation has one purpose: to make a return for its shareholders. To the extent that doing "right" by its employees facilitates that objective, it will do "right" by employees.

If you want a social safety net, fine--let's talk welfare and "socialism" (oooh!). Plenty of modern industrial societies have such mechanisms in place. But let's stop expecting corporations to take care of us. Union or no, the company has other priorities.

I never was a 'Buster customer for the simple reason that I wasn't willing to provide the incredible amount of personal information required to get a card.

Not satisfied to just take my name, address and phone number, 'Buster wanted my credit card number (OK, in case I steal a video I guess), my employer's name and address (ridiculous) and my social security number (beyond ridiculous).

Netflix changed the game, but 'Buster had his chance. The company offered a mail/store combination approach that I thought might kill Netflix, but apparently 'Buster couldn't even beat back a competitor a fraction of his size.

Long ago, when I still visited the independent video store near my parents' home (then mine too), I asked the owner if he was worried about the 'Buster store that opened across the street. He said no--they didn't stock adult films, and had crap for foreign, indie and documentary titles. Last I checked, his shop was still there.

I agree completely that the infomercial programming has to go, but let's keep things in perspective. PBS is by far, and still, the most credible network on television ESPECIALLY when it comes to investigative journalism.

Frontline is, in my opinion, the best show of its kind on the air. Conspiracy theorists can whine all they want to about the "real" story of 9/11, and they will never be satisfied. But show me another network (let alone single program) that took it to the Bush administration more than Frontline. There is not a one.

This is why I stopped reading the comments on DailyKos and eventually stopped reading the posts themselves. Invariably someone would get offended and a pie fight would ensue.

I don't see how this very minor, utterly forgettable episode will have a chilling effect on anyone's speech, least of all liberal bloggers. In my experience, they seem to be emboldened by the mere hint of suppression.

Haven't we had enough of these rhetorical-question-posing articles about the certain doom we consumptive Americans face if we don't change our ways? What does this piece add to the discussion?

Of course we need to change our lifestyle, but I'm really getting tired of this formula:

1. Set up straw man

2. Criticize 'bad' Americans

3. Show guilt as a 'good' American

4. Express wonder/dread at our prospects for survival

How about something more practical, like what real people are doing right now to live in a more sustainable way? You know, reporting, and not just on some hippie gear head cooking up veg oil for his '72 Mercedes diesel.

Enough with the self-loathing already. That shit doesn't change anything, and at this point it's just plain depressing.

I used to think you were the shit. (Is that enough slang to make me legit?)

I see others have already berated you appropriately for your transparently self-loathing attack on Dick Cavett, so I don't have to. And in case you didn't notice during the campaign, there are plenty of reasons to criticize Sarah Palin beyond her inability to communicate effectively.

I'll stop short of calling it stupidity. The author is a financial newbie and she has unfortunately linked up with a financial "professional" who clearly isn't accustomed to explaining much of anything.

That said, the ignorance displayed in the letters is even more shocking. All of you ranting about how "they" are going to take your 401k, how the market is for suckers... on and on. Do what you want with your money, but I'm happy to take the 10%+ long-term average return of the stock market.

Meanwhile, the person who asked a few basic questions about what terms mean never got an answer, so here goes:

Equities: as used in the article, stocks; shares in companies.

401k: a portion of the federal tax law that defines retirement savings programs that companies provide to their employees. Nonprofit organizations have similar plans known as 403b's, similarly named after the tax code that defines them.