I have been drunk and used pot a few times early in life. I socialized with people who did. It slowly dawned on me that the use of drugs (including alcohol) was not productive. Many of us can probably be a casual user of drugs, without succumbing to the ravages of overuse. But why? Too many of us will succumb to addiction and the relatively unaddicted users are essentially egging them on.

The LW mentioned that his girlfriend was drunk when she tried the coke. How often does she get drunk? If socializing with friends generally involves getting drunk or even fairly high, she is a loser, and he should terminate the relationship.

I have several friends who are Docs. They have told me if it were not for the aging addicts they would have no business.

A large minority of us are addicts, who will screw up everything they touch. These addicts have most of the auto accidents, gamble, drink, use drugs, and generally mess up everything in their lives. The should be avoided, even though they might appear to be fun to be around, especially when they are young. That fun will turn to misery soon enough.

It is never safe to "lose control". Car and Driver magazine used to run tests of car driving under the influence, where their editors (all skilled drivers) drove through obstacle courses while gradually getting drunk. There was noticeable loss of ability at 0.03 blood alcohol. Most of the people killed in survivable aircraft accidents had been drinking.

The need to use chemicals that cause loss of capability is self-correcting in the long term. Natural selection will do the job, but it isn't and won't be pretty.

I have lived in Idaho for almost 30 years. It is the reddest of the red states, even more than Utah. So, essentially, the Republican primary decides who will be elected in the next general election. Anyone who is not going to support G. Bush or his predecessors or successors and their Texas oil politics, will not get campaign funds and will have a more right wing opponent in the primary. Idahoans do not vote their economic interests, they vote their "principles". Their principles are well defined by Fox News.

Idaho is a poor state, but with a lot of billionaires. The thieves at Goldman-Sachs have all built 50,000 sq. ft. houses in and around Sun Valley. The advent of two Walmarts in our town did not have any significant effect on average wages, which were already barely above minimum. However, Idahoans will elect incompetent fools who represent their "principles". Craig has routinely supported out of state interests that if not deleterious to Idaho, are of no significant value. He has been very supportive of the four lower Snake dams that prevent salmon from reaching Idaho lakes. Local veterans are well aware of his opposition to veterans benefits when he was chairman of the committee. He dances to a Texas tune, as will his successor.

We have a very Republican governor here in Idaho. He can appoint a staunch Republican to replace Craig. Vitter would be replaced by a Democrat. That's the long and the short of it.

We like Yellowstone, too. Living only 110 miles from the west entrance makes it real easy to visit. We took our 21 foot sailboat up there last week and spent two nights in the park, one at the Grant Village hotel and the other sleeping on our anchored sailboat in a cove in the no-motor zone of the Southeast Arm. We towed the 2500 lb (boat+trailer) up there with our Honda Odyssey, which got over 18 MPG towing (vs 27-28 not towing). We got the Odyssey because it could tow our boat and still get decent gas mileage, as opposed to a pickup or SUV, which (inherently) get lousy mileage. Bill R. is wrong about the engine technology. The main problem with SUV's (and Pickups) is that they are what they are. Their macho appearance is the antithesis of aerodynamics, and the 4WD with all that ugly drivetrain stuff hanging under the car is the death of gas mileage at highway speeds. Hybridization can improve their city mileage, where aerodynamics isn't too important, but is of no value at highway speeds. Note that the Prius gets better city mileage than highway for that reason.

Highly efficient mini-cars cannot tow anything, so they usefulness is limited.

I used to be a materials engineer at the Idaho National Lab, where there are over 50 shutdown nuclear reactors 40 miles upwind of our house. The Three-Mile Island core is stored there. Nuclear power could replace all fossil generation in a few decades. Because the fossil (mainly coal) energy industry has done such a great job (for them) on demonizing nuclear most people are frightened to death of it. Bill R.'s state took billions from the taxpayers in other states to build a nuclear waste storage facility and then litigated against using it. Nevada is doing the same thing right now. The waste issue is trivial, but has been made into a monster.

The traffic in Yellowstone was amazingly light for late August. The slowing economy and gas prices are obviously taking a toll on travel. We also got our hotel room the day before we went, normally impossible. If you really want to use less fuel, $5-8 gas is the answer. We also saw only three other (power) boats on the lake in a day and a half. Their 10-20 gallon per hour fuel consumption has reduced their use, too. But there were a few kayaks and canoes, which use no fossil fuel, but very few Americans can paddle four or five hours, let alone even 20 minutes. We are a bunch of weak sisters.