A lot of thoughts went through my head as I read this, but getting to the end, Mr. Traister summed it up perfectly. He got to the place where he and other dads should be. I don't know that this deserves a special applause for the ah-hah moment, but I'll give him a high five.

The thing is, this whole thing about gender roles and the workforce and household? Well, just the fact that there's plenty of men who feel emasculated (or are called thus by others) by staying at home with their kids... how does this show how we value childcare and housework? And how does it show how we value women vs. men? It's good enough for a woman to do, but not good enough for a man? What is THAT about?

It's also not just about stay-at-home dads, but for millions of women it's also about both parents sharing all of the household chores when they both work. The grim reality is that most women go to work and put in a full day, and then come home to work the "second shift" around the house and with the kids and partner at night.

The other problem is stay at home moms and dads who don't get a break. It's a job just like any other job, and the partner who works outside of the home should remember that, and pitch in to give the stay at home spouse a break. Anybody who stayed at home to take care of the house and kids would soon realize that it's not all soap operas and bonbons. It's hard work.

Fortunately, times are still changing. And I hope it continues to change. I hope that the idea of stay-at-home dads becomes more commonplace, that childcare and housework are valued as real social and economic assets, and that there's no need for articles like this.

I beg to differ that bringing kids into it isn't a strong message - in California it's the main thing that swayed voters.

...it turns out that only 16 people have actually died from the virus. Come on folks, this is not as bad as people are making it out to be. It's not great and beautiful, and certainly people should exercise basic hygiene, but seriously. Out of 20 million people, 16 died from this thing. That is smaller than a blip.

Sigh.

You know, 180 or so deaths in a city of 20 million people - I dunno, this just doesn't seem like something to be that worried about. There's a much greater chance of dying from things much more mundane than swine flu.

Of course, it seems most people around here where I live (not Mexico, the good ol' San Francisco Bay Area) don't even have basic hygiene habits - like regular handwashing, even after going to the bathroom. Blech. But I'd be more worried about looking both ways before crossing the street than I would be about ever catching swine flu. Sheesh.

An ad for clean coal popped in on this article - and that's another one of the biggest lies that has ever been perpetrated in the name of green energy. There is NO such thing as "clean coal." It cannot exist. And the coal industry is actively destroying the environment through mountaintop removal coal mining. That is, they blow up entire mountains. Well over 100 mountains in the Appalachians are gone - gone! - because of mountaintop removal mining that pours toxic waste into rivers and streams, poisons the environment and the people living in these areas, etc. It's a travesty. And chances are, if you use electricity from a coal-fired plant, your energy is powered in part by coal from these mountains that are now gone forever.

If you want to know the truth about this, go to ilovemountains.org and find out more.

And the other problem with coal is that it is a fossil fuel. It is a non-renewable resource. So focusing on coal technology is just going to take us further down the same road we've been on, only deeper, because we won't be focusing on clean, renewable sources of energy.

When the cost of gas went above $4/gallon, suddenly people were driving a lot less. They were taking their bikes. Gas guzzlers were being taken out of production. As soon as gas prices plummeted, what happened? People started driving more, buying more gas guzzlers, which were put back into production (I'm thinking of those big Ford trucks). The oil companies didn't have to worry - they were making money hand over fist, reporting the biggest profits in history. Their public handwringing about how hard they were being hit was all hogwash.

Gasoline should be a minimum of $4 per gallon. It would be better if it were closer to European prices - $6 or $8 per gallon. But along with that, local, state and federal governments have to boost public transit infrastructure so it's enjoyable and easy rather than dismal and inconvenient. They also have to invest in clean technologies - which can be paid for by heavier taxes on gasoline prices.

The only way Americans know how to start conserving is when their pocketbooks get hit. How many people discovered that they loved biking and walking when gas was sky-high? Lots! Traffic eased considerably. But as soon as fuel prices dropped, the roads seemed to be more packed than ever before.

The bottom line is, the long-term health of the planet is far, far more important than the short-term health of a few big oil companies who can only think backward.

You guys might want to take another pass at copyediting this article - it still has several inline editing notes in it.