Why is destruction always easier than taking care of things? We can see it so clearly, and shake our heads in exasperation, when it's happening in the Horn of Africa, but can't see it in ourselves...

Oh yeah, and Hillary "authorized" the war all by herself... A mistake, yeah - but we have Obama poised to be prez, and he's already talked of invading Pakistan.

When will there be REAL change? (Unfortunately, we don't seem to be the change we've been waiting for...)

We Canadians, and the Mexicans too, have problems with NAFTA (and grumble that the Americans, while talking about Level Playing Field, really mean Have Advantage.

But in the end, it's the PEOPLE in all countries who suffer when corporations and investors grow so big and leave national boundaries behind. Tweaking NAFTA won't do nothin' about that.

And Americans (and us Canadians) will never again in our times have all those manufacturing jobs back, or comparable substitutes, because there are people in the world working for less $, and that's where the multi-nationals will take their factories. Nothing Clinton or Obama can do about that.

Whoever wins this election will be turned upon by the electorate in due course, because they (she/he) cannot do what they have promised, and the war has taken on a life (life!!!) of its own...

And evidently they want domestic violence and daily headlines about being raped and murdered.

white people shoot each other too. And in even more senseless ways (if there can be degrees of senselessness) - like the recent Wendy's massacre and the school and university shootings. Latino and Asian gangs mostly kill their own. Poverty and racism exacerbate things for black slum-dwellers, but it's the gun culture that allows the acting-out on such a scale... And general uncaring for one's fellow humans. (As a Canadian, it looks to me like violence to each other when you can't organize health care for people.) (And the American phobia about EEEK *socialism*, but socialism has to do with caring for one's fellow citizens...)

There is socialism w.o. totalitarianism. (Red Russia, the great bugabear.) Also, a difference between communism (people for the state) and socialism (state for the people).

It gives them preferred access to our Canadian natural gas and oil and hasn't solved the American reluctance to play fair re lumber. NAFTA hasn't done a whole lot for Canada except to solidify our role as exporter of natural resources and tie us to the U.S. as a neighbor to be exploited. We've lost many, many manufacturing jobs, just like the U.S. has...some to Mexico, most to China (et al).

What people need to look at is that NAFTA is for the benefit of multinationals, and not for the workers of either the U.S. or Canada. Rejigging NAFTA won't solve American labor problems...

She's probably figured out that you were getting sex somewhere else, and prostitutes might be "better" than an affair. jBut don't lay (so to speak) any of this stuff on her. Trying to fix your state of mind by passing on your stuff to someone else is no fair. Handle your feelings yourself (or with a counsellor).

And, come on, we all have stuff we regret. I sometimes look back on my seven decades of life and wonder if there is much I DON'T regret. But mostly I shrug and reassure myself I did the pretty-much best I could in the circumstances and given my personality. You should, I think, go and do likewise.

And the job thing - you and many, many people at this time.

But first, Laurel, why have LW confess to his wife to assuage the guilt rotting his gut? It might make him feel better to confess and beg forgiveness, but it will only hurt the wife.

And now the other thing - other commentators have hit the nail on the head: This whole business of blaming 'karma' instead of putting his head into working out solutions. Blaming oneself, or (more abstractly) karma, is better than deciding that misfortune is SOMEbody's fault, and raising the lynch mob or making accusations of witchcraft, but it's in the same line of primitive and (in today's world) lazy thinking.

And, my goodness, the karma thing is totally ridiculous when you scan the newspaper and see about all kinds of people who have had 16 tons fall on their heads. Or just look over your friends - whose past bad behaviour warrants cancer or DUI-caused paralysis, etc. etc.???

"All" the LW has to contend with is a lousy job and an unsatisfactory sex-life. Sounds like S.O.P.

Glad a couple people spoke up about sex workers as *people*. I was a sex worker for a while at one point in my life. It was interesting and fun and lucrative - sure beat being chained to a typewriter. Had a few customers who were more or less in LW'S situation. Eventually married one, after his wife died (after he had nursed her and was a wonderfully faithful husband in every way but sexual - and even there they had an understanding). Of course, I was independent and non-addicted. There are sex-workers out there who are to be pitied - pitied far more than L.W. who, among other reasons, has the wherewithal to change his life relatively easily. Perhaps we're all (most of us) being too hard on LW, but it's a reaction to his self-absorption and apparent lack of empathy with his wife (let alone the "whores"!)

Just in case you Yanks (yanking our chain) really WOULD like a Canadian president, we have a Prime Minister we wouldn't mind passing on to you... (Not offering to trade for any of your ex-presidents or current candidates, mind you.)

We have a Governor-General you might like - not only female, but a CANADIAN-Canadian (wink wink nudge nudge).