I couldn't have said it better myself. I couldn't care less about the chicken or steak or whatever on the carnivore's plate, but for some reason I am constantly forced to justify and explain my choice to be a vegetarian... often by total strangers. All eyes are upon me as I am asked to make my case for what I choose to eat or not eat (is it for moral reasons? Health reasons? WHY???). Meanwhile, I've never ONCE done the same to a meat-eater. What they put in their bodies is their business.

We're not the ones who try to FORCE our choices on others. We're not the ones loudly telling everyone that what's on their plates isn't "real" food, and that we should eat this or that instead because that's what God intended. We're not the ones quizzing our fellow diners about what they eat and why. It's the other way around.

Oh, and carnivores... no, we do NOT "still eat chicken and fish," so please stop asking. I'm tired of answering such a stupid question. It's like a asking a virgin if they "still have intercourse."

"You mistake the natural curiosity about something novel in a group with some weird dissective interest into your eating habits. I think you both prove the common assumption that vegetarians are typified by anger and self-absorption--why are your letters so bitter?"

I'm sorry, why are WE bitter? Maybe because we, as vegetarians, are treated as if we have some sort of mental disorder.

So many of the letters here say that we are the ones who force our tastes on others. Our point is that no, meat-eaters are the ones who make an issue of what's on our plates... NOT US. It's the meat-eaters--often total strangers--who insist that what we're eating isn't normal, and that we should eat some "real food" (much like the obnoxious guy wearing the lampshade insists that you have a "real drink" when you opt for orange juice).

That's our point. We don't make a public issue of it or call attention to it--you do. We don't try to convert you, we don't try to force you, we don't even talk about it. But for some reason you NEED to know why we eat what we eat, and you need us to justify it in a way you can accept and understand. WHY? Why do you care what I eat? I don't care what YOU eat! There's a difference between natural curiosity about my choice--which I don't mind--and a public challenge to defend, explain and justify it. And that happens a LOT.

When you're attacked, you fight back. That's all our letters were doing. We were called every name in the book on these letters pages. Of course we're going to be upset!

How about you eat what you want, and we eat what we want? Give us the same courtesy we give you... don't call attention to our eating habits, don't quiz us, don't demand that we offer you an acceptable reason for not eating the way you do. We each may privately have our own negative opinion of what the other is eating, but at least I have the good grace not to inflict mine on you and our fellow diners. So I let you eat your corpse in peace, and you let me eat my disgusting, boring, tasteless, healthy food in peace. Deal?

As soon as I heard the ridiculous "Hillary said..." nonsense, I thought "so THAT's what Segretti's doing these days! I was wondering where he got to..."

They're so predictable. But somehow, their crap always seems to stick. I'm really not looking forward to yet another Swift-Boating of Hillary, and of course another open season on the Clintons. I mean, already the "ask her what REALLY happened to Vince Foster!" garbage is starting up again. They don't care how far they have to reach, or how stupid they look. Their target audience doesn't have the sense God gave a goat, so every joke lands. Just ask Rich Little.

I watched the first episode because I find Donal Logue hilarious (and, God help me, I LOOOOOVE "Grounded for Life").

But I just couldn't get into it. The whole time I kept thinking that it would have been a cute idea for a TV movie, but an entire series? And with all due respect, Heather, there is most definitely a Talentless Hottie... playing the same exact role she played in that sitcom about the lady realtors (with Gail O'Grady and Nicole Sullivan) a couple of years back.

I really needed that.

And thank you, Molly. You made me proud to be a strong, liberal woman. I miss you already.

MLB Extra Innings has been available for way longer than five years. I got DirecTV in late 1997 (too late for that season) and had Extra Innings in 1998. It only became available to cable customers (of which I am now again one) in 2001 or so.

I'm SO not looking forward to making the switch back to satellite (all that new equipment and wiring again...), which also means switching to DSL from broadband. But as a baseball fanatic who follows several teams--and a devoted Minnesota Twins fan living in NYC--I don't have much of a choice.

MLB has made some boneheaded moves in its time, but this is right up there with the "best" of them. I just wish I was a casual enough fan to say no.

If the place were to deem another girl overweight, they could either yank food off her plate or just refuse to serve her. Why not? It's just as insulting and judgmental!

Making a public spectacle of someone because their figure doesn't appeal to you or you deem their eating habits unhealthy should work both ways if that's the way we're headed. Unbelievable.

I'm reconsidering my Salon subscription.