A white, apparently American terrorist. Suicide bomber, even (although the bomb is no doubt fake). But I thought all terrorists were Muslims!? Where on earth did I get that obviously mistaken notion?

I think maybe it's time for some racial profiling!!! I want to see all 40-ish American white males spied on, grilled and detained from now on. After all, wasn't that the standard terrorist "profile" in this country before 9/11? Why yes, I do believe it was. However, I don't remember any racial profiling back then. Because they were just "crazies." Not terrorists. Muslims are terrorists.

Some people need to remember what terrorism actually is. It is NOT a synonym for "Islam." It is what you're looking at in NH today, and what you saw in Oklahoma City. It's the Unabomber, it's Eric Rudolph, it's abortion-clinic bombers. It's disgruntled employees holding their colleagues hostage. It's Columbine, and it's the IRA. It's the use of violence to get your point across. And it knows no race or religion.

"The picture is so densely packed with meticulously sharpened one-liners and zigzagging, freestyle pop-culture references that its cleverness is exhausting at first: I couldn't tell if the gags and jokes were going to serve the story or mow it down."

God help us, not another "Gilmore Girls." I can't go see this movie unless I can scream "for the love of all that's holy, will you shut the f**k UP already?" grab for my remote and press "mute." So I guess I'll wait until it's on cable.

I just hate all that contrived, pseudo-spontaneous, "hip" babble that passes for film and TV dialogue these days. It's so much more annoying than entertaining or clever. If you're not a teenager or painfully droll/ironic (yawn) hipster, anyway.

As for the abortion thing in movies and TV, whenever a character is in a situation where abortion would make the most sense, she always seems to have a miscarriage. This way they can milk the pregnancy drama AND leave the character *appropriately* childless without giving the righties something else to boycott and demand the cancellation of. And that's ALWAYS job one.

That is someone who knows her stuff. Absolutely the best advice here. Give that gal a red star!

I also escaped a physically abusive relationship and ran straight into the arms of someone who was "everything my ex was not." How I wish I'd been told--like you have been--that he would be a whole different kind of abusive. Then perhaps my life would not have been turned completely upside-down. Of course that didn't stop me from getting involved with another one... but now I can honestly say those days are over for me. No more scorpion stings for this lady.

He's told you all you need to know. Yes, people can change. But my gut tells me that this guy is a manipulator. His "confession" is designed to make you think he's honest, so you think "he's told me this huge, horrible truth about himself... so I know I can trust him not to lie." I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't even true.

You know in your heart that there is enough wrong with this picture to make you sprint for the door. But you're caught up in the hope and romance of "what if?" Most of us have been there. And very few of us can say it ended well, and without significant cost.

I know what you're going to do. It's pretty obvious. I just hope for your sake that you don't lose too much, and you don't make the same decision next time. Because there WILL BE a next time. Good luck to you.

Define exactly what behavior you will absolutely not tolerate just for the sake of not being alone. Define exactly what abuse really means. There are men who will never lay a hand on you that are extremely emotionally abusive. Will you recognize one of them, and get the hell out before you're sucked in?

You just sent shivers down my spine. As someone who has been in both types of "bad relationship," I can honestly say that when I was being emotionally abused, I sometimes wished he'd just haul off and belt me. Those bruises would have healed easier and faster than the ones he was inflicting.

Now I won't tolerate ANY of it for the sake of not being alone. I'm happier alone than I ever was with any man. I recognize the signs--one conversation can be enough to clue me in--and act on it immediately. I refuse to accept that "any man is better than no man." "No man" is better than a bad one, and alone is better than abuse, distrust, doubt, lies, fear, low self-esteem... and the denial it takes to accept all that as your life.

As women, we want to believe. We want to help. We want to stand by our man and support him no matter what. We want to be the one who makes him not want to be like that... we wonder if perhaps we are at fault, so we do whatever we can think of to make it work. We're stubborn, and we feel like it's our place to fix whatever's wrong. But in the end, we only diminish ourselves in the process.

The LW, I suppose, will have to live and learn. And one day--hopefully from a position of strength--she'll look back on this whole episode, and this guy, and go "what the F**K was I thinking?!"