Really, really hate the new design. Cluttered, ugly, and just a huge step backward.

Yep. That pretty much sums up the Rand phenom perfectly. Nice to see it done in so few characters.

Once it had been established that no crime had or was taking place, and Gates was in his own home, the police had no further justification for even being on the property any more. The fact that they arrested him and hauled him downtown on a bogus charge is inexcusable, period. Telling them whatever he did (calling them names, whatever) is irrelevant and he broke no laws. This cop is a typically arrogant punk, who thinks he can do whatever he wants because he has a badge. Gates she sue the pants off the department. No cop should ever get away with busting somebody just because he felt like it.

The cops did behave stupidly at the very least. Yet, listen to all the support they're getting. What does it tell you about the country in 2009?

As a male, married for 22 years (unofficially) and intentionally childless, I really enjoyed this piece, and the irony of so many commenters who didn't quite, um. . . get it. That's OK. Whether or not couples have kids has become just another way to divide people, and it's all pretty pointless. But, such is the country we live in. At least you wrote a very humorous, pithy peace that will be a canvas that many will use to support their worldview, whatever it is, while others will see the loving, motherly thread that is basically saying everybody chill the fuck out. You also explained why there are so many f'up people: they often come from f'ed up parents, and having a child may change people at first, but it doesn't always take.

Lovely read, and you can tell by the response you really nailed what you were trying to do. I think you're offspring are getting an excellent start. Have a great mom's day.

I love all this flex fuel rhetoric. Ethanol is a fair fuel additive but a lousy fuel and you have to burn a lot more of it compared with an equivalent amount of gasoline. There's no way we can make enough of it anyway, and to overhaul our infrastructure to use it would be incredibly costly and a waste of money. Carmakers (especially GM) love calling ethanol green because it costs very little to make a car E85 compatible. It's huge step sideways though in terms of both environmental conservation and reducing oil dependency. It never hurts to make the car able to run on ETOH, but it is not an answer to anything. If you live in the midwest, OK, fine. But the rest of the country? No way.

What we need now is better public transportation infrastructure, and hybrids are a great answer until we get electric vehicles sorted out. Biodiesel, especially the stuff derived from wast oil products is also a real solution now that we have clean diesel technology. Older diesels do really nasty stuff to the air in terms of particulates especially.

There are a lot of people posting on this subject who don't have a clue what they're talking about, especially the author of the original piece. The oil companies and Japanese auto makers are stopping ethanol from reaching the coasts? That's hilarious. Brazil uses ethanol because they have so much sugar cane available, and it makes sense there. There are many other factors down there as well. We will be still very dependent on petroleum for many years; we need to do three things: conserve, conserve, conserve. Every city in this country need good light rail and it would create a lot of jobs as well.

Another excellent post. You're absolutely on target, and once again has exposed the crap that fuels uninformed debate. And anybody that doesn't believe that the price of oil isn't unduly influenced by speculation is not paying attention.

It's scary that so many think if we drill offshore/ANWAR things will change. It's all really sad, and yet another example of why this country is in the deepest of deep doo-doo. America is fueled by ignorance; if only it could feed our SUVs.