I'm all for getting the information out, and if it has to be "packaged" to reach voters, than so be it. The fact of the matter is that many many eligible voters are not engaged in the process and need to have it laid out on a silver platter for them.

I do, however, feel a little squeamish with the idea that women who are engaged or want to be planning a wedding are so myopic that they can't get their political information without it being wrapped up in candidates wedding stories. Even if the wedding industry has gotten out of control, not all brides are bridezillas. Some are very centered women who have lives outside of wedding planning. Really, it's true.

And in response to an earlier poster's comment, I fully believe that Bill Clinton will rise to the cookie baking / recipe competition if and when the time comes. Hillary did it for him, after all! They'd get such great PR out of it!

As an atheist who is usually offended by anything the religious right does, I have no problem with encouraging young women to dress with dignity. Sure the reasons "servant to all" and the warning of "what boys might see" is ridiculous, but consider the source. The message that tank tops, underwear, bras straps etc are not for the world to see bothers me not in the least. I think the message should get out with the non-religious.

No, I don't think there should be a law against dressing trashy, but the fact that trashy has become equivalent of stylish is not really something the secular community should be celebrating. I'm glad women have won the freedom to choose how they dress but I'm sad we've used that freedom to drop all standards of dignity.

I have a hard time understanding people who will spend so much money, time and effort trying to control every aspect of their lives in order to end up with their picture-perfect idea of a family. (Which any parent can tell you is just a fantasy, at best). Is it just the strong sense of entitlement that so many people in our society, particularly the wealthy, have developed to such an extreme? This attitude of "if it's out there and I can spend money on it, by god I'm going to get it" is really repulsive. I'm not saying this gender selection is immoral, but it's disturbing how many people feel if they earned the money themselves, there are no ethical or even value judgements to be made in how it is spent.

As to why girls are preferred to boys, I can only imagine that it is women driving this kind of gender choosing and many women seem to want a baby girl more than a baby boy. I'd like to introduce them to some teenagers and see if they change their minds! It's going to be sad for these people when their perfect little chosen girl turns out to be a real kid with real flaws.

Yes, I was making a flip comment about teenage girls being harder to raise than teenage boys. I realize you couldn't infer that I was making a joke, not trying to say that all girls are harder than all boys. My point was, and remains, that people dreaming of their perfect little designer children might be in for a surprise when choosing all the right DNA does not produce a dream child.

But thanks for pointing out that my kids are brats and I'm a bad parent. I had never noticed before! (I thought it was normal for kids not to be perfect all the time). While you don't read subtlety well, you sure drew a lot of conclusions out of my one sentence! (now that we call sarcasm)

... it's just another tv makeover show. Too bad they couldn't update it, or give it a respectful twist or something. No, bad dresser gets a stern talking to, gets new clothes, everyone is happier. And Tim takes it all really seriously.

Rebecca, thanks for using the term "super-skeevy". My husband never heard the word skeevy before I used it and he thinks it's some weird New Jersey (where I grew up) term. You're not from NJ are you?

When I read people calling Britney Spears fat, I sympathize with all the women who complain that they are being held to impossible standards of bodily beauty.

The only people calling Britney Spears fat and obese are 16 year olds and men who haven't seen a woman naked in a very very long time.

Although I will agree it was an unfortunate choice of costume!

But for fat clothes to be marketed as cool, and sexy, and as positives, no that's just wrong. That's just enabling these kids to eat the cake, have the heart disease and diabetes, and feel sexy about it too.

It is utterly ridiculous to assume that because an overweight kid is able to buy clothes that are stylish, that the overweight kid will suddenly forget that he or she is fat. If the mirror doesn't remind them, some insensitive schoolmate will tell them or a judgmental moralizing adult will. Our society is not about to let anyone forget that they are fat.

Perhaps another thing that is different about France is that adultery is considered socially acceptable and so those who are cheated on feel that it is something they just have to accept even though they hate it (kind of like the "free love" era of the 60's). Perhaps the President's wife was not that thrilled to attend his funeral with his mistress, but needed to save face in a very public situation. If everyone in France is so on-board the mistress-on-the-side thing, why do they need alibis?