I have to say first off that I like and admire Anthony Bourdain immensely. I have all his books, including Nasty Bits, which may be leftovers, but they sure are entertaining. His commentaries are thought-provoking as well as fun to read. I certainly agree with his take on obesity. Fast food purveyors sell crap that's cheap and easy to buy. Most people are not eating salads from these places, and if they are, they're dumping a lot of dressing on them. I'm no purist, but I eat at these places about two times a year and that's plenty. Whatever happened to balanced diets and a modicum of exercise? A little butter and cream won't kill you, but a blooming onion from Outback might do the trick. Anyway, I hope that Mr. Bourdain keeps talking and writing - he makes a lot of sense to me.

I figured that Jeffrey would win, but I wasn't all that happy about it. I like Laura's clothes - they are timeless and beautifully made. I also like Laura as a person, too - yes she's bitchy, but I think she gave as good as she got. I like her outspokeness and sense of humor. I think the editing of the show exaggerated a lot of the good, bad, and ugly of all the contestants. Michael and Uli are very talented, too. I think all of them could be very successful.

I watched every show this season and loved 'em all. (Vincent creeped me out - he should have been gone after the first challenge.) Anyway, I will be watching season 4.

I feel the same as Mr. Kamiya. But, I was heartened this morning when I went to my polling place at 7:00am and saw a long line of voters. Even the people signing us in said they'd never seen so many people come to the polls so early. I just hope that this shows the trend of the day, and that we decide to throw the current crop of bums out. I felt that way in 2000, 2002, 2004, and now 2006 - I hope I won't feel crushingly disappointed by the results this time. Oh, yeah, I hope Karl Rove burns in hell, too.

I am one of those women who went back to school at age 49 - I'm now 51 and getting my Master's degree this semester. I also work out regularly. But, I did it because life is too short to put up with dead-end jobs and being out of shape - it was time to get off my ass and do something different. In the long run, every person should feel free to do what works best for them, and not worry about what anyone else says or does.

I hate women's magazines! All they really tell women is how flawed they are, and how they can only succeed by doing what the articles tell them to do (and they always plow the same old fields). Do we really need to feel crappy about ourselves? NO! I think it all boils to down to this: SPF 30 sunscreen and a good attitude can work wonders.

I will not attend any political functions, give no money to any candidate, and try strenuously to avoid all political advertising. The election is about 18 months away and it's already ugly on both sides. When will Americans of all political stripes wake up and say "a pox on both your houses"? It's way past time for a change.

"The comments thus far simply prove that the "tolerant," "loving" hypcrites of the Left are every bit the vicious haters they accuse Falwell of being."

As far as I can tell, lefties never claimed to be "tolerant" or "loving," so if we feel hatred towards the guy, too bad. BTW, you misspelled "hypocrites."

What has happened to America after 9/11? Whatever happened to common sense? Since the beginning of the Bush II years, the media has become more wary of saying anything about issues like the building of the embassy compound in Iraq, lest right-wing talk radio, Fox News and the Rovian machinery start shrilly denouncing them as being against our fighting men and women. I feel a very deep sense of unease about the future of a country that has become perverted by Orwellian politics. Thanks to Salon for keeping up the good fight against the bullshit.

Thus another reason to never listen to any politician's ads or campaign stuff in general. Celine Dion? Originally a song for Canada Air? WTF!!!! My respect for Senator Clinton went down quite a bit on hearing this news.

I started the book on Sunday morning and finished it on Sunday afternoon. Rowling is the kind of writer readers long for and seldom get - capable of great rollicking storytelling with a good message and not too much moralizing.

I didn't read any of the spoilers or reviews before I started the book. I think if readers really want to savor the experience, they can just not look. It's not that hard.

I will miss Harry Potter, but I'm so glad he will live on with new readers who will become just as enchanted with these books as previous readers have been - and they won't have to wait for the sequels!

I do hope that Rowling will keep writing - she is a truly wonderful storyteller.

Oh, Mr. Keillor, you really made my day with your commentary on the exit of Turd Blossom. Too bad he wasn't stopped before now. I certainly hope he'll get his due one of these days. For those of us who live in Texas, there's a certain sense of dread that he'll try to work his "magic" here once again, but I hope he'll be stopped if he tries. I always love disgraced pols (and others) who leave office "to spend more time with the family" - I wonder if said family left Turd Blossom their forwarding address. If they were smart, they didn't.