It's great that she speaks to you, and great that she can keep herself so entertained while she does. More power to her, and knock yourselves out.

But to those who blithely claim that her critics have no clothes, well, sticks-and-stones.

I'm one who feels strongly that her articles are nothing more elevated than hot-button smorgasbords, and day-old ones to boot. There seem to be a lot of people around here who legitimately agree - for very good and often documented reasons. Tastes sassy, but goes down dishonest.

So lay off the righteous-lumpen-lefties talk. She's here for you, and she'll be around again soon, just like a street car clanging its bell. Hop on; a lot of us would just as soon walk.

Pullllleeeeeeez God, not Michael Chertoff - oh plllleeeeez don't make him the AG's successor! And extra special pllleeeez don't send him on is first tour of duty to New Orleans! But if you do, oh dear God, plleeez don't send him to Mother's Restaurant on Tchoupitoulas, or if you do, pleeez don't have him stand too close to the humungouz jars of mayonnaise they keep in the back storeroom. Oh, puleez God, don't undo the lid, and puleez don't be looking the other way. Oh good lord, nooo.

And good lord, just! puh! leas! do not refrigerate after opening.

And puleaz don't send an open invitation to the Bush White House to join Mikey for cocktails at six near the carbonated beverage containers, which when strapped to the buttocks, punctured and pointed correctly can give you a thrilling ride into space.

A BBC News headline today is about Nancy Pelosi meeting with the Syrian President, over Bush's limp objections. The Saudis have broken ranks, at least officially, to criticize our presence in Iraq and to put Clinton's peace plan back on the table. Condi Rice is making a weak effort to get Israel off the dime, ostensibly without Bush's (or rather Cheney's) support. The cradle of three world-religions - the ever-fractious Mid-East - is the go-to spot for terrorist training, and millions die or flee, all under the current occupant.

It's estimated that the average English garden moves south, climatically, 66 feet a day. The same can be said for the one million species to go extinct by 2050 because of unchecked global warming.

Anybody wanna argue that Fox News is impartial? Anybody want to to argue that Bush is a fair and just man, and his hard-core, greedy, anti-humanist minions aren't utterly about spin, haven't nearly bankrupted our country - emotionally, morally and intellectually? Joe?

We're seriously into damage control here. Murdoch: get out of the way. Democrats, Independents, clear-thinking Republicans - Fox is a no-go zone.

You have been a central cog in perhaps the most disgraceful period of American governance ever. By your complicity and eager assistance, you have personally helped to wreak havoc on our nation's civility, to bend our moral compass into grotesque contortions. Young Americans, and untold Iraqis, have died because or your fathomless, absurd behavior. You are nothing more than fickle, nothing less than a blood-stained panderer.

Should your son be wounded or die in Iraq, your actions will have brought him to that end directly. I hope he is not. I hope the rest of the true believers come to their senses, as you say you have, and truly try to make amends. But you and they will have to be in Africa for a very long time to do so.

You are not just part of the problem - you are the problem personified. Your blithe dismissal of the consequences of your actions, to this day, keeps an imcompetent, mean-spirited baboon, and his insane posse, in office.

I hope that beer you had together was really, really good.

That's "Dear" Mr. Dowd. (Spell) check, please! And thanks Sydney for another eye-opener.

for taking the time to answer a debunker with facts and thoughtfulness. This is the most important issue facing our world, bar none, and the letter count on this article says it all.

It's not a juicy story. It's so enormous and so life-threatening, it's hard to get a grip on. Once you get past Big Oil's desperate disinformation, there isn't much intrigue. It's either happening or it isn't. It is. The results are here already, which is something that the MSM is just getting used to. So is Congress, thank god, although I agree fully with a previous poster that any attempt to politicize better include some real live science or else we've gone down another dead end. Like Iraq, at its heart another resource war - a last ditch global grab.

It's plenty scary, and even more depressing until you locate some part of it you can address on a personal level, some place that you've seen irretrievably affected that makes you sit up and see the alternative to no action at all. There are things we can do, as individuals, as societies, as countries and as a planet.

The human-made technology that is causing global warming is the same extension of our hearts and minds that gives us eyes to see that it's happening. It's the same human energy that says, "reach out, learn, grow, progress, and in doing so, deal with the consequences of your extraordinarily transfiguring actions. Like adults.

It is a call to achieve something that most governments will fight tooth and nail to prevent - a global awareness, and a profound sense of mutual belonging. The one thing we can all do, regardless of location or economic status, is not look away.

way