If there is an argument here that has no merit whatsoever, it's that this girl's parents are trying to save themselves the trouble. They are caring for their daughter in a way that not many parents will EVER have to even consider doing for their children, and they're committed to doing it as long as they can, FOR HER BENEFIT. I don't agree with their choices, I wouldn't do it for my own severely physically disabled child, but my kid doesn't have the same issues and I have no idea what this family is facing. But dammit, they are most certainly NOT trying to save themselves some trouble.

WE ALL have failed this family. Our system of health care has made it so that it is damn near impossible to pay for full-time home health aides, if indeed one can find them. And aren't we almost all one accident way from bankruptcy, one illness away from destitution?

What does this say about us? What does it say about America that a family chooses to stunt their child's growth by surgery so they can do it their own damn selves rather than try to navigate the impossible labyrinth of muddled services, rather than try to weed out the worst of paid, "screened" caregivers (at the possible expense of their daughter being abused)? What does it say about us that this family considered this treatment to be better than trusting in our compassion, our solidarity, and our determinedness to make life better for people in need?

If you've never been in a situation of being utterly dependent on someone else, if you've never cared for someone who is completely dependent on YOU for his life, then please, don't judge. Vote. Get involved. Change this ridiculous system. Help a caregiver you know. 1 in 5 Americans call themselves disabled, so you shouldn't have too hard a time finding someone.

that Carly Simon did some original music for a Winnie the Pooh movie and a Piglet movie?

Her songs for these movies are creative and catchy, rendering the multiple-Pooh-and-Piglet-viewing experience quite fun. "Comforting to Know" is hauntingly beautiful.

I will definitely buy her lullabye album.

Josh, I'm very happy that you and your wife found each other, and I wish you continued happiness. She looks radiant in the accompanying picture-- as all brides, regardless of their size, should.

Also, I think the idea that skinny people look better in pictures is kind of bizarre. Skinny "looks" better through the sociocultural glasses through which we are taught to see.

It's about a family working hard to make their lives better. It's about what people do once they've "made it", and questioning what "making it" means.

I enjoyed this autobiographical story, a real slice of the author's life. My Dad also loves to regale his kids and grandkids with stories of his childhood; these little pieces of history are who we are as a people,as a country. What's so bad about that?

that Cary answers teenagers' question, even if to the adults among us their problems may seem frivolous.

It means that some teens are reading Salon and thinking instead of gobbing whatever crap they find on MySpace.

Excellent advice, btw, Cary!

and his representation of my home state. He's been an inspiration to me since I learned about him in high school.

One thing discourages me in this article-- Max Cleland says he's finished with politics because it's become too dirty to play.

If all the good people lay down their arms and give up on this nasty, disrespectful thing known as politics, how can we ever regain our voice? Are there enough up-and-comers to counterbalance the devious tactics of the right?

Thank you, Salon, for this article, giving time to a true American hero and public servant.

This administration has done an artful job of hiding the truth. It's really too bad that these pics are not front-page news in every paper in America and abroad, and the headline story on every televised news report.

We have no political capital left. What took over 200 years to build up, what took years of diplomacy, has been lost in 6 short years. How much lower will we go in the next 2 years?

Dawn Friedman expressed her point of view and her experience so clearly, so simply. I just want to thank her for putting onto the page all the convoluted, contradicting emotions surrounding adoption. And thanks to Salon for publishing it.

I'm an adult adoptee from a closed adoption myself, and I found my birth mother when I was 19, with my adoptive parents' unwavering support and help. It was very scary for me, and my biological mother and her family suffered for years not knowing what had happened to me. I often wonder if open adoption could have calmed their fears.

ahansen, just a small note to you. In a meeting a few years ago with a reknowned geneticist, I learned that every single human being's DNA contains several genetic mutations which, recombined with a partner's DNA, could produce offspring with genetic diseases. I learned this because my husband and I have a child with an autosomal recessive genetic disease.

Do you know what your DNA is hiding? I doubt it. Our mutations aren't written on our foreheads. Testing is expensive and complicated for the myriad diseases whose causes are already known; moreover, there are thousands of other genetic diseases whose mutations have yet to be located on the genome. We are only at the beginning of this adventure.

Infertile people are not more "genetically marginal", as you put it, than anyone else. To say that is to lay the society-induced fault and guilt of having disabled and/or ill children at the feet of loving parents, who were, in most instances, probably not even aware of the possibility of passing on disease.