Poster Tim Lukeman eloquently captured my sentiments about the whole genre of self help. It's the ultimate con of the politically-correct age. They're only trying to help us, after all!

One thing I've noticed about the types of people who seem attracted to this stuff: they tend to be the same who complain about "negativity". Anything that's a little too raw, too unprocessed, or not couched in reassuring platitudes is pronounced "negative," which seems to be as good as kryptonite in repelling many contemporary Americans.

It's as if nothing that's "negative" - a term so broad as to actually be meaningless in my opinion - can also be true or worthy of thought unless it's given some contrived "positive" spin. This willfull distortion of discourse all but prevents honest dialogue effectively pre-empts genuinely constructive growth.

My experience as a Gen-Xer mirrors the situations described in this book, and yet I'm simultaneously astounded by the amounts of money people spend for new cars, large homes, expensive gadgets, etc. I have a good job at a large corporation (not my intended path as a fresh-faced college grad in the early '90s), but still find myself wondering how people afford all this stuff.

The only conclusion I've been able to reach, which is supported by recent economic data, is that people simply aren't saving - for retirement or anything else. That, to me, is the scariest thing of all. By buying into the consumerist trap, people are making the worst of a bad situation in our time of corrupt plutocracy and profoundly reactionary politics. Much of the American public is living in a fool's paradise.

Who's going to take care of all these people spending like there's no tomorrow once they're too old or too sick to work and have no savings? If the right-wingers really do succeed in bankrupting this country (and they're well on their way), we ain't seen nothin' yet. The collapse in living standards will be precipitous.

I couldn't read past page 2, where Paglia characterizes the Florida mess in 2000 thusly:

"I agree with you that the Republicans did not "steal" the 2000 presidential election from Al Gore, and that history will indeed show that the Florida controversy was preplanned and fomented by a cadre of Democratic partisans..."

No mention whatsoever of the concerted effort by Kathleen Harris and the Republican party generally to disenfranchise eligible voters, many of whom were minority and would almost certainly have cast their ballots for Gore. No mention that in the later statewide recount, Gore came out on top. Nope, it's all the Democrats' fault for making even a small stink about it.

Au contraire, Camille. I think history will show the Bush administration to have been thoroughly corrupt and venal all the way from its Florida "victory" to its suspect reelection (with Ohio's hijinks replacing Florida's) to whatever unknown fun (war with Iran?) awaits us before the cretin is out of office - assuming he ever leaves. If he doesn't, I guess then we'll get to look forward to your defense of dictatorship.

I was born under the Nixon administration (does that count as a cursed star?), and the first president I can actually remember with any clarity is Carter. But I tend to agree with those critical of LBJ, not because he didn't do good things (Medicare and the Civil Rights Act alone are unbelievable accomplishments), but because his lies about Vietnam set the stage for the corrosive politics of anti-everything that have characterized my entire life.

Any good LBJ did by enacting the Great Society, the Voting Rights Act, etc. was later undone by the erosion of public belief that the government could do anything well or competently, or that it would tell the truth when it mattered. Vietnam, and the utter mendacity that surrounded it from the very beginning (Gulf of Tonkin "incident" indeed), seems to have forever damaged our capacity for collective action.

Given the politics of paralysis that we face today - with screaming lunatics on the far right amassing ever more power for themselves, while left/liberals look on helplessly - I wonder if Johnson's Faustian bargain (disable right-wing criticism by fighting the Commies; focus your energy on passing a liberal domestic agenda) was worth the price.

The civil rights laws might have come along anyway, though not as early. Medicare and the rest of the Great Society is an open question. But the lying has proven unforgiveable, both because it resulted in the deaths of thousands (millons?) of innocent people, and because it paved the way for Nixon's atrocities, as well as those of Reagan and, most disastrously, Bush. Unless this destructive cycle can be broken, I shudder to think what will come next.

That's probably the worst part about this article from the perspective of the knuckle-dragging, mouth-breathing, Christian fundamentalist GOP base - much worse than the association with trial lawyers. After all, most Republicans hate trial lawyers until they themselves are injured or inconvenienced, and then it's a whole different ball game.

But, quelle horreur! Associating with the French, who have national health care, a short work week, and who are notoriously secular in their habits and beliefs? That's unforgiveable.

My experience with "Persona" was similar to that of the author. I was obsessed with its striking boldness - quite unlike anything I have ever seen before or since.

I'm surprised that Mr. O'Hehir doesn't describe the breathtaking opening sequence: an experimental tour-de-force that appears to draw comparisons between the mechanism of the film camera and that of slaughter and crucifixion. Read into that what you will (for me, it's a commentary on the inherent voyeurism of film), but as formal expression, it's pure genius.