Like Mr. Peters, I have also noticed this proliferation of creme whippery, and notably in my suburban ventures throughout several western states beyond my home in Los Angeles.

And I'd like to add my own "mix-in" ingredients here: most notably, the recent proliferation of neo-frozen yogurt establishments such as Pinkberry here in LaLa Land. Taking a cue from the "experiential" or "immersive" cues of the "lifestyle" oriented Starbucks, with pages ripped from Wallpaper Magazine, each location is designed to the nth degree, with the right chairs, the right paint, the right music, etc. Pinkberry is so much more about "buzz" and "hype" as it is about the actual product: basic, bland frozen yogurt and the "mix-ins." (You can get the green tea version, but that's pretty innoculous as well.) One is so busy absorbing the noise, the decor, and the line out the door, that one forgets that what is being consumed can be done so much more cheaply and more interestingly at home.

My impression is that it is basically like an overhyped romantic encounter: promising on the surface, but leaving much to be desired.

And it's been done before... It's an 80s concept with a new millenium capitalist twist.

Give me the vanilla... at home, please!

I really get tired of writing this, but George W. Bush never has been elected to the office of the presidency. As a long time subscriber of Salon, I would really like to see a nuanced approach to coverage about Bush's occupation of the White House.

But enough of that mantra.

I believe impeachment is off the table because Americans are in denial about how rotten this administration is, and how broken the whole system is at large. My own representative from California, Senator Dianne Feinstein is the perfect example: she was for impeachment before she was against it. She advocated such proceedings for Bill Clinton, and I believe co-authored the call to censure him for lying about his blow job. But now? Her office says she thinks impeachment is "inappropriate."

How ironic is that? We have an "inappropriate" disconnect about inappropriate behavior, and how inappropriate that behavior must before corrective action is taken.

As a one-time Dennis Kucinich supporter during the 2004 presidential campaign, I was struck by some the similarities between these two: potential dark-horse candidate with populist message and significant grass-roots support, portrayed as bothersome "gadfly" by the other "major" candidates. And Mr. Paul is, in like fashion, attempting to change the way the debate is framed.

Yet, it is the stark differences that bother me. There is no such thing as a "free market," and I find it preposterous that a large swath of our population who have benefitted from the government and the New Deal revolution work so vehemently to dismantle it "for" the rest of us. Kucinich on the other hand is interested in having government, not private enterprise, work for the people. Corporations have but one objective: generating wealth for shareholders.

And Mr. Paul's voting record -- available on a Washington Post database -- reveals what I find to be some uncomfortable idiosyncrasies. He sided against the Democrats and with the Republicans in the DC resident right-to-vote act. He also voted against naming a postal facility after Rachel Carson.

Furthermore, consider the sorry state of affairs that George W. Bush's "war on terror" has become. If we're fighting them over there in Iraq and Afghanistan so we don't have to fight them here, then why is the FBI rounding up terror suspects in New Jersey? And whatever happened to Osama Bin Laden? Two wars with no answers as to why the majority of the 9/11 hijackers were Saudis, then I would in hindsight side with Barbara Lee. As the only congressional representative who voted her convictions against a headlong rush into war, absent any full investigations into 9/11, I would like to see her running for president. And watch Ron Paul blow up real good.

This article is an excellent analysis of the current political, economical, and structural oddities of our current air transportation system. I would like to underscore an interesting point made by Mr. Smith about the media coverage of the 12 Syrian musicians.

As he notes, this "story" originated in the Washington Times, as do many of these "war on terror" bogeyman tales. There wouldn't have been any to report if vile, extreme rightwing rag didn't exist. Although CNN did pick up the story, many outlets did not, which furthermore feeds the other paranoid pathology that the "MSM" is too busy advancing a liberal agenda of "hating America" to bother covering such issues. That these types of publications are funded by the likes of the Reverend Sung Moon and Richard Mellon Scaife is largely ignored by the same people that blame the "liberal" media on George Soros.

It seems to me that most of these paranoid pathologies stem from an absolute denial that our government in this administration is either corrupt or incompetent. Or both. In any event, these beliefs and behaviors threaten not only the safety and credibility of our air travel, but also our very democracy.