What makes you think your son is telling the truth about the extent of his drug and alcohol use--even given that you are a "cool" parent?

It's called Tom DeLay and gerrymandering. Texas is not quite as red a state as you might think.

I have not read the article yet and I don't even want to read it. The headline alone gave me that deja-vu, hasn't-Salon-covered-this-already? feeling. The reality is that women of ALL sizes have a hard time finding perfect fits, not just women who are larger-than-average. Argh! No woman will ever have a "perfect" body and we ALL face catcalls and criticism, whether we are "flat" or "full." Enough, er, navel-gazing.

"Texans are often portrayed as being larger than life (those who come from New Haven by way of Texas don't count)..."

It's not often that the media speak the truth about what a poseur the president is (or that aspect of it, anyway). You just made native Texan letter writer very happy.

Period. Those of us who believe in family planning and birth control have to acknowledge that the message is either not getting out there or is being overshadowed by the antiabortion movement's message. For many reasons, teenage mothers should not be isolated and shunted off into "pregnancy schools" but the larger issue is that teen pregnancy *needs to be prevented.* We have the technology.

By commenting on the pure/impure issue, Broadsheet is misapplying old feminist virgin/whore tropes--and missing the point. The virgin/whore, pure/impure dichotomy is irrelevant in this situation. Call it like it is: it's about Jamie Lynn Spears having made poor choices in not using birth control and she should be criticized for that. Take a look at the statistics for teen mothers--the wealthy Jamie Lynns of the world notwithstanding (along with any anecdotal exceptions you can name). The vast majority of women who give birth as teens are poorer and less educated than women who have babies after *at least* completing high school. When teens have babies, they are less likely to be able to pursue the education that would put them in a better position to support their children. There is a higher infant mortality rate, and children born to teenage mothers also fare worse their peers born to more educated women--by many metrics. Girls born to teen mothers are more likely to become teen mothers themselves. The support system is just not there for most teen mothers. By criticizing the media for pointing out that a pregnant 16-year-old IS NOT A ROLE MODEL, you are ignoring the larger point.

Both Pollan and the Skinny Bitch team make good points, but you can't just buy into every word of the latest diet-tract-masquerading-as-expose-nonfiction. That said, I strongly prefer Pollan--he points out, correctly, the many flaws in our current food/agriculture system (e.g., monoculture and factory farms), in well-reasoned, thoroughly researched fashion (let's not pretend that the many footnotes to PETA in "Skinny Bitch" are the equivalent of real research). Pollan sums up his latest, "In Defense of Food" thusly: "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." And that is sound advice. Unlike the propagandists of "Skinny Bitch," Pollan points out that human populations have thrived on many types of foods for millennia--but only until the advent of highly processed, government-subsidized food did we see the rise of widespread diseases of affluence such as Type II diabetes. The authors of the "Skinny Bitch" screeds, however, advocate eating precisely the types of fake foods (vegan Canadian bacon, anyone?) that contribute to environmental and health problems. Not to mention their unkind, condescending tone. Unfortunately, neither the Pollan approach (locally grown, minimally processed) nor veganism is a realistic approach--they are both too expensive and time consuming for the average consumer.

"By the way, I'm surprised none of you bastards have mentioned that the guy yelling at the ribbon-cutting ceremony sure did look like one of the dock workers from season two. Commenters, am I crazy?"

That WAS one of the dock workers--specifically Nick Sobotka (played by Pablo Schreiber). His character fled the witness protection program. Check IMDB--he's back this season.

It is a small municipality that has been around since the late 19th century: http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/HH/hlh59.html. What IS new(ish) is the ridiculous, poorly-planned sprawl that swallows up towns and makes them attractive to newcomers with the cheap McMansions planted there by environmentally tone-deaf, unscrupulous developers like Bradley, turning little towns into unwitting suburbs. I look forward to seeing this movie.

Hangovers are--were--horrible for me. Hung over, I am incredibly unproductive. Even if it's just a little hangover. All I want to do is sleep in a cold, dark room, moaning and pressing an icepack to my throbbing temple--or crouch beside a cold porcelain toliet. Therefore, I try very hard to avoid being hungover as it results in a wasted day. This being a culture that does not teach people how to drink healthily, it took me longer than it should have to be able to appreciate, say, a SINGLE nice glass of wine or a SINGLE serving of fine bourbon or ONE beer. I cannot empathize with this writer--but perhaps he cannot drink "smart." That said, I do know other people who seem to be able to use this state of being...