And I wouldn't be surprised if one expanded beyond SF to find this is a trend elsewhere. New Hope, PA, which is near where my partner and I live, used to have two lesbian/feminist-oriented bookstores. There also used to be 3 gay/lesbian bars. Neither of the bookstores remain; only one of the gay bars remains--and it's always been predominately gay. (One of the others burnt down and has not been rebuilt; the other was demolished and replaced with a bank.)

But, truth be told, we're honestly not into bars and dancing as much as we used to with either a) we were single or b)in the early stages of dating. I've a feeling we're just part of the changing dynamics within the community: we're now in our 40s and prefer to spend our disposal income on other things, including our motorcycles, continuing education, etc. Our Friday nights are often spent having dinner out, going for a ride, reading.

As to new business opportunities, hmmm. Good question. If someone were to open a new bookstore that offered Starbucks-like seating, coffee/tea, etc., and a mix of "alternative" and mainstream books, sure. (And I'm not talking about the megastores that just pay lipservice to offering LGBT titles.) Or a place like The Barefoot Sage in Oregon (or Washington, forgive my forgetfulness), which offers foot massages in a "living room"-like atmosphere. Do they have to be exclusively lesbian? No, just strongly gay-friendly.

I'd like to know what other Salon readers think.

Although it was Bush's name on the ballot, Bush who led the GOP convention that year and Bush who took the oath as the president, it has been Dick Cheney's show from Jan. 20, 2001 on. Probably even before inauguation day. Definitely since. So, when you really think about it, the radical departure from the election-year positioning of Dubya to what we got after the votes were counted (or not, as the case may be) reflects that reality.

Think about Rob Suskind's book about Paul O'Neill. While Bush pops up in it from time to time (hollering for Andy Card to get him that cheeseburger), it is the glimpses of Cheney, tucked away in the darkness, that send shivers down my spine. It is Cheney who runs the show.

Perhaps we need authors like Sidney Blumenthal to explore the true 43rd president and his regime. It's coming up on Halloween...

I meant "Ron" Suskind. Can we get an "edit" mode, please?

...find themselves searching for spirituality or religion that "speaks" to them. My mother, who came of age during WWII, was born into an liberal Orthodox Jewish home, became a Catholic at 18 and now, at age 80, goes door-to-dooring with the Jehovah's Witnesses.

Members of the so-called Disciple Generation are seeking what a number of us have and, as humans, will continue to reach for: faith in something greater than ourselves, something to believe in, something to guide us.

While the tools and trappings may be different, there is nothing new about it all. It's their grandparents' or great-grandparents' religion on caffiene and sporting some tribal tattoos. Their children may turn out to be pagans or atheists. And so it goes...

EEEEEEWWWWWW!

1. Contrary to what SheRa said, drunks or alcoholics are not necessarily "assholes who like being assholes". They are people who have a sickness--like mental illness or cancer--that can impact their behavior. (And yes, as a cancer survivor and adult child of an alcoholic, I know.) That sickness, fueled by "cunning, baffling alcohol" as The AA Big Book puts it, takes over the alcoholic's mind and body. It makes decisions for the person, just as depression can for a clinically depressed person. Sure, some alcoholics happen to be jerks (drunk or sober), just as non-alcoholics can be.

2. One of the big components of alcoholism is denial. My father, who was an alcoholic, developed cirrohsis. He initially told me he had a liver problem. "Like cirrhosis?" I asked. "Yes, like that." Hello?!

3. I agree with Cary's approach. Sometimes another addict can have a greater impact on an addict than can even beloved family members. That's one reason AA works so well for so many people.

4. The decision to quit has to come from inside the LW's father. He has to want it for himself for sobriety to stick. He's got to put his recovery first, even ahead of his family. Without sobriety, he may have nothing.

5. The LW may want to seek out Ala-Anon, particularly an adult child group meeting. There, she can keep the focus on herself, learn to detach with love and begin her own recovery process as an adult child, whether her father is active or sober. She'll also learn of the Three Cs: that she did not cause, cannot control and cannot cure her father's addiction.

I wish her the best with all this.

1. Since when does having children make one more or less qualified to READ the news? Or even engage in mindless chit-chat between fluffy stories?

2. Call me skeptical but isn't there a chance that Brown herself (or her agent) gave that angle to Radar to allow her to save face for not getting the position?

3. I don't buy the childless-but-attractive angle: Meredith Viera beat out other attractive (and less attractive) mothers for the positon.

"Soulless thug" is possibly the best description I've heard of Rove. Kudos! And I think the rest of your comments capture him well, too. Rove is less craft, more lowest-common-denominator than we all originally thought.