Thanks once again for a thought-provoking column. A few thoughts:

1. However wrong Hoover was about the Depression (and clearly he was), at least the man was intelligent (and could be intellectually curious) and at least his misguidedness was not driven by a "I'm gonna whip my Daddy" mentality. Did people suffer during the Hoover years of the Depression? Surely. But he didn't blindly send American troops into harm's way simply to one-up his father.

2. Somehow I have to believe that if Katrina happened on Hoover's watch, the mobilization effort would have been sufficient enough and swift enough to save countless lives.

3. Brings to mind the "All in the Family" theme, "Mister, we could use a man like Herbert Hoover again", considering that what we have is far, far worse.

Here's wishing a wonderful writer the very best on her birthday. I loved her stories when I read them back in the late '60s. Loved how Henry fashioned a boy's bike with a broomstick, how Ramona named her doll "Chevrolet" after her aunt's car (and 'cause it sounded classy) and fingerpainted the neighbor's cat. They, and Beezus, were dear friends who happened to live in books.

It's great to know from other Salon readers that Ms. Cleary's books still resonate today. That's quite a legacy. Many happy returns, Ms. C!

When I was a young newspaper reporter many moons ago, my editors would occasionally send me out to do a story on deadline to fill space. Once, I wrote about how one could finally get a parking space in downtown Princeton, NJ, because it was summer time. Another time, about a kindly older gentleman whose service to his church including giving the church fence a fresh paint job.

Looks like some NYT editor needed a space-filler today.I'll take that older guy any day and the mood piece over ANYTHING about that "Mars vs. Venus" crap. That it's based around that jacka$$ in the White House and his mangling of the English language just makes it worse...

...a complete waste of a precious 5 mintes' reading time. Well, maybe not a complete waste: now I'm forewarned not to pick up her next book (or the Rex book). Hmm...thanks, Salon! ;-)

...some straight clowns marry for the most bogus reasons and when gays and lesbians want to marry for love, there's something deviant about us?!

I just love this country...Thanks for raining on her parade, Cary.

...wouldn't it be better just to name a girl "Heaven"? That in itself has a lovely sound...and frankly, spelling it backward sounds like you're insulting it. Sounds like something the born-agains would accuse a pagan of doing for spite. ;-)

As skwilson noted, it is the small things that one might overlook in the romance novels that make a difference in loving relationships. Allowing one's significant other to catch a few more minutes of snooze by herding the cats out of the bedroom. (Hmm, "herding cats"...maybe that's bigger than I thought .) My partner's told me for years that these are the things that she finds "romantic" because she feels "heard" when I do them.

We still give each other cards, no-special-occasion gifts, etc. Even do the occasional "grand gesture" of flowers, dinner with candles and such. But the "romantic" gestures of every day life and something seemingly mundane as taking the time to listen to the other are what bind our relationship and help keep the "romance" alive.

I hope the LW finds her true love and herds cats every so often, as needed. ;-)

...would the advice to stick it out for the sake of the child be the same? Somehow, I don't think so. I think Cary would have told the LW to detach with love and protect his son. Maybe even get the son into an Alateen program when it's age appropriate.

According to the Children of Hoarders website, children of hoarders share a lot of traits of children of alcoholics. And it would seem that hoarding, like alcoholism or other addictions, has both physical and emotional components.

I come from a family of "heavy clutterers" or perhaps hoarders (and a now-deceased alcoholic who was not a clutterer or hoarder). I fall into the clutterer category (and ACoA) and continually work on my own stuff (figuratively and literally).

The LW and his son need help in dealing with their spouse/mother's hoarding. Perhaps a healthy start to their own recovery would be to get out of that hellhole.

...after reading the description of Bill Frist's arms--and that yet another major media outlet thinks it's a slow-news period and has nothing better to write about.

Thanks again, Tim, for being a real journalist. You and Helen Thomas are my heroes.

For the best sentence of the day: <<There is a gigantic difference between a 4 year old playing pretty pretty princess with an impossibly thin Barbie and playing pretty pretty pole dancer with an impossibly thin Pussycat Doll.>>

I don't have children, just cats. To my "little princess" (Skye, 10-month-old Turkish Angora), it wouldn't much matter. She'd just drag either the pretty princess or the pole dancer around the house by her hair.

How much ya wanna bet Lisa Flythe runs for local office?

Remember those dreadful snaps at the crotch? I'd like to slap every designer who brings back these awful items....or make them wear them in Times Square at high noon.

There are so many real causes and issues impacting women in this country and throughout the world. Yet these groups are wasting their time complaining about why a woman of questionable talent may have been "forced" out of a job she didn't deserve in the first place?

Vargas lost my respect when she put her face to that shameful piece on Matthew Shepard's killers. Had Bob Woodruff or any other reporter done the same shitty job, they've have also lost my respect, regardless of their gender.