The FMA would be unconstitutional...

Once passed a constitutional amendment cannot be unconstitutional, since it's then part of the constitution, and potentially overrides prior text. Seriously, what do you think "constitutional amendment" means?

If so, though, why is there so much hostility in these comments? Why did the mere suggestion that this ad offends cause such denigration of the offended party?

First off, this is the internet, you can't assert that 2+2=4 without somebody making a sarcastic comment. That being said, I think you're imagining a lot of hostility that isn't present. TCF is showing more hostility in her post than the comments here in the letters are responding with.

I'm amused by people calling Obama's answer to the surge question "unclear". Since people have been calling for a "paraphrase", allow me to sum it up with a single word from the actual answer he gave:

"...no..."

What part of "no" are you guys people understanding? I mean, I expect a young, sexually frustrated male like elephantman to have trouble understanding "no", but AKA Smith? C'mon.

...Bad timing for a typo. :D

The economy taking a bender doesn't worry me, it's the addiction - and thus the prospect of continuous "hangovers" into the future.

Democrat led governments routinely squander money, usually in the form of bloated, inefficient federal programs.

Democrats make functional programs which Republicans then spitefully butcher with incompetent cronies in a self-fulfilling prophecy.

It's okay to put people who don't believe in government in legislative positions. It's stupid to put them in executive positions.

Voters understand and expect politicians to be power-hungry, and agreeing to give some up, rather than creating empathy, just sets off alarms. It looks weak.

Don't get into the habit of attributing your own opinion to "voters".

And I do it all without vilifying car owners.

Instead, you merely vilify everyone who doesn't live near you, the very definition of provincialism. Nice.

In other words, ladies, Cosmopolitan is a massively successful, very profitable magazine that's been here for decades, and is not going anywhere anytime soon.

Right. And you know what that says about the accuracy, real value, and seriousness of their content? Nothing. Nothing at all.

But if McCain manages to eke out a narrow Electoral College win -- no matter if Obama wins the popular vote -- will Democrats would abandon the Obama/Howard Dean philosophy of playing in every state?

If Obama wins, will people like you finally stop second-guessing a dramatically successful technique? One whose payback will only increase as time goes by?

If you can look at those things and not see the ego, I might have to humbly suggest that you are blinded to the forest due to all the trees in the way.

Is there a place I can move to where there's five women for every man?

Is that really so complicated that there needs to be a more clear-cut rule?

...Yes. Definitely. At least, if you want the right to be offended when it turns out that someone else's idea of your muddled mess of a rationale doesn't quite match yours, and uses one term when you'd rather they used the other.

I share a frustration, expressed by a few letter writers, with a lack of Salon stories about the male sexual experience.

You'd have more luck finding stories of male frustration about a lack of sexual experience. ;)

...And keep being broken until it's impractical to enforce them.

People's hair colors do not "cause a problem". Schools should not be enforcing dress codes any stricter than your basic casual eating establishment: "no shirt no shoes no service i.e. education". The places are authoritarian enough as it is, without wasting time and energy cracking down on harmless nothings.

...but those of us who oppose gay marriage do so, not because we hate or fear gay people...

I'm always fascinated by people like ehillesum who post diatribes which can only be described as full of hatred and fear while claiming to not hate and to not fear. Do they have no self-reflection whatsoever? It's not like he/she didn't express it in plain language in the very next paragraph.

I wonder if men are having women pose as their wives to hire these agencies on them.

The Dan Rather principle? - well technically it is not true but it could easily be...

While a few of the details turned out to be fabricated, the general thrust of Dan Rather's infamous report has held up very well, having been independently confirmed in print by a number of sources.

In this case, Stern is certainly providing publicity, although Tracy's story is apparently dramatically wrong about "...when I read the news that he's auctioning off a girl's virginity on his show..." since that actually contradicts the linked article!

More culling is to come. In the natural world, that wouldn't be such a bad thing. The herd grows stronger as the weak die off and the strong breed. But the global financial system does not appear to be an exquisitely balanced ecology.

In business, instead of the weak dying and the strong breeding, the weak go bankrupt and the strong get larger. Occasionally, the strong might lead by example and thus "breed" in a sense, and sometimes they upsize well. But it's just as likely that the strong merely outgrow their ideal size and become weak themselves...

I wouldn't care about this silly thing at all except that it's funded by taxpayer dollars. It's a great example of just how badly Dubya dismantled the separation of church and state.

It's hard to imagine a more anti-American sentiment than being directly and profoundly against the principles enshrined clearly in our Constitution.