Matthews is high on the list of talking heads who are obvious about who they support in the presidential primaries. I heard some guy on CNN this morning say "Thompson is out of this particular race", as if there were some other race that mattered.

Good answer Cary.

I'll just add that even though the LW made a point of providing a lot of reasons (excuses?) for not dating, none are needed. If you don't want to date, you don't have to. End of story.

If there's no drama involved, it's boring...or so the news folks have come to believe. Drama used to be for fiction, but now it's what the news directors long for. If they can't find any real drama, they force it upon us.

And there's also the issue that there are few true grocery stores any longer in poorer urban neighborhoods. Residents either have to have transportation (a car with high gas prices, or public transportation) to go to the stores, or they use the higher priced convenience stores that are local.

This Macardle woman sounds like an idiot, and a typical right winger. Let the poor fend for themselves, while she waits for her $600-$1200 (or more) rebate check.

Ncary, you've intrigued me with your comment. I don't eat at the fast food places any longer, but when I did I always got one of the 99cent items and that was it (I ate there because it was cheap). I ate chili (Wendy's) or a 99cent burger. Could I have gotten a healthier lunch from the store for the same amount? All I can think of is maybe some rice or other grain.

Anon at 12:56, that's a very common healthy meal for me also, except I add chili powder, chopped onion, and skip the sweet potato. Canned tomatoes & beans are fine to use.

Put the money into the public school system. Improve that system so parents want to keep their kids there. Except of course for those who will always want the name brand appeal of some privates schools. But those parents should be on their own. Free market and all.

I'm putting mine into savings.

When will the adolescent fad of throwing around the word "bitch" ever end? I think it's stupid and only shows the ignorance of those who use it, while those who use it think they are hip and cool. Forget what's inside the book, I wouldn't touch it merely because of the title.

He's a divorced father? I've seen the previews at the theater and the commercials on TV & I never got that. I thought he was a single dad who'd raised his daughter without a mother to the point where she doesn't even know who her mother is. I liked that premise, but the standard divorced dad thing doesn't have any special appeal.

I did like "Love, Actually."

What constitutes a "secret" email account? Or does it become secret only when it is used to deceive a partner? I have several email accounts, one for work and several personal accounts. Am I required to clue my partner into everything that runs through my various accounts? Or are we getting back to the deception issue? I think we are. So really, deception is deception whether its via email or cell phone or regular nights at the local motel six when your partner thinks you're at you're bowling league.

And people who snoop are going to snoop wherever they can.

Email is just another medium for the pathology.

Don't you regulars know by now that Salon takes all the federal holidays. Yesterday was President's Day, thus nothing new on Salon. And before that was the weekend. It's the sad truth.

It's too bad if he does. Nader has done good things for this country and can continue to do so, but he doesn't need to be President or run for President to have his voice heard.

chefpayne: Now if there is a way for her to show brusing and forced rape, then I'm all for it.

Not all rape shows brusing or what you call "force." Sometimes when a woman has a gun to her head or a knife to her throat, she doesn't make a move until it's all over.

I wonder though, would a woman have to be trained in how to obtain & preserve the appropriate evidence?

I've always thought of catcalling as just the adolescent in a man coming out. Annoying & childish and they'd likely be embarrassed if their mother or significant other saw that side of them. I've never gained any self-esteem from having strange men yell things to me on the street. I think I must be one of those few women to whom Patrick Morgan refers. I don't need regular physical compliments (or whatever words he used) to keep up my sense of self worth. I sure as anything don't need it from strangers on the street.

Being a woman of a "certain age" I saw the first Indy movie in my early 20s and loved it, and the sequels. I have to admit, though, that I've had no interest in seeing this movie. But Stephanie's review has changed my mind.

I enjoyed this piece by Steve Almond. It made me chuckle.

It also made me grateful that I had a better experience buying my first home at the age of 47 after a lifetime of renting. I, too, missed the landlord at times, but my mortgage & HOA fee combined are less than my rent was. I'm lucky in my neighbors. I live in a condo so someone else does the yard work. I've had few problems. And the units in my community still get snatched up almost as soon as they go on the market.