paperdol, I know how the douchebags always seem to stick more in your mind when it comes to feedback, but please remember:

You made a teenager feel better about the lonely!

Dude! Do you know how powerful and awesome that is?

I have a red leather Franco Sarto purse that I love and pet and call George. I only buy purses when my current one is falling apart, or if I need something specific. Like a concert purse for money and keys and cell phone and smokes.

Peaches, nectarines,plums, blueberries

Blueberries are cheap right now. I'd wondered. I've never made blueberry pie...maybe I could do peach too..

Thanks, guys. I suck at seasonality. Even in Jamaica where we had no imported fruit could I tell you the seasons of what we grew in our yard. Cause and effect in my environment is a pretty new thing for me, and I'm still trying to get the hang of it.

Allyson, here's a suggestion. Give every GOOD fanmail you get a value of 3 points, and every asshat reaction -1 point. Then when you get one of those vile little things, tote up your point total. Sometimes I need to quantify to get perspective, you know?

Oh yeah. I haven't written back yet, I need to get my graciousness back. I think I left it in the shower, I better go look for it...

Shrift, I saw your dead body on the news last night!

Okay, that didn't come out right.

Shrift, I saw your dead body on the news last night!

Did they say what happened to the body to make it dead?

OK, that didn't sound quite right either....

I need to get my graciousness back.

I thought I might find mine in the bottom of my coffee cup, but now I'm pretty sure I left it on my pillow. I'm gonna have to write "Don't be an asshole!" on a Post-It and put it on my computer monitor.

I'm gonna have to write "Don't be an asshole!" on a Post-It and put it on my computer monitor.

Or put up a sign saying "Do not taunt happy fun shrift" or something.

OK, there are some left-wing folks who think that the Bush administration is planning on installing a dictatorship in the US. Does this belief become more credible when "old-line conservative Paul Craig Roberts -- a former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury under Reagan" says it?

[link]

What prompted this paranoia is an odd little Executive Order that "allows the government to seize the assets of anyone who interferes with its Iraq policies."

Paul Craig has this to say about it:

When Bush exercises this authority [under the new Executive Order] ... there's no check to it. It doesn't have to be ratified by Congress. The people who bear the brunt of these dictatorial police state actions have no recourse to the judiciary. So it really is a form of total, absolute, one-man rule. ... The American people don't really understand the danger that they face.

eta: Here is the Executive Order, straight from the whitehouse.gov website: [link]