I'm eating oatmeal, but I had to put brown sugar in it to make it palatable. I feel like I failed somehow.

I always sweeten my oatmeal!

And brown sugar's better than white sugar, right? Less processed?

but I had to put brown sugar in it to make it palatable. I feel like I failed somehow.

Are you kidding me??? You haven't failed at all! Putting things on oatmeal to make it tasty is a time-honored tradition! My favorite is almonds, dried cranberries, and a little brown sugar. And I cook the oatmeal in milk so it's creamier. I cook the almonds with the oatmeal to soften them up a little and diffuse the almondy goodness.

Must get some oatmeal!! It's that time of year.

I don't mean to take away from what he did go through, but it frustrates the hell out of me that there's no qualitative component to this. There are good people in the military. There are great people in the military. There's also Gomer Pyle.

My best friend here is as a left-leaning liberal as I am, but she has a blind spot when it comes to the military because her husband's Navy. She said to me the other day that the one thing she would never question is McCain's integrity because of the fact that he chose to remain in captivity so that his subordinates could be set free. She said that it spoke a lot to his character.

I told her that from everything I understood (and heaven knows I could be WAY off base here) was that everything he'd done with respect to his military career had been driven by a deep, deep desire to best his father and grandfather. That maybe he did the right and honorable thing in that circumstance, but that I wasn't altogether sure that it was for the right and honorable reasons.

We've agreed to disagree.

Brown sugar is a time honored traditional oatmeal accompaniment!

Oooh, I forgot I had almonds. I did put dried cranberries in it.

And brown sugar's better than white sugar, right? Less processed?

Maple syrup is the best, though.

I like brown rice syrup in mine. must go buy some more.

Maple syrup is the best, though.

Yeah. The sugar in maple syrup takes longer to get into your bloodstream than brown sugar, honey, refined sugar, etc. So you don't get quite the sugar shock....