God, people just love cherish their pain. And share it! Pain and drawn-out agony for everyone!

This just in: you're going to die, and you spent five years of a relatively tiny life span in court fighting over a bean-shaped filtration mechanism.

@Avery: Totally. It thrills me when major entities have kick ass mottos. Like in D.C., where I'm from, the license plates say "Taxation Without Representation" as protest against that long-standing injustice to residents of the District. Go!

@Oliver: Are your comments also satire? Like, of the all-too-common practice of couching an ostensibly meaningful contribution in insulting and condescending language guaranteed to obscure the information within and repel the reader from bothering to consider your points?

Uh oh, the SparkS is loose again. Everyone just salute the flag and back away from the comments.

I know people looove dogs, but I really don't think you should own one unless you have access to lots of green and the capacity/willingness to get it outside and doing its thing a whole lot. Unless it's one of those wack Christmas ornament dogs that is probably a robot anyway.

Just say Ho.

Steve, Don't Eat It!

Damn water. But even the explanation admitted it's controversial, so I don't know why they didn't just swap it for a question that's Not up for debate...seems illogical.

Want to chime in with another plug for Cormac MacCarthy. Read Child of God if you can get past the subject matter, which is about as horrible as it can get. Not for the squeamish, but the language is utterly breathtaking.

Ted, I do think there's an equivalency problem with offensive to gays/blacks vs. offensive to non-Obama fans. Racial and sexual identity are intrinsic; politics are opinions, available to change, critique, etc., and not far removed from posts that bring up issues surrounding faith versus science or opposing philosophies on the host of other controversial but viable topics of the day.

I guess I just don't see what's wrong with ribbing and passionate debate. People over at pundit kitchen complained about the dearth of negative Obama posts during the campaign, but honestly, sometimes one figure is riper for satire than another. Obama supporters weren't recorded calling for McCain's head on a platter, or making up crazy terrortastic stories about Unidentified Black Males with raging cases of sadistic dyslexia assaulting poor McCain supporters, etc. The absurdity levels were not the same, I don't think, and what you saw in the instant-return environment of the internet reflected that.

Most of the absurdity surrounding Obama centers on his mythology as a savior to all of humankind, which is pretty funny but not double-over-laughing funny. Just naive and silly. Satire requires more abject pathos, like holding forth on the meaning of turkey day in front of turkeys being slaughtered, or family values and abstinence being espoused while your daughter gets knocked up. These things are funny and ironic in very colorful ways. You don't have to like them for their political targeting, but you could acknowledge their fairly blatant comedic potential.

@Dale: The best parents I know are the people who, before they have kids, you wouldn't immediately think "parent material!" about. They tend to have purposes for their lives before and despite their parenting, treat their children as individuals rather than possessions or extensions of themselves or second chances for failed attempts at personal meaning.

If good parenting has as a component that of being a good example, then wouldn't you want your example to be that of a somewhat realized, complete person who defines his worth apart from his identity as a parent?

It is fascinating how big the difference is between living like Jesus and practicing modern-day fundamental Christianity.

My grandmother was a very devout Christian, which I was always anything but, but I never once heard her disparage someone else's beliefs or judge at all. She just had a personal thing going, played the organ in her church for 70 years, and was happy and a joy to be around. She was the closest thing to a saint I've ever seen.

Holy generalizations, David.

@Idil: That may sort of be the point--they're frozen in a specific emotional/mental place. They can't get out of it.

VERY strange and sad. Not totally unlike men with Real Dolls. Just...yikes. I mean, the impulse to have something to love is not strange or sad, but the living inside this manufactured remedy for loneliness, I guess.

Tom Hanks did it when he was stuck on that desert island, but that was a necessary device of mental self-protection.