Editor’s Note: The following comments have been edited for length.

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Comment to a Conversation on February 11
By margameri margameri on 02/11/2009 10:38 pm

In today’s column Tom Friedman quotes Shekhar Gupta, editor of The Indian Express saying (tongue in cheek, he says) "All you need to do is grant visas to 2 million Indians, Chinese, and Koreans. We will buy up all the subprime homes. We will work 18 hours a day to pay for them. We will immediately improve your savings rate - no Indian bank today has more than 2% non-performing loans because not paying your mortgage is considered shameful here. And we will start new companies to create our own jobs and jobs for more Americans."

My husband, an online Nepalese journalist, has been saying this for months. Just allow the undocumented Nepalese and others who are already here, working 7 days a week, living in the shadows and saving their money, to receive green cards and one day achieve the citizenship they dream of. They have been saving, and long to own homes. They are entrepreneurial, they work hard, husbands, wives, aunts, uncles, cousins together. They make sure their children are educated and disciplined. They exemplify "family values." I know - my social network is largely in the Nepali community, where I am called "Didi" (sister), and showered with warmth and affection.

Immigration has been a large part of the core of this nation, yet in this bailout congress is stupidly disallowing the employment of high-skilled H1Bvisa holders by the bailed-out. To quote Friedman again:" We need to attack this financial crisis with green cards, not just greenbacks, and with start-ups not just bailouts."

What we ARE doing is swooping up immigrants in raids, separating families, locking people up in detention centers then deporting them after months or years of imprisonment. Who do you think pays for all this? Well over $100/day per detainee, flights to all parts of the world accompanied by 2 officers per deportee (except for those who die while in custody from lack of proper treatment or suicide) and overnight hotels for the accompanying officers all paid for by our tax money.

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Comment to a Post on February 13
By Mommy Dearest on 02/12/2009 1:26 pm

"The good news is that today inflation is practically nonexistent. Oil prices have collapsed, and other commodities have retrenched as well. That could change, especially as the government ramps up spending and the money supply continues to expand. However, since utilization rates in the economy are low and there are millions looking for jobs, prices and wage rates will likely stay under pressure, containing inflation."

Liz, my dear, I cannot envision inflation staying under wraps as the Treasury prints money for an $800-ish billion stimulus package coupled with the multi-trillion dollar bank bailout.

Back when Mommy learned economics (and dinosaurs roamed the earth), governments that spent their way out of an economic downturn always found themselves in an inflationary environment.

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Comment to a Book Post on February 10
By Patrice Baldwin on 02/10/2009 10:13 pm

I’ve always steered clear of ‘just sex’ because it’s generally boring and I’ve had better. It’s necessary to have some kind of relationship, whether it’s an old friend or someone you’ve known for a while. During the 60s in Hollywood when everyone was doing it with everyone else, I had enough of that at Hollywood parties. I can remember the last one I went to in Malibu. I came into the party, said hello to the host, an old friend, looked around and went home.
I actually had a lovely young mentor (or I think it was really the other way ‘round) who visited me recently. I had high hopes for a weekend of fun, but it wasn’t to be. First he was wildly allergic to my dog; sneezed and snizzeled the whole time. Then it was decidedly difficult to ‘splain to my Great Dane that her spot on the bed wasn’t to be hers. In fact she didn’t take it well, and made a big fuss all night. The second night I thought, "Well, if she can’t be convinced, she should perhaps join ‘em." Turns out she was way too interested in other things going on than sleeping on her corner of the bed. It ended up in a well packed threesome with a lot of sneezing. I think I’ll have to think it over again.

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Comment to a Post on February 12
By elaine s on 02/12/2009 2:38 pm

So this is equality?

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Comment to The Question of the Day on February 13
By Count Snarkula on 02/13/2009 4:11 pm

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Comment to a Post on February 6 (Sorry we missed this comment last week but it’s still worth recognizing)
By Susan B on 02/06/2009 3:46 pm

Diana, I believe the problem here — in this forum — is that it is a blog: anonymous and safe. And I don’t believe WoW, or any other blog, is truly representative of the voices and ideas of the country at large, it is representative of those of us who are of strong opinions and compelled to express ourselves. The so-called blogosphere a small sample, really, and we delude ourselves if we think otherwise or believe we can move mountains with our single opinions. At our best, we’re sharing experiences and tossing ideas back and forth with humor and an open mind. At our worst, we’re people who are in need of a fight or a place to vent our frustrations.

In "real life," I experience far more people interacting civilly, thoughtfully and with a generosity of spirit. We discuss most of the same topics, but we do so with restraint and care. We look each other in the eye, smile, tear-up, and touch.

On a blog, our humanity is reduced to words. There are plenty of very smart women here on WoW, but I also sense a high degree of personal disenfranchisement and social disconnection. So it’s good to be able to reach out to others like we do here — but I think we often forget how fortunate we are to be able to do so and take each other for granted.

(OK, Sully, help me land this plane.) What I’m trying to offer, is the idea that the people of this country are really not so different in the big picture. But on a blog or the mass media or in congress, commonality is not going to distinguish anyone, and so will never be adequately celebrated and leveraged for good. Diana, take hope in what you experience as you bump into each other on the sidewalk, stand next to each other in a line, or find in a smile from a stranger. We are together in so many ways, but politics is and always has been the great divider and on a blog — where we are literally on the same page — it’s a 24/7 experience that’s stoking the problem rather than bringing consensus. Our forbears would be hamstrung by this, I’m sure.

I wish we could put away the negativity, but it’ll never happen on Wow. Still, I’d like to think we could all try harder.