Are the heebie-jeebies a condition that causes persistent repetition? And what is slithering and what’s wrong with it?

I thought I’d say that too often I take life itself for granted. And then I read the post by Iris Odonata, and I resolve, once again, not to take its contents for granted.

Now, let’s pause to think about this. If a man were married to Dr. Laura and she was charging other men money for such advice, who would be more immoral: The man paying Dr. Laura or the man paying the prostitute who, at a minimum, is being honest about what she is giving to the man, presuming it is not a disease or a mental condition.

Yes, I often have put my health at risk for beauty but never for my own beauty.

It is to be hoped that my comment about the “white side or black side” will be seen for what it is: sarcasm!

Leslie, you chose the one subject that defies polling and surveys — either racism or perceived racism in America. As a retired journalist and newspaper editor who fought racism, I learned that no one practicing it ever admitted it; the pretext is the thing. It lies beneath the surface. A feeling, like that described by you, that racism may be perceived where it is not intended is of the same color and hue. If you were slighted, insulted, not served, you wouldn’t think, as a fair blonde, it was racism, unless, of course, your were black. Right? Then it is impossible, intellectually, to know for certain. It is what the African-American feels has happened. The one thing about Barack Obama is that he appears at times to transcend race. Of course, the question: Is that transcendence from his white side or his black side?

Well, I think Peggy Noonan gets the drift: Of course, the state has not only a right but a duty to protect anyone kinapped, imprisoned, enslaved or abused. Alas, Peggy, you underestimated the intelligence of your audience — a habit that could have been borrowed from my entire life’s experience.