@Drama Unicorn: I think most people would be shocked to know that there are parts of the United States - particularly the Alaska villages - where conditions rival (and exceed in many cases) the conditions we tend to associate with some of the worst spots in the developing world. It's actually difficult to overstate.

@resplendent.bitch: To put it mildly, the Alaska Native governance is a complete and utter mess. Alaska Natives don't have reservations or "tribal lands," but they have "corporations" that govern the villages. There are 13 Alaska Native Regional Corporations (formed in 1971, I believe), and many many smaller Alaska…

I guess a fax is more likely to get read than an email because everyone in the office of Prince Vestigial-Monarchy-of-Wherever will hear the fax machine, and no one will know what it is, and they will have to call in Royal Security 'R' Us to investigate the strange noises coming out of the gray box that no one has…

@somnambulent: While giving credit where credit is due is important, this piece is really about Ryan Gosling as publicly perceived. Men like John Wayne or Marlon Brando certainly didn't make their public images on their own, either but they still came to represent singularly important things about American…

@TeenageGangDeb: Also, on pore strips:

@A-girl: You know, when I first saw this comment, I read it as:

@Phintastic: Funny, that's the face I make when I successfully pop an extra juicy zit.

Pore strips. Pore strips ... and the amazing little forest of blackheads they pull out.

@badmutha: Dr. Oz is a good place to start on that topic!

@JerseyGrrrl: Usually the best secular, semi-sociological reason given is that marriages provide social stability, both to the individual family unit (including children) and society broadly.

I will defer to Immanuel Kant for my feelings on this:

@ArchGoodwin: I'm sole-d on that.

@Ack: Another feature of the American system that harms third (or more) parties is the "winner-take-all" system of voting that we have in the vast majority of elections in the United States. So, in a single-member Congressional district, only one person gets elected - and that person is the candidate who receives the…

@BearDownCBears: Oh, of course - no one actually paid the 91% rate under Eisenhower.

@BearDownCBears: Screw 70%. Let's hit the top income bracket with Eisenhower rates.

@Ack: This is a good question, but it has a pretty complex answer. The best short answer I can give is that they can't. Starting a new party is very difficult - parties have whole apparatuses that govern them internally. The Tea Party has some of that in place, but it has no clear leadership or internal organization…

I mean, what are you going to wear at the ski lodge? A bunny suit? Too cold; not practical.

"Feeling safe" consists in two things: your actual, statistical safety and your perception of your safety.

@VirtuousVixen: And during the day !

What she says: "Three protesters died in Egypt today, part of a wave of anti-government protests currently sweeping the Middle East. Last week, Tunisian president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was forced to flee the country amid civil unrest, and protesters in Yemen have called for the ouster of President Ali Abdullah Saleh…