Please take a moment today and pray for the families and loved ones of our fallen veterans. Without their sacrifices, our country would not be what it is today.

Yes, I frequently bitch about it, but this is still the greatest nation in history, warts and all. We should remember those who have given their lives so that we may live free. If there is a Valhalla, may they be there now.

"The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, …

You know what I'm talking about: those stupid tattoos women get on the lower back just above the buttocks. They're usually some elaborate "Celtic" circle or a design that looks like flame decals on a '78 Firebird. The one that says, "if these lowrider jeans I'm wearing don't establish my standing as the biggest skank in the trailer park, this tattoo certainly does!"

So, whaddya think? Am I just too much of a prude? Am I the only one can already spot stupidity at 30 yards without needing a diagram on the butt to prove the obvious?

In the last half of the 20th century, it took alot of nerve for composers in academic circles to write tonal, listenable music.

In the "serious" music world, if you wanted to be taken seriously, your work had to be an impenetrable, dissonant intellectual piece of unplayable wankery. I know; I was there. I spent countless hours poring over Carter's byzantine (and IMO, pointless) complexity, all the while wondering if anyone actually enjoyed this stuff.

I was an outcast for writing stuff that actually had recognizable harmonic structure. I was also the only guy in the department who didn't …

Bill from Ohio writes, "I am willing to give up many privacy issues to the president to stop terrorism. Let him do what he thinks he needs to do to keep me safe."

Other responses to a recent FoxNews article contain similar cheerleading. This is the voice of America: I want to be safe, comfortable, and (preferably) entertained. I am willing to give up freedoms to this end, since I've never been troubled to think much about it anyway.

The general consensus is that a) there have been no follow-up attacks to …

One thing I've always found disconcerting is the logic behind those "you might also like…" lists. You know what I mean; on Amazon and alot of online record stores, a computerized algorythm guesses your tastes based on other items you've purchased and tries to make reasonable recommendations.

It's especially hilarious if you spend some time browsing for David Hasselhoff and Yanni between your regular fare ("Customers who purchased this item also purchased The Best of Zamfir: King of the Pan Flute")

In any case, my tastes in music tend to run toward the esoteric stuff that leaves most people scratching their …

Dear President Bush,

I voted for you in the 2004 election. It wasn't because I thought you were smart, competent, well-spoken or charismatic; you are none of those things. I simply did so because the alternative was too frightening.

But only by a small margin, as it turns out.

Every day, our troops are dying in the streets of Iraq, doing their best to maintain order in a situation that has been completely mishandled. Had you been honest at the start and told us we were going there to remove a horrific dictator responsible for genocide and other crimes against …