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I think the "let the market take care of it" system breaks down where, for example, a Wal-Mart moves into an area and squeezes out any small pharmacies that were previously providing those services. What happens then if Wal-Mart decides not to fill those prescriptions? Yes, I realize the internet/mail-order option is still there, but you're adding another layer onto the process for people in those areas.

You'll all get another chance next summer.

Yes, yes I am. Not about this, though! I mean, I've got no idea about a MA box set, but that song was actually recorded with Jeff doing the whole thing. Whether or not that recording still exists is another question, but it was recorded. I promise!

ms y, I have no idea what any of that means.

It's going to be released as the b-side to the hit single "Billy Bragg sings the Theme from Cheers".

There is apparently a version out there somewhere with Jeff singing the whole thing. I guess that'll turn up on that MA box set that we're all waiting for.

MJ, where are you sitting? I'll be in section 204, Row G on Saturday (can't make it Sunday ). Judy, that is fantastic!

Why so coy, Lou? Tell us how you really feel.

I like those "campaign stops" in California. No money spent there, just a ton of it picked up...

A friend of mine has had a block of hotel rooms in DC booked for inauguration week for nearly a year now. I'd really like to go anyway, but I've told her if Wilco will be playing, I'm in for sure.

Yeah, I'm loving his stuff. Great combination of really plainly written stories with great plots, so I'm zipping through them, but at the same time the writing is so beautiful, and the characters and their situations are just haunting, they're stuck in my head like they've always lived there. I'm usually not one for audiobooks, but I do like to hear writers read their own work. I'll check him out.

He was definitely a working comic in the late 70s, but yeah, he would certainly fit better in a study of comedy in the 80s.

Next up in the stack: Heard her read a bit of it the other night. She had a bad cold, but as she herself commented, it didn't really make her voice sound all that much worse. And on hold for me at the library:

About 50 pages into this, and loving it: Recently finished: Almost done with the Tobias Wolff! Still to go on the TW list: The Barracks Thief, and Our Story Begins.

Less than two weeks to go! If you haven't started reading yet, tonight seems like a nice quiet night to curl up with a good book. The library is holding my copy for me, so as soon as I get over there to pick it up, I'm all set. My library has great timing.

In response to your funny Cindy Sheehan story, here's kind of a sad one, from the other coast: There's obviously no way she's going to win against Nancy Pelosi. The best she can hope for is to put a smidgen of a dent in Pelosi's landslide, and get a bit of publicity out of that. The idea that Pelosi, or anyone with any shred of sense about how this election is going to go, would put even two seconds thought into sabotaging Sheehan's campaign is ridiculous. The thing about the music festival, maybe. But other than that... Is she paranoid? Is this strictly an attempt at publicity for h

I should probably just go ahead and start another thread for this, but... My parents are in their late 60s. When they were learning to write, left-handedness was simply not an option (my mom would have been left-handed if left to her own devices; she writes right, but can do perfect cursive mirror-writing with her left hand, which probably would have gotten her burnt at the stake a few hundred years ago). So I guess my question is, is there any way of knowing if any earlier presidents would have been lefties if they were learning to write today? Not that it matters, I'm just tossing it a

At the weekly managers' meetings in my office, 4 out of the 5 attendees are lefties.

We have paper ballots, which are scanned electronically. So the vote count is immediate, but in case of a challenge to the results, the paper ballots are still available for hand counting.

I'm far less concerned about voter fraud (meaning, people registering and voting illegally) than I am about things like electronic systems with no paper trail, which could be either faulty or intentionally tampered with, with no way of ensuring an accurate vote count; and unethical vote-suppression tactics. I see the voter fraud issue as much less likely to affect the results of any election. Also, it seems to me that the folks blaming ACORN for this are scraping for something to rail against.

Remember that sitcom he was in with Jamie Lee Curtis? I really liked that show.

I don't see why Flick's statement is causing such confusion. Is it that hard to imagine a situation where one party's platform might be more to your liking, but you viewed the other party's candidate as more intelligent, more knowledgeable, less corrupt, etc.?

No, I agree that Palin was a deciding factor for a lot of people. As was the Ayers thing, probably. I'm talking specifically about the people who remain undecided. I think Keating has more potential at this point to affect undecideds than Ayers. I'm saying that the people who were going to vote based on the Palin or Ayers factors have already made those decisions.

I've never taken this, but I'm guessing I'm this one.