Our biggest national security threat is the environmental destruction of our planet and the arms race with ourselves.

I was born in the late '50s, was a child of the '60s, then the '70s, then the '80s, then the '90s, and I have mental fingers in all those pies.

To this day, we get letters at Alternative Tentacles from young teenagers who hide their Dead Kennedys albums behind their mirror or in the mattress of their bed. Wouldn't it be better if the parents just discussed this with the kids instead of creating this culture of sneaking and dishonesty within the family? The moral of the story being, you don't hide reality from your kids because then they grow up to be smarter, more aware adults.

I think Noam Chomsky is a national treasure - make that an international treasure.

My parents didn't hide reality. I watched cartoons and the news with equal fascination.

Another part of what gave me a questioning, rabble-rousing, activist heart and soul is that when all these heavy events went down, my parents did not shelter the kids from it.

We don't need a flat tax, but a flattening tax, to truly level the playing field.