Haciendas are Mexico's version of the United States' Southern plantations: A throwback to a past era (some date to the 16th century) when wealthy families owned vast tracts of land and employed hundreds of workers. While no one advocates a return to the days of servitude, who can resist a brief taste of the life of a wealthy hacendado? Apparently no one: On the Yucatán Peninsula in particular, staying in a converted hacienda is quickly becoming a must-do experience.

The Yucatán's haciendas reached their heights in the early 1900s with production of henequén, or sisal. The agave plant fiber was in such demand for making rope and twine in the early 1900s that it was called oro verde, or "green gold." After the invention of synthetic fibers in the 1940s killed the henequén industry, abandoned haciendas became grand derelicts until wealthy Mexicans began turning them into hotels in the early 1990s.

Replica guns seized from collector

Those radical Muslims won't need to fire a shot from their weapons when they can simply say "Boo!" and you'll run away from them and hide underneath your beds. You people today make the French look very brave. First of all, you Brits need to get some common sense by getting rid of these stupid laws. Criminals don't obey laws in the first place. After that, you had better be brave, just like your proud ancestors, and take back your country if you still want it to be known as England and not Anglistan. .

Isn't it time to start impeachment of Bush?

And the nation's defense bill must be vetoed so there will be no lawsuits against the Iraqi government.The reality is the emperor has no clothes but his advisers compliment him on his wardrobe. May we have an impeachment hearing now?Maureen UgoliniBloomington .

Text of President Bush's News Conference

The president constantly has to make sure that the executive branch is involved in the process, and one way is to _ is to use the veto. And the veto wouldn't have been effective without close coordination and consultation with Republican leaders in the House and the Senate. And in that we made the veto effective, it then meant that negotiations could proceed, with the President involved.

And so I really don't sit here and say, well, you know, he won, they lost, or they won, he lost _ it's just not my nature _ because I think what ended up happening was good for the country. I think it's good that we ended up with a spending bill that met 933, but also dealt with some emergencies. I think it's good that we funded our troops without an artificial timetable for withdrawal. I think it's good for the country that that happened.

January 2006

At least a half hour too long. Only one scene in which the audience sucked in its collective breath, according to the Berry Picker -- when Heath Ledger unbuckles his belt in the process of, ah, consummating his love for bent-over fellow sheepherder Jake Gyllenhaal. (But no one walked out.) Other than that, the BP said, it was decent acting and pretty scenery. And wouldn't have been a big deal at all if a man and a woman had been involved.

DFO: Sorry, Hoss, I'm not going to see it. Besides, I'd never hear the end of it from my brother-in-law, who is a bonafide bronco-busting cowboy from eastern Montana, not a celluloid wannabe hired hand like Ledger and Gyllenhaal. I'd rather remember Ledger in "A Knight's Tale" or portraying Mel Gibson's son in "The Patriot." Chick flicks are bad enough.