Tit for tat, and so it goes.  You say something bad and I’ll top yours on some other known official that you may like and what’s the point?  People are human, they’re going to make mistakes or worse.

As Eleanor said, in "The Lion In Winter": "What family doesn’t have it’s ups and downs?"  I am curious who’s focusing their sights on Sarah Palin and her family.  I don’t think it’s "those crazy liberals and democrats".  Could it be a republican smear campaign to discredit Palin before she becomes a threat to someone else’s Presidential plans? 

Is there any of us who have a pristine family, untouched by any scandal or whispered rumor of wrong doing?  What’s wrong with us when we take delight in someone else’s misfortune.  Don’t waste your attention on it.  They have enough to deal with and attacking Obama or the Clinton’s isn’t worth a hill of beans.

Andrea,

I’m back in tornado country again, above the flood plains near a large body of water, facing a root canal later this month.  I have to keep counting my blessings and it really could be worse.  I like the fact that people can find humor after a disaster and of course that can’t include losing loved ones in something like that.  I remember sleeping through the La Prieta Earthquake and my husband telling me later, he didn’t want to waken me.  I hadn’t turned on the news or read the paper yet that morning when I called an elderly aunt in Riverside, telling her we would be up that weekend and she said,"how will you get here?"  I told her we were driving and she informed me about the earthquake then and the destroyed freeways and bridges.  I remember newscasts of the reaction to people at Candlestick Park at a game during an earthquake while people filed out of the park orderly, when a man raced by.  Someone yelled at him,"where are you going?" and he yelled back,"Kansas!"

Maurine,

I giggled, then I laughed out loud, as I read your post.  Only someone who’s been through the experience of an earthquake could appreciate your discription of forgetting about pain in moments like that.  Coming from a state of tornados to a state of earthquakes, I was an innocent until I lived through my first one, but you never forget the terror of having your sofa shimmy across the room with you on it, or watch a freeway buck and twist with cars on it skidding all over the place or crashing items dumping from shelves in a drugstore while you stand in shock like a deer blinded by the headlights, before you run.  Pain never crossed my mind during those times.

If the boot camp haircuts are still given to prison inmates (or do they do that anymore?), he wont look like George much longer.

Georgia,

That is helpful, when a responder states a posting moniker or name at the beginning of their reply, otherwise, I have to go back and re-read postings to see who they’re talking to.  Not a big problem of course and not  a major complaint either, just an observation.  I wonder if there’s a price limit on gifts given by our President to other countries?  I wonder who researches and suggests the gifts?  hummm.

To no one in particular:

I often just read the posts and say nothing, but frequently, I can’t tell who’s talking or responding to who (whom or whatever), but this topic did make me start wondering, if it were me, what kind of gift would I have given to someone who probably has everything she could possibly want. Something entertaining? Something unusual? Something rare that fits in with her taste, whatever that is.  I have heard she likes show tunes and Broadway.  An Ipod would not be something I would want, but who knows.  Someone must have researched the Queen’s likes and dislikes to have come up with this gift and as far as the silly mounted fish, who doesn’t like to laugh-I know I did when I first saw one of them and heard it singing.  So, what would you have given to the Queen of England?

As far as touching the Queen, looks like she was touching Michelle without any self conciousness.  I thought it was unusually sweet of the Queen, to be so personable, but then that’s just me.

If Sarah proves to be a really good Governor of Alaska, in the years between now and 2012 and buld her approval rating, she wont need McCain or Newt’s endorsement. 

I don’t think that’s quite the way Liz Smith worded her announcement, but it really doesn’t matter to me the way it was worded.  Sometimes, it’s a matter of choosing the lesser of two evils.  I think it was an opinion poll. You are welcome to Charles, if that pleases you.

Lars, 

Racial prejudice can be found in all races, but I don’t think that’s what won the Presidential Race for Obama-I think it was what he had to say, that moved people to vote for him.  I also think there are people just listening and watching, hoping to find some real or imagined fault to pounce on.  I think Dr. MLK would have been pleased at having the Obama family in the white house and the good they are trying to achieve.

personally, I think she should be next in line-she has seemed to have conducted herself with more dignity than Charles or his sons.  I know, boys will be boys and all that, so the younger males might be excused some of their public behaviour, but there is no excuse for Charles and his less than honorable actions as a husband or heir apparent.

C.T.,

I haven’t seen the thesis paper, but I agree with your assessment, based on what some of my black friends over the years have told me about their feelings when placed in situations with a group of white people, at work and in social gatherings.