Lin Si, I listen with an open heart to you so please know that I have this dialogue with you with an open mind. You say, “China is a multi-nations country… . Tibet’s independence would cause chain reaction… if every nation breaks away from China, China would become the little country named Beijing.” During the Vietnam War, Americans were told that we were in Vietnam because if that country fell, communism would take over many other countries in the region. What you call “chain reaction,” they called the domino theory. My question to you is why do you assume that other countries would want their independence from China? From the other countries’ point of view, how would it benefit the other countries to have their independence from China? You say, “In Chinese people’s hearts, the democracy is to share everything with each other…” In a personal relationship if everything is shared with each other, usually no one walks away.

Jenny Oops, You said: “In my view, the problem is that this election has gone on much too long. We may have to pass a law ‘defining’ how long a presidential election should be allowed to run.” My question is: why can’t all the primaries be held on one day?

TOCTOC, I read your postings with great interest. You asked: “Why I wonder, when China is so large, is it necessary for her to insist without any dialogue or compromise to have as her very own possession Tibet and Taiwan?” It reminded me of a question I always asked of our country regarding the 1600’s (and beyond), when our settlers looked across the vast expanse of this great land and decided to extinguish the Native American Indians because “there is not enough.” Buying selling grabbing stealing fighting over real estate is and always has been about “there is not enough.”

Lin Si - Hopefully your young generation is less interested in American fast food than in your Chinese cuisine, one of the great cuisines of the world. I wrote a cookbook on the regional cuisine of China for Doubleday with Karen Lee who is a protégé of the late Madame Grace Zia Chu, one of the first teachers of Chinese cooking in America. The quickest way to the human heart is through the stomach. Chinese cuisine is very loved and honored in America. Maybe we should sit down together at the dining table.

Iris Odonata, I’m glad the wolf was having a good day because I have been informed that the entity that watches over me is a silver wolf. The psychic Sylvia Browne told me I had loved a silver wolf as my pet when I was a native American Indian, and I had brought into this life the silver wolf as my animal totem. I have no wolf proof of the wolf unknown but what I do know is that I am at this very moment being watched over by my two golden retrievers.

Lin Si and Jai Carney, What could be more important than to hear from you? What do Lin Si and Jai Carney think of America today? If the imprint of the history of our countries has created barriers, can we tear down the barriers between us? If the bottom line of all religions is to love one another, are we so far apart in our religious beliefs? If our cultural values are different, can we overcome the differences? Any extremism in our hearts can be combated with the simple truth that the highest rank of cultural identity is World Citizen. Let the dialogue begin. As long as there is dialogue there is hope.

Before the public gets all riled up about “elitism”, I think it might behoove us to ask what they mean by “elitism.” Many women on this site are distinctive with their superior intellect, dazzling personal ability, exceptional lifetime experience, and focused professional training. I submit that these women could be considered members of the elite and that their point of view of life carries weight. Being elite is not necessarily being bad. I am suspicious of anyone who tosses around any “ism”, because isms reek of resentment.

Iris Odonata, Give me a Zorba dance any day of the week. The 1964 movie touched my whole being: Anthony Quinn playing the jubilant Zorba, laughing and talking his way through the Zorba theme (Sirtaki) and dancing the Zorba dance to life. Two years later I was in the London Heathrow Airport. Anthony Quinn was traveling with an elegant woman who had a cat in a crate. Not that any of us was experiencing airport cheerful, but Mr. Quinn, his beautiful companion, and the cat seemed particularly perturbed. The cat was hungry, the woman was impatient, and Mr. Quinn was struggling to open a can of cat food. He failed. A stranger came to the rescue and the cat participated in the joy of eating. As to Anthony Quinn I don’t know what happened to his joie de vivre.

I am getting the uncomfortable feeling that “the benefits of gastric bypass surgery” sound less like long-tested science and more like spin. Merely being given anesthesia is serious so I hope that those who decide that they need this surgery will make it a last resort. In the meantime to all of them who feel unlovable and unattractive because of society’s Madison Avenue standard of desired weight, please know that I think you look great in all sizes.

Suzanne de Cornelia, Sometimes I wonder if my dry wit arrived when the wetness behind my ears departed. This site seems to attract women of a certain age whose forte is to mix wit with gravitas. One might call the combo Wowesque.

I love the idea of comments of the week. I would have missed Deni G. I already have Mugsy and Suzanne bookmarked. WowOWow, keep on truckin’.

The condom fell to the floor. The little dirty white West Highland terrier swallowed the condom. The next morning the condom came out the other end of the little dirty white West Highland terrier who said, “Oooh Sabina.”

If you are for Obama, Obama won. If you are for Hillary, Hillary won. If Hillary is the Democratic nominee, she will win the national election. If Obama is the Democratic nominee, he will lose the national election. The first African American president will be Cory Booker, currently Mayor of Newark, New Jersey. Booker is an alpha male, Yale lawyer, Rhodes scholar. Booker chose not to run this time, instead he is watching his friend Obama test the air. Sometimes a dummy is thrown out of the plane to test the direction of the wind. Obama is the wind dummy for Cory Booker.

Hi ya, Mugsy. Bookmarked your blog: you are now officially one of my favorites. Been busy finishing up a documentary on a woman who is gonna knock your socks off. Don’t ask. I’m more secretive than Woody Allen.

1. Attempting a literary genre that eludes you. 2. Holding oral sex up to censure. 3. A man assuming he knows how to bring improvement to a woman. 4. Sarcasm disguised as sincerity. 5. Using the weapon of wit when the weapon is so small. 6. Pretending to approve of WowoWow when actually wishing to attack 7. Trying to pass as Jonathan Swift when one is merely brad berger