“Fiercely loyal to the Bush Administration?” And, she states she’s concerned about “justrice?” The mind boggles. Maybe this person has seen the unemployment numbers for the rest of the country and can’t face the possibility of unemployment in these troubling economic times.

Well, it looks like all of the ladies have already said what needed to be said. It’s obvioius that her ex is immature and lives in a fantasy world! Is he rich enough to keep attracting younger, curvacious women?If not, he’ll be alone and not too soon!

Thanks to all who could hear me. Sympathy doesn’t keep out of homeless shelters or fix the bridges that are collapsing. John, I guess it’s okay with you that the government hasd laready given $700 B of our tax dollars to corporate America and the economy continues to slide? Why is it okay for these sums of money be given to many institutions that engaged in questionable investments and yet, your tax dollar is sacred and has to be kept away from individuals that need help just to keep a roof over the head and with the job losses that are occuring being able to feed their children, much less themselves. As taxpayers we have supported corporate welfare for decades and yet we don’t have a problem setting up rules for individuals who need welfare just to keep on living. There’s something amiss with this kind of judgement. If we treated the individuals in our society like we treat big business, crime would be at an all time low and I bet corpoarte America would still post annual profits. The bell jar is upside down, but for far too many people it’s okay for that bell not to ring.

Hmmmm. It is interesting to read comments from people who feel that they are somehow immune from the current economic conditions in this country simply because they are able to continue to pay their mortgages. Somehow, these people easily fall asleep every night, with their self-rightousness, and feel that all is well in the world. The reality is quite different. Yes, people signed loan documents to buy or refinance their homes because they felt that the future would functions much like the past; the economy would continue to expand, they’d be able to keep their jobs and when their new mortgages “reset” (meaning their monthly payments would increase substanstially) that they would either be able to re-finance or to sell their homes. Well, what the self-righteous either don’t or care to know is that deregulation allowed home owners and purchasers to be gamed by a system that was out to only make money on their backs. Think about the lead-up to the war in Iraq…we were all lied to about WMD’s and at least 30% of Americans still believe that Saddam Hussein had close ties to 9/11 and Osama Bin Laden. Wake-up Americans! Your self-righteous, purtian ethics is only going to doom you right along with the people that are economically drowning in this country. It’s nice to know that a lot of people are still doing well in this economy but how long will that last if things don’t turn around? Small businesses are failing at a record rate. Everyday tens of thousands of people are losing their jobs because this so-called recession is fast becoming a world economic calamity. This isn’t just another economic down-turn. It’s about time that everyday Americans realize that the fox, Wall Street, White House gamesman, the lobbyyists, credit card cpompanies, the banks and insurance companies, have been on a feeding feast for a long, long time and we are left to clean-up the mess. Being hard hearted towards families that wanted the American Dream…a dream that was pushed by Bush and Co. and now blame them for participating in agme that was set-up against in the first play is cruel and irrational. There is a major difference between home owners and speculators and many speculators are honest people trying to make a buck. If the current or in-coming public servants wanted to assist and sten the tide of foreclosures, it could be done. Number one, housing values always, always recover. It may take ten years at a minimum for the industry to recover but ten years isn’t an eternity. Short term profit at any cost was the mantra of the 1980’s that started this economic mess along with Ronald Reagan starting the train wreck of deregulation. Money needed to salvage people’s mortgages needn’t be handed to the consumer. Obviously each homeowner’s situation is different and each “bail-out” should address individual needs. If an initial mortgage payment of $2,000 for 12 months or 24 was agreed to by the lender, then that payment should be extended for a minimum of five years. If a borrower is grossly behind in their payments, then the arears should be caught up, a payment that can be paid determined and an agreement where the US government shares in the future equity of the property. Occupied homes will maintain and re-grow value quicker than empty ones that are typically vandalized.. There are answers if only people would take off their blinders off and stop blaming people because they are in a better place, economically. Greed by the guys at the top that has also shaken the economies arounf the world are the real culprits, not your neighbor trying to get a leg up. We need to stop being so unforgiving. People make mistakes and because we are human we should also have the capacity to have compassion for the millions of people, many with children, who have lost or are losing their homes and are now living on the streets. Look at how the government has addressed the problems of the people in Galveston, much less the victims of Katrina. The government in this country is and has been broken. And remember, this is a cautionary insight…desperate people do desperate thing. John, you might avail yourself to read about the number of tent cities that have sprung up all over America and the increasing number of suicides. People need help, not condemnation.

In a word - graduation!

The bottom line is, that the Bush administration when through great effort to “create” the case for WMD’s in Iraq. The intelloigence was flawed because a group of men, a rogue group that operated under Cheney decided that their intelligence should be presented to the UN, Congress and the American people. This group used Colin Powell for their purposes and none of these people will ever be held responsible. So, if the issue is whether or not Rice supported the invasion of Iraq, the real question becomes, why is the MSM, who didn’t do their job at that time, going after people who believed what the White House and the “intelligence community” wanted them to believe? Give me a break. Sometimes I think that some people just don’t want to think their way out of a brown paper bag!

Well, like Ms. Bergen I am flying, but we differ in that I decide to “show off” and fly a bit higher and lose control and begin a terrifying descent. I always wake-up before I hit the ground, but just barely.

It is interesting that some people see Michele Obama as angry? I wonder if any of those “republicans” ever considered the fact that the woman had a right to be angry, simply because she’s being judged by people who don’t know her? Truthfully, I would wager that these people really wouldn’t choose to know her despite the fact that she is grounded, a caring and giving mother, well educated and has worked her way to the top of her field. Angry? I don’t think so. I think Mrs. Obama is a woman who chose to lover her man enough to support him in his dream even though hsi dream threatened her sense of basic security. How many women, whatever their political leanings can honestly say that they have supported the men that they love even if that support threatened them? Few, I’d bet. We still have a long way to go in race relations. We, that is, a lot of us still judge one another based on the color of one’s skin, the dress size of a woman, or whether the person we’re talking to has perfect teeth. How do we get down to the essence of the person in front of us if we can’t put aside their physical attributes?

Well…you didn’t specify if it was 3:00 AM or 3:00 PM…But to be honest for both times I will be cooking. T-Day dinner is an all night and most of the day affair for me. Tradition. My grandmother taught my mom and my mom taught me. May everyone be blessed during this season of Thanksgiving and may all problems be put aside for just this one day.

We continue to continue because that’s all that we can do. I didn’t lose a loved one to cancer ut my thrity-two year old healthy son recently died. My friends tell me that I am in shock. My body hasn’t adjusted to his loss since I am unable to sleep without the aassistance of ambien although I am exhausted all day everyday. I continue to continue because that’s all there is left for me to do.

I feel blessed to live on the west coast. We haven’t had to read about Ann Coulter or her so-called musings for almost a year. And then suddenly she’s back and with a new book criticizing the hand that feeds her, the media and the newly elected president. Coulter and the other rabble-rousers from the far right need to take a long look at what they’ve contributed to increase and fertilize the wide divide that exists between Americans. Ann Coulter is an extreme example of a “mean girl” all grown-up. It’s too bad that people buy her books and support her, intractible, vile attitude.

Ah…yes! I am claustrophobic to begin with and I can talk myself into not panicing if I manange to have a window seat. On cross country flights I try to avoid having to go to the restroom. When line of people are in the aisles, it’s almost impossible for me not to go screaming and pushing my way through the throng of people. Jumbo jets with more than 300 passengers really freak me out!

My mother insisted that I attend private school until I graduated from high school. She had been appalled by the conduct of the students at the pubkic shcools that we visited. That was over fifty-four years ago. I swore that I would never send my children to private school. My two oldest managed to survive a public school education but when my youngest was heading off to high school, I decided that her needs would be better met by attending a private high school. She recently graduated from Vassar College, Phi Beta Kappa with Distinction, and a host of other academic achievements. Could she have fared as well with a public education? It’s possible, but the differences that exist between most private and public institutions are often vast. Things like state-of-the-art labs and teachers for the sciences much less the classes in art and music that are offered in orivate schools and have all but disappeared in most public institutions. My daughter’s classes at Vassar were always taught by professors with PhD’s and not by graduate student’s or T/A’s, a common practice at west coast state colleges and universities. I can’t speak for all students, but in my daughter’s case, a private school education has benefited her enormously.

First of all, I think that Georgia has a tendency to go overboard on teenaged “sex-offenders.” I can’t believe that a 17 year old, whether male or female, was tried for a sex offense in the first place. I am uncertain to what Georgia’s “age of consent ” law is, but the laws for consenual sex between teens should not be judged the same, nor the punishment for those so-called crimes, as those laws that currently exists for adults and teens who have committed forced, sexual misconduct. It’s a pity that the justice system in some parts of the country have adopted the same mentality that school administrators use - that is, the “zero tolerance mentality.” It is clear that one set of laws cannot possibly address every circumstance. We live most of our lives in the grey areas rather than those distinctly clear areas of black and white. It’s time to stop living by using our fears as the touchstone for logic and reasoning.

I am one of the members who will not read Laura Bush’s upcoming book. I have been married to the same man for forty-two years and it is difficult to separate us on ideology or issues of morality, or for that matter immorality. I don’t know Laura Bush personally, and I would have never been invited to the White House, because my political views are far too liberal. Regardless of how “liberal” one may or may not be, it is impossible not to judge Mrs. Bush by the actions of her husband, even if she was Mother Theresa. Part of the problem that we face as women, that is, being accepted as effective political beings, is that fact that we, as a group, still judge women with a different set of rules than we use to judge men. If Laura Bush had been president and George Bush had been her mate (read First Dude), many, many women would have demanded that “the kind and gracious First Dude divorce the most hated woman on the face of the earth.” You doubt the veracity of my words? Then think back to just a few short years ago to the saga of Bill and Hillary Clinton. How many women demanded that Hillary divoce Bill because of his infidelity? It is often true that if a person continues to live with a monster, then just by staying in that relationship could also be judged as tacit acceptance of the behavior of the monster. Think of a woman who maintains her relationship with a known child molester. She might be a very nice person, but her continued relationship with a known child molester taints any credibility the woman may have had. As a free woman, Laura Bush has the right to leave, and yet she has chosen to stay.