This entire Christian Right thing was invented & funded by the Republican party as a way to get a bloc of middle & lower middle class votes for them in any election. The Repub party leaders saw that it was getting increasingly difficult to get those making less than $250,000/yr to vote for them. So they passed out a questionaire to see what subjects middle & lower middle class voters felt the MOST strongly about. The results were gays, abortion, etc—so they incorporated these issues into their party platform. BAM! Suddenly, they had a solid bloc of voters who will vote Republican & against their own best interests, in every election. It’s sad that good people are used & manipulated by the unscrupulous this way. I, myself, believe abortion is wrong but making it illegal does not save one baby. We need to focus on WHY women choose abortion—financial & care issues. We need far more support for mothers & fathers too, like affordable & quality daycare, 3 month paid leave from work after a baby (like other countries in Europe have had for a very long time!) universal health care—free & quality classes in mothering, nurturing, discipline & such, so mothers are not stressed out because they don’t know how to handle their children & the kids drive then nuts. Taking that punitive, authoritarian approach of making it a crime is stupid—it saves not one baby because everyone who wants an abortion still will get one—it just makes poor women go to butchers & makes poor women criminals —the rich have always just flown out of the country & gotten what they want

Pelosi is & has been a spectacular failure as speaker of the House—she’s a closet-Republican who’s performance Obama had to overcome to win election because citizens hate what she’s done—especially her infamous line, “Impeachment is off the table”. She single handedly has let 2 of the biggest criminals in our history off the hook with THAT garbage. Remember, the Republicans were so petty they impeached Clinton for an affair he lied about—knowing it didn’t hurt America one bit. It was entirely a partison stunt. But here’s Pelosi, when we really do need to impeach the criminal gang running the nation—and for which our Constitution provides—and she says it’s off the table Cindy Sheehan made a fool out of Pelosi—running against her in San Francisco. Pelosi was afraid of Sheehan & refused to debate her, saying “her time was compressed”! Imagine, running for office & refusing to debate! I understand Sheehan would have won per the exit polls—but somehow Pelosi did—even though people said they voted for Sheehan. Same deal in Alaska—election irregularities that allow Repubs to win senatorial races—when exit polls say the Dems won by far.

Just like Monica Lewinsky before her, Palin appeared on Saturday nite live with the idea that “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em”. It only furthered her image as a cartoon character—it was demeaning. It’s true Hillary went on Sat nite live & made fun of herself too—but Hillary’s a proven commodity, smart & knowlegeable. She’s was not being called “caribou barbie”, bimbo, too dumb to be president etc at the time & she didn’t have anything to prove. Thanks for picking her as your VP, McCain. Shows all the “good judgement” we can expect from you when in office. When you told reporters that “no VP would be running YOUR presidency”— like Cheney does Bush—you really meant it!

I see you edited my comment, that had no bad words etc, Why comment on here if you dizzy dames won’t print REAL opinion but just the pablum? Answer me.

When asked what changes, both positive & negative, he has seen over the yrs—Brokaw forgets to mention the fact that there is NO REAL OBJECTIVE NEWS anymore—just corporate ads pretending to be news. It’s a disgrace that old timers like he & Barabara Walters continue to remain mum on this HUGE problem! I guess he still has more books to sell, In which he claims baby boomers are “the greatest generation! Why? They had it good. Back when everything was black & white, wars were really righteous—not a mess like Vietnam & Iraq—how many men would have gone to war back then & risked their life when they know darn well before they went that the war is bull to begin with, like they know now??? EH, BROKAW? NOW THAT’S BRAVERY & DUTY BOY! It was easy to go to war when you “knew” it was to save democracy. Much harder when you know its bull. A college education was free in many states for the baby boomers., You could buy a house for $20,000, raise your kids in it & then it was worth $100,000. Plus you got 5 1/2 or 6 1/2% interest on your “passbook” savings back then. Now you’re stupid to save because interest is less than 1% & with high inflation, you’re losing money when you save. Anyway, If these old time journalists had integrity, they would speak out about the sad state of the so-called “news” today. The organizations that journalists belong to need to take a stand & say something too. Democracy can’t exist when we’re being fed corporate ads & not told news we really need to know.

I’d like to tell wowowow—do not allow men on here. Can’t we have ONE place of our own without their big mouths? If we want to listen to men we can chat with our husbands & boyfriends. I don’t want men to take over on here—whoops—it seems they already have.

Whoopie, if you see this, know that I like you. I appreciate that you try to bring us together despite all the Rep vs Dem, us vs them, black vs white thing going on. And I like a lot of your movies. I’ll admit I was very disappointed when Rosie left & not all that excited about you taking her place, not because I don’t like you but because the airwaves & democracy needed her. She was a little too strident, but passionate. I realize Rosie probably couldn’t take it anymore. I can’t fault her for that. She tried her best. As you know rich people own the media. Not many rich people are Democrats—(except in Hollywood!). So, we’re bombarded with the Republican “view” each & every day. On the news, on radio & in print—not just tv. We NEED someone who is up to speed on the progressive side to give us a voice in media. And THAT, Whoopie, is why your very nice “let’s all get along & be fair” attitude does not cut it for me on that show. We almost never hear the progressive side & our country has gone so far downhill because the real other side is never heard. I’m not even political but things are so bad—we MUST as citizens get involved & educate ourselves. That means independent news—NOT mainstream media. When they prepare you for the show—they hand you weak arguments. If you spend the time to educate yourself—you’ll have strong arguments! You’ll win people over with your common sense. Think about it.

I was watching the view when this O’Reilly bully came on to push his new book yesterday. He kept the girls off balance by constantly interupting them—with his little jokes & with quick little humorous attacks, especially on Joy to disarm her—so they frequently forgot what they were going to ask or were laughing. He berated Joy for “being so serious” while on an “entertainment show like the view” over & over so she couldn’t go for his jugular (as if his own dumb hate-filled show isn’t pure entertainment but some kind of serious political discussion!) Everything he said was aimed at eating up the time & throwing them off kilter—so they had less ability to grill him. He owned them. His entire so-called “show” is him bullying people on tv while cutting the “guest” off so they can’t get an answer out. He sits in a studio spouting all kinds of hate filled garbage & accusing people of things—while he, himself, NEVER faces the music! His entire “career” is simply bullying people & spreading hate—while never having to answer for it! This was the girls chance to get him & they blew it. I can’t understand why Whoopi & especially Joy-don’t come prepared to answer that hare brained Elisabeth! There are so many things they could say to her that are true—when she starts her drivel defending Republicans & Bush. They aggravate me no end because they let her get away with so much phony stuff & never call her on it! They don’t prepare very well. It’s obvious that Elisabeth is not credible because she NEVER—as even Barbara pointed out—concedes ANYTHING! All these years, we are supposed to believe that a bright woman like Elisabeth has NEVER disliked nor disapproved of ANYTHING that Republicans have done? Was she in a cave? Naw. She’s not credible.

Powell helped lie us into war in Iraq—who can forget his famous UN speech? I know Gen Powell is not now & was not ever, dumb enough to believe that trumped up phony info he gave in his UN speech as a reason to go to war. Gen Powell’s son further ripped us off as head of the FCC, by pushing for even more media consolidation than we already have & more. He only got that job because he’s Powell’s son. I resent Gen Powell. He needs to be punished for his shameful part in the warmongering & lies told to this nation as his part in the Bush Administratio’s lies. It was treason. He said he “regrets”it. HA!! “Regrets” it!?? You need to go to jail, pal. You were Sec of State man! You betrayed us! I believe he only came out at at this late date because it now appears that Obama willl win & he wants a cabinet position. Shame on you, Powell.

Paul Krugman pointed out that if you make lots of loans to people who you know can’t pay them back, pass laws that let banks both make loans AND invest (take risk) at the same time & pass laws that separate risk from the responsibility for the risk, all the while not prosecuting any of these players for fraud—it will eventually cause a financial crisis that goes around the world (except it doesn’t affect Islamic banks who use common sense when they invest & don’t buy the bad investments). This is hardly genius. They gave him the Nobel Prize to make a point about the US single-handedly causing this world wide crisis. It’s a very good point which is lost on most here in the US. As far as Clinton & Bush working together—rather than travel around the world together on a vacation—if this new unholy alliance were really serious about doing something to help people’s health they’d get big biz to cough up some money (perhaps oil companies & their record breaking billions in profit) (or wall street with THEIR record breaking billion in profit)—or donate some of their own. Little kids sell lemonade to raise money for good causes because they don’t have any money of their own to give. Not so with richie rich Clinton & Bush.

Men are afraid of women over 50 because they know women have caught on to their game by then & have a full & broad perspective of what has been going down. It’s still a man’s world—meaning men collude against women—yes, they actually do, even the nice men do it—double standard,keeping women from being promoted,less pay,barefoot & pregnant,in charge of housework & menial things,demeaning pornography etc—& women still get the shaft in all ares of life. They’re unwilling to face the music. You can all say I’m wrong & I hate men etc. but I don’t hate men & I’m not wrong. I’m just realistic. Women do all the hard stuff in life while men get all the fun. I could go into it all but you already know what that is.

My usual reason to wake at 4 am is a bathroom run, followed by snoring of my husband who I nudge & softly tell to turn over. Then next is odd sounds—like a thud or a child coughing. But I never wake up at night with worries. If I have an upsetting situation going on in my life, I can’t get to sleep until I think it over & over in my mind. But I never wake up with worries. On rare occasions, I awake from one of those vivid, riveting, feels-like-real-dreams. They aren’t like the dreams on “Medium”. They always have a personal meaning which gives me an ‘aha’ moment about some aspect of my life, or else they’re just really good sexual fantasies. Aren’t you sorry you asked now?

I remember the night Diana’s car accident was reported. I was at work, & I recall the feeling that something about it was not right. I still believe that. The Royals were so jealous of Diana & her popularity, plus they did not want the future king of England to have Egyptian half brothers. I believe the Royals did this to her & always will. They didn’t even hold the inquest until—what? 9 yrs later? Puh-lease…Why those boys of hers allow Camilla to even SIT in the same room with them is abhorrent to me, much less actually welcoming her. Camilla is a home-wrecking shrew who made their mother’s life miserable. Camilla deserves nothing but ridicule as does Prince Charles.

Yet another sleazy politician is not news. I don’t care why he did it, let the family he disrespected ponder that one. I have come to the conclusion that men, underneath the thin veil of civility & chivalry, really, really don’t respect nor like women. They play a good game of hiding it most of the time, but there are moments when they show their true colors without saying a word. It’s a very sad fact until you adjust to it.

Diane has been one of my very personal heroes all my life!—along with Katherine Hepburn & Natalie Wood. She’s beautiful, has style, talent, & grace—plus good business sense. I saved & bought myself one of her wrap dresses back in the day & I always felt good in it, got compliments, & it was comfortable & easy care. I admire her confidence & her qualities so much. Thanks for being you, Diane….what an inspiration.