I vote for Bob Graham: former governor of Florida, former presidential candidate, foreign policy expert, about McCain’s age, and he’s never lost an election he was a candidate in. McCain MUST take Florida to win; Bob Graham is more popular than Jeb, the emperor’s brother.

Christianity has two huge problems: worshiping Jesus as “God in a man-suit” and defining God in exclusively masculine terms. I decided several years ago that I follow Yeshua bar Maryam, the real, historical human being with the inspiring message usually called “Jesus,” but I do NOT follow the mythic demigod created and worshiped by Paul of Tarsus. According to the Christian Testament, Yeshua inspired thousands of followers without ever once saying “I am God in a man-suit; worship me.” (Quite the opposite, if you believe Mark 1018.) // Meanwhile, the Bible, uniquely among ancient scriptures, says TWICE that God created women in God’s image; yet Christianity insists that God is exclusively Father, Son, and “the Lord, the giver of life” and did NOT create women in “his” image. Pshaw! My favorite Bobby McFerrin song, Psalm 23, worships the Mother, the Daughter, and the Lady. Show me a Christian church that does the same, and we’ll talk — but I’ll still follow Yeshua and NOT Paul.

I would be a Slayer, the scion of Buffy Summers, the Vampire Slayer who capped her career with a magic spell to turn any girl in the world into a Slayer who lived with independence, courage, and gaiety in the face of adversity. GOD, how I wish I’d had Buffy as a role model when I was a girl!

First, I believe holding the Olympic Games in Beijing is a mistake if one believes in what the Olympics allegedly stand for — humanism, justice, peace, and individual freedom, for example. None of which is an ideal of the Chinese government. However, let us not forget that George Bush is financing his vanity war, not to mention the occupation of Afghanistan, by borrowing hundreds of billions of dollars from China and Saudi Arabia. If China were even to WHISPER that they MIGHT, SOMEDAY, not want to lend the U.S. any more money … well, the Great Depression would seem like a picnic compared to what would happen if China decided to demand payment of the hundreds of billions the U.S. owes. Bush is dodging responsibility for his reckless borrowing by saying he’ll attend the Games as an individual fan, not as leader of the free world. It stinks!

It has been said that democracy is the worst system in the world — EXCEPT for all the others. I think the 2008 election is far from over, because whichever Democratic candidate runs against “Bush 3,” he or she will be the worst candidate in the world — EXCEPT for his/her opponent. To take just one example: George W. Bush will have single-handedly doubled the national debt, to a staggering ten TRILLION dollars. John McCain proposes to (1) make the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy permanent, at a cost to the nation of $300 billion a year; (2) abolish the alternative minimum tax, costing the nation $200 billion a year; and (3) slash the corporate tax rate by 29 percent, costing the nation a minimum of $950 billion a year. McCain also proposes to stay in Iraq for 100 to 10,000 years. Thus, while Bush’s TRUE annual deficit is roughly $750 billion a year, McCain is proposing a deficit of $1,900 billion a year. In 2012, or national debt would be $17 TRILLION. Do we need four more years of this kind of “fiscal responsibility”? Whichever Democrat gets the nomination is proposing adding roughly $80 billion to the deficit — NOT $1,900 billion.

Definitely, tell Bart they need to talk. Contacting the old BF is just evading the issue, not to mention playing by her dirtbag husband’s rules. She needs to find out WHY Bart is being such a Richard-head, and then proceed from there.

Dear Elle: I’ve read my rising sign for years, INSTEAD of my sun sign. But I always thought the rising sign depends on the time of day you were born. For example, I’m a Scorpio sun, Cancer moon, and VERY late Sagittarius rising, so I read the Capricorn horoscope. Have I been doing it wrong all these years?

If you confront him, he’ll just lie about it. Poison is way too “over the top,” especially if there’s some innocent explanation. (Highly unlikely, I know.) I’d spend the night doing as Abby and Ann always advise — thinking about whether I’m better off with him or without him. And I’d probably invest a few hours thinking of a way to let him know I know he’s cheating. Perhaps a sophisticated version of, “Why don’t you invite your girlfriend to Terry’s party next Saturday, so I can meet her?”

The correct form of the verb is “affecting,” NOT “effecting.” Other than that, brilliant!

In the photo, she looks as if she’s been crying, and she looks the way my sister looked when she was on chemo. I’d definitely agree about the colloid injections. But mostly she looks deeply, deeply unhappy, poor thing.

Addie’s very funny, but how will women vote if Obama gets the Democratic nomination and McCain selects Kay Bailey Hutchison as his running mate?

Using which criteria? I loved my father more. I admired him more. I wanted to be like him more. But the older I get, the more I realize that in many crucial ways, I AM my mother. When my husband is sick in bed, I “channel” my mother — she talks out of my mouth. Everything I believe about the human obligation to be kind and generous, I owe to Mom.

I was a staunch Hillary supporter until it became clear that she will do or say anything to win the nomination, including win the nomination but lose in November. By 2009, George W. Bush will have increased the national debt to $10 TRillion. Including the costs for the wars, his 2009 deficit will be well over $700 billion. John McCain proposes spending that will add at least $200 billion a year to that deficit, offset by about 5 percent by cuts to federal programs benefiting the poor, the sick, the elderly, and children. We can’t AFFORD another “Replutocrat” president — and Hillary would rather see McCain in the White House than a man who agrees with her on 99 percent of all issues!

I’ve read several articles and editorials recently in which the term “moral hazard” is flung around, with each writer explaining that this is like diplomats driving around the District of Columbia: they know no matter how many tickets they get, the government is powerless to impose any actual punishment, so they commit whatever traffic offenses they feel like. But it seems to me that the actual moral hazard came a long time ago, when individuals, often from the less-educated of our society, trusted the promises made to them by financial institutions. “Sure, it’s an adjustable rate mortgage, but you can afford $1,000 a month today. Ignore the fact that a year from today you might easily owe $5,000 a month.” The rapacity is stunning! Meanwhile, what do you advise individual investors to do until the housing market settles?

Why should a bride limit herself to white? Remember the gorgeous green dress Elizabeth Taylor wore in “The Taming of the Shrew”? White is a difficult color for many brides’ skin tones. It supposedly signifies the bride is a virgin, and frankly, I don’t think speculating about a bride’s sex life ought to be encouraged. I think Miss Manners’s daughter ought to choose or have made for herself a dress that makes her feel beautiful, and the heck with what the bridal magazines and “shoppes” are pushing.