Thanks, Kip. I applaud all three statements. Re: the hacking, I am amazed at the naivety of some posters. Anything sent via the internet must be considered open to public scrutiny. FOREVER! Anything sent by “regular Hockey Moms” like us, that is. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I don’t have ready access to many encryption software packages. Internet words and images are responsible for people losing jobs, not getting jobs in the first place, losing their crowns, etc. with increasing frequency. The hackers are good … and getting better all the time. The legality of the matter is fairly moot, after the chat is out of the bag. We have to consider ourselves to be naked to the world with everything we write, every image we share, and every site we visit.

Julia, Julia - Thank you for the Craig Ferguson clip. But are you still standing behind a woman who decided that Wasilla victims of rape should be charged $300 to $1200 for the rape kits necessary to potentially prove their rapists guilty in court? Yup. 1999. HER police chief submitted the budget with the acknowledged change and she signed off on it. And former Clinton supporters are supposed to rally behind her because she’s a woman?? Well, I’m sooo glad she found the money to build a hockey arena. A town’s gotta have priorities, after all. And since Alaska leads the nation in “violent rapes” (a term I find ridiculously redundant) I’m sure they made a lot of money. Be afraid. Be very afraid.

Personally, I am trying to remain calm until the Palin Bubble bursts. Maybe Joe Biden can do it in a debate. Maybe Senator Clinton will be successful in deconstructing the half-truths about her credentials and the devastating effect she could have on our country. I keep hoping the most bitter of the Clinton supporters will vote for the candidate with a brain, not just a uterus. My fear is that Rove & Co. will be able to keep the facade of success and ability (the wizard’s curtain) in place for more than 52 days. Well, I’ve enclosed a link that might shed some light on the mythical “overwhelming support” she has in Alaska (the state which leads the nation in cases of chlamydia, rape and violent crime). Read, learn and forward: http://mudflats.wordpress.com/2008/09/14/alaska-women-reject-palin-rally…

Congratulations! Happy Birthday …Celebrate Large! You’ve always simply oozed elegance. Yeah, World! THIS is what 84 looks like!

This thread is almost two weeks old, and I am still waiting for “a woman of substance” to materialize on the Republican ticket. Nope. It ain’t Sarah! I can’t applaud yet. I can only choose to not vote for John McCain on November 4 because of the party’s choice of his running mate, a conservative Christian NRA member (who ignores documented scientific facts when it suits her), just because she has a uterus. I only see a relatively attractive woman who has demonstrated a Slash and Burn policy once she has been elected to office, ignoring all who have not sworn allegiance to her agendas. And we’re in deep doo doo after having 8 years of Storm Troopers in the White House. She was chosen for the ticket to bring in the votes of those conservatives who were unhappy with John McCain as the candidate for the Presidency, and former Clinton supporters who don’t look beyond the uterus thing to consider views, positions, philosophy or true, substantive background. If only she had said, “Thanks, but no thanks … yada yada yada!”

I’m old. I remember an election where I wore an “I Like Ike” button. Political campaigns have very little to do with governance. But we all have a responsibility to make a decision on who is going to guide our country for the next 4 years. I once said I was an Independent, but a bunch of politicos hijacked that term. Now I am “middle of the road”. Hmmm. Me and a lot of squished roadkill. Nonetheless: Re: Sarah Palin … she scares me. In that iddy biddy Charlie Gibson interview, she stated unswervingly that she “didn’t blink” when she was asked to share the ticket. And that’s a great part of her qualifying experience? She’s “wired” to act instantly, not blinking. I want the person who is only one heartbeat away from the Presidency to take time, precious time to “blink”. And to think. And a vote for McCain, at his age and with his physical and mental health issues, could put his running mate in The Big Chair. To “never second guess” Israel? To solve the problem with Social Security by merely “finding efficiencies” ? She scares me. This is the world stage, not Wasilla. She has been coached by the RNC handlers to use the Bully Pulpit well. (Yes, Karl Rove is alive and well even as the Current Occupant is on his way out.) But I just see a Bully. A tremendously ill-equipped Bully. She scares me. But the people who would vote for her without examining her track record scare me more.