Oh Elizabeth, not to worry. McCain is alive and well. You will be hearing from him in the days ahead of us. He isn’t in nearly as much trouble as you seemingly believe him to be in.

Well, what else can we expect from a woman who makes a career of prancing around in public in her underwear???

Two evenings ago..the end of a hot summer day. A family picnic at the club pool..playing in the water with my grandson and getting my water arobics excercise. Later just sitting around the picnic table with my youngest son, his wife, our grandson and my husband of 45 years..The warm evening fading into soft night…family chatting..delicious food and plenty of it. What a great place to live!! How blessed we are. There is a quiet serenity here as well as a deep joy and love. Im so thankful to be an American and live in a country where we have the opportunities for evenings like this one.

I agree with Bonnie. They have already clearly established that Congress cannot be trusted to keep their hands off Social Security Trust money. Its sitting full of government IOUs.

There is something to be said in favor of “My Two Cents” point of view. The public image of women in this country that is promoted on a lot of TV and in magazines and MTV is as simple minded sex objects whose function is to be exploited for sex and money. So long as this attitude prevails, the glass ceiling will remain in place. I hope we don’t, as women, support this exploitation of young women by men who couldn’t care less about our liberation. I see young girls, in their early teens, dressed very sexy and seemingly with approval of their mothers, on the way to school!!!!! What were they thinking???? The entertainment industry has promoted a very exploitable image of women and devalued their worth in our culture. Why, of course, is because it sells and they make money from it. It has nothing to do with being liberated, art or freedom despite what they say. There is still a mountain of work to be done before the glass ceiling is no longer in place. God help us all if the Muslims have their way about what women can and cannot do.

Solar energy is an up and coming source of energy. Our local power company has covered its large parking lot with huge solar panels which not only provides a lot of solar power but also makes for a somewhat sheltered parking lot for the automobiles people drive to work there. This is an idea that has proved workable, we have all the technology we need for immediate implementation, and it has that little added benefit of providing some shelter from weather for cars. Think of the benefits if all those big parking lots we see all over the place were required to have solar power panels covering the whole thing. The manufacture of, the installation of and the maintenence of those panels would provide a lot of jobs of different level skills which is also something that is needed. Imagine for example, the parking lot at Wal-Mart or Target or CostCo, covered with solar panels, it would provide all the enery those stores need plus proved lots more to go out on the grid, and a shady and well lighted place to park your car while you shop. Big shopping malls would be required to install solar panels which would be the main source of their electrical energy for lighting, cooling and heating. Las Vegas could light up the whole south end of Nevada with solar power. Another thing which had better start being thought about very seriously is pottable water. Long before we are in a critical place about energy, we will be up against the fact of a limited water supply. I think Atlanta has just been faced with that possibility as its main source of water is dropping rapidly. Im hoping that Hurricane Fay and maybe Gustov will drop enough rain to raise the level of that big lake that is their resevoir enough to easy their crisis. Southern California has allowed way over the top building and development but with no local sustainable source of water for all those new developments. So they are hoping to take the water from Northern California, but if they do, then the whole Delta system up here is depleted and destroyed and we now have a ban on salmon fishing because there are not many salmon left..Salmon depend on these rivers and streams that feed into the Delta.. Serious problems, worthy of very serious and careful thought and solutions.

I seriously doubt Hollywood hates anyone who makes as much money for them as Tom Cruise does. I also seriously doubt they love Tom Cruise because he is like a loose cannon and uncntrolable. When he doesn’t make money for them any more, they will dump him. I haven’t seen any of his films except Rain Man which I enjoyed.

I watched the TV interviews and thought Rick Warren did an excellent job of allowing each candidate to answer how ever he wanted to and each was given as much time as he needed. There was no “spin” on the questions or comments to that effect after each answered. Both were asked exactly the same questions phrased the very same way. I felt the questions were designed to give a better picture of each mans character and beliefs without preconcieved comments to affect the answer. Neither man had been told before hand exactly what the questions would be, so they had to speak extemporanously on those subjects. No prompter to look at, or crib notes to refer to. I wish there was more of this sort of public questions and answers and less of the awful negative advertising engaged in by both D and R. Rick Warren seems to be a man of integrity and wisdom. Too bad we don’t have more men like that.

My children graduated from school years ago but I have an 11 year old grandson still in the 5th grade. His school starts the next day after Labor Day and that seems to work well for families and children and teachers. I took a double major in college, one of which was Education with a focus on HS level education. One of the things I noticed about the kinds of problems kids were having was that often a childs family was unable to help them with their home work. So, I would like to see school hours extended and children going to a home room or study hall after regular classwork is over, where there are trained techers to help them with their home work. When a child finally goes home from school his school work is over and his evenings are the family time for child and parents. This would eliminate the heavy backpacks children carry books and homework material in that can be injurious to their backs. THere would be someone in the study hall who knows “new math” or English grammer, or science or whatever. Many children go home to parents who do not read or write English, have less than a HS education, and are already exhausted from a long, hard days work. One or all of those. If school started at 8:00AM and went to 3:00PM with study hall from 3:00PM to 5:00PM, then school is over. If a child finishes his homework sooner they could join in extra curicular activities on the playground or perhaps do music or art or sports of some kind. This is a much better use of our school buildings and grounds. And I think these hours would help many a working parent family where both parents have to work to make ends meet. Children need time wit h their parents in play or relaxed family activities. Starting school after Labor Day with a week off for Christmas and New Years and perhaps 2 or 3 days of Spring Vacation..And school would go year round with students and teachers opting for a 3 semester required or a 4 semester option available. In a rural America school used to get out for summer because children old enough to work in planting and harvesting were needed on the family farm. That pattern is no longer relevent to our culture. We need to adopt a pattern that works for the life we all live in this day and time.

Caroline Kennedy has lost her father, her mother and her brother..while there are still plenty of Kennedy clan to rally round as extended family, she may be wanting to have a life other than political. I think this country has asked plenty of that branch of the Kennedy family and that we ought not expect the only surviving member to step into a job she doesn’t want. If she has political ambitions, she can make the move to activate that. Anyone wanting to be President of the US has to be signing up for the toughest job in the world. If a woman already has a life she loves and is happy, why would she even want to take on a thankless job like being President?? I just would hate to see Caroline chewed up in that maw of political life..I always liked Diane Feinstein but she is looking very weary and a lot older these days..

I only use baby oil on my face and arms. Seems to do a great job. No problem with skin cancers yet.

Yes, definately Im more comfortable. After a serious illness during which I lost about 25 pounds, Im back to being a size I really like. Size 2!!!!

To Winery, yes I noticed the similarity between the rants here on this thread and the rants of the conservative side of things. Who thinks this is the level of dialog we should be having? To everyone: I had not realized this was a site devoted to only those that support Obama..I mistook it for a place where women of wisdom and good will could come together and understand one another, whether they supported Obama or not. Isn’t that what Obama has promised to do…bring us all together. ??? How will he ever do that if we allienate one another before he can even get started? If you truly support the Obama platform, then open your hearts and minds like he wants you to do. Follow your leader.. Walk your talk. Show a better and different way to be. He has said the change he wants to bring is everyone coming together. I didn’t understand him to mean coming together to just fight and quarrel and bicker and whine about the past. The past is OVER..get a grip…embody the ideals you want to see changed. Who knows, we may follow your example.

Chips Ahoey, Thanks for reading my comments. I didn’t say , or mean to imply that you should vote for McCain out of guilt. Voting out of guilt is the last thing I would suggest. I have no suggestions to you about who you should vote for, but I do think we all owe it to our country to carefully consider each candidate and what they say they stand for and would work to achieve. I didn’t think WOWS question was, “What snide comments do you have to make about John McCain?” but that seemed to be the tone of most of the comments. I thought it was a fair and reasonable question to those interested to indicate which person they though would be a good VP candidate.

What a disrespectful way to talk about a man who fought for your freedom and would have given his life so that your could say all these nasty things about him! Whether you recognize it or not, this man was out there fighting for you and our country when you were just snot nosed kids. Perhaps if you had sat in a prisoner of war camp for 5 long years and endured what he did, you would have had some problems to deal with in your life too. You don’t have to vote for him, but you should respect the things he did for you and the man himself. Being of his generation the context of what he was and what he did means something different to me than to younger generations. Many of us lost men we loved in those wars just like what is happening now with grandsons…If a man is willing to lay his life down for you, so that you have the freedom we enjoy in this country, we should honor that willingness and be grateful to them. We don’t have to agree with everything they say and do, but we have to be respectful to them. Quote “Greater love hath no man than if he lay down his life for you” I listened to Rick Warren interview each candidate and thought they both came off quite well. The difference in their styles and way of approaching issues was quite obvious. Mr. Obama gave an impression of thoughtful consideration of all sides of an issue, like a Professor at University, which he was. He is not a highly skilled extemporous speaker so seemed less decisive and certain of where he would come down on a final issue. Mr. McCain was like the fighter pilot he was trained to be..quick and certain what he would do. No evidence of Altzhimers in his answers. He thought fast on his feet and his answers showed a good comprehension of the issues. They stand for different approaches to the problems we face but both have ideas of how to approach and solve those problems. Both have and showed a sense of humor. Both men are thoughtful. I think either man would make a good President but they have very different styles of leadership. Rick Warren asked each man to name 3 people they would go to for advise if they were elected President. Obama said he would go to his wife, his grandmother, Ted Kennedy and Sam Nunn. These have been influential people in his life and he trusts their judgement. McCain said he would ask General Petrarus in matters of military, Mr. Lewis, a black activist in matters of domestic issues like education and poverty, etc. and the women who is the CEO of EBay in matters of economics. He felt these people have a high level of knowledge in their field and he would respect their opinion. I think each man intrepretated the question somewhat differently and that colored their answers. Finally to the question this thread asked..I like Mitt Romney myself. He has the financial background to bring a depth of understanding to economic issues. And I think he would be a good President himself.