Thank you so much, Ms. Lutz, for not concealing your outrage, nor your straightforward assessment of this crisis. If we feel helpless, think how the Burmese people must feel. Mother Nature is certainly dishing up some monstrously destructive events. I don’t see how another war can save us. Some enormously constructive effort is probably our planet’s best hope, and certainly the only hope of these poor people. Good news, Frank!

Oh, never mind, Edith. I just love your mind.

Wonderful video! Mother Nature certainly can give us many eye-openers. It’s more than just the power-in-numbers aspect that impresses me. I’m amazed the the entire herd of buffalo took the initiative to save one young life. As a nation, I think we’re all too willing to look the other way when other people’s kids are in danger. Or after they’ve followed their parents into the danger zone, we employ “tough love” when the hammer comes down on them.

Sheila, thank goodness for this machine. We touch each other with words. My youngest son, when he was barely speaking, used to tell me stories about “The Star River” where he honestly believed he’d “lived with God” before he “came through your tummy.” He said, in the Star River, “Nobody really talks, but they know what each other’s thinking.” It’s kinda like that here at wowOwow. Ir’s a true pleasure being touched by you in this way.

Brava! Mugsilicious one.

Jenny Oops…your P.S. is unnecessary. Beautiful poem. I think many mothers see the best of manhood in our sons. I can’t imagine the challenges facing you and your son, but wow, I applaud your courage.

Laughing out loud! Thanks, Lisa. And Laverne, there’s no question in my mind that Hillary Clinton is a hard-working American woman. Congenial or cranky, as circumstances merit, she’s a worker. I don’t know enough about either party’s financial commitment to any candidate’s primary campaign, at either the state or federal level; but beyond this, it would seem that any legal attempt to secure payment would eventually end up at Hillary Clinton’s doorstep. But who knows? Could end up on the heads of local campaign headquarters, for all I know. Depends, I guess, on the point from which the funds were to be dispersed. I’ve heard it’s financially savvy to use other people’s money to pay your bills, so who knows.

I’m with you, Deni. Loved your ERA post yesterday. Why aren’t the candidates talking about that? Is it on anybody’s agenda?

Beautiful, Sheila. It’s amazing the sobering effect you seem to have on the wowOwow threads. A few well-chosen words can encompass us all. How do we ever forgive ourselves for not being our sisters, never truly sharing their suffering, ordering wine and sushi and thinking of other things.

I would feel equally safe or unsafe with a man or a woman in the Oval Office. However, speaking as an American woman at the turn of the 21st century, I rarely feel completely safe. Too many imagistic representations of violence and perversity floating around in our heads to ever completely rest secure.

Ruth, I too was disappointed in 2004. But today, I count it as such a good thing that Al Gore wasn’t strapped to the White House after 9/11. We might have been safer today, as a nation. But had Gore not had the freedom to do the work that ultimately was honored by the Nobel Peace Prize Committee, we might still be quibbling amongst ourselves about global warming, instead of finally taking steps…as individuals…to correct.

Yeah, Mugsy! What does Emcye win??

What ARE you talking about, Belle? Ann Richardson, Barbara Jordan, Shirley Chisolm, even Carrie Nation (bless her heart). Their legacy instructs us still. We must all keep the lessons they taught alive within us and our daily comings and goings. I’m sure, if the founding electorate had placed one of their mothers in the presidency instead of George Washington, we’d still be looking at two centuries worth of good and bad Presidents. At this point in time, we certainly have many women and men to thank for loosening the stranglehold sexism held on women in 1776. But it’s still here.

Lynnda, this has not been my experience with men and women. Some listen, some don’t. Some create problems. Some solve them. Individuals of both primary genders in our culture exhibit a propensities to govern well. It’s evident in their homes, their communities, and their work-place, whether or not sexism is part of the scene.

Rebecca. I’m not sure I agree with every point you make, but you’ve made each one very well.