The only thing I can do with a jungle gym is fall out of one and sprain an ankle. My kid sister, on the other hand, took a look at the abysmal excuse for the rec area/parking lot in her San Francisco elementary school,and decided that her kids and their friends deserved a play space that was more than the oil covered asphalt between the teachers' cars.

I don't know how she did it, but in 8 weeks this past summer, my sister, Patricia, found a discounted playground complex through an organization called KaBoom!, got a corporate sponsor, Washington Mutual, collected matching funds from some parents and local businesses, gathered about 150 volunteers and borrowed jackhammers, shovels, wheelbarrows. The school board, the city permit office and the garden club - a group which met to complain to each other about the lack of public money for a garden - balked at every step. Each of the blockers had "reasons" why it couldn't happen, even though it was, clearly, happening.

In exasperation, Patricia contacted every too busy vacationing member of the school board and threatened to take the energy she used for this project and devote it to ousting them. She nodded at the "garden club" then went ahead and put in donated pretty, drought resistant plants the garden club said couldn't be found. My sister's combination of will, organization and faith got something done in a very short time.

I have other siblings, all of which argue that the reason to send their children to private, Catholic schools is for the discipline, the parental involvement and the moral authority. I suspect that it's none of those things, that it's these parents' belief that their children are safer if held fast in the fantasy that the public sphere is dangerous. Outside, as in a public school, is dangerous to these parents, not because their children will be harmed, but because a wider view, a view that's different from theirs is threatening.

Going public means being out there and doing something. It means not leaving moral education to moral authorities, but finding moral value in social interaction. Family values are constructed in a social context, so redesigning that social context means rewriting those bureaucratic contracts so they do something useful.

Having your mom build a playground for you shows a pretty spectacular moral commitment to family values. As a side effect, she created a community of parents who now know that things can get done. Calling out the school board for being invested in process rather than projects will have continuing effects. Patricia built a playground and changed the world.

Biden has done a lot of good work in Congress, but for a ticket that trumpets CHANGE! this is awfully ordinary. And condescending. The Democrats mount a historic campaign battle between a woman and a black man but can't find a talented, experienced woman to enunciate that drama?

The Democrats have the entire world mesmerized by the idea that the US can move in a radically different direction, toward a government that reflects the population. Instead of running with that idea, instead of appealing to the 60% of the US that doesn't vote because they don't believe the system addresses them, Democrats have decided to fight over the votes they aren't going to get anyway - the subtly racist, middle and upper middle class whites.

Biden, a notoriously windy dullard in public, is PR nightmare. How can they make someone who puts dogs to sleep seem - forget thrilling, how about just interesting? When I say Biden pales in comparison to Obama, it's not just in the ability to address and engage the public and persuade people to join in, it's in the reflection of the US. Biden is the old guard, the guard whose wisdom is required to move forward, but behind the scenes, not in the front lines. Biden would work well as Secretary of State, not as VP.

Let's not forget that the threat of assassination. We do shoot people who try to change the status quo. If, like JFK and LBJ, this less identifiable duo (BO and JB? Yuk.) proves to be a fruitful minute of liberalization, it also might lead to generations of Nixons.

I remember a study designed to find out how birds knew where worms were. Turns out that when you're that close to dirt, you can see the worms. It's obvious why women are choosing to self abort: abortion is legal, but it's not available.

If researchers simply examined the cost of getting an abortion, even in cities where one is relatively affordable and easily available, versus the income of most women who need them they'd find that even $200 is a huge amount to someone who makes minimum wage or who is hiding from parents. Counting the number of doctors who perform abortions and the number and location of clinics or hospitals which perform abortions would show how few there are. Adding up the number of steps required by inhibitive, byzantine laws in several states plus the lack of any abortion or birth control provider is many others and you can create an equation that shows a huge discrepancy between the number of women who want abortions and the number of abortions that can be safely provided.

Without even considering the insulting attitude of the current administration and certain politicians that women are incapable of making decisions, that women do not have value systems and their own moral compass, it's easy to see how, at ground level, women have to fend for themselves.