I almost forgot to say, regarding Clinton:

I read her book too. It was ghost written, so I'm not sure I fully got the feeling of knowing her. I like her in some ways, but I'm not sure that she feels confident enough to let the public know her--she even states this.

Regarding her campaign--I don't hate her. I just don't know what her objective is in being elected. In the senate all I have been able to find is that she has been serving on many (more than 12) committees and making friends. I think she wants good things for the country but her decision to co-sponsor a flag burning ban amendment caught me off guard. I don't feel like I ever know what she's going to do.

I don't know if she's going to continue Bush II's policies in Iran and the middle east--or if she's going to try to work more with our NATO allies--I'd like to think so.

I would like to believe that she has "goodness" that goes deeper than being a woman--and even more far-reaching than her stance on children--although I'm glad she cares about children. It's just hard for me to tell, reading the articles I've read and researching her senate record, what kind of leader she's going to be.

Even her husband has been out of office for eight years. Where he stands on many policies, I'm not sure. Their plan for the country hasn't really made me think of much more than a nostalgic backtrack to the nineties. I'm not sure what new vision or insight or leadership is there.

So I guess I'm not sure what else to say. If you have more insight into Mrs. Clinton, I would be interested in hearing.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/20/magazine/20wwln-Q4-t.html?_r=1&ref=magazine&oref=slogin

I agree with you that prostitution should be legal--but for completely different reasons. I don't believe that women should be discriminated against by the state and forced into an even more uneven power differential with clients--I think they deserve to live and work above ground where their safety doesn't have to be threatened (or police men serviced) to keep the business going.

On the other hand--your argument about prostitution being a victimless crime and preserving the sanctity of marriage is laughable. If my husband sought a prostitute's service to preserve the sanctity of our marriage, it wouldn't be a victimless crime: I'd kill him. That's correct, and I'm sure a lot of women feel the way I do.

So legalized--yes. For reasons of preserving the institution of marriage: no, no, no, and not until hell freezes over, no.

with Cesar Chavez, but she was not his sister.

that I love all of this arguing that we've been doing back and forth over the past several weeks. I didn't even start reading these letters until a couple of weeks ago when the race for the white house really got started. I know people may say that it's bad for the party--all this bickering--and maybe it is in some ways--I'm sure we all have our grievances.

But I'm really grateful to Obama for entering this race (I'm an Obama supporter) if nothing else for making Clinton work for this nomination. I haven't seen people who care about politics like this for a long time--maybe since college. And yes we're arguing about important issues--policy concerns and race and gender--but we're also living in a country where none of us get arrested for expressing our intense opinions. And we really do all hope that the best person wins. (although many of us for various reasons doubt that it will happen like that.)

Okay. I'm sure tomorrow I'll feel like bitching all over again. But I just wanted to say that tonight I have been pouring over all of your letters and thinking about the things you say, and I want to say thank-you for helping me to start feeling like I care about my country again. The past eight years under bush have been a bad dream. The economy is headed south--soldiers are dying. Hillary is not my first choice for president--she irritates me on many levels--but I'm still grateful for the opportunity to live in a country where people can debate and throw insults and care--we really need a change in this country--a seismic change....and if most of you think Clinton can do it, then I'll vote for her too when the general election comes along. And hope for the best.

I just wanted to say thank-you for the passionate discussions. I'm enjoying them more than I want to admit.