My wife and I do not have a baby boy but we do have a sixteen month old beautiful girl so we can't relate to the circumcision but we can relate to the oppressive grandparents. I was raised Catholic (my wife, who is Dutch was not raised with any religious training) and my father is a former Benedictine Monk. I have been estranged from my father for most of my life and I have not spoken to him in over five years. Shortly after the birth of our daughter we recieved a package for her from my father and his wife. On her first birthday we recieved another gift for her from them and a note asking if we were going to baptize her. We are both Buddhist and we had no plans of baptizing our daughter, we feel if she would like to be a Catholic or Chirstian she can decide that herself. Her being will not be diminished because a religion tells her so and neither will I raise my daughter to be fearful of others fear. I wrote a card to my father thanking him for his gift and included a passage of Thomas Merton talking about the importance of a person experiencing thier own spirituality and have left it a that. I am sorry you let your parents dictate the relationship between you and your son. Thank you for sharing,

-Bela

Sen. Clinton

Over the years I have volunteered my time and money for many of the causes and candidates I have believed in; these include Sen. Kerry, Vice President Gore and your husband. I have worked to increase the minimum wage in Ohio (and we did). I would like to say I believe in you and your campaign but I cannot rectify the war situation with your comments and defense of your war vote. I take this issue very personally; my brother has served the past 22 years in the US Army. He has fought in Afghanistan and in Iraq. He has taught English at West Point and has served in Korea. He has three very young children. This war has scarred him emotionally, mentally and spiritually. When the lead-up to the war was happening only a few leaders had the courage to call out this administration on their justification for the war, sadly you were not one of these people. I believe your claim and the claim of other politicians that you were mislead is either false or shows a genuine lack of ability to do your job. I remember reading in the NY Review of Books before the war started and knowing that this administration was playing politics with 9/11 and with our foreign policy. I was saddened when very few of our politicians questioned the evidence and the motives for going to war; the lack of accountability on everyone’s part in this war is almost a horrific as the war itself. I feel that you have had many opportunities to make a personal amend to the country and to the world for your poor choices in supporting the President in the early going of this disaster but have failed to do so. I may very well be sitting this coming election cycle out if you win the Democratic nomination and do not make a sincere effort to be contrite about your support of President Bush just a few years ago. Thank you for your time.

Sincerely

Bela

Columbus, Ohio