If I were a Harry Potter fan I think I'd be tempted to read spoilers so I'd know he was going to die at the end and be prepared. On the other hand I sometimes skip movie reviews if I want to be surprised by the action because it's so common to find plot elements revealed in both book and movie reviews. It's not such a big deal. I'm amazed at people's anger.

I really enjoyed this and I'm looking forward to seeing his HBO special. I've always found that George Carlin has something interesting to say and that his attitude with interviewers is open and warm and his answers thoughtful.

The sidelines no-vote stance is very appealing. I've already cast my primary vote for Hillary and I'm happy with it but the turmoil of the on-going process has made me want to step back. There's a big appeal to saying, America express your wish between Obama and McCain and I'll live with the view from the sidelines.

One national primary day and all of this crap goes away -- the two parties focus on their nominee and that's that. I don't believe what we learn about the candidates through the process outweighs the negatives of having public opinion shaped by early primaries or the divisiveness of the process -- not to mention the waste of money.

I'm a Hillary supporter and I 'd welcome a joint ticket. I think she'd make a great president and I think she'd make a great vice president. I'm part of a group of friends whose support for the candidates breaks down very much along the demographics of the voting and also numerically into a fifty/fifty split. Yesterday I told my main Obama friend/adversary that I'm hoping for a joint ticket and I honestly don't care who's at the top of it. He seems to feel the same way! It was one of our best, least antagonistic discussions!

What a relief. Finally someone got off the merry-go-round of candidate talking points to write something that isn't a call to arms or a rant. This article was like the proverbial drink of water in the desert.

It was an awesome speech and it was full of truth, but there are some disturbing things about both the circumstances (making it only after the attempt to say he'd never heard such sermons failed) and something disturbing about a couple of his comparisons, including the bit about his grandmother. Having a grandmother who occasionally makes cringeworthy remarks is something you put up with though it makes you uncomfortable. It's very different from choosing a church to attend for 20 years -- which didn't seem to make him uncomfortable at all until he decided to run for president.

This primary season can't last forever. I hope. Anyhow, hang in there!

I wish, I wish, I wish it all happened more quickly and simply. So many people began this with a feeling of preference but willingness to support any chosen Democratic candidate. I liked Clinton but felt good about Obama too at the start. Through this long process I've become more and more entrenched as a Clinton supporter. If Obama had won this early on it would have been easy for me to pull the lever for him in spite of my preference -- now it will scald my heart though I will most likely do it. I think the same probably holds true for his supporters.

Howard Dean's leadership seems to have done little more than cut off the Florida and Michigan noses to spite our face.

I would heartily support a national primary day, or regional primary voting and let that be an end to it.

It's ranked 35 of 100 at the American Rhetoric website:

http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/hillaryclintonbeijingspeech.htm

It's most noted excerpt:

It is a violation of human rights when babies are denied food, or drowned, or suffocated, or their spines broken, simply because they are born girls.

It is a violation of human rights when women and girls are sold into the slavery of prostitution for human greed -- and the kinds of reasons that are used to justify this practice should no longer be tolerated.

It is a violation of human rights when women are doused with gasoline, set on fire, and burned to death because their marriage dowries are deemed too small.

It is a violation of human rights when individual women are raped in their own communities and when thousands of women are subjected to rape as a tactic or prize of war.

It is a violation of human rights when a leading cause of death worldwide among women ages 14 to 44 is the violence they are subjected to in their own homes by their own relatives.

It is a violation of human rights when young girls are brutalized by the painful and degrading practice of genital mutilation.

It is a violation of human rights when women are denied the right to plan their own families, and that includes being forced to have abortions or being sterilized against their will.

Let's calm down! We've turned into something more like rabid sports fans than voters. Try role playing with a fellow dem who supports the other candidate and do a pretend switch -- argue from the other perspective. Another technique I've tried is making myself list three things I like about the candidate I don't currently support.

The process is marching on and another encouraging thing I've noted is that the voters who haven't had their turn yet are pretty happily excited about the prospect of getting their say.

Anyhow, that's my two cents for today.

Try watching this bloggingheads video of an Obama supporter and Clinton supporter actually having a fascinating, insightful and cordial discussion.

http://bloggingheads.tv/diavlogs/9590