I have a pretty good memory, better than most. Even so, I forget things -- my friends' birthdays, how much money -- exactly -- I made last year, the last time the Pirates won the World Series. But I don't forget the big things: how long I was in labor (33 hours), my first kiss (I was twelve, and it was to Augie Fuentes), the weather on my wedding day (sunny!). This is probably why it's so hard for me to believe that Hillary Clinton "misspoke" about BEING UNDER SNIPER FIRE IN BOSNIA! I mean, if you were really under sniper fire ANYWHERE, I don't think you'd ever forget it and if you were NEVER under sniper fire, you wouldn't exactly think you were. I have never imagined myself being under sniper fire, or in the middle of a war zone or in the middle of a gun battle in downtown L.A. (no matter how many times I watch the movie "Heat").

When Hillary Clinton "misspoke" about being under sniper fire in Bosnia in the 1990s, she simply told a lie. A BIG LIE. And she got caught. It's not pretty getting caught in a lie, big or small, with the whole world watching. Ask Bill Clinton, he knows -- but then again, he'd have us believe he didn't lie either, he was just trying to figure out what "is" is.

It's not okay for Hillary Clinton to tell a BIG lie to the American public, especially over and over, and then make it sound like she didn't. And she's done it before -- about her "experience" in Northern Ireland, her backtracking on NAFTA, etc. etc. I don't trust people who tell a really BIG lie, the kind that is an obvious, calculated, "you KNEW you were lying" lie. The only thing worse is when they won't own up to it.

Elegant words, spoken from the heart, from a true statesman.

My perch is an interesting one here in Pittsburgh, Pa. My son keeps asking for a blizzard, yet all we've seen this winter are snows of maybe 2-3 inches. Yep, global warming. And then there's the potholes, loads of 'em. You have to salt the roads even if it's only a few inches of snow...and then there's the Birmingham Bridge, which spans the Monongahela River. It dropped EIGHT INCHES one day a few weeks ago. A bit of deferred maintenance, it appears... and the basic infrastructure of America, MY country, continues to play second fiddle to an ill-advised war in Iraq, a country caught in a game of chicken between good ol' boys here and there. When are MY fellow Americans going to wake up and say "enough!" We need the hundreds of billions being burned over there OVER HERE. The next time someone says "we're fighting over there to keep you safe over here" I'll simply say "hey, my car can sail off the Birmingham Bridge at any moment so if it's all the same to you, I think I'll take some safety over here."

Is there any doubt I'm supporting Obama? I need some change. I need something, some HOPE. I like McCain's straight talk but he wants Iraq for another hundred years. Not. There isn't one single thing I like about Clinton, starting with her dirty tactics and sleazier-by-the-minute spouse. When did these two get so unhinged? And then there's Obama, a touch of class, a ray of hope. I'll take that, along with some common sense, integrity and good judgment, over the "experience" of the rest of 'em any day. The next big primary is right here in PA and I'm doing my best to spread the word for the candidate of hope. I can't afford to feel any more hopeless, and if Ms. Perpetual Enthusiasm here is feeling hopeless, we're all in trouble.

Beautiful:

I guess Bill Clinton really IS for Barack Obama!

Bill Clinton in 2004: "One of Clinton's laws of politics is, if one candidate is trying to scare you, and the other one is trying to make you think, if one candidate's appealing to your fears, and the other one's appealing to your hopes. You better vote for the person who wants you to think and hope."