I have gone back and forth in my feelings about Hillary Clinton. As you can tell by my screen name, I used to support her in her bid for the Presidency (I've gone back to capitalizing this word, by the way).

However, during this vitriolic g****mned primary, I've grown to dislike her tactics, and ESPECIALLY the tactics of her supporters. I, like most others out there feel it's time to move on.

This diary is for those of you who threaten (and I'm convinced that 80% of you are Republican mischief makers) to vote for McCain in the Fall.

I haven't diaried here in a couple of years, to be honest. Between election related depression and a good deal of hostility for my pro-Hillary position (thus the screen name), I just decided to lurk for awhile. My whole life has changed since listening to Barack Obama speak here in Portland. Anyone who has the ability to make a jaded old curmudgeon like myself donate money AND time, is well deserving of my vote.

I have lived by these words since I was four years old:

There are only three ways to ultimate success:
The first way is to be kind.
The second way is to be kind.
The third way is to be kind.

- Fred Rogers (From the Book "The World According to Mr. Rogers: Important Things to Remember")

There was only ever one other person in my life aside from my parents that shaped me into the person I am today.

That man was Fred Rogers, aka Mister Rogers of the self-same Neighborhood.

I remember as a child sitting down to watch the show with a sense of wonder and anticipation; what are we going to learn today?  Where are we going?  How exactly DO they make crayons? Wagons? String? Straws?  What's inside the telephone for heaven's sakes?

The sense of kindliness, community, and self-confidence that I project to the world is in no small way due to one Fred Rogers.

PBS might never have been if it weren't for him as well.

This might be considered a stunt.  This might even be considered silly.  However, I feel that most people need a graphical example of just what is and more importantly what isn't Made in America anymore...

More below the fold.

This is interesting.  Typically I bypass my Internet provider's home page news, as it more often than not some kind of Ashlee Simpson related story.

However, I found this fascinating

PORTO ALEGRE, Brazil - A coalition of American churches sharply denounced the U.S.-led war in Iraq on Saturday, accusing Washington of "raining down terror" and apologizing to other nations for "the violence, degradation and poverty our nation has sown."

The statement, issued at the largest gathering of Christian churches in nearly a decade, also warned the United States was pushing the world toward environmental catastrophe with a "culture of consumption" and its refusal to back international accords seeking to battle global warming.

More on the flip.

I actually interviewed for a job at Starbucks today.  I did it.  I walked in there and held my head high and pretended like I wanted to make coffee for minimum wage.  I had the sinking feeling that this girl was on to me; as if she knew I didn't want to be there as well.