There has been much fuss in the media about Eli·n Gonzalez, the boy who was rescued from the Florida Straits on Thanksgiving Day 1999. He has become a pawn iin someone's game. The writer raises questions of the situation surrounding his departure from Cuba and the reasons for his stay in the US. She invites us to contemplate in a broad political context involved. Read more.

Ellen DeGeneres watched the '93 March on Washington on TV and regetted not being there. She cried as she watched thousands of people who were proud of who they were. She was in hiding. She was struggling to be proud of who she is but was afraid of losing her career. Ellen writes that she will be at the March with her family because she doesn't want to lose any more. She urges others to join her because, as she says, "I don't want us to lose our jobs, just because of who we love." Read more.

Sure, smoking is disgusting and can shorten lives. But has the governments of different countries gone too far in legislating public health? John Bourke points out the adverse effects the anti-smoking campaigns have caused across the United States. Now the fight is spreading to Europe. Striking that balance between the mighty and blunt force of government and trusting people's judgement is key to preventing regulations from going out of control. We are thinking human beings and can decide for ourselves what is good for us and ultimately what we want to do. Read more.

It was on her 15th birthday when Bat-Chen Shahak, an Israeli girl, was killed in a suicide bombing. She was with a friend in Tel Aviv. In a symposium called "For Peace-Overcoming Hate", Ayelet, Bat-Chen's mother, read poems found in her daughter's diaries. He poems reveal her hope for a peaceful existence between the Arabs and Jews.

It will be a special day
When the left and the right, Arabs and Jews
Will join hands and become friends
Hatred and war will be gone
Could such a day come only in a fairy tale?

Thailand has been known for its sex trade and tourism. In poor villages, women learn that their selling point is sex. Foreign men come here to harvest the best from the country. I believe that foreign men pollute villages that have been untainted and unexposed to foreign influence. Thailand might be better off economically because of their wealth, but the country is diluting its genetic pool with foreign blood. The women who marry foreigners are known as "mia farang", or foreigners' wives. These women provide for their families by sending money home to build houses, buy commodities, and build infractures. They are doing much to help the country by bringing in around $35m a year. They are ultimately serving their country and Thailand has no problem with it. It's a sad fact that their country cannot offer more opportunities and protection from foreign invasion. The situation in Thailand is a study in sexual, gender, and foreign politics. Unfortunately, Thailand's females are caught in the middle of it. Read more.

President George W. Bush was re-elected on November 2, as everyone knows by now. What is surprising to me are the extreme responses people have towards his re-election. The election happened in a democratic way, or as democratic as it gets for now. Enough of the nation wanted him back in office. He must be doing something right according to most people.

But there are those who strongly oppose him in office. One 25-year-old man, Andrew Veal, supposedly committed suicide at the former World Trade Center site. President Bush's relection isn't something I would kill myself over, no matter how strongly I oppose him. Veal's death, though tragic, is not going to change the fact that President Bush is going to be in office for the next four years. It is just that Veal is not going to be here to experience it.

Is life under Bush's presidency so unlivable and unbearable? We have so much freedom in this country. Elsewhere in the world, people struggle for the most basic rights that we take for granted sometimes, but they live on. They don't give up fighting. They have to be alive to make a difference. Ironically, in their plight, they are in a lot of ways, I think, more alive than many Americans who don't appreciate the freedoms that we do have in this country. Of course, there is always the freedom to take one's life. That seems like the easy way out.

Before the election, Nanci Griffith, a country singer-songwriter, had said that she would leave the United States if President Bush wins. Now that he has won, she's changing her story. Read more.

After about a decade, Monica Lewinsky's hotness is still being debated ... well, it's not really a debate. Kevjumba, of youtube fame, recently discovered Lewinsky and her role and controversy in politics during the Bill Clinton administration. Through his humor and wit, he brings light to the serious matter of Clinton's relationship with that woman, that rocked the nation and his presidency.

It's 2008. Yet again, the Clintons have stimulated many wagging political tongues as Hillary Clinton entered the race for the presidency. She is the first female to run for president in America. As a leading democrat candidate and skilled debater, she has a good chance at making her own mark in history. Feminism has done its work. Perhaps, the time has come for a female to lead this country. It's a new year. It's a new day. Happy, happy new year!

Joining Barbara Walters, Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar, Elisabeth Hasselbeck, and Sherri Shepherd of The View, Michelle Obama discusses many issues. She talks about the headlines, politics, her background, family, and struggles growing up. She offers her perspective on diversity. It's a refreshing talk among the women.

In her speech addressing the democrat convention, Michelle Obama, shares her personal journey and choices her husband, Barack Obama, has made during his career with the nation. She highlights his efforts to help ordinary folks. She was eloquent and poignant. She touches the heart of Americans. She takes us back to basics, recalling the great American story, evoking hope and dreams. It's political, yet personal at the same time.

She's strong and outspoken. She's a mother of five, wife, and governor of Alaska. She's young and good looking. She came in second place during the Miss Alaska beauty pageant in 1984. She's what Mccain needs as a running mate. She injects that enthusiasm, energy, youth, and beauty that the Republicans need in their campaign for the presidency.

Palin isn't the first woman chosen as a candidate for Vice President but she's only the second in U.S. history. The first was Geraldine Ferraro in 1984 who ran as candidate for Vice President on the Democratic ticket with Walter Mondale as candidate for President. For those who were disappointed that Obama didn't choose Hillary Clinton to be his running mate, there's another female on the ticket, just on the Republican one instead.

Bristol Palin, the unmarried 17-year-old daughter of Sarah Palin, is pregnant and intends on keeping her baby. Her pregnancy puts the pro-life, pro-choice, and teen pregnancy issues in focus as Republican VP candidate, Sarah Palin, prepares for her speech at the Republican Convention tonight. The personal is political, especially when politics insist on creating laws that govern the personal lives and freedom of females.

Taking out of context, clips of Sarah Palin and Barack Obama speaking to crowds of potential supporters were used to paint Obama in a certain light. Palin joked, "You know they say the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull - lipstick." Obama's attack of the Republican candidate, "You know they say you can put lipstick on a pig - it's still a pig." The smear campaigns rage on with Democrats and Republicans saying plenty of shit. That's politics.

At a press conference, President Obama nominated Sonia Sotomayor, federal appeals judge from New York, to the Supreme Court. If confirmed she would replace Justice David Souter. She would be the first Hispanic to serve on the high court. We've come a long way!