Violence is evil. It is contrary to our nature. You cannot hurt or kill others and expect them to love and respect you. That will not work. You are better to die knowing that you did not fall to the level of your enemy. Freedom and democracy are not served by killing and torture. We need to step away from our violent ways and embrace compassion and compromise. When we are confronted with violence, we have been told to turn the other cheek. This is not such an easy thing to do.

Happiness is what you should be looking for. Happiness is the name of the game. Not a tee-hee kind of happiness, but a contentment, a feeling that you are doing the best you can. In the end it will be happiness that sustains you, not fame or fortune.

Dying isn't all that bad. We live and we die. No one wants to die, but that's how it is. We come and we go. Our time here is rented. It's not permanent. Nothing is. Living is the hard part. You have to figure out what it means to truly live. Once you get that figured out, you will no longer fear death.

Luck is a part of life. You want luck on your side. Luck doesn't come out of the blue. You create it. You use things to your advantage. You empower the world around you. The more you give, the more luck you get.

I went to hear John Ashcroft, our former Attorney General, speak last night. Actually, I went to protest. (Some things you just can't get out of your system). What a fiasco. With leadership like this, no wonder we're ass deep in alligators.To say he was awful would be a vast understatement. All he could talk about was 9/11, and how he and Bush did such a great job in response, saving us from the evil terrorists. Along the way, he justifies the use of torture. We can do such things in the name of liberty and democracy. The speech rambled on for an hour, during which time he made absolutely no points, short of demonstrating the awfulness of our leadership in Washington. I heard he made $10,000 for his effort. That would be $9,858 more than it was worth.