In terms of Medicare, I'm in favor of sitting down and having a serious discussion about the likely impact of the Affordable Care Act, health-care reform, on the cost issue and changing the fee-for-service structure.

I had panels - roundtables in the district - and the stories that were told are really difficult to accept. People who have diabetes who can't get insurance because of a preexisting condition; others who were laid off and the have no place to turn.

My brother and late sister and I were raised in Detroit; it was where the middle class across racial lines, the middle class was able to develop, build a home, have for the first time retirement benefits, have a job, and yes, their kids began to go to college.

That's what healthcare reform is about: the middle class's economic security.

We need to promote an ethic of work. And there's no way one guy or one company is going to be able to do it. It has to be a big hot mess - public, private, government, NGOs and smart alecks on the TV talking about it.

There are no absolute rules of conduct, either in peace or war. Everything depends on circumstances.

Many conservatives were openly angry with the Bush administration over enormous government spending and the chaos in Iraq. I don't see as much independent thinking on the left, where President Obama is rarely criticized by his acolytes.

When His Holiness won the Nobel Peace Prize, there was a quantum leap. He is not seen as solely a Tibetan anymore; he belongs to the world.