Forty is better than 30. I have a better understanding of who I am, what makes me tick, what's okay and not okay.

I go to Saint Barth in the French West Indies for two weeks each year. That place is amazing. Amazing people, beautiful beaches, great wine, wonderful harbors... It's incredibly romantic.

Forget all the bars and schmoozing and everybody checking out everybody else. My ideal date would be to park in a dark place, check out the stars, and have a great conversation. When all else fails, you can just make out.

I write back to all the soldiers who write to me and send them posters and calendars.

We all avow to struggle for making this country a welfare state where everyone is allowed to spend life on the basis of social justice and where everyone can live in peace and honour.

With all due respect to re-enactors, I consider the Civil War too tragic a subject to make a game of.

It's time for some equal-opportunity accountability. Without it, the fight against media misogyny will continue to be perceived as a proxy war for the Democratic Party, not a fight for fair treatment of women in the public square.

In the issue war in Iraq, it was very clear to me that the policies that were being espoused by neoconservatives were totally devoid of substance - but they marketed it wonderfully.