* Father / Daughter Talk *

A young woman was about to finish her MBA. Like very few others her age, she considered herself to be a Conservative Republican with Family Values.

While she knew he was devoted to God, to her mother, and to her; she was deeply embarrassed that her scientist father was, in her words, "a fire breathing Liberal." Based on the lectures she attended, the books she read, and the editorials she read in the Wall Street Journal, and Forbes, and the news as presented on CNN, Fox and MSNBC she felt that her father was completely out of touch.

The fact that Republicans were in the White House for 20 of her 28 years helped reinforce this feeling. Her father remembered John Kennedy, Bobby Kennedy, and the anti-war movement of the 1960's. She remembered Reagan. Her father once joked that Reagan is "imprinted as the canonical President of your childhood." She knew while it was a joke, there was a grain of truth, and she was ok with that. She heard Reagan, Quayle and McCain compare themselves to John Kennedy - McCain was in the navy - but didn't realize that on the issues they were diametrically opposed.

One day she was challenging her father on his opposition to subsidies for oil companies to make drilling more profitable, and for his opposition to outsourcing work to private industry, to companies like Haliburton, and to foreign companies. She couldn't understand his anger at the Administration for firing Prosecutors, didn't understand the difference between serving "at the pleasure of the President" and "for the pleasure of the President."

She deeply regretted an abortion she had had because she got "carried away" after a few drinks too many when she was 17. She stilled loved the boy, altho she hadn't seen him for 10 years.

The objectivity proclaimed by the news media had to be the truth and she indicated so to her father.

He responded by asking how she was doing in school.

Taken aback, she answered rather haughtily that she had a 4.0 GPA, and let him know that it was tough to maintain, insisting that she was taking very difficult courses and was constantly studying, was working 30 hours per week at minimum wage and had no time to go out and party like other people she knew. She didn't even have time for a boyfriend, and didn't really have many college friends because she spent all her time working and studying.

Her father listened and then asked, 'How is your friend Sarah doing?'

She replied, 'Sarah is great. She takes easy classes, she never studies, and she gets C's. But her father went to our school, and donated a library, so she can't fail, and she really doesn't need to work hard. She's entering beauty pagents and will go into Broadcast News. With her looks, her body, and her willingness to use it, she'll go straight to the top. It's not fair, is it?"

He father looked at her and said "Welcome to the Democratic party."