I think what is British about me is my feelings and awareness of others and their situations. English people are always known to be well mannered and cold but we are not cold - we don't interfere in your situation. If we are heartbroken we don't scream in your face with tears - we go home and cry on our own.

If we got into a situation where people start burning our records then bring it on. That's the whole point. The gloaming has begun. We're in the darkness. This has happened before. Go read some history.

It's very attractive to people to be a victim. Instead of having to think out the whole situation about history and your group and what you are doing... if you begin from the point of view of being a victim you've got it half-made. I mean intellectually.

If you are neutral in situations of injustice you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality.

Great Britain had a much different situation than we do and did here in the United States in that they had literally thousands of infected animals with human health risks. Their infectivity in this disease happened before very much was known about it.

You know there are people making a lot of money in this country who can actually afford their own health care. We are in a situation where we got a safety net in place in this country for people who frankly don't need one. We got to focus on making sure we got a safety net for those who actually need it.

And under the existing circumstances I understand there are situations where people indeed need care and need services but I believe in America that the majority of those people are getting those services under situations and circumstances that are afforded to them by their health care providers and their state government.

And I believe that if we can care about whether or not our neighbor has a good job or access to affordable health care for their children and we move to implement the policies that can improve these situations we will unleash vast amounts of human potential and recapture the American spirit.

So many people have said that to me that what they really like about Alex is what she brings out in Marissa and what this situation brings out in her a hint of happiness and another side to her character.

Live by this credo: have a little laugh at life and look around you for happiness instead of sadness. Laughter has always brought me out of unhappy situations.