green

Oh, I certainly hear your pain. I am a depressive and while I have a pretty big house I am easily stressed when I am around live people for very long. This is why I prefer to go to restaurants with friends instead of seeing them at their houses; sometimes even 4 hours can seem to me to be far too much "on air" time. And I am not a kid person, either. Of course what your sister is proposing is absolutely impossible, both with respect to your emotional health and with the respect to the floor plan of your crib. Her visit will be an absolute disaster and you must say NO! Frankly speaking, it sounds like the woman wants a free motel and and that would be your crib now that her friend, a woman who probably feels the same way as you do, has declined to house the visitors. :tired I myself have been put in your position. I have friends who live in Paris who like to stay with me when they come over.:paranoid One in particular is very, very stressful for he is labour-intensive. He does nothing for himself, complains a lot about Canadian life and Canadian food, and hogs my computer. Worse still, he sits there eating muffins and leaves the wrappers strewn all over my desk! I've never let him come back and I tell him that I am simply too mentally ill to accept visitors. Your sister sounds like she might be vacation vampire. Afterall, she hasn't been close to you for years now.

What is wrong with taking the easy way out? We have the technology. Why not use it instead of suffering from health problems and personal esteem issues brought on by being fat and yo-yo dieting? Is being under an anaesthetic during an operation taking the easy way out? Or using a vaccuum cleaner, a microwave, or sending e-mail instead of writing a letter? I find this argument to be totally ridiculous and illogical. It is such a stupid and mean-spirited comment that I want to smack each and every person who utters it. The lapband works far more efficiently than simple dieting and excercise for those of us who are fat. We are lucky that we can take advantage of this technology. I am also nuts about my microwave, television, computer, and my Swiffer wet mop. All of this stuff makes my life easier and more fun.

My problems with depression were a pre-existing condition. The problem runs in our family. I will always be on anti-depressants unless they figure out some other form of technology to treat this problem.

The reason that many people don't make living wills is for the same reason that they don't get around to making any other provision for their deaths, they are involved in living their lives and are, perhaps, afraid to acknowledge that death will inevitably come. I did not get around to writing about a formal will until my mother died two years ago. I was in my mid-fifties. I now have a living will as well as the formal papers which say where the cash will go. My brother, a doctor and a guy who is almost as old as I am, was still dawdling on doing his will the last I heard. You don't have to be stupid to be disorganized and careless. When people such as myself or my brother, and there are many of us, suddenly find ourselves terminal and in dreadful pain we may well be greatful for someone to help us pull the plug. Dr. Kervorkian did not murder anyone as far as I am aware. He assisted some people do what they wanted done is all. There are conditions under which life ceases to be valuable for the individual who is living it and extinction becomes the kinder and more logical choice.

Thanks for correcting me on this. As you can see my bible knowledge is kinda shakey.

Reviewing your posts, Daffodil, leaves me feeling quite queasy. You see I believe that both human laws and, yes, New Testament teachings do acknowledge this business of moral relativism. Let me put this simply for you. The law says that you must not kill and the individual who does so will be tried and convicted according to that law. It is at this point that the judge steps in and examines all the factors which may have had an impact on this case. Was this person mentally ill or under stress at the time? Was it an accident? Is he likely to do it again? Does he enjoy murdering folks or is he remorseful? Has he financially profitted by his crime? Was his childhood so tormented that he has grown up to be a dysfunctional adult? Was he being consistently brutalised by the individual whom he killed? Down here on earth we recognise that though certain activities may be wrong we still must attempt to understand the reasons behind these actions. We do this because we want to be fair and because we want to understand and by understanding change the forces which create these evils. We do not simply announce that an entire group of individuals have "stained souls." That is really very bluddy arrogant on your part and such a judgement is better left to your Creator. Now, it seems to me that Jesus was an individual who made a point of spending time with sinners while He was alive. He did not kick that hooker, Mary Magdalen, to the curb. He became friends with her. And He did grant amnesty to those two sinners who were hanging on their crosses along side of Him. It seems to me that part of what he was teaching was to embrace simplicity, good works, and a generosity of spirit towards others, even those whom you might judge as being sinners. In your posts you have shown an utter lack of respect or concern towards those women who have had abortions or to those who are protective of their sisters. Indeed, you have cursed them all with having "a stain on their souls." (Whatever happened to the notion of loving the sinner and hating the sin?) You have merely proven yourself to be a moral bully, not a kind and loving individual, nor one who is capable of subtlety. You are not the best spokesperson for your group.

Except for the gas pains my op was a walk in the park. I spent 3 days in bed enjoying the pain meds and was up and goofing on the computer on the fourth day. I was 57 when I had the op. You might want to take a week or more off. Nursing is strenuous work.

Yep, my initial fill was up to 5ccs, then the fill nurse dropped this to 4 because I PBed on water. Since then I have been getting half a cc whenever I go in for a fill. And all of my fill work is free, part of the initial price of the work. Mini-fills at 200 bucks is too much!!!

I have finally had the chance to watch this video and I must admit that I am confused by both the numbers and the message. In Canada our birthrate is very low and our overall population is small. We number in the mid-30 millions and our birthrate is less than that required to replace our existing population. We accordingly rely on immigration to replace and indeed augment our existing population and we assume that our newcomers will become Canadian citizens. We also take in refugees. This is a policy based on a humanitarian philosophy. This video left me entirely confused as to the rationale behind the American policy on immigration. Is it in place for economic reasons - that is to say to stabilize/augment the existing population - or is it, as this individual suggests, based on some sort of vague humanitarian ideals? If this is so then the narrator is right: the current policy does not make sense. It would be far better to leave these migrants where they currently live and only accept those individuals who are genuine refugees. The numbers seem a bit inflated. As we all know, a well-educated and affluent society tends to have few children. Though the new immigrants may have large families it is unlikely that their children will. He is, moreover, assuming that the newcomers will be a financial charge on the existing society. In fact the truth is that more people create more jobs in all sectors of the economy. I am inclined to view this man's take on the situation as thinly veiled xenophobia.

J, the suggestions provided in the above posts will help you through this. You will find that once you begin get filled you will eat less. My condolences to you at this time. It hurts to lose someone you love.

In Africa AIDS is an epidemic, a heterosexual epidemic.

It makes sense to me. The punishment should fit the crime. Your two kids sound like nice girls. They were filled with contrition by the time you had come home.

I must confess that I am entirely slovenly about providing references for my many statements. This is because though I read a great deal of material both on-line and off I never paginate, bookmark or, in the case of newspapers, keep the material. In the case of my own books, I've got 'em jammed into many bookcases usually to the depth of two or three books thick. My crib is in the way of being a papery swamp with a thick crust of dust and cat hair icing every surface. :welldoneclap: :help: I am always very pleased when folks like Carlene, Laurend, Gadget, and TOM (and where is he these days??) provide the rest of us with reference materials. At the same time, others of us are equally reflective and are capable, I believe, of processing current events and through this do provide valuable contributions to any discussion/debate.:success1:

This is very true. I live just next door in Canada and while we prefer American pop culture to our own our core values are very, very different. We are both a morally liberal and a socialist country by American standards. And we do sometimes become anxious for we the mouse who is sleeping beside an elephant. When our former government was pondering decriminalizing simple possession of marijuana Washington applied pressure to choke this initiative off before it ever hit the floor of Parliament. Our former government also incurred Bush's wrath by refusing to suit up and go to war in Iraq. We are also aware that we possess some very attractive natural resources: gas, oil and a huge supply of fresh Water. If Canadians are sometimes made anxious by America's less than diplomatic ways then it is easy to understand how your country is often viewed in the international arena. This is particularly the case since the current regime has taken over the presidency.

Ahem, in The Abingdon Dictionary of Living Religions Fundamentalism, Evangelicalism, and Penticostalism are indicated to fall under the category of Christianity as are Roman Catholism, the Eastern Orthodox group of churches, etc. It strikes me that anyone who worships Christ is a Christian. For one Christian to claim that another Christian is not a Christian based on a difference in choice of sect strikes me as being arrogant and un-Christlike.:rolleyes

And you definitely don't want to let your kids be ambushed by the pop-ups! Ugh!

Carlene is entirely correct. There has been a number of cultural practices which have grown up around Islam and which have now become conflated with the religion. She mentions the common African practice of female genital mutilation as one example. The practice of honour killing is another example. This is a practice which is not only associated with Islam. Up here in Canada we have seen this occur in new immigrant families who come from the subcontinent of India and who belong to other religions. Though this is a relatively rare occurance the story is always the same. The girl forms a romantic attachment with a boy who is outside the racial, cultural and religious group of the family. The father or older brother kills the girl. From what I have read these honour killings are very prevalent in village life in such places as India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan.... There was one case recently in India where the girl was gang-raped and, if I remember correctly, although her rapists were actually brought to justice, the girl may have been killed by her family. There was also the case of a single Nigerian Muslim girl who was pregnant and I believe that the state wanted to put her to death upon the birth of her child. They were invoking Shar'ia which is the Islamic code of justice as an argument for her death. (Nigeria is divided into two areas: one is Christian and the other is Muslim.) Though I have Muslim friends, all of them gay by the way, my understanding of Islam is limited. There is a great emphasis on the purity of the womenfolk in Islamic cultures. As to whether this is codified in the Qu'ran or whether this is a cultural question, I don't know, but certainly the thrust of the cultural practices is to mistrust women. This is done in a variety of ways. Women must be hidden away. The more fundamentalist the culture the more concealing the garb women must wear when they hit the streets. The ultimate is the burqa which is, as we know, a bluddy tent! In such cultures women are often not permitted to leave their homes unaccompanied by a male, even if that male is a young child. Within the house the women have their own quarters. If the men of the house invite their mates home these boys will never see any of the women for the women live separately in zenana. The African practice of removing their female children's external genitals, the labia and the clitoris, and of sewing up the entrance to the vagina, ensures that the girl will have no control over her own sex life and that she will never, ever have as much fun as Paris Hilton does. And as we all know, once the Taliban took control of Afghanistan from the Russians, women were no longer able to work outside of the home, nor were female children able to go to school. Apologists for Islam claim that the teachings of this religion are far more rational, loving, and open than this behaviour suggests. They say that this stuff is all tied up with peasant cultural misunderstanding and that the religion is both sophisticated and relevant. I don't really know. I do know that I have met some very fine people who are practising Muslims during my travels. This is a religion which is much closer to Judaism than it is to Christianity. The two religions are desert religions and one of the things about life on the desert is that travel, and indeed life, under those conditions is much more challenging than it is in a temperate climate. Both Islam and Judaism place a powerful emphasis on helping the homeless stranger and on the requirement of actively doing good works. This makes sense; in a tough environment faith isn't enough. Anyhow, these are my random thoughts.

I am going to address my remarks to TracyK. I believe I know to which individual you are referring but this is entirely irrelevant to what I am about to say. Though you may feel that only those individuals who have had children or who want to have children have the right to weigh in on the topic of child rearing, specifically spanking your child, in fact all of us have passed through one half of the parent-child equation. We have all been children. (To tell the truth it is our experiences as children which likely inform our own decisions as to whether we will go ahead and undergo the experience of being the other half of the parent-child equation.) It is because we have all been children that we all carry with us some notion of what a child should not be subjected to. This notion may be quite vivid and may be created out of the individual's own painful personal experiences from when he or she was a child. It is for this reason that I believe that all adults have the right to chime in with their theories on child rearing even when many of those expressed by the childless are endlessly annoying, based, as they are, on an utter lack of hands-on experience. You have a child and obviously love her very much. This is a good thing for both you and for your child. But instead of becoming angry with an individual who recognises that she is not kid-friendly and thus has decided not to have any you should be pleased that there are women who acknowledge their deficits in this area and will avoid bringing life into this world. This is called responsibility, I think, and it, like loving parenting, is a good thing.

My husband is quite a fan of on-line porn. This doesn't really bother me. I've worked in a male environment for a long, long time and this does seem to be a guy thing. Most boys like to look. I am, however, very pleased that we don't share computers and, yes, he did get a virtual STD. If your FIL wants to look then he should have his own PC and he should have a top-notch anti-viral soft ware programme installed in order to protect himself. If he is unprepared or unable to do this then you will have to install a virtual censor or nanny in order to protect your PC and your kids. Those programmes have a nasty way of installing pop ups and cookies, viruses and worms.

I carry my band info with my passport just in case.

All TV is white TV. All history which is taught concerns the deeds and activities of dead white men with very few exceptions. This is why we don't need a white history month nor do we need white TV. Straight white Christian males have typically dominated the world scene. They have been - and generally speaking continue to be - the rulers of European and North American countries as well as the governors of the colonies of these countries and they have typically been the rulers of the financial institutions which drive the world. This is why we white folk don't need a Pride Parade. Of course white women didn't fare quite as well and that is why there are special initiatives set up in order to benefit women, just as there is Black TV, Black History month, and Gay Pride parades, class action suits, etc. Yes, this is a form of reverse discrimination but you should think of it more as being like a golfer's handicap. This apparent unfairness may be required until the playing field has been levelled.

Yah, Green says thanks, too.

Though the small greens were never beaten physically, we were beaten up psychologically by our dad. He really knew how to damage tiny, fragile egos through his emotional violence. And he was capricious; you never knew what was going to set him off. While he lay dying in a coma I was terrified that he was going to wake up in order to berate me about something I had done. I was 49 years old at the time. Go figure, eh. The next day he was dead. I believe that the parental-child relationship is the most powerful one that we will ever face.

I am on Wellbutrin 300mg and Selexa 20 mg and Topamax 100 mg. I have no problems with Wellbutrin but a friend was put on it in order to quit smoking and she had to quit the drug instead. She had an itchy skin while she was on it.

I don't think that the intent of the individual who posted the address of the Christian boylove site on this thread was to alert interested members of LBT of its availability. The point that he was trying to make was entirely different. I suggest that he viewed the site as an example of stunning hypocrisy on the part of a small group of Christians. He was hoping to provoke debate and he has certainly been sucessful. Furthermore, if you take the trouble to investigate this sad little site, as I did, you will find no pornographic images. What you will discover is a tiny group of deeply conflicted Christian men who are homosexual pedophiles and who appear to know that to act upon their urges is not a good thing. I don't believe that this should be censored. I believe that this should be examined and discussed and we are in fact doing this. There are real pornographers out here in the virtual world and the material they post is visually explicit. I have problems with them posting this crap on my own blog. I personally don't like pornography and so I spend a lot of time cursing and deleting. This material is quite different and does merit analysis. R&R is a section which is designed for those adults here who are desirous of talking over some of the more contentious issues which arise in modern life. Hypocrisy is one of them. Pedophilia is another.