green

Yah, I remember her. That was a rude response to a constituent who had taken the trouble to write back to her upon her request. Boo on her for that!

Though I can understand where you are coming from the truth is that this is a complicated issue. There certainly is the emotional dimension and that is the one which provokes the kill response in so many of us, including myself, to be quite honest with you. The first response of most of us when confronted with heinous deeds is to have the perpetrators of these deeds put down just as we would put down a rabid or defective animal. And, to tell you the truth, there is a part of me which is powerfully sympathetic to this approach. Indeed, there is a part of me which does not understand why the American legal system will spare the criminally insane for these folks really are the truly rabid animals of human society in that they are not individuals who can be rehabilitated. It is simply not cost effective to keep those folks around: they are unfixable. This assessment may sound harsh and it is. Another truth is that those countries which have the strictest gun controls do have the lowest levels of lethal crime. Still another truth is that the death penalty is not a deterant to violent crime. Yet another truth is that America is the only civilized country which santions the death penalty. The rest of the countries which do routinely sanction the killing of their own citizens are third world countries pwned by despots. Certainly this business of justice, retribution, and rehabilitation is a toughie. Nevertheless, it is quite obvious that your approach to law and order is not working. Life is easier, I guess, for folks like us Canucks. We are a minor power and whenever we have problems we are entirely comfortable with striking up an inquiry or a royal commission or whatever in order to review the issue. Though these efforts are often futile they are an acknowledgement to us that life is very complicated and that no one single agency is able to solve our problems on its own. And this brings me back to this biz of the death penalty. Of course it is human nature to desire to want to kill those individuals who commit grotesque and monstrous crimes. I suspect that I am a little different from some of you when I say that I figure that it is those individuals who are deemed the least redeemable under law who should be the most logical targets. Indeed the only real reason why I am against the death penalty and do believe that all civilized folks should be against it is because I have got a queasy feeling (after reading various versions of global statistics) that it takes two to tango. Some societies have a much, much higher rate of violence than others. It would be far more productive to examine the paradigms of one's society, wouldn't it?

Um, like glow-ee, grrlfiend. Glow Ee Green is a grrl fiend, too, eh. Haha.:clap2:

I always find that I LOL whenever I cut the cheese, especially when I do this while I am having a bath.:clap2::clap2::clap2::clap2::clap2:

A good and measured response, Carlene, but I have got to confess that my tongue was not really that well anchored in my cheek when I fired this one off. Mea culpa. I always love it when you respond for I am a real hot head and I tend to be intolerant of what I see as the victimization of one generation by another. You moderate my responses and provide an excellent counterweight. What I see as going on in this family is that dh's mother is an egotistical, self-absorbed, destructive woman and that this pattern of behaviour is deeply entrenched. She is costly to this family both psychologically and financially and there will be no payback. Furthermore, reading in between the lines, and I may be wrong on this, it may well be that this woman's son finds himself none too fond of the old lady and is only shackled to her through a sense of convention and feelings of guilt. If this is in fact the case he may secretly be longing for his wife to give him the nod to set himself free. And remember, the Bible does say something along the line of leaving the parents and cleaving unto the wife, I think. Of course my advice comes coloured by my own background and yet I must also confess that I really, really like the ethical/moral style by which you are managing your life. (Your approach is a kinder, gentler, more tolerant approach.) I see this woman as being a dreadfully destructive individual and my personal inclination is to cut her loose and to move on. I would wish to do this for the health of my family. This is, however, a harsh and pessimistic approach to the problem of the question of how to deal with a nasty old gal.

This is very, very cool, Betsyjane. It does strike me that there is a peculiar climate at the moment. It is no longer legal, nor well-viewed, for majorities to enact exclusionary policies. Men-only clubs must now accept women members, and White Anglo-Saxon Protestant networks must get real and accept Jews, Blacks, Catholics, and other folks who do not fit the WASP template. At the same time, in Australia and in Montreal, Canada, gay male clubs have demanded the right to evict individuals who are neither gay nor male. In Australia this issue has been debated in their Parliament and has been reported on internationally. As for the Montreal bit of business, well, this concerns a daughter who opted to rendez-vous with her father for a girl-dad visit at a gay bar. She ended up finding herself evicted because she is a grrl. The matter is of some interest to some Canadians. Here in Toronto there has been a directory of black business owners for some years now. There are contests for black beauty queens. And there are women's clubs, business directories, and the like. When Green's husband catches wind of these new inequities he tends to get real cranky. He likes to say that everyone is equal and that the goose and the gander must share the same sauce. I am inclined to feel a little differently. You see, I feel that those of us who do comprise the majority have been and still are in the driver's seat. These social and business initiatives are simply catch-up work. The truth is that many people - people who are not part of the traditional power structure by reason of their sex, religion, colour, or sexual orientation - have been handicapped and just as one handicaps a golfer so this society now finds itself allowing minorities to get away with a certain number of discriminatory activities denied to many other folk. This seems to be a phase which our society must go through, perhaps.

Re Falwell's recent death: RichardDawkins.net - The Official Richard Dawkins Website [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IDfKKWBEZk]YouTube - Hitch vs. Hannity on Falwell[/ame]

It should help you keep it off for the surgery leaves you with a much smaller stomach. You simply cannot not eat very much without feeling full. The trick is to eat a healthy diet, to make sure you are taking in sufficient protein and fresh veg/fruit. And you will need fibre and a full array of vitamins and minerals. Congratulations on your weight loss, by the way.

I disagree. I don't think that society has gone downhill. I think that it appears to have gone downhill and this is because of the new style of media coverage. Back in the old days, the 60s, 70s, and even the 80s, we didn't have the same degree of media attention given to these sort of gruesome and tragic events. We did not have such television shows as A&E's array of series covering true murders in America. We didn't have the murder specials which air on the major networks and we didn't have internet. The truth is that the media has discovered that we have quite an appetite for this material and they pander to this appetite. But make no mistake, there have always been people who have behaved in a monstrous fashion. These days they just get their 15 minutes of fame is all.

I have a number of gay friends, both men and women, who get tons of action through on-line gay dating sites. I am both fascinated and envious even though I am now happily in a relationship. Though E-Harmony shouldn't being cutting out gay folks I doubt if many gay people, at least the ones I know, would be interested in using them as a method of finding temporary or permanent love. Still, I hope the company gets its fingers smacked.

Hahahaha So is trying to light your shoes! :confused: But seriously, I flew to Mexico and back and my band didn't set off any alarms. Enjoy your trip. :eek:

I am a really, really wishy-washy ENFJ. My stats are extraverted - 11%, intuitive - 38%, feeling - 50%, and judging - 1%

Did you serve them take-out Chinese food for dinner? Let us know how it went, eh. We have all had MIL problems.

Although I now spend much of my time loitering in the R&R area of this site I spent large amounts of my time in the lap band related sections when I was undergoing the process of being banded last September. I learned much more here than I did through the clinic that did the surgery. The general site of LBT is really informative and very supportive. All any member need do is ask for information/help/support and it is always given.:)R&R is a whole nuther thang. It's fer folks who feel like wrassling.:confused:

I think that is what we will all look like if we live long enough.

Thank you for this post. Your two examples are indeed food for thought.

It would be a sweet relationship. You could help him with his written communication skills.......:confused:

I figure that the weather has got to have something to do with it. Up here in Toronto the rate of violent crimes skyrockets when summertime rolls around. And I know that when I am really hot and sweaty I feel mean enough to kick my cat or do worse things....!:tired I hate heat!!:eek: It drives me crazy! :confused: I heard that it is always hot in Texas.:rolleyes

Green sez let's put the fun back in fundamentalism, eh.

My advice will be a little different from those who have posted above. Frankly, she sounds like a bitter and toxic individual who should be on an array of antidepressants. Even medicated she will never, ever be a nice woman; the drugs will only take the edge of her nastiness. You must remember that she has spent her lifetime behaving like this and she is not really able to change at this late date. Leopards and spots, eh.:confused: You and your dh should move as far away from her as you can. Is it possible that he can find work in another, distant state? You should also investigate getting call block on your phone. This will allow you to block any in-coming phone calls made from her phone number. The truth is that she is a selfish, self-absorbed, and destructive individual who causes you and your family nothing but emotional stress and cash pay-outs. This relationship is a one-way street.:tired Dump her as quickly as you can. There is no possible value to continuing this relationship. You can visit her at her funeral if you like.:eek:

Bummer! Major bummer! Do what the other posters suggest.

That does suck!

I should also mention that my father, when he was first diagnosed with cancer, had hoped to do the same. This did not come to pass. This is not legal in Canada.

I feel the same way as the majority of you do about Dr. Kervorkian. In the Netherlands assisted death is legal. I read a most interesting post on another site from a fellow atheist who described the assisted death of his father. He and the rest of his immediate family were present for this and were able to say their farewells to a man who had chosen to die with dignity before the pain of his cancer had turned him foolish with its torment.

Oh, hip, hip, hooray! It's the abortion debate, again! And this time the debate has been opened up by that grate communicater, 369.:confused: Well, once again I will state that I was one of those who voted for choice or abortion or the right to kill or whatever....and that this is because I have had an abortion myself. The decision to abort was due to a failure in birth control and because I had no desire to go through what BJean so ably describes in the above quoted paragraph. :tired This is, of course, what happens to a woman's body during pregnancy and childbirth and she is able to bear this when she is anxious to become a mother or when she would prefer to follow through with her pregnancy and give the child to a good and loving home. Some of us are not interested in this and we also don't believe that this collection of admittedly living tissue has any more rights than we care to give it until it reaches the realm of being a preemie. (I am one of those who is extremely uneasy about late term abortions.)