green

Falwell was a gasbag.

I still fail to see the point which you are attempting to make. Why should these women who have ended up with unintended pregnancies be forced to follow through with them instead of having the option of an early abortion?

Well, if this is true then what is your complaint about these individuals resorting to abortions? As you must know, more and more women who shouldn't have children are opting to keep them once they are born. This is because society is much more relaxed about unwed mothers - a good thing, I figure - and because there are some women who feel that society expects that they must keep their kiddies.

Two comments on this: one, your info, Gadget, is usually culled from Right to Life sites and thus will show a certain bias; two, it is the less sexually sophisticated individual who is more likely to be trapped in an unwanted and potentially disasterous pregnancy. I have always been under the understanding that it is those women who are inclined to feel a certain degree of guilt about recognising that they are choosing to be sexually active who are most likely to be careless about taking care of birth control business. The notion of these grrls seems to be that if they simply allow themselves to be carried away by the passion of the moment then they cannot be considered to fall into the category of sluts. Of course they are playing a game of sexual Russian roulette. All of this makes sense if you have been taught that sex is taboo and yet you find yourself, by virtue of your hard-wiring feeling, feeling kinda lusty. To ensure that you are protected from pregnancy is to acknowledge that you are indeed a dirty grrl and that you plan to involve yourself in forbidden activities. Individuals who are not prepared to acknowledge that they are have sexual desires figure that by avoiding taking responsibility for themselves with respect for birth control they will not appear to be complicit in this dirty act - either to themselves or to their sexual partners. This is a game of self-delusion and it is born out of guilt.

Yippee!!! That was one nasty brat!

It seems to me that a child may sometimes have to be disciplined in public. If a child is acting out in public then something must be done in order to make the child stop her unpleasant behaviour ASAP. Of course this can usually be done by removing the kid from the premises where she is misbehaving and then administering some sort of discipline or punishment. I tend to think that the best punishments are the ones that fit the crime. If for instance the kid is ruining a movie or a family meal, one of the parents can remove the kid and take him home. The kid then learns that if he doesn't behave he doesn't get to see the end of the movie or finish his dinner. This may be a drag for the parent on the short term but the parent will win on the long term for she will have a well-behaved kid who doesn't act out or make scenes. This is teaching the kid all about cause and effect, a useful rule of life. Sometimes a child may have to be disciplined in public. She will suffer humiliation, of course, but this will be part of the punishment. And I can understand why a parent might swat a very young child on the butt for a serious offense. I suspect that with a very tiny child this may be the only way to get its attention after all other means have failed. But understand this: a swat on the butt is a long, long way from falling into the category of a beating. Although I don't have kids I have watched a lot of people raise theirs and one thing that I have noted is that kids seem to require order, consistency, and rules. They will complain about the rules and will try to bend or break them but they do seem to need the discipline and the order. Spoiled, indulged kids don't do all that well on the long term. My friends who have spoiled and indulged their children are people who have wanted their children to love them and to regard them as their best friends, not as parents. Of course the truth is that this ain't going to happen, and nor should it happen. We are of different generations and we have, moreover, in this delicate parental-child thing, different roles to play. Lines must be drawn and respected, I think. The nicest and happiest kids that I know are the ones who are raised by parents who are both loving but who also set rules and are consistent in applying these. These are the kids which will thrive in adult society.

Omigawd! Canada is the best part of the site, eh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:faint:

Write her a cheque and tell her to figure it out. That's my advice.

Read his manifesto and loved it. I even bookmarked it. Thanks, Derrick.

Abortion is generally used as a last resort for women who have found themselves pregnant.

Monday sucks. Tuesday might be better.

:welcomeB: Uh, yes, it does.... So that's where you guys get your fancy bananas from! Well, I'll be a:deadhorse: (I was looking for a horse's behind but couldn't find one. )

Thanks, Mark, those are splendid words and I will pass them on to my niece. And you and Laurend are right. I really shouldn't feel sorry for these men. They must be prepared shoulder the responsibility for their fun; afterall, we women have to.

Yep, I tend to agree with you, Laurend, in theory. This business does become somewhat trickier with respect to human relationships when your partner insists that she is on the Pill. I am of another generation. When I was young women did seem to be more inclined to take care of sexual business. None of us wanted the stigma or the hassle of an unwanted pregnancy and the pill was available. We all had sex and we were all on the Pill. There does, however, seem to be a different culture out there. Young women, often ones who haven't even finished highschool, seem to want to have babies. That they are often still living at home, don't have jobs or are working at minimum wage, and aren't in stable relationships doesn't seem to bother them at all. My own niece did everything back to front. She got pregnant and had her child while she was in her early 20s. She has since gone back to university in order to be able to teach. This has been tough for her because she is a single mother. She is now finishing off her university work at the age of 31. She is now overweight and she has a child. She is worrying about finding a teaching job, about her child who has been diagnosed with severe dyslexia, and about ever meeting a man. Her sister and her brother went to university, got degrees in engineering, found mates, married, have careers and own property. One of them has just had a daughter. They are both younger than she is. Their lives have progressed much more smoothly than hers has. This makes me sad on her behalf for I am enormously fond of her.

As for the guy thing, I still strongly believe that women must have the final say for, afterall, it is the woman who carries the burden of the pregnancy and who may be left alone to raise her child. But I do feel that when a man has been trapped into fathering an unwanted child he should have some protection. Until I retired I worked mostly with men. I was shocked at how many of the young ones were paying child support to former girlfriends and how often they told me the same story which runs along the following lines: he would be going out with a girl for a few months, have unprotected sex with her because he had been assured that she was taking care of business only to have her announce that she was pregnant. My niece went out with a guy. He ejaculated at the mouth of her vagina. She found herself pregnant, and decided to keep the baby. When the child was two the father began to visit her from time to time up until the day he got married. His new wife then insisted that he cut off relations with his child. He never told his family about his child; they were a traditional Italian family and would disapprove, he said. When my niece decided that she would phone his parents in order to tell them about their granddaughter they told her they wanted nothing to do with the child. My niece tells me that my great niece, now 7, is dejected that she doesn't see her father. He is good about paying his child support. This is where I find myself in a bit of a quandary. I love my niece and her daughter and yet I do feel sorry for this guy. He had lousy sex and now he is on the hook financially for many years to come.

In the good old days women did have abortions and sometimes women died from these or were rendered incapable of having children in the future. Sometimes these abortions were performed by individuals who weren't trained and sometimes they were performed by doctors who may have been motivated by money - doctors didn't earn all that much in those days - or who may have been motivated by compassion for the women who came to them. And of course those unwanted babies who did come to term usually didn't fare so well. In those same good old days, the ones before medical technology was where it is today and before we had antibiotics, a comparatively recent development, childbirth was also perilous and women often died. Sometimes they bled out, sometimes they died of puerperal fever, sometimes of other causes. We like to think that all women are capable of giving birth in a field, taking a break from gathering in the animals, but this is not so. We women are fortunate to be living in the present time. We really do have a choice. We can choose to go ahead and safely have our babies. We can choose to keep them and raise them even if we are not married or we can give them up for adoption knowing that they will not languish in orphanages but will find good and loving parents. We can also choose to not proceed with our pregnancies. And should we opt for this, we will not be risking our lives and health. All of this is a very good thing in my opinion.

That is weird! I never had that happen to me. You both seem to be doing a fine job of losing, though. Congratulations.

Wow! That is exactly what my screen looks like. Zannie, you are so smart!

I dunno. This is what my own PC says when I go into display. I am both old and blonde.:help:

I, too, am most dreadfully sorry for your son and for yourself. What a terrible experience for your family. I now understand the reasons why you are so adamant on this issue. Thank you for answering my question. My kindest thoughts are with you and your family.

1024 x768 pixels

My resting metabolic rate is 1367 calories. Does this mean that if I don't move at all during 24 hours I will use up 1367 cals?

LOL Oh, you are so right! In my case it was that I was wearing the same T-shirt, er, um, or whatever.......

By the way, and this is on another note entirely, what is wrong with your dear son? It seems that your stance on smoking is linked up to this....?

You will still be a smug judgemental