green

Thanks for thinking of me, L8. Well, I am finally recovering from the cancer. I had radiation and I had chemotherapy and this seems to have killed the tumor though the side effects of both almost killed me. I went down to 108 lbs and at one point had to be hospitalised for a week. Now I weigh 122 lbs and I am finding that I am getting much of my old strength back. Scans show that the tumor is gone and my hair is beginning to grow back. It is very short but actually looks kinda cute. Turns out my skull doesn't have 4 corners after all.... I always thought that it did. Being skinny is sort of the silver lining in all of this. I can wear belts now. LOL But undressed I look 80 years old or like a sharpei thanks to all the spare skin; I definitely need a full body lift, eh.

This is merely a sound bite and is, moreover, presented in a biased and inflamnatory fashion thanks to the voice-over. I find this kind of media coverage to be sub-intellectual and offensive. Thanks, Carrie C, for posting the complete text of Obama's remarks.

This is a lovely story, one with a very happy outcome. I must admit that it would not have worked in my case, however, as I have something bordering on a phobia with respect to the mechanics of pregnancy and childbirth. This was why I was very careful with using birth control. Unfortunately, this failed when I was 31 and I did find myself pregnant. I was lucky that I was living in a country, France, where arranging for an abortion was quick and easy and legal. I was 7 or 8 weeks along when I had my abortion. Carrying this unwanted and in fact feared pregnancy to term would have taken 9 long months and have caused permanent and unwanted changes in my body. I would be experiencing some of those changes today as a post-menopausal woman. And giving the infant up would have been out of the question for me, too; at that time I was living with a mate who wanted children. I would have been truly trapped by motherhood. Freedom of choice to me means that women have the right to carry their pregnancies to term just as the young woman in Gadget and L8's story will be doing or to do as I have done - have a safe and legal abortion.

It is legal and regulated in the Netherlands. There is a red light district in Amsterdam and the prostitutes are required to have frequent medical check-ups. Of course they pay taxes which means that the state is the official pimp in this country. I am all for the legalisation of prostitution. Human nature being human nature, it will never disappear. Better to protect the sex workers from violent customers, coercive pimps, and to have 'em pay their taxes just like the rest of us do.

I agree with Bjean's assessment of the situation.

Actually, SnT, you have hit the nail on the head. Globally speaking, economies invest in other economies. This is an activity which transcends national borders. And in the case of the formerly high-flying but now bankrupt Iceland, about a decade or so this country deregulated their banking industry and its banks began practising some of the more creative investment techniques, the ones, you know, which have landed Wall Street in this meltdown. Canadian banks - which are heavily regulated and as a result are pretty solid - have lost money because they have investments in the United States. This is what the world's economies do: they invest in each other. This is why Canadians, Europeans, Australians, etc are anxious to see that the United States remains healthy. An interesting and informative magazine on global affairs to read is The Economist.

If she doesn't like fruit flies then she is no fan of Gregor Mendel, I guess.

We have an easier time of it up here in Canada. We elect minority governments whenever we, the people, cannot reach a consensus at election time.

Of course the war is damaging your economy! Wars aren't free, you know. Someone has to pay for the personnel, the armaments, transport, fighter jets, yadda, yadda. Britain's economy and her status as a major global power were destroyed because of the cost of the Second World War, a war which the Allies won. Of course the citizens of your country are on the hook for this war. Who do you think is paying for the trillions that have already been spent? The Wall Street debacle is just a case of the sh!t being piled ever higher!

I don't think that it is fair to judge Palin for her daughter's pregnancy. Young people often tend to be curious, rebellious, and attracted to risk taking. This is why illegal street racing is an adolescent sport. Adolescents also have high sex drives. Sex education and the easy availability of contraceptives will help some of those who are determined to have sex avoid pregnancy and/or disease...but not all. Some girls will get caught and sometimes this is by design. Some teenage girls want babies. Palin's daughter is pregnant: so what? This is a big fat problem for the Palin family to deal with. It doesn't concern any of us. My only thought is that it will be a pity if she does marry the baby's father. Levi sounds like he is very selfish and immature. Not good father and husband material.

I had my abortion as soon as I found out that I was pregnant and could arrange it. I figure that I was 7 or 8 weeks along.

In the Canadian media we have been getting the same reports of extremist behaviour from McCain-Palin supporters at their rallies. If what you are saying is true, then the fact that this information is false is scary.

Your comments are interesting, Jack. Up here there is a tilt to the left on our national taxpayer-funded television channel (and the two radio channels, CBC 1 and 2 for that matter), the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, and on the Ontario public channel, TVOntario. I am aware that there are many publications, both north and south of the border, which tilt in one direction or another. Surely the public is aware of this and subscribes to those offerings which they find the most satisfactory in view of their own interests.

Wow! That was scary! Thanks for posting it, Watcher.

Your comment interests me because I was under the impression that there are just as many outlets south of the border which tilt to the right. Certainly, such entertainers/political pundits as Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, and Bill O'Reilly are conservatives. Up here in Canada, the liberal/left bias is much more pronounced. Although I am kind of a centre-left wing-nut I like to receive information and ideas from both sides and this is why the two newspapers I subscribe to are centre-right and right wing in their political stance.

That is a very nice story, one with a happy finish.

The Pew site has a number of interesting articles on this election including the one on the media bias. Thanks for posting this site.

Gadget, please post what you find out. I have always been curious about this and yet far too much of a squeamish princess to set about and collect my own piss. In fact, one of the reasons I don't like babies and very young children is that you have to clean 'em. Ugh! sez me. But a guy I used to work with pointed out that if I live long enough I will be changing my own diapers. Ugh! sez me.

I think the expression "wing-nut" is cute. I always refer to folks as left or right wing-nuts. I myself am a left wing-nut.

So what if Obama knew Ayres. Obama is not Ayres. Palin's husband was a member of an Alaskan separatist party. How anti-American is that???

Obama proposes to raise the taxes of folks who make a quarter of a million bucks or more by a mere 3%. Your country has been haemorrhagging money to the tune of trillions due to this Iraq war. I have read that by embarking on this iniative baby Bush has mortgaged your grandchildren's earnings. There are, moreover, a myriad of other reasons why a state needs tax money. There is an entire infrastructure from which every citizen will benefit. Not every tax dollar taken from you will automatically go into the pocket of a worthless drugged out welfare bum and his brats. I find this notion to be mean-spirited, paranoid, and ridiculous.

It strikes me, Gadget, that you are over-reacting on this issue. As home schooling is a state controlled matter, it is unlikely to the point of impossible that a Democratic president would be successful at wresting control of this issue away from the individual states. Furthermore, to attempt to do such a thing would badly damage his popularity and yet there would be no upside to such an action, even if it were possible! Besides, I believe the president will find that his time will be taken up by other issues: the crumbling domestic economy, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, international affairs.... Nope, I really don't think that Obama and company are or will be concerned with this matter of home schooling.

Wouldn't home schooling be a state issue? Not a federal one? This should mean that the president of your country really would have no say in its legitimacy.

I have or have had ties with people who have done things I wouldn't do. And there are people who have ties with me, an individual who has done things that they wouldn't do. I believe that adults can associate with other adults, even enjoy and value their company, and yet still maintain their own intrinsic standards of behaviour. One of my closest friends for many years was a Communist and an ardent trade unionist. She tried for many years to get me interested but the "magic" never ever did rub off! For 9 years I went to a boarding school run by nuns but belief never rubbed off, either. By the way, I really do find it impossible to believe that Obama is quietly knitting bombs thanks to his association with Ayres.

Stevegoad has done a nice job of answering your question of how I feel about William Ayres. He was a radical when he was a young man. He is now a respected professor. Obama seems to know him - and only slightly, I gather - in this, his current role. And no, I would have no problem if McCain launched his political career from the living room of someone who had at one time been responsible for bombing abortion clinics but who had become a respected member of society by the time that McCain was associating with him. I do admit that I would be ill at ease with a politician who had associations with KKK members, former or otherwise. I would certainly want to know more about the association. But in general, I believe that it is a good thing for anyone to make the acquaintance of a wide variety of individuals in one's life. It is a way of deepening and broadening one's understanding of others. It is, for instance, only thanks to the internet that I have met so many Christians. I don't tend to run across them in my "real" life. The folks I know are either atheists or have a weak and ill-defined belief that there is something out there.