Nightingale

You have hit rock bottom, and continue to dig. You should quit before the hole you are in gets any deeper. John, I think we actually agree on this one.

the only son thing is a myth. http://www.snopes.com/military/onlyson.htm

nope. if people want to discuss religion with me, that's fine, if they come to me and ask. I will not go to them. personally, I disagree with that kind of preaching. I feel that ringing doorbells doesn't do much other than annoy folks, and that helping them build a house, but making them listen to you preach as a condition thereof makes it less of a good deed and more of serving your own purpose. If you want to help someone build a home, help them build a home, with no ulterior motive. when people feel a need for religion in their lives, they will come seeking. just be ready when they ask, because forcing it down their throats usually leaves a bitter taste behind. Its kind of funny... the most successful people I've ever seen recruit others to their church did nothing save live their lives... people came to them.

yep. you can swim in a river with pirhana and they won't bother you, but jump into a pool of stagnant water that has pirhana in it, and you probably won't survive the experience.

hey, my mom's a science teacher. nothing grosses me out. In the house I grew up in, finding hundreds of dead frogs in the fridge waiting for disection was a regular occurance. I used to watch my brother's turtle devour live goldfish, and help my teacher feed the mice to the classroom snake. and yes, the mouse is cute and furry and adorable, but it is still edible and viable pirhana munchie. I have two pet rats and adore them, so I am a bit of a rodent sympathizer, but its nature. nothing gross or cruel about it. the fish have to eat too.

a gun is simply a tool. whether it is a tool used for good or for evil depends entirely on the user.

that was interesting.

I know groundzero at Elsinore sells them. www.skydiveelsinore.com

seemed to me like the post you quoted was simply reporting what was going on rather than offering an opinion...

bah! Elf, I just need to stay out of this debate, cause you beat me to the answer every time!

IUDs do work to prevent conception. however, they ALSO work to prevent implantation, should conception take place, just like hormonal forms of birth control. An IUD slows down or stops sperm from moving and makes the egg travel faster down the Fallopian tube. This keeps the egg and sperm from meeting so that the egg is not fertilized. An IUD changes the lining of the uterus so that a fertilized egg will not attach to the wall of the uterus. How it works The main way both IUDs work is by not allowing sperm to fertilize the egg, probably because the substances released by the IUD immobilize sperm. Also, each type has its own ways of preventing pregnancy. ParaGard: The copper changes the lining of the uterus, preventing implantation. That means that even if a sperm does fertilize the egg, the embryo cannot attach itself to the endometrium. Mirena: Levonorgestrel thickens cervical mucus, which makes it difficult for the sperm to enter the uterus. Also, like the ParaGard, it prevents implantation by changing the uterine lining. http://www.soc.ucsb.edu/sexinfo/?article=contraception&refid=015

I'm ineligible. I have medication I have to take daily, and therefore do not qualify. kinda ironic thing is, if I finish law school, they'll get me a medical waiver if I want to go JAG. I guess the reasoning is that JAGs seldom end up in the middle of nowhere with no access to meds. Either that or they really need lawyers.

I wish I could... But I'm moving this weekend (friday's my day off, so I'm starting then) and have no jump money anyway. :(

I think what he means is that if you skip paying child support, the ex still has to let you see your kids according to the custody agreement. You're going to get in trouble for not paying, but you and your ex are still bound by the terms of the custody agreement until it is revised by the courts.

you need a visual alti, especially if you're new. sometimes you don't hear your audible, and they don't always work. you can't rely on them. a visual alti is a little more reliable, but the best alti, of course, is your eyes. as always, ask your instructors.

nope. its because rallies don't accomplish a whole lot. the only people who go are the ones who already agree with you. Personally, I choose to make my political statements in open forums such as these, where, even if I can't change someone's mind, (and I am under no delusions that merely reading someone's post on a forum can change someone's mind about something people feel so passionate about), I might get them to think just a little bit harder (and if not, at least I've made myself re-examine the issue), and in the voting booth, where it really counts. Like I said, if Bush can do all he's promised in Iraq, I will vote for him. However, I don't think he can do it, and I think waiting for him to prove he can't do it will cost even more American lives.

the difference is that this generation realizes our voices are better heard at the polls than shouting in the streets. We also realize that our troops are doing their best not to harm civilians. However, we believe that a "preemptive strike" is not justified. Attacking a nation in self defense is one thing. Attacking because they might maybe attack us someday is another thing entirely. The troops are doing the best they can with the orders they've been given. It is the man issuing those orders that we have issue with.

and there was a point in Vietnam when we'd only lost 500. The Vietnam war dragged on for years. We've only been fighting in Iraq for less than a year. Four or five years down the road, who knows what the casualty count is going to be?

hell- if Bush can get an Iraqi government functioning on its own, find those WMDs, bring a bit of stability to the middle east, and bring our soldiers home, even I'd vote for him. And that's a promise.

all I know is I went on that diet, and it made me sick. I had no energy. I felt awful. I was dizzy and sick to my stomach. Went to my doctor (who is NOT a vegetarian, btw) and she had a fit when she found out that I was doing Atkins. Referred me to a nutritionist, who showed me how to lose weight the right way. Life is good now.

and how many have we lost in Iraq so far, with no end in sight?

um... yeah... what he said.

simply because both Kerry and Fonda happened to agree that the war in Vietnam was a bad idea, it does not necessiarily (or even probably) follow that he agreed with her other methods of protesting such a war. Should I happen to attend and possibly speak at a gay rights rally all that means is that I agree with the other people at the rally that I support rights for gays and lesbians. It does not mean that, should the speaker at the podium immediately before me go out and start opening fire on christian coalition members in the name of GLTB rights that I also condone these actions. Get it? Two people can support a similar cause and have very different methods of achieving their goals. They may agree on the ends, but disagree drastically on the means. Just because two people happen to be at the same rally and speak on the same subject, it does not follow that they agree on everything else, and to asusme so is simply silly.

Casie- A cloned person would be an identical twin. If you've ever met identical twins, you know that they can be very different. You can clone physical characteristics, but not personalities. Personally, I really don't see the difference between cloning and in vitro fertilization, other than cloning being much more complex, resulting in a pre-selected set of physical characteristics, rather than the randomness currently provided by IVF. Do I think cloning a person is a good idea? HELL NO. Mainly because of the emotional implecations involved. For parents wanting to have a child, IVF is a very valid option. Cloning is a needless option. There's no medical reason to pre-select what your child is going to look like, and you'd have parents cloning their kids who die. Parents cloning dead children just wigs me out, and can't possibly be psychologically healthy for the new child. Cloning individual organs? GREAT IDEA. That way, organ transplants can take place without the possibility of rejection. This is an option that needs to be thoroughly explored.

the kind of amusing thing about that photo is that the only people who really care probably wouldn't have voted for Kerry in the first place.