Lindsey

I do agree with that. linz -- A conservative is just a liberal who's been mugged. A liberal is just a conservative who's been to jail

That's even funnier than the Jesus is Lord thread....lol linz -- A conservative is just a liberal who's been mugged. A liberal is just a conservative who's been to jail

If you get beyond a person's training, by 100 jumps there's not much excuse for not having examined your equipment enough to have a pretty thorough understanding of how it works. Really. To not have done that speaks to something (I'm not sure what) within the individual. That's beyond what she learned from her instructor. My question is what makes a person uninterested in the workings of her skydiving equipment? I hear about people who never learn to pack. That's insane to me. How can a person rely on equipment that they've not examined thoroughly enough to know how it works? There are things that instructors and mentors can do on the front-end, I'm sure, to improve the safety of people who just aren't inclined to improve their own safety. But I can't help but think that if people aren't any more responsible for themselves than that, then THAT's where attention should be focused....rather than on particulars. linz -- A conservative is just a liberal who's been mugged. A liberal is just a conservative who's been to jail

I love my chiropractors (two of them). As long as you're not dealing with a serious spinal injury, I think they can be great! They've provided me a lot of relief over the years.... There are some good DOs who have more medical knowledge than chiropractors, if you can find one who does adjustments. If I were choosing a new person for adjustments, I'd probably go that route. linz -- A conservative is just a liberal who's been mugged. A liberal is just a conservative who's been to jail

Why? Humans are sexual beings from the moment they are born. Babies get erections, young children play doctor exploring feelings and questions they have...it is a pretty natural process. Unfortunately, it is one adults are generally not comfortbale with. Why do I think it's harmful? First because this is many children's first discussion about sexuality. It's in the form of a questionnaire that seems to put a pretty negative spin on human sexuality. "Feel Dirty?" "Think about having sex when I don't want to?" "Touch myself too much?" That is not the way to introduce discussions of sexuality to young children. Then....after they introduced sexuality in a pretty negative way to these kiddos, was there anyone trained (a counselor or child psychotherapist) to help children process what they'd just been asked about? OR did they just send them on their way? Discussions with children about sexuality can be done appropriately. But sexuality in itself can be complex. Addressing sexuality with young children as an issue of sexual abuse muddies the boundaries quite a bit. Young children think in very concrete terms, and the ability to abstract doesn't come until they near adolescence. They are not developmentally prepared for the situations that they have just been thrust into. I have a problem with educators, who should have a good understanding of children's developmental and psychosocial needs, dropping this on children in what seems to be a very deceptive way. That, also is harmful. -- A conservative is just a liberal who's been mugged. A liberal is just a conservative who's been to jail

I think that those types of questions for children of this age ARE damaging. There definitely are kindergarten children for whom these questions may have been appropriate, but it's sad that they've been exposed at such a young age to subjects that aren't appropriate for them. That doesn't mean that the rest of the children, whose parents are thoughtful about their upbringing, should have these issues dumped on them. There is no justification, imho. linz -- A conservative is just a liberal who's been mugged. A liberal is just a conservative who's been to jail

That opinion does not change the fact that parents should able to add two and two together and figure out that "early trauma" just might include psychological damage from sexual abuse. One might also expect, as I would, that a questionnaire given to 7 y/o's, approved by the school board, would not be something that would, itself, be damaging. Questioning 7 y/o children about whether they touch, or want to touch, other children's genitals is WAAAAY out of line. I should not have to find another public school for my child to attend in order to avoid this scenario. Whether it's an issue for the courts to settle, though, is not so clear to me. I would think that the school board is a better place to resolve it. I doubt that it's a mistake that will be made more than once. As far as sex education in the schools, I think that it's appropriate only as far as teaching about human reproduction, sexually transmitted diesease, and how one protects against it. But, again, this is not content meant for 7 y/o's either, until we start teaching human physiology in 2nd grade.... linz -- A conservative is just a liberal who's been mugged. A liberal is just a conservative who's been to jail

Any dog, regardless of breed, is only as dangerous as his/her owner allows it to be. Yeah....but I can be negligent in the training of my Cairn Terrier without putting my neighbors at risk. There's definitely a continuum of "potential danger posed to a community," and some dogs pose very, very little even when treated badly themselves. Others pose a much greater risk. linz -- A conservative is just a liberal who's been mugged. A liberal is just a conservative who's been to jail

The sheriff said that if she hadn't left the scene, she probably wouldn't have been charged at all. That's the booger in there, isn't it. Sometimes people in cars hit pedestrians. Usually it's accidental. But the driver of the car, regardless of her emotional state, should stop...if for no other reason than to help or get help for her injured victims. If a person does not stop and help, then she *should* be charged, not because she hit them with her car, but because she didn't take the potentially life-saving step of stopping to see that they were tended to. -- A conservative is just a liberal who's been mugged. A liberal is just a conservative who's been to jail

I agree. Whew. Thank God for that! I thought I was standing out here all alone for a minute.... linz -- A conservative is just a liberal who's been mugged. A liberal is just a conservative who's been to jail

Or just maybe some of us are suspicious of everything he does just because of his track record. I don't see how judging someone based on their littany of errors constitutes partisanship. I'm also suspicious of what GWB does because I think he's basically a bad person. BUT it's important to not discard EVERYTHING he does as president just because you don't like him, imho. His actions have some far-reaching effects, and I won't blindly condemn eveything he does just because I don't like him. linz -- A conservative is just a liberal who's been mugged. A liberal is just a conservative who's been to jail

My measure of success is about who a person is more than what he/she has achieved. I think about my two brothers first....my younger brother does fine. He has his Master's in Environmental Science, and he cleans up after my other brother who soon should make Lt. Col. My younger brother is far more successful, in my eyes, than my older. He's happy. He's nice. He's fun to be around. He's at ease with himself and around other people. He's honorable too--true blue. He doesn't have a big title. He's well-educated, but doesn't have a particularly distinguished title. He's neither an under- nor over-achiever. He does what he loves, and he loves completely. He and his wife have something that I've never been able to achieve. I think my little brother is the most successful person I know. -- A conservative is just a liberal who's been mugged. A liberal is just a conservative who's been to jail

I hope the dog takes the guys leg off someday! But of course that will just lead to more media hype about how mean pitbulls are. They never report about the conditions the dog was kept and treated. People need to understand what the fuck they are talking about before they talk. Two things. 1) You're assuming all dogs are born the same. That's just not true. Even people are born with different temperments....why would you assume that dogs aren't? Some dogs are just naturally more aggressive than others, and some of those are physically capable of doing great harm (like any of the Pit Bull breeds vs. Lhasa Apso...who is also a relatively aggressive dog). When these dogs end up with people who do not respect their capabilities or care that they might hurt others, then it's a set-up for trouble. 2) Regardless of *why* the dogs do the things they do, it still happens far too frequently. Since many, many people make very foolish choices, then sometimes we as a society have to step in. I don't care if it's not the dog's fault that he's aggressive. I DO care when a child is mauled by someone's dog...any dog. When there are breeds that are more likely to kill or critically injure someone's child, and history has shown us that many pet owners will not be responsible to keep their dogs from attacking people, then I think we have a duty to control who has access to these animals and where they are allowed to be. linz -- A conservative is just a liberal who's been mugged. A liberal is just a conservative who's been to jail

I've hit my shins/feet on the step many times. But better a leg than a nose. Ouch. You sound like a bloody mess.... Better luck next time! Peace~ linz -- A conservative is just a liberal who's been mugged. A liberal is just a conservative who's been to jail

HA!!! Yep....I was just lamenting the fact that I've only made

Yep....today my little boy has it coming out both ends. Have no choice but to clean it up....ugh. Imodium and Phenergan. That's the ticket. linz -- A conservative is just a liberal who's been mugged. A liberal is just a conservative who's been to jail

550ish:0:0 We took a windy but otherwise beautiful weekend to ride the Arkansas backroads. The Ozarks are always beautiful, but they're absolutely breathtaking this time of year. The Buffalo (our country's only National River) is gorgeous, and I wish we had had more time to linger around there. There won't be many more perfect riding weekends this year, so (even though we didn't get to jump as we had planned) I'm glad we got out and about!!! Peace~ linz edited to add a few photos. I wish we had taken some along the Pig Trail and at the Buffalo....but oh well... -- A conservative is just a liberal who's been mugged. A liberal is just a conservative who's been to jail

I don't think my perception is biased by the news media. I think if Labradors killed children frequently then they'd be in the media. Fact is that all dogs bite. Last dog I was bitten by was a little bitty tiny dog. But know what? It didn't kill me or try to kill me. While nobody wants to be scarred by a dog, the dogs that put children in ICU or in the morgue with relative frequency need to be under scrutiny. The bottom line, after all the justifications and statistics, is that those particular dogs mortally wound people far too often. I don't think they should be banned, but I do think their ownership should be difficult.... Peace~ linz -- A conservative is just a liberal who's been mugged. A liberal is just a conservative who's been to jail

Renee, as much as I love dogs, I think that dogs (or their owners) who repeatedly cause the injuries that Pit Bulls cause should be scrutinized. When children are killed by dogs, a large percentage of the attacks are by Pit Bulls. Or does the media just cover the rest of them up in order to make the breed look bad? I doubt it. I don't know how prone they are to attack vs. other dogs, but you just don't hear stories of the neighbor's labrador killing a child.... I love dogs, and I think that most Pit Bulls are probably good dogs. But I also have no problem with making ownership of them difficult because of their potential to cause such serious harm. linz -- A conservative is just a liberal who's been mugged. A liberal is just a conservative who's been to jail

Sounds like you had a great weekend, Rick! Sometimes, when your reality just doesn't mesh with that of other adults, remember that we all love you anyway....lol. The grownups went riding this weekend....up Hwy 7 then across to 23 and up the Pig Trail. Spent the night in Fayetteville. Rode over to the Buffalo this morning and hit Hwy 7 again at Jasper....down through Russellville to Hot Springs and home tonight. I think it was about 550 miles in all.... The Ozarks are beautiful right now.... Peace~ linz -- A conservative is just a liberal who's been mugged. A liberal is just a conservative who's been to jail

It's worse now in that people travel much more, but it's much better in terms of medical care. Maybe somewhat better....but there aren't medications to knock out this virus once you get it. You pretty much have to let influenza run its course. Heck....our ICU is full right now. Then, since it's healthy people that are likely to be at risk with this strain, what are we gonna do when all the doctors get sick? I think we're a lot better off being alert and prepared to NOT get sick as best we can, because it really *could* be devastating. linz -- A conservative is just a liberal who's been mugged. A liberal is just a conservative who's been to jail

I would hope that if people begin to get this illness that the suggestion that we not mingle so much would be effective to curb people's travel. I would take such suggestions seriously.....because I've been educated about the seriousness of the illness. linz -- A conservative is just a liberal who's been mugged. A liberal is just a conservative who's been to jail

What should we try to stop? The point is nothing exists to stop. You've obviously bought into the scare tactic. Well....given that in order for the flu to spread, there must be contact between people, limiting that contact (in the event that this strain does mutate so that people can give it to each other) theoretically should cut down on its spread. This is not a strain of flu that one would get and not know they had gotten. This strain won't be mistaken for a common cold. It is important to do something about it now so that we're not in the position of saying...."we didn't know it was going to be that bad until it was too late to do anything about it...." That's the point. I guess you probably feel the same way about diseases like Marburg and Ebola.....while you're throwing things (Lyme, West Nile, SARS) around that might make us want to be prepared. Were those threatening us, I'd also want to be prepared. It's foolish to believe that infectious disease gives us no cause for concern. linz -- A conservative is just a liberal who's been mugged. A liberal is just a conservative who's been to jail

Doesn't it feel good to see those scores! Congrats! Next year you'll make up for this downhill ride tho. (Did you take the CS exam too?) Peace~ linz -- A conservative is just a liberal who's been mugged. A liberal is just a conservative who's been to jail

Pretty stinky editing. But it sure doesn't equal the media being left-leaning. The NYT is left-leaning. Fox news is not. I suppose we could make a list for those who aren't up on Who's Who in the Media....lol. linz -- A conservative is just a liberal who's been mugged. A liberal is just a conservative who's been to jail