The Hall of Fire

I think the best argument of all is that we certainly allow adoptive mothers and fathers to call their adopted children "my son" or "my daughter." But, Cerin, doesn't it cheapen the meaningfulness of a family actually sharing that blood connection, to call another family not havi...

I think that was a very interesting post Sir V. I don't really think about the history of marriage (although all that you write is true) with regard to the rights/status of women. I am married but my marriage is very much a "modern" marriage. I am the breadwinner. We flex around with our r...

Oh, it happened to me too. With my first. We were planning on it "soon", and had started getting a little too cavalier with the birth control, but when it happened the timing was very bad (I was about to go to Ecuador to climb a big mountain, tix bought, everything!). I thought about "...

Well, I think I would realize what my thoughts are. My comments were simply to say that TO ME marriage can cause two people to have a greater degree of commitment to each other, by virtue of having stood up before people, knowing that the legal system has to be involved if you split up, and the soci...

There was nothing in what you said that implied a judgment about other people's relationship. I can't say that about Ellienor or Frelga's posts. I am skipping a lot of posts to say the following: Sir V, I am very sorry if my comments came across poorly for you. I have the utmost respect for the par...

Well, in a live in situation, I think you can tend to "gloss over" or kind of overlook some things in the interests of not rocking the boat. Whereas in marriage you have two things: one is that you know it's now-or-never for fixing things, and the other is that you are more certain it's th...

Oh, let me tell you. I'm only 12 years into mine and there have been times where I have hung on by the skin of my teeth. The fact that there were children helped. The fact that it would be a major PITA to untangle all the finances and legal stuff also helped. :) Nice to be all misty eyed about marri...

My five year old's best friend is a boy being raised by lesbian parents (both college professors, BTW). My son's friend is far better adjusted than my own son, I have to admit.....

I cried buckets at the end. I am always amazed when a movie can move me to tears like that. The only downside to that movie is that my five year old now is a little creeped out by his stuffed animals, though, and keeps asking me if they are alive. He won't sleep with his stuffed killer whale anymore...

i thought it was worth cutting and pasting a USA Today article on the decision: The ruling says: Marriage in the United States has always been a civil matter. Civil authorities may permit religious leaders to solemnize marriages but not to determine who may enter or leave a civil marriage. Religious...

Well, being the parent of a preschooler who almost inevitably says "Mom, I gotta poop" (meaning, I have to go perform wipe duties) JUST as we are sitting down for dinner, or have tucked in already.... I think I would find it pretty funny. :) But, that's because poop is pretty much part of ...

I've had to ask my husband to watch with the sound turned way, way down. Those things just drone on and on and on and on.....

There was a news item recently that showed that "children raised in lesbian households were psychologically well-adjusted and had fewer behavioral problems than their peers." http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/06/10/lesbians-children-are-better-adjusted-study-finds/ I think that pretty much...

I read something by Michael Moore once about how in America a lot of the poor believe that one day they are going to be rich and thus they identify with policies for rich people. And economic mobility is fairly robust in the U.S.

Well, there is some point that warming causes CO2, by increasing plant growth, particularly, in arctic areas. But that is simply showing that warming that is initiated by increasing CO2 in the atmosphere by burning fossil fuels causes a feedback loop thereby further increasing warming, because the i...

I think we were all a little jaded by Ashley Todd "a black man came up and scratched B for Barack on my cheek."

Plus your link said it was still being investigated and nobody wanted to step up and claim it was politically motivated just yet.

If true: terrible.

Did you read that series of articles about the people who got barbequed by incorrectly set radiation and X ray machines? :shock: Horrible, horrible. I think doctors have the right to turn away patients. Although, I don't know the legalities of it, or whether it is always applicable (I think there wo...

*sigh* some people can dish it out, but they can't take it..... :P I have never heard of doctor's offices requiring people to enter into mandatory arbitration to receive services. Although a brief google showed that this is becoming more common. I do know that there have been legal issues of whether...

This bill (up until this point, of course), will NOT pass, and using a legislative trick to get it to the president's desk is very much subverting the constitution, the republic, and the entire concept of democracy. Why didn't you care the other 84 times it was done, Hal??? :P The correlary to this...

now much of the Republican mainstream engage in could very well be the basis for violent acts by people who believe it is a patriot's duty to overthrow the government if Democrats -- who apparently want to cripple the nation and enslave its populace -- are in control. I do think that Limbaugh's unt...