Carlene

I was furious to read the quotes in this morning's paper.....Cervical Cancer is a "lifestyle decision", according to a group of ultra-conservative fruitcakes opposing Texas' governor Rick Perry's executive order mandating that all girls be vaccinated against HPV, starting at age 11. If you abstain from premarital sex, and marry someone who likewise abstained, you won't have to worry about HPV. So....I guess those nasty girls who will die from Cervical Cancer have no one but themselves to blame. A Dallas woman said the only women at risk for Cervical Cancer are those with other risk factors, such as smoking, HIV, Chlamydia, multiple sex partners, poor diet, and "low income". Well, let's hope for her sake that she never finds herself in that despicable condition.....LOW INCOME. I guess the quicker we stamp out those losers, the better. And for the benefit of all who might agree with the dissenters, I'd like to point out, as did columnist Bud Kennedy, that for years we have required that school children be immunized against another virus that is spread primarily thru sexual contact AND causes Cancer (liver Cancer). That would be the Hepatitis B vaccine. But I don't recall anyone making a moral issue out of it. Why is that, do you suppose?

The latest "news" claims that there were multiple vials of Methadone found in a refrigerator at ANS's home in the Bahamas. One would think, if this is true, that she would stay far, far away from the same stuff that killed her son.

Wheetsin... I am the quintessential "Earth Mother", I guess. Growing up, I loved babies....couldn't wait to get married and have a whole bunch of them. That did not make me a good parent, however. And sometimes, I wasn't. Like everyone else, there were times when I definitely was not in the running for Mother of the Year. I have noticed that many times, the people who WANT children are not necessarily people who SHOULD be having them. They have one, don't parent it very well, and instead of stopping, they have MORE. That doesn't mean they don't love them. My daughter has 3 children. She loves them more than her own life, but she is not good at parenting them...because she is not good at acting responsibly. You, on the other hand, seem to be very responsible. Very reliable. And that counts for a lot. Your children will grow up feeling secure - knowing that they can count on you. Knowing that if school is out at 3:00, they won't still be standing by the flagpole at 3:30, wondering where you are and when you - IF you - will show up to collect them. One of the best mothers I know has just one child - a son whom they adopted as an infant. She put off having children until she was almost 40, then found that she was unable to conceive. Carol wasn't sure she would be a good mom, either. The first thing she lined up was a reliable babysitter. She did not want to feel overwhelmed by a crying, demanding, infant. But when the time came to hand him over, it was much harder than she had anticipated. She called the sitter a LOT. Just to check on Christopher. Christopher is 23 years old now and his mom is VERY glad she made the decision to be a parent. And she's looking forward to being a grandmother.

When I was in the hospital delivering my first (biological) child, my DH, unasked, brought me the bills that had arrived in my absence, the checkbook, and some stamps. He thought you were supposed to pay them the day after they landed in the mailbox and he was seriously concerned that in the 2 1/2 days I would be gone, something might be "late".

Sorry, but I think this is nonsense. Your happiness is never someone else's responsibility. Nor is it possible to "fix" another's unhappiness. You are responsible for your own happiness.

When I was working in social services, we tried buying cloth diapers and giving them to low-income moms as a means of cutting their monthly expenses. The program was a huge failure. The convenience of disposables often outweighs any environmental concerns. Humans, by and large, are lazy and self-serving. Disposable diapers, by the way, remain in landfills for hundreds of years. They are among the world's worst pollutants.

I agree Terrilean....I hate the whole "press one for English" thing. Why shouldn't English be the default and everyone else has to "press one"?

I have had two civil marriage ceremonies and 3 Catholic weddings (and I've never been divorced!). I told each and every officiant to leave out "obey" because I would NOT promise to obey any man this side of heaven. They all complied.

Both my Schnauzers have had "curly" coats, but my friend Sue has a silver female whose coat is straight. She keeps her cut in a long "skirt". Jackson looks silly in the skirt cut.

Celebrities have easy access to all kinds and quantities of drugs, both legal and otherwise. Elvis Presley's physician was brought up on professional charges after the singer's death because he was found to have written hundreds of scripts for Presley in a very short period of time. Even the President of the US, John Kennedy, had a doctor come to the White House regularly and administer injections of amphetamines to himself and Jackie. Just like your average street junkie knows where to go to buy drugs, so do celebrities share that knowledge. And they have the money to score the best pharmaceutical grade dope.

I believe I read in coverage regarding the class action lawsuit filed against ANS and the makers of Trimspa that she admitted she did not take the product. I will see if I can find that info.

I don't like the sleeze ball lawyer, either, but he didn't "push" ANS to marry J Howard Marshall. She didn't even know Stern when her marriage took place. Smith met the 89 year old billionaire in 1991, while working at a Houston strip club. She was, by the way, a married woman at the time. She divorced her husband in 1993 and married Marshall in 1994, the same year that Howard K Stern was first licensed to practice law. I have heard quite a lot about Anna Nicole from someone who works for Stern. She told me from the get-go that the Trim Spa thing was a total sham. Anna Nicole used Cocaine and Amphetamines to lose about 70 pounds. She never took Trim Spa - just the money. In my estimation, ANS participated in deliberately taking advantage of desperate, overweight women. All she cared about was getting paid for her "endorsement".

My (late) husband's church annulment was in 1979.

Yes, I was a single mom for about a year. And no, I didn't pose nude or sell my body to support my children, but not because I was "too smart". As for mothers, mine would have KILLED me, had I publicly humiliated her by doing an Anna Nicole Smith. Sorry, everyone, but I have a HUGE problem with women and the "flesh industry". I think all of it - strip clubs, Playboy type mags, porn films, etc - dehumanizes women and reduces them to the status of a commodity. A not very savory commodity, at that. Edited to add... When my kids were younger, they had a friend who dated, then married, a "dancer". She is actually a very pleasant young woman who eventually had two children and quit stripping. She became a kindergarten teacher in the same suburban community where she used to work a pole every night. That could give a whole new meaning to "meet the teacher night", if any of her old customers should show up. Anyway, her folks do not know, to this day, that she was once a stripper. I told my daughter that if she ever decided to take off her clothes for a living, she either had to move far away, or wear a mask and assume a stage name so that none of her brothers' friends (or, God forbid, her brothers) would recognize her, should they meet her in a professional capacity.

He would love it to.....and it would be "safe", as he's a fixed boy...LOL. The doggy love of my life was a beautiful, picture perfect, salt and pepper female mini Schnauzer named Schatzie. She went everywhere with me. She took a shower with me, for crying out loud! It was an accidental love affair, as I had never wanted a Schnauzer, never been close to a Schnauzer....never even THOUGHT about a Schnauzer. Schatzie had to be euthanized due to a genetic predisposition to bladder stones (huge ones) that could only be treated by major surgery every 8 weeks or so. We did it (the surgery) three times and finally realized we could not keep putting her thru that. It's caused from inbreeding. Schatzie came from a puppy mill to a pet shop to the first owners, then to me. I would NEVER purchase from a pet store. It just encourages more irresponsible breeding. Edited to ask.... Do your Schnauzers have their ears cropped? Schatzie's were done when I got her, so it wasn't an issue. Jackson's are "natural" and I just can't bring myself to put him thru it. I like the traditional look of the cropped ears, however.

You and me both, Missy. I know it's impolite to speak ill of the dead, but come on. Anna Nicole Smith has done just about everything that can be done for money and maybe I'm just an old-fashioned prude, but where I come from (which isn't too far from where SHE came from), they have a name for girls like that.

If you mean Lucy (the Shih Tzu), yes, she is a cutie. She has lots of issues, though. We got her because the breeder didn't want to take her back and asked if we would adopt her. She was surrendered by the people who bought her as a puppy. My DH wanted to breed her, but I said, "No way". She is too small, first off (not quite 6 pounds and the standard is 9-16 pounds) and secondly, I'm afraid she would give birth to demon dogs! Jackson is cute, too. He is very unusual - an AKC chocolate colored Mini-Schnauzer. They are usually black, silver, or salt and pepper. Jackson is a "real dog" (unlike Lucy, who is a cat in a dog's body). Jackson loves to play fetch and he lives for attention from anyone. Humans are his god. We adopted Jackson from Craig's List. His owners were moving and had never really bonded with him, but they wanted him to have a good home. He had never had a yard - lived in an apartment all his life (he's 10 months old). He LOVES having a yard to defend against the birds and squirrels. (You all know how dangerous birds and squirrels can be, right?)

My Shih Tzu sleeps under the covers, too! I was afraid for a time that she would smother, but so far she hasn't. Aren't they the most fun things in the whole world? Mine is little bitty (just under 6 pounds). The groomer calls her "five pounds of trouble". And she is the ONLY groomer who will touch the little twit. She has been kicked out of more than one salon because they say she takes more time and effort than a 100 pound dog.

I am owned by a Shih Tzu named Lucy, but I also call her Princess Yum Yum, House Mouse, and variations of those names, plus Fuzzy Butt and other stuff. Unfortunately, she hates everyone except me. My granddaughter calls her Lucy-fer (as in Lucifer). My DH calls her Lucy Loo sometimes, but mostly "crazy dog". We recently adopted a mini-Schnauzer named Jackson. We haven't really had time to develop a proper list of nicknames yet, but we have called him Jackie and just plain Jack. My 87 year old mother-in-law lives with us and her memory ain't what it used to be. She calls him by any "J" name that comes to mind: Jefferson, Jake, etc. Sometimes she calls him Sarah, which was our yellow Lab that died a few months ago, or Ernie, which was my brother-in-law's dog from 15 or so years ago.

Tell it to Maury, BJ. He'll get you on his show ASAP. His specialty is "who my baby's daddy?"

Well, the maternal grandmother is at least for SURE related to the baby. The rest are just posers until the DNA results are in.

Me, too, Karen. I have been widowed twice and the church was incredibly supportive of me in my times of grief, and of my second marriage. My husband was non-Catholic and divorced, but our priest wouldn't allow us to pay for his annulment, although we offered. His ex-wife was Methodist and they had two children, so I asked the advocate if she could call before the papers just "showed up" in the ex-wife's mailbox and explain that this did not call into question the legal status of their marriage, or the legitimacy of their children. She was happy to do that and the whole thing went so much more smoothly, I think, because she was so considerate and nice.

I know someone who works for Howard Stern (Anna's lawyer, not the shock jock). She told me that Anna's weight loss was from cocaine and amphetamines.

Reminds me of the Christina Onasis story. She died from an overdose of drugs - amphetamines. She also left a young daughter. Very sad, on both accounts.

Yes, it is. I had my dog fixed, but I understand it's hard to find a human doctor who will cooperate.