Tired_Old_Man

I don't know if this will be of any consolation to you, but the house I own near Pittsburgh and the housed that I owned in Brooklyn were both reassessed. The house near Pittsburgh was reassessed to market value, but simultaneously they lowered the millage so that the taxes were only marginally effected. In Brooklyn, the reassessment was not as bad as we thought it would be and only caused a 10-15% increase. I hope that your county has similar plans for any future reassessment. If they act irrationally, they will drive everyone into selling which will drop the property value back down again.

My Pet Allie:

JULZ for President.

After being away from me for two weeks, I am sure that intercourse will be as spicy for her as it would be more me. Brooklyn (our grandchild) never sleeps, except at night and even then she is always a threat to come knocking at the door. Tina doesn't mind spending money on Brooklyn. In every store we go to, I hear, "This would nice for brooklyn". She just doesn't want it spent on Tina. So I might try to include Brooklyn into my birthday plans for Tina as Hopeagain 2007 suggested. Maybe we can go for a ride on Allie:

We have at least 3 if not 4 or 5 threads going simultaneously. That must be a record.

I pay about $3,500 property tax on a house worth $300,000. My insurance is what gets me. It is over $3,500. Damn Hurricanes. The sales tax is 6.5%. The Florida state legislature is thinking of raising the sales tax another 2% or 3% (or maybe more) and reducing the property tax. It may sound good, but is a way of shifting the tax burden onto the poorer people In NYC, the sales tax is high, but the property tax low. I paid half of what I pay here for property tax, and less than half for insurance on a house that was worth more. But there is a NY State income tax and a NY City income tax. Outside of the NY city limits, they pay real estate tax through the nose. Some of my coworkers were paying $8,000 on a $300,000 house, though they had no city income tax and their sales tax was 2% lower. Let's face it, they get you coming or going. My goal in life was to pay $1,000,000 Federal income tax in one year.

Who Loves to Pose:

From my Back Yard:

Christians Gather to Protest War From the linked article: WASHINGTON (AP) - Thousands of people gathered for a Christian anti-war worship service Friday night at the Washington National Cathedral, kicking off a weekend of protests around the country to mark the fourth anniversary of the war in Iraq. "Millions of people around the world sadly believe this is a Christian war," said the Rev. Jim Wallis, founder of Sojourners/Call to Renewal, one of the groups sponsoring the event. "We have to clear up the confusion." Civil rights historian Taylor Branch, who planned to participate, said it is important for churches to be leaders in the anti-war movement. "It seems to me sad that Christians so easily have put aside our core beliefs, that we love our enemies and we do not believe in violence," said Branch, a Presbyterian elder.

He has posted it 16 times.

I suggested a day at a Spa, but she went ballistic. She thinks that it would be a waste of money. She will not allow me to spoil her, because of her upbringing. If I spend too much money on a present, she gets very annoyed. I have had to tell her that the Jewelery that I have bought her is something that we could always sell to get back our money if we needed it (though I never would). One time when Tina had to go to NY to visit her mother for her mother's birthday, there were no (standby) flights available for her, so she said she would bypass it that year. Then I told her that a flight had opened up. I waited until we had driven the 60 miles to the airport to give her the ticket for a flight on JetBlue (which of course I had paid for) and when she had a fit, I told her that there were no refunds, so it was going to cost us whether she got on or not. Clothing is ok, because it is useful. Flowers are not good because they die, so I buy her (potted) flowers that she can plant later. I keep telling her that she is worth the money, she says she knows, but still resists most thing that will not last. dinner out, the movies, a sporting event, a show or an amusement park are about the only things that she will go for that have no lasting value. I will find a way to make her happy on her "BIG 6 - 0", even if I have to hypnotize her first. My only worry is that she will not make it back in time for her birthday.

Question for the 21st Century: Why is it that we mock, belittle and underestimate our terrorist adversaries because “they wear sheets”, while at the same time we accept every word of Jesus and his Disciples as Gospel, despite the fact that they also wore sheets?

Isn't your spell checking working? You spelled "Kick" incorrectly.

I used to piss off my coworkers, when even though everyone in the room (or area or truck) was White, I would still describe a person "as that white guy who..." or start telling a joke with "three White guys were..." or say something like, "most White people think that..." basically mocking them. As you say, they told stories and only mentioned someone's race or ethnicity when it wasn't White, or told jokes where race was not relevant but still mentioned race.

When I read the Linking article by R. Albert Mohler, I thought that it was a satire. It was not until I did some googling that I realized that it was real.:help: And they call me whacky!!:faint:

I think it is also hard on Blacks in the North. The difference is that the South is more open about it, while the North is sneaky about it, but in both places Whites tell me (their White Brother, they presume) little tidbits about "them" and very often use very choice descriptive words for "them". I think the boss should have been more diplomatic, not just because he could not have been sure where your husband was coming from (so why automatically pick the worst?), but because as a boss, he represents the company, not just himself and it was improper for a workplace. It is called creating a hostile environment and has made many people rich after suing. I am not suggesting your husband sue, but I think the topic should be broached again and this time the question should be more specific. Do not leave room for misunderstanding. Very few white people could live a week in a Black person's body without getting into a fight or cracking up emotionally.

#1. Click on “User CP” at the upper left hand part of the page. #2. On the New page that comes up below “User CP” count down four sections and you will see “Buddy / Ignore Lists” #3. Click on “Buddy / Ignore Lists”. #4. Add names to the Buddy List which should be in the middle of your screen and click the little box under the names.

Church leaders in Tobago want Elton John banned from headlining a music festival on the Caribbean island amid fears he will turn locals gay. Maybe they are right. Every time I hear Elton sing "Candle In The Wind", I want to suck a

She killed herself (not on purpose) trying to "look good" by dieting. Does anyone think that she would want to look like she did in that condition? What really got me most annoyed were people like FOX program host Sean Hannity. He had a woman on his show more than once who claimed to be Terri Schiavo's nurse (before she left the facility) and that Ms. Schiavo was lucid and would wheel(chair) herself to the nurse's station and hang out greeting the visitors, plus Ms. Schiavo would call the nurses when she needed her diapers to be changed. People who I would talk to would relate these tales to me (which I saw first hand watching FOX) and they believed the nurse and Sean Hannity. In this day of cell-phone cameras, no one in the Schindler family had a cell-phone with a camera and none of the nurses would smuggle a camera or cell-phone camera in to save Terri Schiavo's life? Where the nurses and all the doctors paid off to help execute Terri Schiavo? GIVE ME A BREAK!!

I keep hearing numbers like 2,500 flights canceled or 4,000 flights canceled. I am not sure which is true, but things are not looking good for Tina to make it home on time next week. I want her home for her birthday, the “BIG 6 - 0”, on the 31st. I also need her home for our dentist appointment to get our teeth cleaned. Around her, it takes a 5 month notice to get an appointment to get your teeth cleaned. This is a great area to open up a dentistry practice.

Either in this thread or another similar one, we discussed members who were divorced, but their church did not recognize the divorce I think the only solution is to separate "legal civil unions" and marriage If a couple wants to be married in his church/religion, they must also be joined in a "legal civil union", to get the benefits of the legal and tax system. If a couple wants get the same benefits of the legal and tax system, but without religious overtones, they must be also joined in a "legal civil union", but they would not be married. All laws should then replace the word "marriage" with "legal civil union". Of course the state could (and should) allow clergy the right to perform the marriage and "legal civil union" simultaneously. Also, of course the American public will never go for that, because it is easier to discriminate than to try to be fair. There will eventually be a crisis in this country as some states follow a policy similar to what I suggest, while other states refuse to recognize these "legal civil unions" or whatever the state where the ceremony was performed calls it. I could just see the headlines, “Gay couple arrested though they were legally joined in another state”. I can also see the tourism problems as married Gays from other countries are made to feel unwelcome in some states. That's what might eventually turn things around: Compassion – NO! Profit Margin and Tax Revenues - Yes!!

If I am sick and dying in the hospital, Tina can decide when to pull the plug, Tina can visit me in ICU and if we had adopted a child, Tina would still be the parent. If I had spent the last 40 years of my life with Larry, Larry could not decide when to pull the plug, Larry could not visit me in ICU and if I had adopted a child, Larry could not be the parent. In fact, in the state where I live, Larry and I would not be eligible to adopt. How does that make the lives of people who are offended by same-gender unions any better? How does that offend people who are against same-gender unions? Tina has never worked since we got married, because we decided to have one parent home to raise the children. I worked extra overtime and a part time job to pay the bills. Tina can collect on my Social Security when she gets old enough and is entitled to Medicare at 65. The rational for that is that we always filed joint income tax returns so we are treated as a family. If Larry and I had been together for 40 years and had raised 10 children (either adopted or from my sperm with female surrogates) under the same circumstances as Tina and I, Larry could not collect on my Social Security when he gets old enough and is not entitled to Medicare at 65. The rational for that is that were not allowed to file joint income tax returns so we are not treated as a family. How does that make the lives of people who are offended by same-gender unions any better? How does that offend people who are against same-gender unions? Compassion!!

I do not know how many babies have been born in places like Rwanda during their stressful times. When the body is starving, the reproductive cycle comes to a halt. The British mothers were under stress, but had food. Also, I do not know of the social values of Bosnia or Rwanda and if Gay offspring could admit being Gay without persecution. I wrote the informational piece from memory, I tried to make it short, so I left out that there was also a corresponding increase in Gay German males who were in the womb in cities while under air attacks. There was no information on Japanese Gay males which might be subject to different mores. I hope that I did not make it sound like only war could cause the stress induced Gay male offspring. Family fights during pregnancy, financial woes, and dozens of other stress inducing reasons could be the cause, and I did not suggest that stress may be the only reason. I agree with you that the reason why people are Gay should not really matter, but some people need to know that being Gay is not a choice. Unless these people know that, they will insist that Gays should just chose to be straight. Members in this thread have spoken about their chances to be Gay that they passed over. They do not want to realize that a deep, non sexual feeling for a person of the same gender or a desire to experiment sexually with someone of the same gender, doesn't mean that they are or are not Gay, IMHO. I know some bisexual people who while they do have sex with either gender, much prefer their own gender and others who much prefer the other gender. I can not picture myself with a member of my own gender having sex. If I was single and with a woman who decided to perform oral sex on me and afterwards I found out that it was a Gay male dressed as a woman, I would be more revolted if I had kissed her than by having the orgasm, because I would have had a "natural orgasm" as compared to giving oral sex to a male or being the receiver during anal sex. It is not the inability to have sex, but the mind which says "no" in my case and in many other people's minds, according to prior discussions, to the thought of having sex with a member of my gender.

I didn't say that "they have managed to reverse all the increases in freedom", I said "tried to reverse all of the increases of freedom". Big difference. I can not fix the positive things about the USA, so of course I dwell on fixing what I think needs to be fixed; the negatives. I have not given BuSh a lot of power, the events of 911 scared congress into becoming a rubber-stamp for BuSh and he usurped the power. By the way, I will wish you a "Happy Saint Patrick's Day", though I am not Irish and my wife is English (but born a Roman Catholic), and I will inform you that I would never refuse a friendly greeting such as "Happy Saint Patrick's Day" when done with good intend. I would also like you to know that last year, my wife, Tina and I marched in the "Saint Patrick's Day" parade. This year, Tina is in Brooklyn visiting her mother and I have a damaged cartilage in my knee which prohibits me from walking the long parade route.

I think it is the money and the power, that distorts the Christian leaders. I have no way of knowing if the Christian leaders who are politically active, but only concentrate on a few issues to condemn (gay rights and abortion) while quietly supporting greed by large corporations, destruction of the environment and the war in Iraq, while ignoring the poor, started out to become that way, or if the money and power corrupted them on the way up the Christian hierarchy I have noticed that most Christian leaders when on TV talk shows quote the Old Testament much more than they quote Jesus, especially the Beatitudes.