green

Thanks, Gadget, for your generous words. As it happens, I do get along well with children. It is kinda ironic, eh?

I agree with Mindy. I was just visiting your photo gallery and found them to be very cute and very touching.

Yep, I'll drink to that!!!!

DNA is very fascinating and very complicated stuff: it will not only advise the organism that he or she is to have blond hair instead of feathers but when - at what stage of his development while he is still in the uterus - it is time for him to grow these features. It is no wonder that they refer to DNA as the very building blocks of life! The more I read about this the more I am enthralled by what scientists have discovered.

From what I have been reading and trying to understand about the science of genetics it seems that when the sperm and the egg DNA split and then unite (in order to create a new life form) errors are sometimes made in the copying of this DNA mechanism; this mechanism, by the way, is what will "tell" your baby in what order his brain, lungs, legs, and heart must grow. If this is compromised, this will result in birth defects. Fortunately, this occurs relatively rarely. It is felt that we do live in a polluted world and that some of the chemicals to which we are exposed are teratogenic - this means that they can create genetic birth errors. Some of these birth defects are, tragically, related to the parental DNA which is also defective. Many of these defects are recessive which means that it takes two of them to come together in order for them to manifest themselves. Older parents also run the risk of having faulty DNA; this would be because they have lived longer and everything about their bodies is ageing and breaking down, is sadly much less reliable. And, too, they have been exposed to a helluva lot more chemical toxins. I am very sorry to hear of all that you have endured with the birth of your baby. My parents, by the way, had us when they were in their 30s. All three of us were born less than perfect - but were fixable - and two of us became ill with cancer (my kid brother died of cancer when he was 49) before we were seniors. My parents and their sibs lived to be old farts. I personally find it much easier to understand and more comforting to believe in scientific explanations than God-based ones. I hope that my explanation has been of some use to you. It sounds to me like you had spectacular bad luck, but I don't think God sent you anything.

As an atheist I believe that all teens should be taught all contraceptive methods. Teens are by temperament rebellious, experimental, and horny. I think that we must take a practical approach to teens because whatever we teach them, they will take risks and some of them, tragically, will be caught by an unwanted pregnancy. I sure was a horny, risk-taking teen. I got kicked out of a religious boarding school for experimenting with drugs. This was much to my parents' dismay. Now, I am a solid, tax-paying, well-educated, property-owning retiree without a rap-sheet! Har..... Who'd a thought, eh?

I am pleased to read your response, Mindy, for to tell you the truth, I posted my own account in part with you in mind. It seems to me that there is a lot of attempted mind-reading that is taking place on the part of those who are pro-life. I wanted to demonstrate that we who had undertaken the final option all have different tales to tell and hold different attitudes towards our abortions. Your abortion certainly made sense within the framework of your own life and times. You were very young. You were trapped in an abusive marriage which may well have lasted longer and been more difficult to exit from had you continued on with this pregnancy. Too, you didn't have much bucks and pregnancy is expensive south of the border where one does not have universal health care. Medical bills are costly. Clothes are expensive and so is eating healthfully for two. My own abortion made sense within the framework of my poor mental health and my complete lack of maternal instinct. I am certain that there are many other tales where abortion makes sense; we just haven't heard 'em yet.

This explanation of how it works makes sense to me. Thanks.

When I had my abortion, I had the option to go through with the pregnancy. My lover's ex-wife wanted to raise it and my lover, someone who really loves children, also was initially delighted that I was pregnant. He was anxious to marry me. It was me, however, who did not want it. I was filled with horror. You see, I really don't like babies, I don't like the way they smell or the way they look. I guess when they were handing out the uteri and boobs, they forgot to give me the maternal drive. Truth is, I am absolutely not maternal is all. This is why I was so careful taking care of birth control biz. I also did not want the pregnancy making alterations to the functioning of my body, changes that would never ever change back. I had seen what the legacy of our births had done to my own mum. I was living in France at the time that I discovered that I was pregnant and I could have secured French citizenship for this child and free, state-paid medical care both pre and post natally. This was all part of France's active pro-birth policy. I received a booklet on this at the same time that I arranged for my abortion. The abortion was a one-day affair and was not at all expensive although it was performed in the local hospital. When I awoke from a general anaesthetic I awoke to the worst menstrual cramps that I have ever had! and a feeling of utter relief! Access to a safe and legal abortion certainly saved my bacon. I would have gone the risky illegal route if that was the only one open. This was because I was fighting a major depression and did not have the emotional strength to go through with this pregnancy. I have never felt any feelings of guilt since, by the way.

I love all these t-shirt slogans. Thanks for posting these, Kat and the others who posted. You have cheered me up on this wintry Sunday; winter has been going on for far too long this year. Ugh! It ain't easy being a Canuck Green.

I love shirts like that. I saw a guy at work wearing one which said: Does Not Play Well with Others. I asked about him and the other guys said that it was true. LOL

Sounds like an interesting read....

Nope, just anger mangement skills......... LOL

Thank, wasa, for clarifying this for me. I didn't know that his system didn't tolerate any animal nosh. And thanks, too, for clarifying his attitude towards Christians.

haha, I am very in touch with my inner feelings, aren't I?

I find her hands repellent to look at. I think that they look like little talons. It is a cheapo job. Those responsible for the nails ought to be given a shot in the ovaries. And, I, too, cannot relate to anything about octotwat. Her behaviour is beyond my comprehension; she has ruined her mum's retirement, played with her children's health, and seems to be blindly, foolishly selfish. As for the face job, that, too, is unpleasant to look at; she looks like a grouper (a kind of fish) and fish are not noted for their intelligence, are they? She needs a kick in the uterus and if I were Ron Burgundy I would be just the man to give it to her after a double scotch and water, that is.

Well, I for one believe that humans are by their nature split in their personalities; that it is possible for one's mate to cheat on one and yet love one dearly; that it is possible to for one to have an abortion and yet be respectful of life. It is this basic incoherency in the human character that psychologists spend their time in university studying. As an example of this dichotomy: Hitler, the character who had all those Jews demonized and killed off in the most brutal fashion, was also a vegetarian and adored animals. Here was a man who was capable of being tender towards all animals and merciless towards all Jews. Go figure, eh.... He was also a christian, they say.

Well, we have already established that her logic is imprecise (when it suits her) and shallow - she has, afterall, been telling everyone that she is not on welfare....

It is a Darwin fish.

Jachut's experience has been mine, too. The band has put a physical stop to my gluttony and in the interim I have forced myself to pay much more attention to what I eat, to do the homework, as it were. The band has been a very positive experience for me.

Another site that I am on - one that is run by men and is mostly men - not only permits us to discuss these topics but lets us use foul language! It is violent but it is interesting.

Scotch is Green's favourite drink and has got her in the past into a whole mess o' trouble.

Are any of you right to lifers going to donate money to the octuplets?

Um, does that mean that we get to call octopussy's vagina San Diego?

Ron's one-man campaign against ocuplets, eh. What Would Ron Do????