Starbucks hates Wiccans? We’ll see what the lawsuit eventually says. Smoking while pregnant found to be neglible (but not harmless) during the first 5 months of pregnancy. Sounds like an interesting study whose results are bound to be very unpopular, and thus highly contested due to the irrational emotions children bring out in people. I blame DNA.
ABUSE OF AUTHORITY: Cop’s tactics in arresting a DUI cause a man to go into a permanent coma. He was never charged. 17 years later (3/2008), he is charged with murdering disc jockey Donald Munsey. This is what happens when you ignore a problem. Penalties for police should be GREATER than those for civilians, not less. Those with more power must also have more responsibility for those actions. Christ, even Peter Parker’s uncle knew that. Either way, the growing trend is hurting both the people, and the law itself, because many have little respect for the law when they behave like this. And did Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s Office in Maricopa County treat alcoholic inmate worse than a dog? Sheriff had bragged about treating dogs better than humans at their jail. Inmate dead from lack of medical attention. “Jurors won’t much like an alcoholic who steals from his family. But they also might recognize that being arrested is not a death sentence. And that once a person is in Maricopa County jail, he’s our responsibility.” Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s attitude and actions are quite pathetic to me.
March 25, 2008 at 6:52 PM
Smoking while pregnant: obviously, this alleviates me of some guilt since I smoked (although pretty lightly) throughout most of my pregnancy with you. I’m not pro-smoking–I’m glad not to be an addict any more–but smokers have become the new pariahs and “harming your unborn baby” has been just one of the tactics used to dehumanize and demonize them. Even as a non (or ex) smoker of over two years standing, I will NEVER make a smoker feel uncomfortable in my presence or in my home. If they want to light up in my livingroom, that’s fine by me. I’m far more intolerant of reformed zealots.
March 25, 2008 at 6:58 PM
RE:never making a smoker feel uncomfortable in your home
Exactly. One value of out family that I really like.
The ex-smokers who are now anti-other-smokers are the 2nd worst, the worst being those who actually smoke, but still don’t let you smoke in their house. So they even have to leave their own home to smoke in it.
So many people come in here and ask if they can smoke, and we’re like, “Uhhh, do you see the 50,000 ashtrays everywhere?”
As you said, “That’s fine by me.”
[*Note: any future whiny comments about why you don’t let people smoke in your house will be deleted because that is not the direction I want this conversation to go.]
March 25, 2008 at 10:01 PM
Steamship or a diesel train of tar and poison gas
It’s comin’ your way your lungs turn grey
Lookin’ at me but whatcha gonna say?
Haha, gotta love the Moistboyz.
March 26, 2008 at 12:27 AM
Clint, I agree with you. Basically, I think we’re both intolerant of intolerance. My particular gripe on this subject is the intolerant EX-smoker, the former addict who has become vengeful, judgmental, and compassionless. Maybe these peole are still so desperate for a cigarette that they have a psychic need to take it out on anybody who lights up! :)
As for smokers who don’t partake in their own homes, or allow other smokers to partake, I think they’re victims of a P.C. world. Of course, a lot of them might tell you that they don’t like the smell permeating their homes, or the way tobacco can dirty their walls and ceilings. Yada yada. I’m as prissy about my house as anyone (you’ll attest to that, I’m sure) but, if a guest of mine wants to smoke, his or her comfort is far,far,far more important to me than any of that.
March 26, 2008 at 6:19 AM
This thread reminds me of this famous picture:
That’s from our local newspaper. Yay, Roanoke!
March 26, 2008 at 1:19 PM
@Dave
Hahaha – I was *just* thinking about that picture! (Though I’m having trouble getting the link to work)
@Clint
I have visited your house many times and I never realized how vested you are in my personal comfort as a guest. Hooray for family values! Next time I visit, I’ll bring Jimmie along!
March 26, 2008 at 1:24 PM
Very funny :) I think you got the wrong idea there :)
March 26, 2008 at 2:01 PM
Yeah, I may have the wrong idea! ;)
It turns out you have documented your opinion of dogs before. From the Feb 9, 2006 post:
“dogs. They’re so fuckin’ needy, they drool, they smell, they break shit, they need to be babysat. […] And no, you can’t bring your dog inside my house.”
If I were to paraphrase and consolidate the above reasons, it might go like this:
1) Bother me/other people
2) Smell
3) Mess up my house
They sound like solid reasons to me. :)
March 26, 2008 at 2:07 PM
Yea, but to clarify:
1) Bother in a direct kinetic manner, as in drooling, biting, licking, jumping
2) Small BAD (most combustion smells good, or else camping would really suck), constantly, every second they exist
3) Mess up my house in a kinetic way i.e. knocking over items which could, if unlucky, cost $100s
:D
March 26, 2008 at 3:31 PM
I don’t get the irrationality brought out by children. There are so many people who go off (on the US parenting websites) about drinking ANY alcohol while pregnant or nursing, and it’s totally common here for pregnant/nursing moms to have a glass of wine or beer a day. I have the occasional glass of champagne and don’t require some special device I saw advertised that lets you check the alcohol content of your pumped breastmilk to help you decide whether you should throw it out! Not only is it common here, but studies have shown that European kids are healthy, smarter, and taller than their American counterparts, so clearly a glass here or there is not harming the kiddies.
March 26, 2008 at 4:07 PM
Grr; my link in comment 5 doesn’t work any more. Here’s another one to try:
March 26, 2008 at 8:12 PM
Man, that link worked earlier, I know, I saw it!
March 28, 2008 at 2:54 PM
Christina, I agree with you. America has gone PC-crazy–especially when you put children, or unborn childen, into the equation. Ironically, I’d stake money that some of those same people who act like a pregnant woman is committing a heinous, unforgivable crime for having an occasional glass of wine or beer are pro partial-birth abortion. In fact, I know a few. I don’t want to get into a debate on abortion here, but it just seems odd to me.
March 29, 2008 at 10:49 AM
I love that my brother-in-law’s mother who lives in Virginia is having a conversation with my old high school classmate who lives in Germany!!!! Blogs rule.
March 29, 2008 at 9:49 PM
Hey, Jay!
March 30, 2008 at 4:36 PM
Ha ha. My mind was in la la land, Vicki!
March 30, 2008 at 4:40 PM
You spelled Vicky wrong, Mom :)
March 30, 2008 at 6:10 PM
Hehe, that’s nothing compared to Clint’s dad spelling my name wrong when he wished me a happy birthday. :)
Clint wants to know if you guys are sure you aren’t getting old?
March 30, 2008 at 7:19 PM
Yeah, we’re getting older just like everybody else. But I’ve always been a bad speller, age notwithstanding. Apologies to Vicky.
April 9, 2008 at 10:31 AM
UPDATE on smoking while pregnant:
May not be good for infants’s brain!
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-04/chb-ybb040708.php
HT Ryan
April 15, 2008 at 4:47 AM
This is amazing. However there really are pregnant men currently living. There is a transgender man-named Thomas Beatie, and a REAL pregnant man that was artificially inseminated by an experiment procedure named Lee Mingwei. Lee Mingwei was born a man, and was impregnanted through a controversial procedure…
here is a link I found..
http://pregnant-man.net