Free Republic

I’d like to delete my account...just can’t figure out how.

I’ve enjoyed FR for many years, thank you Jim. I’m no Romney supporter, voted for Newt in the primary. But whomever is our candidate I will vote for him/her.

I just can’t abide the vitriol I’ve just read and imagine it will keep up from now till November and beyond...so I’m outta here.

Would an admin kindly delete my account.

Thank you.

Do I think the ADA should meddle in the affairs of private business? Heck no, I’m not for gov’t meddling. But I look at the ADA the same way I look at the codes department in my city. Should the codes department be able to tell me how and what to do to my house? Heck no, but it’s the law and they do.

We put on an addition to our home...and in order to get the permits, the codes department said the entire house had to come up to Miami Dade hurricane standards (we live in Florida.) That involved replacing every door and window in our home (not just the addition) and probably costs us an extra 20K than we would have spent to just put on the addition. Did we comply, of course, because it’s the law, and whether I believe the gov’t should be able to tell me how or what to do to my property, I have to obey the law.

I feel the same way about the hotels and the ADA requirements. Unfortunately, the ADA is law (passed and signed by GWB in 1990.) And just like with codes in municipalities, the requirements of the ADA are ever evolving, and their “tentacles” are invading more of the lives of individuals and businesses. If the ADA says they need to do it, they have to bite the bullet and do it just like we had to bite the bullet and pay much more than we had anticipated for our construction (as I pointed out in my post, the cost is minimal for the hotels after all the requirements were explained.)

Is it right to have the gov’t involved with one’s private property or private business...not in my book, but it is what it is.

Well, my perspective might be a little different because of my MS...albeit because of my MS I can't stand the heat, so you probably wouldn't catch me outside at the pool. But if you read the whole article, the hotel industry is being a little dramatic about shutting down pools. The last paragraph clarifies the situation and it's not that dire (a portable lift costs a few thousand dollars) and they don't have to have one installed, just available...and/or have a plan for getting one.

Some of the ADA rules may seem "over the top" to some people with the accommodations for handicapped folks (and I'll admit, like any gov't bureaucracy they tend to get bogged down in minutia.) But it's usually "over the top" for those folks who have won the health lottery, so to speak, and still have their mobility. Lose your ability to get around without a wheelchair, and then talk to me about the inconvenience of curb cut construction...I guarantee you you'll be for them, not against them.

Hill says hotels can comply by doing what they can afford to do, even if it's installing a portable lift that's stored when not in use. If a hotel lacks the money to buy one, she says, it can create a plan that shows when it expects to get one.

Although American citizens, those living on Puerto Rico can’t vote in the Presidential election, they have no Congressional representation, nor Electoral College vote.

He’s there fishing for delegates to the RNC convention...they have 23 of those.

There’s some book making the rounds called A More Excellent Way. The guy tries to link particular sins to particular diseases. Unbelievable. If sin in one’s life resulted in illness, the whole world would be sick.

I just figure they’ve never read the book of Job.

Blessings to your wife, I, too, have a chronic illness (MS), and they’re hard enough to deal with aside from “well meaning” folk trying to tell you if you’d only think right, eat right, exercise right, repent right, take this supplement, try that meditation technique...you wouldn’t have the illness.

That being said, I do take vitamin D in fairly large doses because I do tend to test low. Has it helped the course of my disease, or made me feel any better or altered the progression? Not that I’m aware of, but maybe I would be worse off if I didn’t.

If I was Israel I’d publicly make it known that we were going to adopt the Cold War philosophy of MAD. However the Iranians are so irrational and “President Tom” (Glenn Beck’s name for Imanutjob) is so bent on bringing in the apocalypse, that might just egg him on.

I posted this in another thread last week, but I’ll post it again. Brietbart at CPAC during an interview. The man is sweating profusely...I’ve had friends who had heart attacks and the only preceeding signs in the days before was profuse sweating. Just sayin’

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcXcJo2iR2Y

And my husband had a guy from work drop and die from a heart attack. It was seemingly instantaneous. He was walking, then he was flat on his face and dead.

It seems this paragraph clarifies his meaning:

“We are not God’s counselors, nor can we fathom all his judgments,” he said. “That was the lesson of Job. Let us beware, therefore, of reading the hand of providence with too much certainty or specificity. God is always doing a thousand things when he does anything. And we see but a fraction.”

I always think of that verse in Matthew 5 when it comes to natural disasters striking some and sparing others:

But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

Interesting, all the comments.

I immediately identified with what Ann Romney was saying. I can’t pretend to “know” exactly what she meant, but I think I know what she meant.

The woman has MS (she also had breast cancer.) I have MS. We are not Romney wealthy, but we are “comfortable”...but the amount of money we have in the bank does nothing for my sense of well-being.

She has a disease that is so unpredictable she never knows how she will feel when she wakes up the next day. Never knows when her body will give out on her. It is a progressive disease, and progressive diseases, progress.

I’ve heard her talk about campaigning and how sometimes she has to return to the bus, too fatigued to even talk. She puts on a good “face” (lots of MS patients do)...but I’ve also heard her say that sometimes she has to say to her husband “Go storm the castle” because she can’t go due to her illness.

I saw a Cavuto clip where he discussed Ann Romney, he said he watches her, and he can see the MS peeking through...why because he knows the disease.

What was the old saying, “If you have your heatlh, you’ve got just about everything.”

I cut the woman some slack...I don’t think she was belittling their wealth, I just think she was trying to express the reality of life...wealth ultimately is not what matters.

I was looking at some Brietbart youtube videos yesterday, and came across this one. He’s talking to somebody about Libertarians, and Brietbart is sweating profusely on his forehead/face.

From experience with people I’ve known who had heart attacks, a lot of them had profuse sweating with their heart problems.

Here’s the vid...see for yourself:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcXcJo2iR2Y

Orson Bean was his FIL...I guess the same Orson Bean of To Tell the Truth and Dr. Quinn fame. I didn’t know that.

My son and his wife (23/21) are agressively looking for a house to buy. Pre-qualified for some outrageous sum (both have good jobs), have a down payment, but they’re smart enough to be looking for a good deal.

He’s resisted buying until now because the market has continued to plunge, but it looks like things have taken a little upswing lately. One house they’re extremely interested in has been vacant for 4 years (owner/with no survivors or estate died), but BOA won’t move to sell it. Some homes the banks are they’re evidently holding back.

His opinion is that even for a normal sized apartment, his rent will be higher than his mortgage including taxes/ins. and an apartment just doesn’t afford the quality of life as a home. Rents have not gone down much around here.

We’re in Florida so there are “steals” on the market...his problem seems to be the ones he’s interested in go on the market in the AM and are off the market by the evening when he gets off work and has time to meet the realtor. Investor buying is still pretty heavy in our area.

I have never known a cat to jump up on you and cover you in kisses because you have been gone for a couple of hours

We've been dog folks our whole lives (Weims...and you've got to really like dogs to have velcro dogs like Weims, LOL)...but my opinion on cats is changing.

Our son and daughter-in-law adopted two Maine Coon cat kittens. They are so dog like it's amazing. When you come to the door, they run to the door, just like a dog. Get up in your lap and lick your face, like a dog would. They even play fetch. Throw the toy, they'll retrieve it. I've seen videos on youtube where folks have taught their MCC to shake hands. They are very verbal, just like our dogs. So if I ever were to get a cat (which won't happen with our Weimies around...I think they'd think it was a big squirrel)..I'd consider that breed.

Every man is responsible for his own deeds and no one can make you file for disability if you don’t want it. But there is a group of lawyers (you’ve probably seen their commercials) who are driving some of this filing for disability. They, of course, make a tidy sum if they win you disability. Plus I believe social workers encourage it, just haven’t figured out why.

I have MS...I guess technically I’d be classified as diabled. I need an implanted Baclofen pump that drips medicine directly onto my spine in order to have mobility in my legs and control spasticity, and the last time I was in the hospital for surgery on the pump the social worker came to my room and basically urged me to file for disability.

I explained to her that I had a job, and I didn’t need disability (I do have to work from home, but I work a full week...well more than a full week, I’m a bit of a workaholic, LOL.) She was rather persistent in her insistence that I’d qualify for diability...and I was rather insistent in wondering how that could be since I was able to work.

I just haven’t figured out her angle yet. I know why the lawyers push for filing for disability, they get paid if they win it for you. But why a social worker...it just didn’t make sense.

My kids are friends with this girl and her boyfriend. This was such a profound tragedy on so many levels.

The young man who asked to look at the gun usually doesn’t attend church there, he was there to help that day.

The man who showed him the gun is a professional security guard (yes he should have known better and checked the chamber once removing the magazine...but it was a mistake, and we all make mistakes...a mistake that had tragic results.)

The kid wasn’t looking to buy a gun, just going to be in the market for one when he came of age. So there was no “guy selling” going on in the church as some media outlets have reported.

They went into a closet to view the gun. The gun went off and fired through a wall and into the next room. Not that anyone being hit would not have been a tragedy, but that bullet travelled through a wall and into a room full of people at just the right trajectory to hit the young woman (the girlfriend of the guy asking to view the gun) in the back of the head and travel straight through her head doing irreparable damage to her brain. The bullet could have hit so many places but it went straight through her head...the chance of that happening just overwhelms me.

The man who owned the gun is a long time friend of the pastor’s family. The church family had to witness the whole incident (including, of course, the boyfriend, the parents, and many young children.)

She seemed to rally mid week, giving all concerned some hope, but then started failing the last couple of days.

I appreciate your comment because if you look back up through the thread, there’s not a lot of empathy to be seen.
The ripple effect of this event will last the entire lives of those involved...truly a tragedy.

The story has made national news and people are responding with prayer support from around the globe. Many are writing on the church’s FB page:
https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Grace-Connection-Church/131909623872

I searched and couldn't find that this was posted. I'm posting this for prayer for this young lady. She is friends with my kids...and her father is a local pastor. I'm not posting it to hear how the man mishandled the gun and should have cleared the chamber...it happened, it is a tragic accident, and she is an innocent victim. So please pray for her...she is clinging to life by a thread.

That explanation makes sense...we’re in Florida and a lot of folks are underwater...BIGTIME!

We bought a foreclosure a couple years ago, it had sold for $236K in 2006, we paid a little over a third of that. Anyone who bought a house in Florida from about 2005-2008 is probably underwater (even if they did it right, 20 percent down, etc.)

This past week we came face to face with a bank’s incompetence. Our son heard of a home that was supposedly in foreclosure. A sign said the home was in foreclosure and gave a phone number to call with BOA.

He contacted his realtor, and the realtor said he didn’t see how BOA could even be trying to “sell” the home as it is still in the homeowner’s name (she passed away 4 years ago...no family, no estate, and the house has been sitting vacant ever since.) They evidently contacted BOA but noone has any info.

My son and his wife really want to buy the house but it seems they’ve hit a dead end...I wonder if BOA even has title to the house. So it sits empty, BOA is paying for yard upkeep we learned from the neighbors and they changed the locks, but here is a prospective buyer wanting to purchase it, and no means to do so and noone they’ve been able to contact at BOA seems to be able to tell them how to proceed.

Strange goings on.

I’ve been watching it off and on today (on my iPad...ABC has a great app.)

It’s creepy, and camera work like Blair Witch, plus the “reality show” feel to the story line is interesting.

But I think it could get old quick if it doesn’t develop some sort of character developement beyond what we know to this point.