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And, in the absence of capturing Osama, while TSA continues to molest Americans at the airports this holiday season, I contribute the Woman Traveler's Carol (to the tune of "I'll Be Home for Christmas") -- the scansion isn't perfected yet, but here goes:

THE WOMAN TRAVELER'S CAROL

You'll be groped for Christmas,
If you choose to fly.
Friendly skies are friendlier
If you're not a guy.

You'll be groped for Christmas,
Just you wait and see.
TSA found T&A
Underneath their tree.

If you scream in protest,
You will miss your flight.
You'll be groped for Christmas,
Or jailed for Christmas night.

(As that radical Ben Franklin said, "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.")

Good point. I also wonder what would have happened if all that advertising money had been channelled into after-school programs (community or church or both) for kids so they had the ultimate defense against drugs: SOMETHING BETTER TO DO!

When I was in junior high and high school in the late '60s and early '70s, my sister, my friends and I all knew who the drug dealers were. Our parents, being no dummies, didn't "just say no" -- they provided and/or encouraged other interests, and it wasn't just the chores.

To this day, our crowd would rather read, listen to music, see a movie or a play, get outdoors, or create something. Our kids are the same way.

They fear that an armed public will not submit to terrorists -- whether foreign (i.e., illegal aliens, including who vote for the liberal giveaway agenda while committing person and property crimes on the general citizenry) or domestic (representatives of a totalitarian government).

Curiosity question ... there are bound to be an offending environmentalist group(s) behind these USFWS actions and thus, Mr. Taylor's four years of agony. Can't these private, non-government entities be sued -- perhaps even by a local taxpayers' watchdog group?

IMHO, the liberals are concerned about losing constituents -- literally. Many members of their favorite "victim" groups run a very real risk if the rest of us are allowed to defend ourselves when they break into our homes and cars or assault us on the street.

One criminal, one vote.

If needed and wanted in that capacity, I'll make an offer someday when the grandchildren come -- I should be ready by then.

Interesting note: a good friend of mine in CA (in different circumstances than me) has pagan (literally) religious views and homeschools her three. Her reasons are that the government schools do a terrible job of teaching the important subjects, they cause children to hate learning, the curriculum and approach is "one-size-fits-all," and there are gangs in her area. Sound familiar?

Even non-Christians see the problems.

A very good solution. My son, now 19, was in Lutheran schools for a total of 4 years -- during those times when I could afford it. And that helped. I am not sure I would have had the patience to be a good homeschool teacher for him even if I had been able to.

We are very close because we were alone together most of his growing-up years, and he is absolutely certain of my love for him. So he actually listens to me. And he has always known I will listen to him.

Many of us would have preferred to home-school our children ... if we weren't single parents who HAD NO CHOICE other than to work. Doesn't mean you can't teach them the right values at home and in church.

Ditto here. A bunch of us were really tickled in high school literature class one day when our teacher called MAD magazine an "excellent example of satire." This from an ex-Marine, part-time football coach who'd spent his younger years in Catholic school.

When he was a young boy, my son, now 19 "appropriated" my issues of MAD when he was a young boy. Probably one of the reasons he still thinks his old mom is "cool" to this day.

According to people I've spoken with who have traveled to France, most of this anti-Americanism is concentrated in the Peoples' Republic of Gay Paree.

In the provinces, I'm told, residents have affection for Americans, especially in those areas our forces liberated during WWII.

And I doubt the French media reflect the views of their mainstream citizenry any more than do our liberal media.

True, but this guy is still a menace -- it's been documented that child abusers usually start with animals and work their way "up" to kids.

Right behind ya. This guy has serious problems that he's too cowardly to take out on someone his own size.

I left my son's father when I was 5 and a half months pregnant because he threatened to kill my cats. He came home from work the next day and found all of us gone. Figured if he'd be that nasty to the cats, he wouldn't be any better with a child. Gotta draw the line somewhere, and I knew who really loved me.

In our house, we don't have to ask who's the boss.

We know it's the cat.

My husband said to our master the other day, "And would you like wine with your tuna this evening, Your Grace?"

The cat, of course, ignored him. He's very picky about who he drinks with.

Depends on the reason why you're dating the person. Highly religious people are justifiably against what they call "missionary dating," that is, dating someone you find attractive when you KNOW they disagree with most (or all) of your value system, using the excuse that they could be converted. If you are searching for a lifemate, a partner, I don't see how it would be possible to make a true commitment to someone who is working against your core values at every opportunity.

In other words, the Carville-Matalin match amazes me, too -- unless there's a lot about one or both of them that we don't know. (Are they graduates of the P.T. Barnum School of Public Relations?)

The person's stands on individual issues, coupled with their overall logic level, have always been important to me. Political topics have often found their way into my "first date" conversations, even back in high school. I've learned that some people are incapable of logic. For example, since when is the life of a whale or a tree more important than the life of a child? And why do so many men and women in this day and age know nothing about birth control? Yet, some would call me a liberal for believing that no woman should be forced to bear a child of incest or rape.

Yes, it's about character. And, it's about the defense of freedom.

Often, I understand very well why someone disagrees with me on any given issue. However, I draw the line at certain "red flags." I particularly abhor those stands which injure others (an EX-boyfriend of mine defended the First Amendment so far as to excuse a taste for child pornography). It also amazes me that some individuals fail to acknowledge that their political stands threaten the basic freedoms our founding fathers guaranteed to ALL of us (if we lose the Second Amendment, we can kiss the rest goodbye).

Guess the best way to find like-minded members of the opposite sex is to frequent those places you'd go to even if they weren't there. Gee, why didn't this occur to me at the age of 18?

Something else of interest: though Germany and France limit immigration, no one accuses them of racism. Yet, we Americans who complain about our borders being wide open are called racists and xenophobics.

Those of us who have Irish ancestry should be able to say whatever we want, then, since the Irish have been oppressed both in their own country and here (i.e., "No Irish Need Apply").

Excellent reminder and very appropriate for this season. While growing up in the 1950s and '60s, my Depression-era parents taught me to avoid buying any product which read "Made in Hong Kong." They said these were all "made by slave labor in Red China."

To me, it's still "Red" China -- the old nickname for the Communist regime applies equally well to the current brutal social policies mentioned in your post.

I've read the others, but Neil Simon gets my vote for greatest living American playwright. Seems to me that sometimes what purports to be "literature" reads more like self-congratulatory exercises in grammar and/or Victorian deportment.

I agree. Many of us have yearly magazine subscriptions we value, and/or subscriptions to other less interactive sites on the Net (newsletters and such). To me, $15-$35 a year sounds like a reasonable range to consider for all the fun we're having, friends we're making, and information we're sharing.

God bless you and God bless America!

Congrats on the house, Valerie! So glad to hear your prayers were answered. May the entire move be a positive experience. God bless you all.

I can say "God" here, can't I? We aren't BerSERkley or similar-thinking Commie-unities ;-) </>