It isn't a matter of historical accuracy or inaccuracy. Someone right here on the board already said they worked the farms (and was then lambasted for childcare!). The discussion was jobs. The jobs are there. How badly do people want a job? Apparently, not badly enough. A job is not "health care". A job is not "benefits". A job is a certain task done in exchange for wages. That's it. And somewhere along the line, people decided that there were jobs that would. not. be. done. by particular classes of people. Well, welcome to the brave, brave new world. The one with a quarter of the workforce un or underemployed. The one that has had a structural paradigm shift -- and where new jobs may well indeed be very different than what people are accustomed to. For the US to survive as a nation and compete in the global marketplace, it will have to buck up and learn how to work. The populace will also have to learn how to differentiate between "need" and "want" because, if the rioting throughout the world's Socialist Democracies are any indication, there will be a structural realignment in what US citizens refer to as "welfare" (or "the social safety net") as well. Governments are discovering that such systems are not sustainable in general, and that things go even more poorly in pockets of society that are unable to discern that food and shelter take priority over other things. I believe people will see the US re-establishing itself in manufacturing, which is, guess what - work that is hard and often hot. US firms won't be able to remain profitable with the long lists of benefits that were previously in place from the unions, so things will be very different this time. The "we're going to take over by being the basis for the information age" idea failed (everyone simply stole our ideas). The "everyone goes to college" movement is more than likely a thing of the past as well. Finally, the most impoverished person in the US is richer than 68% of anyone else in the entire world. The entire world. THAT is why people from other nations are willing to pick onions. Why aren't US citizens? I'm not buying most of the arguments I read here. asta

Oh. My. Word. No wonder this country is in the state it is in. asta

I was going to quote a whole bunch of posts and say "nope", but instead, I'll just link to this article from the NYT: Hiring Locally for Farm Work Is No Cure-All I guess I'm in the minority, but I'm broken 9 ways to Sunday & I'd still figure a way to push my body through for that $10.50 an hour if my family had no income. Heck, me and hubby are willing to do things most of the folk on this board would find horrifying to guarantee kid was OK. But gov't handouts aren't one of them, and "waiting for a job commensurate with the last one" isn't another. Everyone has their own economic floor of what they are willing to do to survive. Mine is "anything". a

My son was thrilled by the prospect and was planning on applying until he read the reviews on College Confidential. The "student atmosphere" made him gag. a

Want the medieval approach? We took kid places where it was physically dangerous for him (or us) to open his mouth and say anything. He learned how to stay quiet on command instantly. (yeah, it was easier because we were in foreign countries, but it can be accomplished in the USA, too...) asta

I thought this same thing. So I asked someone "in the know". Apparently, his job isn't cushy at all - it's a completely powerless position that was deliberately given to be a professional shaming / personal embarrassment / "here buddy, you'll have plenty of time to think / pray about all of the damage you've done since we didn't have concrete evidence to throw you in the slammer" kind of thing. The Vatican saves the oversight jobs of the various basilicas in Rome for the guys who have effed up and need to be watched like hawks. The rest of the ecclesiastical community avoids them like the plague at a time in their "careers" when they would have had people kissing their @sses. It made me feel better. a

Well... I'm not exactly sure where you get this from. John Paul II, in his encyclical Ut unum sint: a

I lost my dad in 1979. And no, I'm still not "over" it. Why should I be? He was my dad. It's not like I could just go get another one at the pound. Do I spend my days in bed depressed and weeping? No. But am I periodically reminded of him by something and get all choked up (or, frankly, have a good cry) -- absolutely. That is my right. Time and maturity have made those times fewer and further between, but I don't expect that they will ever stop. He was a good man. I loved him greatly, and I know he loved me also. 1979. a

If you have the option, see if you can get them to ceramic tile the kitchen and dining area and hearth (?) and do the rest in laminate. Kitchens flood. It is what they do. If not the fridge, then the sink or the dishwasher. Tile is just so EASY when that happens. As for the hearth, if that is a wood stove or fireplace area, ceramic tile will last longer -- laminate will eventually warp. a

[i have not read the thread past the first page & I'm not going to - busy day] Pretty much everywhere I've lived has had a high concentration of LDS folks. My "posse" of bestest girlfriends from childhood includes one Catholic, one Agnostic, and one LDS. Guess who I'm "closest" to? Yeah, the LDS one. So I've been around LDS all of my life. That said, I've literally never met an LDS individual or missionary who has evangelized, proselytized, or tried to convert me. And I'm Catholic! And we're talking someone who has lived in towns with temples! But you know what I have encountered? Happy, nice people. Pure, unadulterated, niceness. Now, personally, I don't believe in the tenets of the LDS church. But that is irrelevant. I've decided that the "public niceness" angle is how the LDS church converts people. Your average person will be cruising along, and they'll see this smiling, happy family, and they'll wonder "what is THAT all about?" And it snowballs from there. Niceness plays better than beating people over the head with bible verses, apparently. a ps: I have no idea what goes on in private in all of these families mind you - so I'm not speaking to that. I know about some families, but that isn't for this thread.

As you have your home state in your profile, and it has only NG units, it may be wise to delete the day of the week in your post. Unless he dooesn't live there, in which case, never mind. Nothing Christian. Or with Jesus images. Yes, this isn't the middle east, but it doesn't matter. No magazines that have provocative images (you'd be surprised - even car magazines have them). No booze - check candies to make sure (again, you'd be surprised). If you're not sure they have an AAFES there: Wet wipes, wet wipes, wet wipes. And DECENT razors. AAFES razors suck. ***A pill organizer so that he remembers to take all of those pills he is supposed to be taking against malaria, space worms, and whatever else they are attempting to prevent -- LOL. Zeasorb AF anti-fungal powder. Sometimes you have to ask for it from the pharmacist because they stash it behind the counter. It is truly the ONLY thing that works for bonafide military foot rot. Blank cards for him to send BACK to the kids. Packs of things like sunflower seeds, corn nuts, and other crunchy, mindless things are always appreciated by someone who is suddenly stuck without cigarettes and / or is not allowed to smoke. So is gum. And it is appreciated by the people who have to work around them. It also helps with the folks who are accustomed to drinking regularly and suddenly cannot... a

Oh, I don't mind the extended campaign -- don't get me wrong -- I just don't like the extended primary voting season. In my world of colored squares, they would all have to fly around, getting hammered by the media (ALL of them), and then it would be winner take all on say, April 15th (irony alert), with the "General Campaign" starting on 1 May (Mayday! Mayday! LOL). For that matter (while I'm on a roll), the "primary season" wouldn't be allowed to officially start until, say October 15th of the previous year (that would give candidates a full 6 months to campaign prior to the primary voting), and they would have to register to do so on. that. day. None of this "hey, I've got a PAC going, so you all can see I'm planning on running *wink *wink." Or "hey, - I'm going to keep you all guessing as to whether or not I'm jumping into the race until the last possible second so that I can gain as much notoriety for my narcissist self as possible". Silence. One date. In or out. Asta-World. LOL a

In my Candyland world, all of the primaries occur on the exact. same. day. And there would be a complete press blackout (no exit polling or ANYTHING) until every single ballot was counted and the results released by the respective voting officials. I'd go for the same press black out from the general election to January 6th, too. It ticks me off to no end that all 50 states aren't 'counted' before the press is announcing a winner. Especially since it isn't really even a done deal -- not until the electoral college meets in December and congress meets on January 6th. I think part of every presidential campaign should be non-stop public service announcements on how the electoral college really works LOL. But I'm just weird like that. :D a

Oh my goodness! When did Natalie get so big! It seems like it was just yesterday that she was born... a

Speaking of primaries... I just thought of something: since I'm currently living abroad, I'm pretty much reliant on YouTube to see them. And also dependent on finding news articles to learn about candidates for the local elections in the city/county/state where I am registered to vote (I feel that those are very important elections). One thing I find very frustrating is that the "League of Women Voters" pamphlets aren't on line. I don't know if anyone else has heard of these, but they are awesome - they have a bio of each candidate and an outline of their positions on a slate of topics (same topics, each candidate). It allows the voter to actually COMPARE candidates. They are very helpful for local elections when you have EIGHT people on a ballot for the same office. It has gotten to the point that I just end up calling my sister and asking her about each person on the ballot (she's a very informed voter) before marking it and sending it in. That is a long diatribe to say that I think people often forget how important their local elections are, and how important it is to vote - even if you're FAR away. a

I've always loved watching debates! I was pulling up really old ones on YouTube a couple of weeks ago for Switzerland to show him the differences in "styles" of politicians. We had a great discussion about how the shift from radio to television changed the voting habits of America (video killed the radio star - thank you the Buggles...). I think that this particular election cycle is very dynamic, and not only due to events in the US. The EU AND the Euro are both teetering on collapse, the middle east is more fubar than normal... it's like the world is suddenly MAGNIFIED (even though, of course, it's not - things have been going down the rabbit hole for quite some time). So, to stop rambling - it is as if our 24 hr news cycle is even more jam packed and sped up than usual - and trying to keep up with who our next elected leaders will be is, quite frankly, dizzying. Switzerland will be able to vote for the first time and is trying to absorb as much as possible! a

DH looked over my shoulder and said "Heathener? Is that someone who 'does' heathens?" :lol: a

Yes. The thread is here. asta

No. To all of it. And let me tell you why. Kid belonged to a youth group. It was run by our church. Fine. The group leaders decided that the kids would have a march to protest ____ to show how committed to ______ they were. Ok. Although that particular position was perfectly in keeping with the tenets of our faith, no one asked THE PARENTS if they were comfortable having their MINOR children involved in a PROTEST march. It had nothing to do with the subject matter (which we didn't have a problem with - nor does it sound like you do); it had to do with the MANNER in which they breached the subject. Had the leaders said "hey, we're thinking about doing this, what do all of the ADULTS think about it?" I'm sure most of them would have been fine with it. Our family doesn't participate in ANY type of public activities due to some very specific reasons that are no ones business. What is worse - the people who planned this event should have known that MANY of the people in the group are in the same situation as we are. But no one asked. So what happened? Several of the kids simply didn't go. And then the rest of them wanted to know why, and the kids felt stupid trying to answer them. It's only made worse because ALL of them have the dang T-shirt! (it was purchased by the Church, not the group) It sounds like it is time for a sit down with whomever is in charge of the group. Or it's time to bail out. a

Yes, I have a bee in my bonnet on this subject. I just resurrected my 2 yr old thread on cyber security. Why? Because all of the info in it is still applicable and I felt, after reading some things around the Internet community lately, that it would be a good reminder. What did that get to me? A 'resurrected thread' tag. Come on, guys - I cannot be the only person here cognizant of the fact that it costs money to run a website. And that every time a new thread is written on the exact. same. question / topic. that the webmaster has to pay for the bandwidth. There was just a question the other day wherein Mrs Mungo repeatedly tried referring posters to an older, very thoroughly discussed topic - and no one would move over to the original, 'old' topic! Not every question is it's own special snowflake - I don't think it will kill us to 'add on' to older threads that already have some useful information in them - without slapping a 'resurrected thread' tag on them (or, even worse, assuming someone is a 'troll' because they have answered an old thread; the majority of boards on the Internet do not look kindly upon newbies posting lots of new threads and insist that they utilize the search function first. A

In my experience on other boards, people don't generally respond negatively to people sharing events / asking for advice / venting. They respond negatively to posters eeking out information over a series of posts within a thread and / or requiring several posts to 'clarify' their original position in order for readers to understand the situation. As internet chat boards do not have inflection (as does speech), it is, by design, an imperfect medium for communication. asta

I'll take that as a compliment. ;) a

Whatever you do, don't compose in your e-mail browser with the addresses of who you are sending it to already in the address bar! I can't tell you how many people do this and then accidentally send the message by mistake! Compose your letter in Word or something, and then cut and paste it into a message. Oh - you may have luck with the aquatics dept at your Y or you may not. It is a flip of the coin. a

: snort :

Hi guys - I was just sifting through my "saved threads" and found this one again. Given some of the stuff I've read on boards and FB around the net the past few months, it struck me as worth resurrecting. asta