josie

This man that loves me Kind, patient, Trailer Park fan Poop: always funny.

I often joke that if we have kids, one of them has a shot at being absolutely gorgeous, tall, thin, smart, witty... and the other the absolute opposite on all counts and stubborn to boot. :D

I actually wondered if you shared a similar story when I read your post. My sister had a twin as well- was lost before my sister came along 3 months premature and shortly thereafter discovered to have cancer. At least 13 miscarriages later, I somehow made it. Man, I do not look forward to ever trying my hand at reproduction. Rough stuff. The more we can learn about those early stages, the better.

There's an interesting episode that Radiolab recently published about a family who had twins- one of which had a rare disease that killed him shortly after birth. It's relevant to this debate for a few reasons- abortion is considered, and they then donate his body to science, which they follow up on. I'd imagine some abortions would have relevant use in science as well- admittedly this child was full term. http://www.radiolab.org/story/grays-donation/

I hope that's not the case but it's probably true. The extremists are the ones most likely to go to the polls, if for no other reason than to have the weapon of "I voted, did you?" in their arsenal of arguments.

Yes, I agree with that. I'm sure there's some studies out there that explore women's voting habits. I should look them up. I'd give an uneducated guess that many women voters vote alongside their families and husbands. It seems to me that in my hometown, the loudest members of rallies (mostly republican) were female. I actually noticed that they grew much quieter when Palin was running with McCain. There was a fear, almost, of standing behind her as a representation of our gender. The men were rooting for Ms. Palin, taking pictures with her, touting her as a wonderful candidate. Women judge other women viciously... More than I'd venture most men do to other men. I'd even argue that some of that is very vain- Palin and Fiornia have some glamor to them... they're threatening. I think it's interesting that Hillary has as much of the female vote that she does.

Yeah, you've never once stood out to me as a total idiot or anything. In fact, every time I look at your post count, I'm surprised. You fit in pretty well.

Heheh I'm still slooooowly edging into talking more. You never realize what an idiot you sound like until you start typing! If I didn't have the potentially perceived "immunity" of being d4rk's (or l1ght, whatever the heck he is this week) old lady, I think I would've lurked forever.

I think if they did, they're not very well informed. I guess you could ask if conservative women come out in droves for Palin as VP. I think to some degree, yes. Anyone who votes for a candidate solely/mostly on their race or gender isn't someone who's really considering issues individually. Sure, it might match up with small demographics of people here and there (black conservatives for Mr. Carson) but as a whole, I find it to be a silly reason to vote. Hillary has more planks in line with my train of thought, that'll get my vote more than her having a uterus. On Ms. Fiorina... She says some nice sounding things on feminism (though with a heavy dose of religion, which I don't like in my politics): "“A feminist is a woman who lives the life she chooses. We will have arrived when every woman can decide for herself how to best find and use her God-given gifts. A woman may choose to have five children and home-school them. She may choose to become a CEO or to become a candidate,” she said. “I am a conservative because I know we are all equal in the eyes of God – men and women. Our principles work better to lift men and women up.”" ...she then turns around to oppose equal pay legislation (so much for that "find and use her God-given gifts" and "choose" bit) and paid maternity leave (makes the whole "become a CEO" thing a bit tougher for your average Jo). You can say a lot and then do plenty else. Ideally, we'd have a field with more than one "unicorn" in it. But hey, if someone's physical identity is enough to bring more people into the polls to exercise their rights, so be it. EDIT: I realize this is very much from my liberal point of view. I think what you meant was: If I was a conservative woman, would I vote for Carly over another Republican candidate with similar views? And in that case, I think the answer would be yes, girl power.

We are from a very conservative area of Ohio. That being said, I think my mother is vocally more liberal but also still fighting with some ingrained racism and homophobia... Which is interesting to see come out... My father, who travels constantly, seems to be more in the center on most issues, and I tend to mirror him. My sister is blindly liberal- hates anything immediately if it has a sniff of republican to it. If argued with, she becomes sensible. I'm a "left-wing authoritarian" according to that ISideWith survey. I'm vehemently liberal when it comes to women's rights. That's the one issue I would truly picket in the streets for. Selfish of me, perhaps, but it changes my life as to how it is voted on. Everything else, I see both sides readily and have difficulty choosing a side. I am very separation of church and state but see religion as important; my family (except my father) is very very anti-religion. In short- they're extreme, I am not. I don't have a favorite candidate. No one stirs me. I wasn't a huge Hillary fan growing up, but if she's the Democratic nominee, she will receive my vote. At the very least, we can set a female President precedent. I'd vote for her over any of the Republican potentials.

Agreed. No one should ever force themselves on anyone, no matter how friendly things were leading up to the point where minds changed. Rape can happen in marriages, partnerships, etc. as well, between trusting people. Any gender can be raped. It's not that difficult to understand. Bite marks- that can absolutely be consensual. That can also be a telltale sign of nonconsensual dominance. Again, we don't know. The relevance to the investigation is identification purposes/dental records, potentially as part of a pattern of physical injury. I gotta take a break from this thread- I have work to do and I can't do it when I'm seething.

I have to post this because you mentioned Bobak Also good on you for rocking old school.

I've said a thing or two but frankly, I strongly dislike debating this topic when it's mostly speculation and what-if theories bandied about. I will wait until there are solid facts, as each situation is grey and different and worthy of separate consideration. That being said... I tend to err more on the side of SJW when it comes to rape. I'm not close enough to these people to really feel like I know if someone's lying or not. Sorry for the personal story here, but it's a woman's experience/point of view which is what I believe you are asking for. Just one woman's, but hey, aren't too many of us uterus owners in this place. I have struggled with understanding rape/sexual assault for years, as I immaturely harbored a "yeah well she was being a dumb slut" viewpoint as a defense mechanism. Victim blaming because it was "oh thank god that's not me, I'm smart". Awful, I know. Still kinda ingrained in me. Something very much like the "it's not Kane's fault really, how was he supposed to know she was too young/She's aware she's hot and underage in a place she shouldn't be and came on to him" Then happened to me again and again (starting around age 14) and it was a complete identity crisis. It's fun to have a friend make a drink for you in college, you don't really want it, hand it to another friend, and he acts exaaactly like he's been roofied..... I'll have you know that I was fairly flirty, reasonably attractive and was always slinging dirty jokes around. Did I deserve it? Hell no I did not. And my lack of promiscuity doesn't give me a shining badge of defense that shouldn't also be extended to more sex positive people. Therefore, as a result of my own personal crap, I won't judge the alleged victim. I lean towards supporting the victim, even if there's a chance they're crying wolf. Too many men and women are unfairly dismissed for me to ignore them and side with the accused. I feel that's how "good people" like Cosby continued on- reputations. Kane is only getting the fire he is because he's got a bit of a spotty record, which makes it easier to believe he'd do this and pile on the accusations, which is of course, abhorrent as well. Put Toews in his place, we'd be having a different discussion (partly, not counting the legal discourse). Say someone accused my hockey idol Zetterberg of this- my heart would shatter into a billion pieces, but I'd still listen to the victim, shoving down those angry voices in me going "yeah right, damn golddigging !" I have experienced a lot of sexism (daily!) in my short time on this planet, and have experienced some pretty awful stuff that was then ignored/pushed away/blamed on me simply because I was expendable. And none of that was with a star athlete under a magnifying glass of media/national attention. Wait for some more solid information before judging anyone entirely. It's human to judge to some degree immediately, we are not without faults. It is also human to speculate, though it sounds to me like a lot of you have already made up your minds on the whole situation. Dial it back. Everyone. You weren't there. Also, I am terrible at arguing, so apologies if the ramble just got weird. I feel parallels to any rape case. I've got feelings, man!!!

Hahaha so I've heard. I was at your wife's... and well.... panties were lost... but hey, I bonded really well with one of the other ladies as we stayed up all night making sure one of the others didn't aspirate on her own vomit!!!

That sounds pretty awesome.

Woo! Yeah, d4rk and I have considered that should we ever get around to tying knots together, we'd just do a weekend at a cabin with friends rather than separate stag/hen parties. I have no need to get embarrassingly wasted and have people buy me penis themed party favors and neither of us really want strippers so... As we get older it just makes more and more sense to keep something like that casual. No need to make my student loan loaded friends or those with little kids pay for a party for me, you're already spending time and money coming to my wedding. But I do hope theres laser tag or gokarts or something...

But really, glad to see the respect, guys. There are few topics out there that rile people up quite like rape.

Dammit, get me some coffee so I can shoot straight.

It's an excursion set up by my former boss/editor and now good friend of the school magazine at RIT, reuniting most of the e-board and celebrating our birthdays (we both share september 14). She's already planned a dinner at the Commanders Palace, a place with a dress code. Other than that, cemetery wanderings, gator feedings, and drinking in the french quarter, where we're looking to rent an airbnb. I've never been, so any advice is absolutely welcome!!! I'm looking forward to another jaunt to a new place- that'll make two this year. Fantastic. I wish we had the time to drive- I'd love to take the Natchez trace and weave (ha!) my way to the coast.

What .. is a... jack and jill... weekend? Do you watch horrid Adam Sandler movies? Do you fall down hills and smash crowns and burn the monarchy and extinguish the flames of anarchy with pails of water fetched from wells in said hills? I guess I'm just going to assume it's a joint bachelor/bachelorette party...?

<3

Should've just left off the pants and acted as if nothing was amiss. Alpha.

I am perfectly okay with this. Oh, I've still got some mules I'm holding for somebody's sister...

Bob or Straight

Man, I know it's semantics at this point, but there really isn't a magical massive brain development in teenagers from age 16 to age 17. You think dark stuff that happens with romeo or juliet behind closed doors is just for scary stories and movies, it won't happen to you. You're special! The law is an interesting thing.