I have never felt the compulsion that has overtaken most of my friends to self-replicate and have a child. Until now- at age 45.

...or about a year ago, anyway.

So since I would really like to try to have my (our) own biological child, I would like to find a partner who could still have a child. Which I guess means someone a few years younger than me, although medical technology is getting pretty incredible.
I have worked in child welfare for a significant number of years. I know adoption would be a beautiful, righteous thing to do... but I'm feeling that self-replication thing.
Most women my age, or even remotely close to my age, seem to have been there & done that, or have come to the conclusion that it not for them. So... I need to find someone who's probably at least a little younger.... without my seeming like a dirty old man.

Alright. So I see religion as fairy tales. I think it is mass delusion that has far outlived its' usefulness.
I've got no taste for delusion. I see no difference between believing in God and believing in Santa Claus or the Flying Spaghetti Monster.
But when I express that to someone who is a believer, it gets me in trouble, and I'm accused of not respecting the beliefs of others.
Seems a real Catch-22 I'm in here.

Coffee Talk....

Now that the United States has spent nearly eight years with a mentally retarded president showing hard signs of neurologically impaired speech processes, CAN or SHOULD we ever go back to just having a "Normal" president???

Discuss amongst Yourselves......

I sit here listening to free MP3 downloads of recently aired shows of "This American Life".... and think about how thankful I am for the existence of public radio. It is truly an oasis of intelligent and emotive stimulation in my life. It shouldn't be so hard to find this sort of entertainment- with soulful expression, high minded production values, an intent to educate and raise the consciousness of its' intended audience- but it is. Not only is it all that, but it is frequently also really funny, irreverent, sarcastic, ironic... it's just a rich gift for me, at the risk of sounding like a total NPR geek.
The show I was just listening to recently received a Peabody Award for excellence in journalism, so it was rebroadcast last week. The show basically consisted of a series of interviews with former Guantanamo detainees, and it talked about what they had been through, how they got there, and what their lives were like today as a result of their experiences. It is amazing stuff- Have you heard the voices of former Guantanamo detainees ANYWHERE ELSE in our vast media wasteland? Many of them turned out to simply be local activists whose governments or local power elite were anxious to get rid of, so they turned them over to American authorities on trumped up charges. In return, these local authorities receive the reward money we have been handing out blindly to third world countries for leads on "terrorists".
Available as a free download on the "This American Life" website- I recommend it highly. Breathe it in deeply. It's really fresh air.

Well.... My profile got hacked. An ex- or someone... who knows a password I commonly use punched it in & wrote some really insulting & hateful stuff about me. It's not a good feeling to know that there are people out there who have such venomous ill will towards me, especially when I would like to think I put alot of energy into doing the right thing. They apparently dislike me so much, they felt the need to try to publicly embarrass me. I don't know how long the stuff was up before it was brought to my attention by a friend on this site, but I would think that as far as they are concerned, they got their rocks off just by doing it. Having it stay up there for any length of time would just be gravy. What a slimy spineless backstabber.
I would like to encourage whoever did it to just contact me & tell me face to face what the problem is. If you can't do that then fuck it- we'll just have a good fist fight and be done with it. Just have the decency to own up to your feelings. Be honest & genuine about the whole thing. Be authentically true to yourself. Live "The Way".... or just go fuck yourself.

If you were being honest, would you say you believe that the value system of your culture or nation is the best there is?

• Yes, definitely.

• I don't know.

• Absolutely not.

"The best there is"? Consumerism as spiritual salve? Greed above all else? The concentration of wealth and access to power reserved for such a small percentage of our society? How could ANYONE come to that conclusion?
It used to be that we could point to places like like China and Russia and say things like- "Their governments spy on them without just cause".... "People are jailed and maligned for their ideas" ..... "Their citizens have no right to stage protests and mass demonstrations for what they truly believe in"... Well, take a look around, bucko- THAT NOW DESCRIBES US!!!! It is all over the news on a daily basis (except Fux, of course) people getting arrested and penned into corrals at demonstrations, NYPD setting people up at protests with undercover cops staging fights and arguments, Federal wiretapping of whoever they want, whenever they want, European countries taking our government to court because WE are kidnapping their citizens off of their streets and spiriting them off to be tortured in places like Saudi Arabia and Guantanamo.
This just doesn't feel like home anymore.
And its all in the name of fighting "Terrorism". Of keeping us "safe". Well, it seems to me, perhaps, a dialog about why these people have come to these hateful conclusions about us is long overdue. The fact that we staged a coup within the Iranian Government in 1953, under President Eisenhower, and re-installed the Shah of Iran, so that he would preserve American and British oil interests? The Shah was one of the most brutal dictators this world has ever seen, and he was instrumental in giving the control of Iran's vast oil wealth to the U.S. and Britain at a time when the Iranian people were moving to take control of their own natural wealth- ya think that might have something to do with their hatred?
I'm not going anywhere, despite the responses I will get declaring- "DUH- love it or leave it" This is MY country. I will be here, struggling to educate others as to the profound injustice that has come over our land not unlike the shadow of death and Fascism. We must take our home back from these foolish tyrants.

In your current music collection, do you have more independant artists or big name superstars?

• Independant

• Big name superstars

• A mix of both

• I don't have a music collection

How does a question make it through with the word "independent" MISSPELLED?

Alright. I posted this 30 minutes ago, and I'm already getting resentful responses from folks who are taking snippets out of context and misunderstanding my message. The fact is that most folks do not PROFOUNDLY individuate from their parents, in terms of redefining their world view. Parental abuse SOMETIMES, under the right circumstances, provides an opportunity for an individual to call their upbringing, and the ideas that comprised it into question. Under most other circumstances, it just doesn't happen. In fact, even in most cases of abuse, it only drives the offspring to persevere even more fervently for proof of the parents love, through unquestioning obedience and martyrdom. I'm not being harsh. This is the world we live in. I can't believe that many people are actually taking this in and giving a shit. Thanks.