What would you do if your child came home with THIS SURVEY? They brought them home in Jerome, Idaho.
It seems like a spy survey to me, irregardless of the sex questions which are even more egregious, in my opinion.
What’s your opinion? Our kids probably face some awful things like described in the survey, but most don’t; is it worth their having to be exposed to the terms at inappropriate ages?
I heard something on CNN last night that concerns schools so I thought I’d tell you this, too: The banner across the bottom of the story Anderson Cooper was highlighting said TRUMP WANTS TO ELIMINATE AFTER SCHOOL PROGRAMS! Oh, yes, I’m sure he “WANTS” to, right? It costs millions and could be cut in the new budget. The story lasted longer than most stories do; teachers talking about the benefits, kids interviewed saying how fun this after-school program is and how much they love it and meet nice friends, etc. ALL GOOD. ALL EXPENSIVE. “Mothers may have to stay home with their children if this program closes”. Ya, well, that could help those kids, huh?
THOUGHTS on either or both school stories above?
Z
geeez2014
GeeeZ .... 
Big Brother is watching…
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Mixed feelings.
Many of today’s kids are fully aware of the specifics involving all forms of sex, so I doubt that the survey would be particularly shocking to even 5th and 6th graders.
OTOH, having grown up in that “kinder, gentler time” when people didn’t lock their cars and slept with their windows open and decent people didn’t swear around children and movies weren’t focused on faster chases, more spectacular explosions, higher body counts, or gratuitous full frontal nudity, I wish kids today could have that same innocence we had before HBO, SHO, MTV, Soul Train, National Enquirer, and rap “music.”
Roughly half a dozen things really get to me these days, things I cannot imagine being part of my life under any circumstances: treason, suicide, homosexuality, harsh narcotics, abuse of children, and cruelty to animals.
But along with murder and casual sex, many of those things are Hollywood staples. So how ya gonna protect kids’ innocence unless you raise ’em in a cabin in the north woods without any ‘tronics? Then you get into Plato’s shadows on the wall of the cave.
What I’d like to see schools do is teach kids fundamentals and skills to prepare them for life. You know, arithmetic, literacy, general science, critical thinking . . . with exemplars on morals and ethics — stories, not lectures; explanations of the mysteries of the world, not investigations into private lives.
HOWEVER — when irrefutable evidence of child abuse in any form, especially sexual, comes to light, I have no objection to extremely harsh punishments for the perpetrators, including castration, preferably with blunt instruments.
Sometimes I question the wisdom of abandoning such quaint customs as scarlet letters, witch burning, and tarring & feathering.
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Homeschooling certainly mitigates this sort of absurdity, but were my two shorter warriors to bring home tis survey, I’d be taking it back to their school personally, post haste. My kids are not sheltered, but this is government intrusion at an unacceptable scale.
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Another example of an over-reaching and all-powerful government not sharing information with all the other tentacle branches by asking questions they already have the answer to thru the monitoring of our smart TVs and toasters. I’d still pull my kid from this mess if I hadn’t already.
On a similar subject of random government intrusion, are doctors still asking whether patients have guns in the house? Unless I’m getting an MRI, that’s a ‘need to know’. They can always consult with my toaster.
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A little something about after school programs (dated March 16, 2017): IRS Gives “After School Satan Club” Tax-Exempt Status in 10 Days.
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About that survey mentioned in the body of the blog post….Last school term, I saw something very like that. It was distributed in the Fairfax County Public Schools system to all high school students. The survey I saw seemed very interested in knowing if parents were abusing their children by — Get this! — emphasizing academic achievement. After the surveys were completed, many students and their parents, many of them Chinese Americans, were recommended to go into counseling so as to lower expectations. Or something.
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CI,
this is government intrusion at an unacceptable scale
ABSOLUTELY!
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Why not just turn over the children at birth to the government? Then whatever we thought a myth of Sci Fi will come to fruition in actuality.
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bunkerville – Sadly, we’ve been marching down that road for decades The security state is already here. We’re conditioned to render obsequience to the “authorities”. And contrary to probably most here, I’m no fan of the Pledge of Allegiance for similar reasons.
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CI…Hillary’s “It takes a village”?
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Probably not ‘village’…that would sound too rural. The Left is more fond of ‘communities’ [black community, LGBT community, communities of ‘color’, etc….]
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“What I’d like to see schools do is teach kids fundamentals and skills to prepare them for life..”
They do…fisting, anal sex, oral sex, how to avoids STD’s, proper condom use, Billy has two homo daddies, Martha has two lesbian mommies, the joys of gay sex, transgenderism, and…liberalism. Grading is cruel and racist. Everyone gets a trophy. White privilege. Want some more? Why is gay sex…gay?
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Silly me . . . thinking about such skills as welder, electrician, mechanic, chemist, proofreader, groundskeeper, EMT, carpenter, plumber . . . .
Sorry, lost my head. What WAS I thinking!
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“What WAS I thinking!”
When life was not a half hour reality show? When allegiance, respect, education, honor, God and country & family were the most valuable and important things to us old timers? And waxing our 57 Chevies for Saturday night at the local A&W drive thru? And waiting at least 3 dates before you asked Mary for a hug or to hold hands? And when you always opened the car door for her?
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Jeeez, who could afford a 57 Chevy?!
My first car was a 50 Chevy, not bad for a 15-yr-old in 1955, and my stepbrother’s was a 49 Merc. Mine got stolen by two escapees from the Indiana state prison who wrapped it around a utility pole in Louisa, Kentucky, while runnin from the sheriff.
He blew his up, basically by pourin cold water from a frozen ditch into his overheated radiator while the engine was still runnin. I can still hear that crystal-clear “PING!” as the block cracked. He had a friend of his try to WELD it back together, and a few days later it tried to crawl thru the firewall and into the front seat with him, piece by piece.
Later I made a PILE of illegitimate money (long story) and bought myself a really nice 55 Ford Vic in 1957. He got smart, went to college, and married a rich girl whose daddy GAVE ‘EM a house for a wedding present. Farkle! And to show just how smart he really is, he’s still married to the same woman . . . and still rich. Can’t play golf for squat, tho.
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Bocopro:”Sometimes I question the wisdom of abandoning such quaint customs as scarlet letters, witch burning, and tarring & feathering.”
Agreed.
We’ve talked positivelyabout the benefits of shaming before.
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“It’s for the children!” Has long been the progressive mantra.
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Imp, this is SO well said “When life was not a half hour reality show? When allegiance, respect, education, honor, God and country & family were the most valuable and important things to us old timers? And waxing our 57 Chevies for Saturday night at the local A&W drive thru? And waiting at least 3 dates before you asked Mary for a hug or to hold hands? And when you always opened the car door for her?”
This is part of the reason I wish I could recommend the films for the Film Class at the high school I’m associated with; I’d LOVE to show them movies from the era you describe, where guys actually ask for a kiss, where girls feel special because they’re cherished, where parents aren’t morons, where values matter. Or much older films like the old Pride and Prejudice with Greer Garson, where loveliness was valued, where men had to fight for the girl………to see how our kids would even relate to that…
I once told a bunch of high schoolers in a class some things about when I was in high school and nobody expected anybody to have sex, where you could say ‘no’ and still feel liked….I asked them all, boys and girls, if they’d rather things were like that today and every one of them raised their hand. I was a sub so they weren’t apple polishing their teacher, they meant it. Plus, they trust me greatly so I think they felt safe telling the truth……….that they weren’t TRULY buying the crap that’s foisted on them in today’s sick society.
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Bocopro: you say “Many of today’s kids are fully aware of the specifics involving all forms of sex, so I doubt that the survey would be particularly shocking to even 5th and 6th graders.”
I call that child abuse. you added “So how ya gonna protect kids’ innocence unless you raise ’em in a cabin in the north woods without any ‘tronics?”
You home school if you can. And you DEMAND that schools not get away with this stuff….parents aren’t trying hard enough…they acquiesce to everything these days.
jerry “consult my toaster!” you crack me UP!!
Ed, you’re so right. We can’t discuss that enough ….I often say “Shame is highly under rated” and I get a LOT of nodding heads these days.
CI….the Pledge is about all we have left that reminds our kids there IS something greater than them and it’s pretty darned great. I understand all your reasons for saying what you said, and I’m not really 100% against your feelings about it, but I do think it’s more important today than it was when it was just understood you loved and supported the country you were born into.
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Z…I’m flattered. Once in awhile I get it right. Not often. It’s usually fear or anger that motivates me…and disgust? 😦 The “old” days were much better days…especially for our youth.
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You might have heard they got someone trying to jump the White House fence about 30 minutes ago. I’m hearing a Congressman now on FOX saying that the Secret Service has been having a really tough time finding people to work for them. The guys they have work too long hours, etc. This is so discouraging, isn’t it?
We discussed this problem the other day……good people are hard to find. I wish ex military would take those jobs; we talk about how vets can’t find work…here’s a great job for them.
I wish SO HARD there was SOME good news somewhere…other than Hillary isn’t president 🙂
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https://www.yahoo.com/gma/dad-daughter-transition-together-mother-son-she-101405944–abc-news-wellness.html
And we wonder why our kids are screwed up. He was “assigned as a female at birth”….what are the doctors supposed to do, be clairvoyant and say over a little baby with no penis..”no, I THINK he’ll probably be a boy!”??
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….the Pledge is about all we have left that reminds our kids there IS something greater than them and it’s pretty darned great.
I think that what should remind them is parents and adult role models. If they don’t have those, the pledge is meaningless anyway.
I wish ex military would take those jobs; we talk about how vets can’t find work…here’s a great job for them.
You do have a lot of Veterans in the USSS, but the major problem with getting Vets into federal law enforcement, is the age cap. Generally, one can be no older than 37 at time of appointment; this excludes almost anyone who made the military a career. Ive long wanted this restriction to be lifted.
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CI, but our parents aren’t, apparently….To have all the kids saying something as positive as the Pledge, together with their classmates, is at least something which brings them together. I don’t think any of us needs reminders that our teachers aren’t quite teaching appreciation for our country as they did when we were kids…or at least when I was.
And yes, it doesn’t have to be career military getting those jobs, why not all the young soldiers who come out complaining they can’t find work?… I, too, disagree with the 37 yr old rule.
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The 19th Court is turning down Trump’s travel ban again, citing the fact that Trump seemed to sound anti-Muslim during the campaigns…..Of course he has always only been anti radical islamist.
This is an Obama list….and it’s my understanding that no judge can go by what someone said before even becoming president to make him rule against something. I’m thinking it’s THE WORDS OF THE ORDER which speak , not words a campaigner might have made months ago. What’s more amazing is that so few people are complaining of what seems like a true breech of understanding as to what a judge is supposed to rule on.
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The school said they were sorry and wouldn’t do it again. Sorry. NOT good enough. The damage is done. Why was this “survey” conducted in the first place………
ESP. W/O PARENTIAL CONSENT?
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I don’t think the survey is appropriate but I’d say any 9 yer old has already been exposed to those sexual terms.
After school programs. This amounts to federally funded daycare. I don’t see anything wrong with it for the good reasons mentioned such as building relationships and activity. I don’t want to see it federally funded though. In fact I want all education related activity, funding, and teachers evaluation at the local level. I think the whole local community that is taxed to fund the schools should have the ability to tell some podunk school district that No, you can’t hire 90 administrators as one locally here had to let 90 of them go during the ‘financial crisis’.
The decision on Trump’s travel ban won’t hold up in the SC. The constituton specifically gives the president the power to suspend immigration from anywhere. AND since this is such a big subject – in the news constantly – you think the media has a responsibility to tell us all about the damage the ‘migrants’ are doing in the EU ? Never a single word about any of it.
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cocopro – how about adding gun safety starting in kindergarten
AOW – Harrison Begeron !
Pledge of Allegience – I can go either way. I guess I’d prefer kids are taught why capitalism makes lives better for most people, even though there will be crony capitalism as a part of it and No Thing is perfect, but how and why socialism sucks and makes life much worse for most people.
Remind them if Bill Gates didn’t have 40 billion, I still wouldn’t have an extra nickel in my pocket. Cest la Vie.
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typo boco
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Exactly, Kid. No system is perfect, even though one of our forefathers used the phrase …”in order to form a more perfect union…….” MORE PERFECT? Hmmmm.
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When my kids were still small — 10, 8, 7, and 6 — I gave ’em a little lesson on weapons.
They were sitting in a little semicircle watching TV. I got a big, thick phone book (Long Beach, I think it was) and put it on the floor on top of a stack of newspapers.
Gave each one a sharpened pencil and instructed ’em to stab the fone book as hard as possible. Then we noted how far each one’s stab had gone (what page). We also discussed how much damage those pencils could have done to a person’s body.
Next I showed ’em a .22 revolver and explained that it’s the smallest, least powerful common firearm in the country. I loaded a long-rifle round into it and fired into the fone book. We compared the penetration of the slug with the points from their pencils.
They agreed that altho they could seriously injure someone with a sharpened pencil, the pistol would do considerably more damage, very likely fatal if it hit the head or heart. They also agreed that a larger weapon, such as a .30 calibre rifle or a .38 calibre pistol could be VERY dangerous if handled carelessly.
The next winter, I took them all out to a bridge over a creek near where I grew up in Indiana. Each one got to fire a rifle at some paper cups I laid out on the bank, then I let ’em fire the pistol, and finally the 2 biggest ones (10 and 9) fired a 16 gauge at a hickory tree. The other two were too small for the shotgun, but they watched and learned.
We discussed that firearms can be dangerous, but at the bottom line they are simply tools, like hammers or knives or screwdrivers or baseball bats — all lethal if used in anger, but quite useful for fixing things or playing ball or protecting oneself.
So far none of my weapons, or any of my kids, has killed or injured himself or anyone else with guns. My older girl has a cute little .38, and my youngest son has about 7 or 8 weapons, including one AR. His wife has a Guardian .380 because my son works about 40 miles from their house. My other girl used to have some weapons, but her husband pulled a COMPLETELY stupid and has a felony record for embezzlement, so she got rid of it.
I’m down to 4: a .22, a .38, a rifle, and a shotgun. Haven’t fired the rifle or the shotgun for maybe 10 years. Nice to know they’re there, tho. Used to shoot a LOT of skeet, competitively, and loaded my own when I could get 12 & 20 gauge hulls. Don’t see well enough to shoot any more except in self-defense if it comes up.
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Bocopro: When my son gets out in a couple years, he’ll have to have someplace else to stay.
I’m not giving up my guns for his stupidity.
On the flip side, I believe when you’ve done your time, all rights and privileges should be restored.
This is only a recent abberation of our Constitutionally guaranteed rights.
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Our dad had us down in the basement shooting .22 shorts in a single shot .22 rifle about 30 feet at some cigarette butts standing on a board. We got pretty good and learned about gun safety and all the rules. We shot .22 rifle in the Boy Scouts too. The basement was dirt floor and stone lined so we didn’t care about damage.
He had a German P38 that he brought back from WWII and we would take that down to the Ohio River and shoot at vaious inanimate objects. One day we had a new guy along and he wanted to try it so he took a shot, then pointed the thing at his head, not knowing how a semi-auto pistol worked, We all yelled NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO and he’s still alive but he didn’t join our group again.
.22 revolver, .22 semi, .380, .40 cal 16+1, 30-30, and a 12 guage. Enough to cover all the entrances.
Ed, I will agree except when a gun is used on the commission of the crime or the perp grossly abuses another individual, then no too bad, not so sad.
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Oh, we were 6 and 7 at the time.
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Mal, More Perfect. Yea, interesting choice of words.
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When my uncles came back from WWII, they insisted that I become gun competent. The Marine cut down a .22 rifle stock to fit my 5-yr-old reach and taught me to plunk old paint cans in the dead pond behind the school bus factory my grandfather’s brother owned.
I put a full stock on it when I got older. Kept it for 30 years or so, ’til it finally got “lost” in a military PCS move from the Philippines to Great Lakes.
Another one came home from Germany with a .25 over-and-under double-barrel pistol that a grown man could hide in his hand. My grandfather took it away from me when he caught me shooting owls in the spruce tree outside my bedroom window through the screen. Never saw it again. Actually, he traded me for it — I got his belt on my backside and he got my pistol.
My stepfather gave me a .410 double, but I never got very good with it except shootin rabbits. Not sure I ever got a quail with it. Used the rifle for red squirrels. Got a buncha quail with the 20 gauge, tho. MUCH better shot string. LOVE pan-fried bobwhite quail with wild rice and a green veggie.
I think all but two of my grandkids are pretty much checked out on handguns, the two who just aren’t much interested.
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The CI family is quite proficient as shooting, thanks to my range out back. Mrs. CI and I carry nearly everywhere we go. Sadly the current generation is lacking the wisdom of the WWII generation.
2nd Amendment rights should absolutely be restored to non-violent felons….and gun safety should absolutely be taught at least at the high school level.
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Kid, I don’t think most 9 yr olds know about anal sex….
And I think the idea of after school care is fabulous…NO problem with the program; plenty of problem with programs costing the federal gov’t so much we’re going broke so fast.
Let the states do it and let them take small collections.
Bocopro…EVERYBODY….I think kids should be exposed to fire arms young….and wisely, like Kid’s dad and Borcopro……… and CI, apparently. Ed, too, I’m sure.
We have very few guns in L.A….it’s just not a normal thing to have…though I DO know plenty of people with them…ALL conservatives. My sister’s dad-in-law has always carried in his cowboy boots…he’s a dentist and always wears those boots with a pistol down in it.
My German husband was totally against guns but I’m not. Europeans think we’re nuts because they don’t understand our culture in re to guns. We think they’re nuts for only having hunting guns. In Switzerland, all members of the armed services bring their guns home to keep after active duty. VERY low gun crime rate there…but they ALL have guns.
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I totally disagree about the 2nd Amendment…..I don’t believe ex cons should get guns at all. For any reason.
CI…if I had a shooting range in the backyard, I think I’d be out there every day. I only shot one time in Girl Scouts but they told me I was an amazing shot, at 10 yrs old, and I’d LOVE to try it again! Never have shot since. I always thought I’d be good at skeet, but what do I know? It intrigues me!
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🙂
I’m not sure when it dawned on me, but I suddenly had the impression that Dad’s teaching us about guns was more about expecting another war soon (maybe with Russia) than gun safety.
Your comment reinforces that.
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CI, I say kindergrten becuase every time I hear about a gun accident at the home it seems it is always with someone very young. I say teach them as soon as they can talk actually.
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Z, Maybe I grew up in an abnormal neighborhood, but we all learned about all sorts of sex at a very early age on the street. I knew at 7 almost everything I know now. And today, kids have the porn sites. I’m sure they know a lot more than I did at an early age.
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Kid – I agree with exposing kids to firearms at that age, but for actual gun safety, I’d wait. The problem with today’s culture, is that we’ve allowed the anti-gun cabal to demonize firearms with regards to the adult population, but thoroughly erase any mention or illustration of firearms with regards to children. And one doesn’t need to be a child psychologist to know what happens once a kid sees something ‘forbidden’….and doesn’t have any education about the item.
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Kid, I HOPE you grew up in an abnormal neighborhood! We had NO CLUE, not even CLOSE…but maybe boys did and we girls didn’t? I still think it’s better if kids don’t know this stuff too early. Ya, the porn sites are a good point.
I had a 15 yr old at a Christian high school get involved with internet porn and she told a teacher she trusted that every time she closes her eyes, she sees sex she doesn’t want to think about. I was horrified for her. It’s really scarring…..
CI…how do you expose kids to firearms early but not gun safety? You mean you wouldn’t let them have the guns in order that they’d have to learn that in the first place?
What about all the cases we hear about of little kids accidentally shooting when they found a gun?
I heard today a little boy shot his sister in the back….he was 5 and she’s going to be okay, but… yikes.
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Z – By gun safety, I mean the actual safe handling and use of the firearm. There’s nothing wrong with taking a small child to the range to watch, to the gun store to look and listen, and a healthy does of parental guidance; as well as starting to inculcate the 4 fundamental Rules of Gun Safety.
But small hands [and brains] are not equipped, in my opinion, to safely handle a firearm, beyond their first BB gun. I don’t have a concrete age by any means, each child develops and matures in this regard, at different paces. A good parent will instinctively know when it’s time to put smaller fingers on the trigger.
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CI, When I say gun safety, I’m not talking about them learning how to fire one but just understand what it can do. Consider every firearm loaded, never point one at anythying you don’t want dead, turn in any found firearm to an adult, never touch the trigger, etc. As far as actual use, I’d let them watch me blow up a melon and have them imagine that is someone’s head or chest.
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Z, Yea, I think porn sites are no good for kids at all. There is some real abnormal stuff there.
I remember when we were 6 there was a lady down the stret that tried to talk us into giving her a bath. Too bad she wasn’t better looking…
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CI…I see what you mean……..As long as the child’s not touching the gun, learning how to shoot, etc., I totally agree with you…just cultivate a healthy respect and wait till they’re old enough.
And yes, a good parent would know; plus, hunting or farming parents might be more prone to starting them early because it’s so part of their culture. Kids living in urban cities…notsomuch. And maturity, definitely.
I feel the same about alcohol. At my house, growing up, my parents usually had a cocktail before dinner, once Dad got home he’d sit in ‘his chair’, put some TV on, have a drink and talk with us, etc…..Mom would sometimes make him little canapes or he’d have some pretzels or something…….they had parties , they served drinks, etc.
When alcohol’s forbidden, it’s low hanging fruit for kids eager to see what’s so forbidden!
My sisters and I learned respect for alcohol and never got into alcohol trouble like many kids do. Not that this is a panacea but…it’s a good start.
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Kid! Some neighbor! That’s amazing!! Maybe if she’d been better looking she’d not had to have relied on asking kids to participate 🙂
Talk about porn; when we lived in Paris, it was QUITE something. One night I couldn’t sleep and so I got up and went into the den and put the TV on..I was flipping channels and came across something which I LITERALLY couldn’t figure out…’WHAT IS THAT?” because it was SUCH a close up of a man and a woman……at it 🙂
I remember thinking how such IN YOUR FACE porn was decidedly NOT EROTIC!!! It’s really different in Europe!
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It is different in Europe. In England they had shows that were pretty explicit about lesbians once. In Denmark, they had a show on TV showing a woman getting a ‘brazillian’, which amounted to shaving her and using some sort of light based treatment to keep the hair off longer or permanently maybe. Showed everything front and back.
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“Jeeez, who could afford a 57 Chevy?!”
Actually sir…I had Corvettes…LOL From 64 thru 68. My first one was only $2500. Still..pretty big money for a high school senior in those days.
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“I, too, disagree with the 37 yr old rule.”
And I disagreed with the mandatory retire at 60 rule for commercial pilots. ATP’s have to get a first class medical and an EKG every 6 months. I know guys today well into their 70’s that are fine, competent pilots. So long as that medical says you’re fine…then people shouldn’t be concerned about a 75 yo Captain on your flight with Jet Blue. But alas…I know the real reason for mandatory retirement at 65.
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“Actually sir…I had Corvettes…LOL From 64 thru 68. My first one was only $2500. ”
Whaddya, TRYIN to aggravate me?
Brings back to mind, tho, a car I bought in 1969, brandy-new Chevelle 39, had 4.5 miles on it. Price was . . . wait for it . . .
$3450, right off the carrier. I did the dealer prep myself. Tried to pay cash for it (accumulated combat pay and some other stuff), but the small-town dealership said they weren’t equipped to handle that much cash. Made me walk over to the bank, open an account, and write a check on it to them closing it.
Fortunately everybody at the bank knew me . . . the girl who did the transaction was a high-school friend of mine. She just took the money, cut me a receipt showing deposit to the dealer, and kissed me on the cheek. I have no idea how that works, but I drove the car home that afternoon.
Things shore has changed since the 60s, ain’t they! Wonder if I could still walk around the city square with that kinda money in my pocket today. That car nowadays would be over $35K out the door.
My 1950 Chevy cost me $125. My Ford Vic cost me $650.
Oh, BTW . . . I got a letter from GMAC saying that they could not endorse me as a good credit risk because I had never demonstrated willingness to repay loans over time. To establish credit, I had to go to Sears when we got to Long Beach, open an account, buy a washer/dryer on time, and then pay the damned things off when the first payment came due.
Then EVERYbody wanted to loan me money. Wife and I were busily setting up our house with cash, but I wanted her to have a line of credit because I was going on an extended cruise back to the GOT, and we didn’t have e-mail or any of that stuff in those days. She was gonna be on her own, and with 4 kids she needed some flexibility.
If you pay your bills too willingly and ahead of time, they don’t make any money on you, I reckon.
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1969 was The best year for car styling in the US imo. The big three are styling their muscle cars purely based on 1969 styles. Dodge Charger, Mustang, Camaro.
(My first car was a green 4 door 1965 chevy belair – sniff) Though my next car was a 1972 BSA Rocket 3.
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“1969, brandy-new Chevelle 39..”
Now you’re ticking me off….this could go on forever. But..If I had kept my 68 Vette….it’d be worth upwards of 100K by now. Too late today to figure out if a Hyundai Veloster will be the next collector car too.
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IMP, Friend had a 1963 split window, sold it for something smallish – the very next week he could of gotten 40 times as much.
He owned a 1972 XKE, Corvettes, Norton 750 Combat Commando, fun times. The BSA and the Norton blasting through the concrete canyons of downtown Pittsburgh leaving their exhaust noise bouncing off the buildings was cool.
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My brother’s friend “PO” had a 1969 Chevelle 396 that he souped up, put on traction bars and whatever else. Man that thing could give you whiplash.
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British machinery is just Sexy
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A friend of mine had one of those Commandos in Italy. He used to go Kaw hunting from cafe to cafe. “Isometric Suspension” as I recall.
I just had a 750F SS bored out to 1000cc which I later dropped to 900cc jugs to keep from twisting cranks.
But another friend in the states had the Kaw 500 three cylinder. Whoosh.
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Kaw 500 2 cycle – Aka: Widow maker
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Isometric. yea, that rings a bell. Instead of the swing arm (for the rear wheel) pivot being behind the transmission as it was on all other bikes, it was actually in front of the engine where it attachs to the frame. Impossible to pull a wheelie with that setup. Yea, I think they called it isometric.
The BSA easily took 4 cyl Honda’s. Even souped up ones. It was fun to race them. It ran dead even with the Norton. We had a lot of fun racing the other guys.
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I LOVE motorcycles…My mother’s famous line when I was going to college “If you come home on the back of a motorcycle, don’t bother to come home!”
I guess she didn’t like them 🙂
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🙂 Doesn’t sound like it Z.
Tell your mom that I said that any man afraid to pilot a motorcycle isn’t good enough to marry a woman.
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Amen Kid 🙂
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Kid, RIGHT!~~
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Except I forgot to mention the guy across the street when I was growing up who died in a motorcycle accident; maybe that played on Mom’s mind.
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“Kaw 500 2 cycle – Aka: Widow maker..”
Kawasaki? Had one…first bike too. Squirrelly and man was it fast. Dumped it when I cleaved the side of a Caddie that pulled out in front of me one day in Jersey.
Then I got a Yamaha Midnight Virago…980cc. Beautiful all black chrome. Evolution V engine with the stroke reversed, shafty drive so it didn’t rumble and fart like a Sportster. But man did it ever torque that rear wheel. Yet it was a Jap knockoff of one too. Drove it for 5 years until we had our kid.
Every Sunday my wife and I would hop on it and drive up A1A along the beach up to Palm Beach past all the mansions…and then home again. I loved that bike. I sold it to a bud of mine in 85 who still has it! 36 Years later.
Now…we don’t need a helmet here in FlaDuh…which I have mixed feelings about. But I still wish I had that bike. And the 68 Vette.
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I’ve had a ’10 Harley fat Bob for the last few years. Love it…and kid id spot on – any man afraid to pilot a motorcycle isn’t good enough to marry a woman.
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CI…I wouldn’t have expected anything less from a man like you. I could never afford the Harley I’d like to get…LOL
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I wanted the CVO…..but, no. The Harley was my retirement gift to myself, but I couldn’t go crazy.
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CI…and I’m waiting for my wife to gift me a C5 Vette for my bucket list and cross country trip. But man…that’s the kind of a touring bike I’d settle for in a heartbeat. Even a Honda right now would do fine.
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IMP, I’d wear a helmet just for the face shield if nothing else. Got tired of using my face for a bug splatter. Lots of dirt flying around too on the freeways. And nothing like a shaft drive. I’d prefer not having to deal with chains. My first bike was a 250CC BMW single. Extremely low maintenance.
Z, yea there are some really brutal accidents to be had on a bike. Sometimes I think I only survived by pretending everyone else on the road was trying to kill me.
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“IMP, I’d wear a helmet just for the face shield if nothing else.”
I hope you don’t think I’m a vegan and like to eat bugs? I wore a pot and some nice goggles and had a small deflector / shield on the bike. Took all that wind off my face and chest.
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IMP, Nope just speaking for myself. Actually when I first started rising, I never fixed the strap so everytime I flew off the bike (as a passenger with an idiot pilot) my helmet flew off before I ever got to the ground.
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Imp, its funny you mention a C5 Vette ’cause I almost bought a 2002 3 years ago but didn’t and have been sorry since. I could of had it for only $8,900, too! There was little room in my garage at the time was the main reason. I read recently the C5 is becoming a collectors car for the senior group and to hang onto them if you get one.
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And it would’ve been my second one, too, because I had a ’76 for a couple of years (’77-’79)
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WHAT THE HECK JUST HAPPENED??? I WAS ON ANOTHER OF YOUR BLOGS, Z AND SURPRISED TO SEE IT COME UP HERE! ////
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Mal….Sheesh…I would have scooped that up ( depending on condition and mileage? ) and garage or no…I’d have put it under a car cover. Which I’ll probably have to do as I haven’t a garage. The C5 though is the last models where you could get the L88 stock in it and had some serious HP. I’m stil looking but I see that they’re around 14k to 19K now. Which really isn’t bad for one heck of an true American sports car!
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Mal..it’s still the same topic…it just runs over at a certain number of posts.
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Imp, it had high mileage (150 k) but the outside was perfect (silver) but the interior not so much, esp. the drivers seat, plus a few other minor things It was fully loaded with heads up, etc.
Yeah. I shoulda…………2/20 vision with hind sight!
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That was suppose to read 20/20 vision. (I really need a new PC)
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