And Cindy brought up the term I couldn't remember--ephebophile, which is equally icky in my book and more specific when describing teenage victims.

For me, I guess it is less icky, because although it is just as morally icky, it doesn't seem so sexually icky. Let's say a man sees a beautiful, mature female walking down the street. He finds her arousing. He later finds out she's just a grown up looking 15 year old. It's morally icky if he goes after her, but I don't know that it shows any sort of sexual pathology. If he sees a 7 year old or a 2 year old walking down the street and is aroused by her, it's way more icky to me.

Pedophilia, if I understand correctly, isn't something that can be therapized out of a person, either. The best they can hope for is to gain control over their desires, not change them. Ephebophilia, if I understand correctly (and like I said, I don't even think it is a diagnosis sort of term) can be. And if I understand correctly, it's largely a matter of getting a person more comfortable with his peers.

Ooops. Gotta throw up, again.

And I wonder how they get around usury laws with that.

Dunno, maybe they are based in Delaware or something. Or maybe they have a wholly owned company in Delaware or some other state without usary laws that does the actual financing.

You need a snooty boilerplate response that subtly insults their intelligence and ability to do their job.

Past experience suggests that people don't actually read the e-mails I send, so I'd hate to waste a snooty boilerplate response.

LA seems a good place for restarts.

While I like LA, the prospect of actually living there doesn't help my blood pressure problem at the moment.

Although somewhere without streets covered in sheets of ice might be nice.

I'd have to guess they must sell to people who are either very uninformed or have absolutely horrible credit.

Yes, and yes. The rent-to-own biz is set up to make big bucks off poor people -- not only no credit, but no savings, no breathing room in the budget for one-time big purchases, and no chance of putting it on the christmas list of the rest because the family can't afford it either. In those circumstances, even if you're perfectly well-informed about what a complete ripoff it is, paying by the month can look like the only option.

Yes. Rent-to-own is part of the subprime credit field. And not the most reputable part, either.

Although somewhere without streets covered in sheets of ice might be nice.

This is Durham, NC, almost all the time. (OK, there was that week about three years ago. But we moved past it.) Yes, I'm trying to get out, but then I have this whole thing against being landlocked, with hot summers. There are a whole lot of former Michiganders around here (me, for starters).

While I like LA, the prospect of actually living there doesn't help my blood pressure problem at the moment.

Yeah, LA isn't for everyone.

Although somewhere without streets covered in sheets of ice might be nice.

Well, if you don't like winter, then you might be ok...

However, abusive jobs should not be passively endured, if at all possible.

Oh, if anyone want to join an online Bible study group, my wife is running one and asked me to invite people. The website with info is at [link] It may move to a forum based, rather than email-based format soon as I set up forums last night, but at the moment it's mailing list. This is a 'What did Paul mean when he said..." type Bible study and not a "When was the gospel written and who actually wrote it?" type.

One day left in the hurricane season. I think that means we won't get any more.

SHHHHHHHHHH the natural disasters will HEAR you.

It's just never happened that one has been later, if it does, this is the year for it.

I'm excited for Chrismas this year as much for the "end of natural disaster year from hell" as much as anything else. Seriously.

I guess they'd have to ignore the pedophiles molesting young girls for starters. But then, that doesn't seem to make the papers as much as boys getting molested, even though I understand it to be considerably more common.

Well, there is a hirearchy. A man molesting a boy is the worst thing in the world. A man molesting a girl is naughty and bad but hey, who hasn't seen a cutie. A woman molesting a boy is bad but he probably wanted it anyway and a woman molesting a girl is like Victorian Lesbians -- never ever happens.

I'm really not trying to start the Michael Jackson thing up again, honest, but he shared his bed with little girls too and its NEVER an issue in the news. R. Kelly is ON TAPE having sex with an underaged girl (who elected to not press charges) and has another song climbing the charts. Mary Kay LeTorneau just married Villi.

And, of course, if the priests weren't gay they'd never mess around with little boys. They certainly have no access to other men, other CELIBATE SEXUALLLY FRUSTRATED grown men. t eye roll forevah

The Hari Krishnas (also celibate, even after marriage) shut. down. their boarding schools, did an investigation, hired outside investigators, prosecuted the offenders, and set up a fund for the victims after pedophiles were discovered to have infiltrated.

And I think "infiltrated" is fair -- pedophiles are going to seek out unfettered accsss to kids, some by becoming dorm dads/moms, some by becoming priests. It's not a mystery that they're going to show up in these organizations and watching out for them should be a stated priorty.

I would hazzard to guess that like many pedophiles a good number of priests were themselves molested. Possibly by priests. The RC Church could stand to study this, you know? They, essentially, have a big fat multinational multigenerational dysfunctional family in this regard and instead of grilling seminarians about liking dick find out if they were molested, check thier parish history -- you know who the pervs are, you reassigned them. People can start seminary pretty damn young, treat them before they themselves become offenders.

The rent-to-own biz is set up to make big bucks off poor people

I know this and yet when I see the actual numbers in a flyer, it's like wow.