Yeah, both S.'s paternal grandparents were born and raised there, and came over as adults. My mom's, too, so it doesn't apply to me, but I could always tell my mom to apply if she was so inclined (not that I think she is).

I'm beginning to lean toward Fiji. No more winter! And we didn't even really have one this year.

I thought the "paid for sex" claim is factually untrue.

I think it's based on the "if you don't want to spend so much on birth control pills, stop having so much sex" argument. Or, more plainly, the assumption that a woman takes a birth control pill each time she has sex.

Amid all this birth control brouhaha, I remembered something that happened when I was about 5 or 6. I asked my mother about a box on the kitchen counter. She explained that it held her birth control pills, and she took one each day to keep from having a baby. My big question was, "What if you miss a day? Can you have a baby then?" (Her answer: One day, probably not. Several days, possibly.)

This scares me. When I was barely entering grade school, I knew how The Pill (as it was called then) works better than many grown men in influential positions, who think they know enough to pontificate AS EXPERTS ON THE SUBJECT, do NOW.

Bob became a Canadian citizen when they opened a window where you could apply for citizenship if your mother was born there, and just your mother father didnt count. That window has since closed.

Fun fact: it used to be the case that for babies born outside of Canada, if your father was a Canadian citizen, you automatically were too. If the mother was a Canadian citizen, not so much.

This was true until the late 70s.

[ETA: that might have been what that window Bob took advantage of was intended to fix.]

In fun election news, this year will be the first presidential election for both of my sons. I think I need to plan some kind of party.

Oh, how cool! New voters, brought to us by Laura! Definitely cause for a party.

Fred,

I think it's based on the "if you don't want to spend so much on birth control pills, stop having so much sex" argument. Or, more plainly, the assumption that a woman takes a birth control pill each time she has sex.

Indeed, but what I meant with my quick remark is that I thought it was factually untrue that taxpayers were paying for birth control. We aren't paying for women's birth control at private companies any more than we are paying for immunizations.

I wish that issue would be dispensed with.

We aren't paying for women's birth control at private companies any more than we are paying for immunizations.

Of course, except for the part where private insurance works because it's a large group of people paying in. And those people are probably mostly also taxpayers.

Fun fact: it used to be the case that for babies born outside of Canada, if your father was a Canadian citizen, you automatically were too. If the mother was a Canadian citizen, not so much.

That's so silly! I mean, you always know who the mother of a baby is... nsm the father.

We aren't paying for women's birth control at private companies any more than we are paying for immunizations.

The way insurance works is we all pay for each other's everything. I'm paying for whatever healthcare my co-workers access, plus whatever percentage of my taxes are being put into Medicaid and Medicare.

That's so silly! I mean, you always know who the mother of a baby is... nsm the father.

This, in so many ways.

My shoulder surgery is tomorrow and the nerves have set in already. Doesn't help that it has felt fine the last couple of days. Then again, I've been trying to avoid certain movements that I know are hurty. Butterflies in the tummy.

Jessica,

right but Rush supposedly self pays his medical insurance. So he wouldn't be paying Fluke's anything at Georgetown. Just that specific case.

I'm not sure if this has been mentioned, but generally companies save money when they cover birth control, right?

So instead of all of us "paying so women can have sex," we're all paying less money because women are having sex. Or, you know, treating various other medical conditions.