Jilli, are those the prices I should expect to pay? I think that's more expensive than the dress. Which--if it's a thing it's a thing. I hadn't been able to find burgundy at all outside of multi-skirt packages, so that's a step in the right direction. I do not have burgundy ribbon, but that'l be trivial.

I think the anti-sex education thing is the one I scratch my head at most. Because clearly, if no one ever teaches kids about sex, they'll never be curious enough to experiment with it on their own, right?

Heh, one of the most fun things about one of my teaching jobs was that the PE teacher (who was, by default, the sex ed teacher) was uncomfortable talking about sex and wished aloud someone else would take on a class. So, duh, I did 'em and MAN it was fun doing the anonymous "ask any question about sex on a piece of paper" thing and reading the "the new white English teacher will FAINT" questions:

"Now I don't know what gender your sex partner is, but giving head -- which is also referred to as oral sex; it's called cunnilingus if a person performs it on a woman, and fellatio if performed on a man -- CAN give you an STD in the mouth. And answering another question I see here, if you are a woman and you swallow, you won't get pregnant, but you might get an STD. SO here's condoms; I'm gonna show you the right way to put one on...But first -- (stretches normal condom over clenched fist without it breaking) if a partner claims they can't wear rubber because they need a Magnum...well,if their junk if bigger than my fist and forearm, you probably want to run away."

I just wanted to pat them all gently on the heads and say "Close your dropped jaws, y'all; a bug's gonna fly up in there!"

Good times...

damn, why weren't you teaching me sex ed.

it wasn't like that when I was in school!

I'm wondering--if this [link] is a given, what's the alternative? Isn't Latin flawed the same way? Where's the solution?

well,if their junk if bigger than my fist and forearm, you probably want to run away.

I think you're being judgemental about what things go in what orifices. Don't be size queen shaming.

That sounds fun, Strix. My youth group in high school had an overnight at the church and every year someone would try and throw something in the question box to "freak out" the pastor and other assorted grown-ups. Never ever worked. The best one I recall was "What is 69" and the reply was the older very dignified fairly staid gentleman who replied by holding his arms across his chest and wiggling his fingers at his elbows. He didn't even crack a smile. Genius.

My parents are Catholic and seriously pro-life. I'm quite confident that life of the mother would not be an exception for them. Also completely opposed to death penalty on the same moral grounds. Yet, they voted for Obama this time and last because their religious beliefs and their political beliefs are distinct things.

My Super Catholic Aunt Mary Jo of pope-killing fame gets very adamant about this. "YOU (the government) make medicine safe. WE'LL (the church) talk people out of it. That's OUR job."

I think you're being judgemental about what things go in what orifices. Don't be size queen shaming.

Eh, I'm bold, but basically wanted to make the point that "Baby, my dick is too big for that rubber you got, and I'm outta Magnums! Just this once, baby, it'll be fine!" is bullshit.

I got enough sideeyes from other teachers for doing the proper condom application demonstration; I wasn't gonna talk stretching devices for orifices for those who like 'em big to a bunch of 14-18 y.o.'s!

And Le Nub, it isn't like that in TOO many schools. But I was DAMNED if that teacher's shyness was gonna let my kids think that if you had sex standing up, you couldn't get pregnant, and other foolishness.

Which makes me think, am I single issue? And the answer is yes and no.

Overall, I would say no, personally. But when the candidate is potentially the one nominating Supreme Court Justices? It's probably easier for my mind that I've never had this issue forced. I identify as human first, female second (which, yes, there is clearly an amount of white privilege and the privilege of living in a well-developed country happening here) and both of those for me include having autonomy over my own body.

Romney was lying but if his positions really had been what he espoused in the first debates, he'd have been closer to many of my views and I still wouldn't want to elect a president that was so committed to me not having a say in what happens to and in my body. Helpfully, those weren't his actual positions.

I've voted for Republicans. They had the better positions in my estimation for the offices they were seeking.

I'm single issue if a candidate is vocal about trying to relegate me to second class citizen status, but otherwise tend to vote for whomever I think will do the best job for the most people.

Or, you know, what Matt said.

I don't think there is any argument against abortion rights that is not, at its root, anti-woman. So in that sense, I am a single issue voter because that single issue illuminates so many others.

Also what Jessica said.

From way back:

Screw sending outsiders to change Washington, I'ma vote for the competent professionals.

Seriously. I see problems with politicians who care more about staying in office than actually governing but sending in people with zero experience or interest in learning doesn't make government run smoother or better. Ever.

I installed Soluto on my father and sister's last computers, and now it's asking me if I want to change my sister's default search engine back to Google. Weird thing is (she's a smidge above average computer user--enough to change all her device languages to Spanish and still use them efficiently) she didn't change it on purpose, so it's a valid question.

However, said valid question made me log in and remove some stuff from their normal boot ups, and I think I installed new software on my father's laptop. It was late. And there was sleeping medication involved.

So the woman Patraeus had an affair with, Paula Broadwell, was not only on the Daily Show, but Jon went to some charity events she organized. That's going to be tricky for him to joke about.

Apparently she's a super high achieving type, winning fitness awards when she was at West Point, and Harvard graduate school, and also a choirmaster in high school. And she's married with two kids. So that's a couple of marriages and two very high flying careers in the crapper.

So the woman Patraeus had an affair with, Paula Broadwell, was not only on the Daily Show, but Jon went to some charity events she organized. That's going to be tricky for him to joke about.

She wrote a biography on him. I am thinking that it's going to be pretty easy. She wasn't on the Daily Show because she was a wife and mom. She was on talking about Patraeus. And the book about him that she was trying to publicize.

How does that make it awkward for Jon Stewart?