I don’t see this country as having health care. What we have is disease care and a society that thrives on it’s population staying unhealthy. To me, health care would focus on prevention methods such as healthy eating throughout our entire lives, moving our bodies correctly with things like Pilates, walking, Yoga and other exercises, dealing with stress, having acupuncture as a tune-up, and other things that actually help us stay healthy. I hope I never have to depend on our government to provide me with something I should be doing for myself.

I’ll be back in a second (when they put me on hold on the phone).

I’ve met almost all the actors on All My Children (a show I’ve watched for about 35 years), including David Canary, Susan Lucci, Bobbie Eakes, Cameron Mathison, Thorsten Kaye, Eden Riegel, Vincent Irizzary, Sydney Penny, etc. within the last five years when I went to NYC for the AMC fan club events and when I attended the VIP dinner at the Daytime Emmys a few years ago in Hollywood. At the Emmys, I also met Tamara Tunie (Law & Order). Hubby and I spent time at Walt Willey’s bed & breakfast in New Mexico hanging with Walt and his family. All these wonderful actors never made me feel like they didn’t have time to talk and spent time talking d having their pictures taken with me. They were all some of the sparkling highlights of my traveling lifestyle. I also met Jon Stewart while I was in NYC when I attended his Daily Show.

Love Gina Gershon and loved this video!!

The seasons. Animals. New babies. Wildflowers. The love of my husband.

Co-owning a business with my husband, my adage is, “There is enough business out there for everyone.” We have a unique business that keeps the bills paid and us fed. But since we started it many have decided that if we can do it, so can they. And each time we hear of another one, my husband gets concerned about the competition. I remind him of my maxim and he relaxes and remembers that we are in our 21st year of success.

That I met and married a many who loves me unconditionally and makes me laugh every single day. After an abusive first marriage with a man who made me cry every single day and who took my children from me, finding my second husband 32 years ago was the biggest surprise of my life.

>>The reason for all our ill’s, we have become a God-less nation.<< No, I don’t believe this at all. There are many athiests and agnostics who are good people, who don’t do drugs, start wars, or other horrendous deeds. On the other hand, many who believe in god and go to church do drugs, start wars, murder people, molest and abuse women and children and more. I agree with your list of ills including parents who think it’s more important to be friends with their children, not parents is part of a big problem. But, none of this has anything to do with believing or not believing in god. Generalizing that all have to believe in god to make this world a good place is an ethnocentric viewpoint.

Maryann, after reading your post I find it hard to believe that the mother “just snapped” and killed her husband. Do you know for sure that he hadn’t been abusing her and she couldn’t get help to get away from him? Just because he’s a preacher doesn’t make him a good person. Many are abusers in the name of god and the bible. He could have been like my first husband who threatened to kill me and never let me see my children if I ever left him. Most of the time, nobody on the outside of the couple knows the intimate details of their relationship. I would have killed my husband if I had the nerve. Instead, after all the physical and emotional beatings, I ran for my life at the end of his fist and lived in the streets for a year. My kids suffered as much from what I did as your girls did from the father being killed. We do what we can to survive. I have to question why she only got three months in prison and then probation if he wasn’t abusing her. It sounds like it goes much deeper than “She snapped and killed their father.” If he was abusing her, imo, he deserved what he got.

Hubby and I saw the show in Las Vegas two years ago. Without hesitation we both agree that this is one of the top feel-good shows we’ve ever seen thanks to ABBA’s music. We will definitely see the movie because with Meryl Streep and Amanda Seyfried, we know it will be over-the-top amazing!!

I just noticed that this was brought public in 2006. But that doesn’t matter. The pedophile industry is still alive and thriving.

To give this subject an added dimension, I just watched the Oprah show (7/17) and the guest was a teenage boy named Justin Berry, an honor student, who became involved into an internet porn group when he was 13 years old and bought a webcam. He had his own money because at that young age, he was a website designer. Over the next few years, his situation evolved into him becoming a drug addict, doing graphic acts in his bedroom for enormous amounts of cash and gifts, and eventually (as an 18 year old adult) making and promoting porn films. Kurt Eichenwald, a NY reporter was doing research on a related topic and figured out what was going on and helped save Justin. Justin had saved five years worth of online messages, pictures, etc. from his nightmare. The reporter took all this information and turned it over to the FBI. The men that were involved in running this pedophile ring were: Lawyers. Pediatricians. There were many others, but I’m so upset after hearing this, I can’t remember, But there are many, many highly regarded professionals who have their hands all over our children in their daily lives; similar or the people as are involved in trafficking. It’s so entrenched in society. According to Oprah, Justin is going into Witness Protection because he has had his life threatened because these men don’t want this endless supply of money taken from them. But the Wiki site said that Justin now goes around the country trying to educate people on webcams and children. If your child has a webcam in her or his room, throw it out. Don’t ask questions. Don’t take excuses. As Justin said, the most common reason anybody, including children, uses a webcam is sexually and financially related. Here is the Wiki site: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justin_Berry

I just hate the fact that this board does not allow us to correct a post once it’s submitted. I said >>> One of the reasons it has lived on for such a long time is just because of the the sexual aspect, <<< And I meant to say it’s NOT just because of the sexual aspect…

>>>Is it only girls? Do they kidnap boys as well? By Frannie Em<<< Yes, yes, yes. Sadly, it is boys and girls, Frannie Em. P.S. to my post: Although I give ABC credit for doing this show, one occasional show on 12-13 year old prostitution is not nearly enough. This situation is so deeply entrenched in our society that it needs an ongoing campaign to bring and keep it in the public eye until these predators are wiped out. One of the reasons it has lived on for such a long time is just because of the the sexual aspect, but the money. Young, innocent children bring in lots of money and it’s a result of supply and demand.

>>>A word about the scope of this problem: The FBI has been so concerned about the rise of domestic trafficking of children that for the past five years…<<< This upcoming show is only a tiny part of the problem. It goes so far beyond the prostitution angle of 12-13 year olds. Have any of you ever seen “Human Trafficking,” a movie that was on cable tv in 2005 starring Donald Sutherland and Mira Sorvino? “The statistics are shocking. The story is grim. And the biggest market for women and children sex slaves is the United States, much to our shame. … Keep in mind, the type of persons who can afford to do this are primarily upper middle class professional men who have nefarious appetites to do the worst possible acts of mankind. The last few minutes are the most important of the entire film where Mira Sorvino’s character states clearly the facts and why this is allowed to go on, because there is a market for it particularly here in the United States.” The past five years? As usual, they have had their collective heads in the sand. It’s been going on for a lot longer than five years. To my knowledge part of this problem is that those at the very highest level of this horrendous crime are mostly men who are well-respected in their communities, who nobody would ever suspect, men who have the means and the connections to perpetuate this, and who are protected because of their reputation. And don’t kid yourself. If ABC had truly done their homework they would know that these childrent are not necessarily 12 and 13. Many are much, much younger. We read about young children disappearing all the time. This country needs to wake up. They didn’t all run away.