Deburca, i am sure turning that off has helped. being selective is good. those forums have their fans but so does the KKK, skinheads, cults, members of the FLDS sects and numerous other off the wall organizations who are equally brainwashed, talking to them is like talking to a wall and listening to them is like listening to paint dry. i do stand up when I hear some of this stuff. One of my accounts was saying they heard Pres. Obama won because Oprah sent people checks I laughed and told them if so I’m mad I didn’t get a check and asked them if they got theirs some people are just so gullible.

Sherrie, Nice post. I do remember being taught in school that many who fled Europe and sailed to America were leaving the Imperialistic societies of their countries as well as the great wealth and imperialism that was also practiced by the Vatican during those times. Somehow I think our founding fathers would have some trouble defending the way some of these guys have perverted their vision. they had a much clearer sense of right or wrong then these CEO’s and many of our elected reps. I don’t see George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Teddy Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln, FDR, Ike or Truman wanting to claim these CEO’s as great contributors to America or as members of their party, for that matter I can’t imagine what they would think of what is said on the Television or Radio that passes as news these days like saying you hope the POTUS fails when this nation is in the middle of a crisis. Maybe because I’m from Kansas but I think in the old west they’d of hung them high and then buried them out on Boot Hill in Dodge City and thats perhaps far to good for them. At this point I don’t give a damn which party wants to claim them they have made us look bad and corrupt no matter what party would have them, they have mocked life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness and turned it into lifestyles of the rich and the famous.

DeBurca, I understand how you feel but many here are what my old friend used to call shit stirrers. sometimes letting them be and ignoring or scrolling past their posts is the best response. Be like a Trekkie “Beam me up Scottie no intelligent life forms here” as you hit the scroll button to whiz on by. It takes to much energy. it says in the bible to not cast your pearls before swine. I am sure there are many other witty quotes one could attach to this situation. Why give them what they want. ignoring them might be a better way to go. I have not posted for several weeks because I looked at some of what was going on and felt like taking a vacation, life is to short. You are a very smart women don’t let them get you down.

Diana yes I agree. How about some topics that are totally silly like of the old comic strips like Cathy or Peanuts and how they made us feel did we relate to Charlie Brown or what did we think of Lucy, what did we think of Wonder Women or the Bionic Women. I have a beagle and she has some of the traits that Shultz wrote about. Have we seen any good movies or books lately, I saw Slumdog Millionaire it was a great movie I really enjoyed it. Certainly the sum total of all of us as women cannot be reduced down to some of the snarky drivel that has been posted here lately, there has to be more than just politics. i also think if some of the topics would change so would the tone of some and others who thrive on extreme contentiousness might take a hike.

just want to add one more thing, do you think to land one of those jobs as a CEO they need to know if you are a great criminal mastermind? Where do you put that on your resume? It used to be the saying the cream rises to the top now it is the crooked rise to the top. It is difficult enough as parents today trying to teach kids ethics, morals and integrity when all the kids see and hear about is how many lying, cheating low life slime buckets there are now and as a parent you have to acknowledge the fact that you are not necessarily talking about the criminals on the streets but the people supposedly running legitimate corporations and our financial sector.

albert, When I made that comment in that class was during the time that the Enron, Tyco, and World Com fiascoes were in full swing and I was disgusted at what was going on. I was disappointed at the fraud and how many people were hurt. It doesn’t appear that much has changed the public is still being swindled by those who have been trusted to run these corporations. It just seems that with the tax payers on the hook to bailout all these big banks, investment firms and insurance companies like AIG we should have some way to prevent million dollar office renovations and all the BS we are now being asked to finance while they seem to think they get off scott free and transfer their 14 million dollar mansions to their wifes for 100 dollars. As I said I just have a hard time with the fact that these guys think they are worth 50 million a year. I am not against capitalism but the fact that many in our country do not have any health care and we have starving children whose parents make up the working poor in our country and many of them are now in peril because these guys made such greedy decisions that many of them are now losing their jobs. It seems like many at the to have confused capitalism with imperialism i guess your right our blood and money is what allows them to have the lifestyles of the rich and famous they have now created at our expense.

Susan B thanks for the comment I had been gone for awhile just busy with holidays, work and 3 teenagers so i haven’t been on a lot lately however in the fall i had some exchanges with some when my opinion and theirs were not the same but it seems when I have looked lately the responses between posters when they disagree have been pretty vicious much more so then it was in the fall and many of you have named the posters most likely to be abusive to others. There are many on here who disagree with others but are still able to communicate their position with respect for the person they are disagreeing with but there are others who seem incapable of doing that and resort to name calling and gang attacking Perhaps changing the topics would be a nice reprieve and the true wowers would stay and the imposters that just like to incite arguments would go back to where they came.

Diana that sounds nice and fun as far as the old ads go. I was just on the other thread about the brain research and illnesses where you and sandbee were sharing your stories about your husband and how he passed and sandbees fight with the aneurysms. She is made out of some tough stuff and you are right many of us are fighting health concerns or are care taking others. I think the first time I got on was last summer and posted quite a bit in the fall but then after the election I was very busy with family and holidays and just got sidetracked and would look in from time to time. I think some of the postings have just gotten so heavy I just avoided a bit. I will go to comments of the week I certainly agree that some less political topics would be welcome. It is almost gardening season, maybe some nice articles about if people are going to grow a garden do they like flowers or vegetables etc.

Wanda Sykes is very funny and I am sure she will liven up the dinner. It is nice to have someone truly funny not just full of snarky comments like many we have on the telly these days who just think they are funny.

Diana, perhaps some nice coverage of clothes swapping parties, new york fashion week coverage with questions like what type of heel height do you prefer or what decade did you really love the clothes might prompt them to move on or maybe some recipe swaps or talking about what part of the effects of gravity we dislike the most. Stories about how our elders learned to make a dollar stretch during the 30’s or what lipstick shades we like the best. What are our favorite desserts or what bad habit our spouse, significant other or family member has that drives us nuts. Maybe what types of hobbies do people have or what do they like to collect. i agree that it would be nice to have some different topics not everything needs to be so serious. God only knows we all need some diversion, some on here more then others. I would be willing to bet some of them have blood pressure levels that are not in the healthy range. LOL

Sherrie several years ago I commented in a class I was taking that if Americans wanted workers salaries to go up then there should be some mechanism to control the variations between what those at the top versus what those that were regular employees made. Maybe it is just a personal shortcoming of mine but I have a hard time understanding how one single exec is worth 70 million a year. I am not talking about privately held companies or small businesses. It is one thing if you are Bill Gates or Oprah or even the hip hop artists that my son likes who have created their own wealth through their own entrepreneurship but these guys who are running Wall Street and our other corporations like the automobile industry into the ground that is unacceptable. I hope we as a nation are able to hold these guys accountable. How many lives of normal hardworking Americans did they alter with their greed. I have said before they were feeding at the trough of the golden calf and money became their God or helped them believe that they were our Gods and we Americans were the peasants here to serve them. How many lost retirement income and savings they were counting on to be there to help put kids through college etc. I think if these guys were tried by juries throughout our country of hardworking men and women many of us would chose to throw them in the clink. They are far more guilty then many who are serving time in our country for petty theft, they defrauded millions of millions. I don’t put my faith on this earth and for that I am thankful. This whole situation is sickening. If people on either side can’t agree with that then we have farther to go as a nation then I thought and the generations who lived before us have much to be ashamed of.

right on

Diana I certainly understand the part of scrolling through, the negativity of the haters is very intense. I just hopped back from another thread you had posted on the Alexandra Pelosi thread and I feel like you were dead on when you wrote about the demeanor and the verbage, it is one thing to disagree but some of these responses are just mean, cruel and without merit it seems a very slippery slope we are on in America. Seems like many topics are being hijacked by those with an agenda or an ax to grind instead of having some constructive input to further the topic.

Diana, I haven’t been on much lately but I see that you are still a voice of reason and it seems there are fewer then when I was posting before I noticed i don’t seem to be the only one who has pointed this out. Seems to me there are a whole lot of Hooverites on here now who are intent on creating a nation of Hoovervilles. I did not care for Cheney or Bush but I did not hope for there failure it seems rather childish to wish for the failure of your President or his administration more like a thought process more suited to a juvenile rather then an adult who is supposed to be more capable of a rational thought process. Especially when the stakes are so high.

Thanks Mommy for the info, it seems many on here these days are more interested in throwing stones then really having anything constructive to say. I like to remember that Christ himself said let he without sin cast the first stone as in the case of the women accused of adultery, I have a feeling many of them spewing on this site lately would have to drop their rocks in the dirt and slither away. Taxes are very complicated if you are self employed and you don’t fit as easily into the traditional type wage box that many do or have more non traditional income to report.