I have to respectfully disagree with Ms. Peabody’s comment about Princess Diana. I believe the Princess “wanted” the media to focus on her charity and humanitarian endeavors. She certainly didn’t “want” them obsessively prying into her personal life, to the tragic end when that very media’s frenzy caused her death. I value my privacy. I don’t have a MySpace nor a Facebook account. I have no desire to be known except by my family and friends. In our time, and especially in America, and with the internet, it’s very hard to maintain personal privacy. Everyone wants to know where you shop and what you buy, how much money you make, and anything else they can learn about you. It’s very annoying. I would never, ever want to be famous. It would be unbearable for me to not be able to walk my dog or go shopping without hordes of maniacs shoving cameras in my face, publishing unflattering photos of me, and misquoting me. I love being a nobody!

I’m with you, Ms. Conti. How many things that were approved by the FDA turn out to be dangerous or deadly? LOTS, that’s how many. And Ms. Rye, your “get a grip” comment was totally out of line. This is a site for mature women to share their ideas and opinions. Mature women shouldn’t feel the need to insult one another or put each other down. There’s plenty of space on Wow O Wow for everyone’s thoughts. Have a nice day.

Ms. de Cornelia - once again I agree with you. Those women and girls are completely under the control of maniacal men. The clothing and hair styles are the LAW in that cult. Yet another means of subjugating females. They don’t even have the freedom to express their own personalities.

When McCain first announced his candidacy, I planned to vote for him, even though I normally lean toward Democrats. I thought, he’s a true American hero, VietNam vet, POW, experienced leader, etc. But listening to him now, his comments about the recession we’re falling into, and how people who are being faced with losing their homes don’t deserve our government’s help, plus looking over his voting record - for example, he voted against the MLK Jr Holiday - I have to join all the other voices who’ve said, “Please, the last thing we need is more of the same of Dubya’s mishandling!” As Obama said, McCain is running for Bush’s third term. We need to end this war in Iraq, ASAP, and McCain has no intention of doing so (at least he’s honest about that). I think Hillary Clinton, although she may have more political experience, just doesn’t have the leadership abilities that Obama has, and that he will build on in the years to come. I could not in good conscience vote for McCain, and I believe Obama is going to win the Democratic nomination. I also believe enough people are fed up with the way the Republicans have run our economy into the ground, and pushed this needless, pointless war, that Obama as President is a distinct possibility. In fact, I’m counting on it. And finally, even though I suspect he’s just another run-of-the-mill rabble-rousing TROLL, the likes of which we all see every day online, I must comment on “Dr.” Klein’s assertion that race is a dead issue in America. I have lived in every state on the east coast, from upstate New York to south of Miami. While I’ve seen many instances of racism everywhere I’ve lived, Philadelphia is the most racist city I’ve ever lived in. It’s racist across the board - every race has something against every other race. Once again, “Doctor”, I must implore you to seek psychiatric help because you are very much out of touch with reality.

Ms. de Cornelia - hear, hear!

Mark Klein, MD…..I just don’t even know where to begin my list of all the things which are wrong, Wrong, WRONG about your assessment of today’s women. I’ll just say this - you need to spend some time with a psychiatrist. Right now. You’re not living in the real world.

Absolutely, this type of horror is everyone’s business. Most of the women and children in these “religious sects” are being held against their will. If the adults choose to remain in that sick, incestuous, completely segregated environment, they should be allowed to. But what of those who want to leave? What of the children who have no choice? The “leaders” of these polygamist cults invariably have God complexes. They are evil, selfish control freaks. The main focus of these cults is subjugating women, forcing young girls into “arranged marriages” with much older men - usually relatives. It’s about sex and controlling women. Period. It’s sick and it should not be allowed to exist. Monitored? No, there should be no need for monitoring, because we’ve seen too many of these cults implode. They should never be allowed to build these closed compounds, shutting out the rest of the world and refusing open communication with society. That’s a cult, and that’s dangerous and wrong.

Kids today are so accustomed to over-stimulation, you have to really encourage them to use their imaginations. Look at the remakes of older movies - nothing is implied, it’s all “in your face”. For example, The Haunting of Hill House…..in the original, you never actually saw any ghosts, you heard things, and the rest was implied and understood. It was one of the scariest movies I saw as a kid. The remake has all the cheesy computer generated crap, and nothing is left to the imagination. Recently, there was a teachers’ strike in my area. The biggest complaint parents had was the expense of trying to keep their kids occupied and free from boredom while they were out of school. Moms and Dads were angry because after a couple of days, they were running out of places to take their kids for entertainment. The entire time watching this drama play out, I thought, “How about sitting around the dining room table with your kids and TALKING to them, or playing a board game, or putting a puzzle together, or reading together?” Why does your idea of entertaining the children and keeping them occupied have to include money? It’s definitely different from when I was a kid. We had toys that didn’t go beep beep - you used your imagination and create fun for yourself. Or you went outside and climbed trees or played hide and seek or rode your bike or skateboard. There’s too much of the electronic and not enough of the human in child rearing these days.

Oh, Oh, Maurine H…..I’m with you on The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. Back when I had cable, I never missed them!

Thanks for a great topic, Suzanne. And for the clip. I never heard of the film, but I will look for it. I love Ridley Scott’s movies. Some of my favorite movies of all time were directed by him - Alien, Legend, Thelma & Louise. He’s brilliant.

I can’t stand watching the news on TV anymore. I love it that online, I can pick and choose which stories I read, and there’s no commercials, no wannabe superstar “personalities” reading the news, and no hearing the same stories every 10 minutes. And other than satellite, radio is so annoying to me, it’s obsolete. Newspapers are so wasteful. All that paper, all those trees…..

Please, can we stay above the catty gossip? I thought this site was about MATURE womens’ issues. I’m with the ladies who said, “WHO CARES?!?!” Now, let’s talk about something relevant, or at least entertaining.

Oh…..and the older I get, the more attention I’m getting from younger - much younger - men. I get more attention from 25 to 30 year old men than I did when I was 25 or 30! It’s great! Some younger men definitely appreciate a mature woman.

I’m happy to say that I love telling people my real age, because 99% of the time, they find it hard to believe I’m as old as I am. My daughter and I get mistaken for sisters a lot. I read somewhere recently that if you’re going to lie about your age, ADD a couple years, instead of subtracting. That way you’ll always hear, “Really? You don’t look that old!” Keeping that one in mind for the future…..

Oh, Marie, I’m so proud of you. I had a horrible childhood also, and I’m not sure who knew of which abuse I endured and who didn’t. All I know is, when I hear people say, “Oh, wouldn’t you love to be a kid again?”. I say, “NO!”.