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ORSunshine's comments:
on Sex Ed
Best sex talk I've ever seen from TV was in the show Weeds.
posted 3 years, 7 months ago
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on Sex Ed
Schools should get back to teaching morals? What are parent's responsibilities in all of this?
posted 3 years, 7 months ago
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on Sex Ed
OMG - Child of a teenage mother complaining about CSE. Wow.
posted 3 years, 7 months ago
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on Bike Plan 2030
I think this is a great idea... but may be something to look at doing in say 2015 or so. Initially, we still need to ENCOURAGE more people to ride their bikes, thus reducing carbon emissions, and licensing and other fees for bike commuters is a slight disincentive. But, with so many commenters here concerned about getting more bicyclists familiar with the rules of the road, I see licensing as an excellent opportunity to provide the much needed education to cyclists.
On that note - here is the best "cyclist education" page I have seen to date - complete with statistics about how/where to ride can save you from being hit by cars. :)
posted 3 years, 7 months ago
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on Bike Plan 2030
What? This lady on now is talking about riding on the sidewalk and calling herself a "bicyclist." Gah. Seriously. Bikes are vehicles. Not allowed on the sidewalks. You are seen better on the road than on the sidewalk -- and you don't endanger pedestrians.
posted 3 years, 7 months ago
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on Rx: Individual Mandates
A lot of the fear and problems with the mandate has to do with the fact that incomes have not kept up with inflation, and health care costs have surpassed it. The rich and the poor will be taken care of, but the lower middle class, those 40 million uninsured who may only have a single income earner in a low wage position are really scared.
posted 3 years, 8 months ago
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on No Place to Call Home: Chronic Homelessness
In Eugene, an organization is trying to help the homeless. Free People organizes events and reaches out to the homeless in this community.
posted 3 years, 8 months ago
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on No Place to Call Home: Chronic Homelessness
One of the most informative articles I ever read was "Million Dollar Murray," in The New Yorker, February 13, 2006.
But it is a shame that in this country we have failed the mentally ill so much.
posted 3 years, 8 months ago
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on The Inner Lives of Boys
An interesting op-ed from The Boston Globe last week on this topic:
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2009/09/24/its_all_cool_in_guyville/
posted 3 years, 8 months ago
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on Referendum Signatures
I really agree with the comment that Dave repeated - you wouldn't show up to a Town Hall meeting to support a city law with a bag over your head. A petition to send a law to the voters is a public action and by signing it you are publicy saying you support it. So if you support it, you need to stand up and be recognized. If people don't like being called out for their bigotry then maybe they shouldn't go around trying to take away other people's civil rights.
posted 3 years, 9 months ago
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on Getting Good Grades
My parents used to take my brother and I out for ice cream when our yearly report cards came in - it was an acknowledgement and celebration of the good grades. That and positive reinforcement at home when we brought home good school work, as well as volunteering in the classroom taught us that our parents valued our educational acheivements. This was good feedback, as many student's parents didn't really pay attention to how their kids were doing in school unless they were in trouble. Also, for high-acheiving kids, some reward helps let them know that being smart is a good thing -- which is something that kids in school often get teased about, etc.
posted 3 years, 10 months ago
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on Fear of Foreclosure
I think that Americans are always looking for the easy way - "something for nothing." Thus, if you tell someone that they can pay almost zero money down, they'll take it as it satisfies immediate desires. Not everyone plans ahead. Those of us that do already had a positive savings rate before the recession. Perhaps a few will have learned their lesson through this experience, but I don't think it applies across the board.
posted 3 years, 10 months ago
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on Fear of Foreclosure
Right on Tom!
If anyone still doesn't understand how the financial dealings worked, read this highly informative (and maddening) article in Rolling Stone about AIG: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/26793903/the_big_takeover/print
posted 3 years, 10 months ago
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on Caring for Our Seniors
My family had one grandparent who could have been cared for at home by family members (paternal grandmother), but who instead insisted she go to a retirement community/assisted care as she aged because she had lived through the stress of caring for her own mother and did not want to be a burden on her children. Meanwhile, my paternal grandfather is being cared for by his wife (30 years his junior), which is a great relief to his children who did not have good relationships with their phsycially and verbally-abusive father.
My maternal grandmother is being cared for by her certified paranoid scizophrenic daughter because she's agoraphobic herself and refused to move out of her condemnable house. (The carpets are all that holds you up from falling through the floor, and the refrigerator cannot be used because the floor has given way underneath and it sits at a 45-degree slant). She collects animals on her 10 acres that my aunt cares for. The only thing allowing them to live like that is that my maternal grandfather sends his daughter money each month to supplement her social security checks.
My maternal grandfather lives alone (but shouldn't) because he is stubborn. He doesn't bathe, he arranges for travel to Spain. He has money, but he has forgotten about or is unwilling to accept his physical limitations. He had a quintuple bypass, has a pacemaker, and is on six medications for blood pressure (including diuretics that make his feet swell). He is forgetful, but forgets he's forgetful. The other siblings aren't supportive of my mom moving him into a retirement community, and he still has the brain capacity to move himself out if he doesn't like it. But meanwhile, he's not bathing, he's not eating right, he's maybe taking his meds... and no one wants to have him move in because he is a proud and admitted bigot -- not someone you want to have sitting at your dinner table every night.
I only hope that my relationships with my parents are much better than their relationships with their parents have been. I would very much like to one day have them in my home. But for some people, I understand that this is not possible if the person who is aging is NOT doing so gracefuly or willingly.
posted 4 years, 1 month ago
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on Healthy Choices
I think the calorie information for foods should be required to be "available on request." I don't know that it's necessary to change all the menus to include all the info, but to have a supplemental menu available for those interested should at least be mandated. My 2 cents.
posted 4 years, 2 months ago
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on Healthy Choices
Thanks for sharing this piece of data -- my SO just had lap-band surgery to lose weight. Whenever we went to Subway ("healthy fast food") he would order the meatball sub. I just sent him this info and he said "OMG, if I had known, I never would have ordered that!"
Proof that knowing what something contains can help anyone make better/healthier decisions.
posted 4 years, 2 months ago
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on Renewable Rates
I think it's bad timing. Investing in renewable energy is a good idea, but the company should have some money set aside to do this and not have these activities require rate increases. Isn't there any "stimulus" money for these types of improvements?
posted 4 years, 2 months ago
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on Not At School
People are brainwashed into thinking that sex should be entirely private and embarassing. As was clearly demonstrated by the mother on the program who became "redfaced" while reading passages from the play in front of "men" at the schoolboard hearing. I feel sorry that she can't openly talk about one of the most natural things in the world. This same viewpoint is what causes uproar when a woman breastfeeds her infant in public. It's referred to as "moral outrage," but I call it religious ignorance.
posted 4 years, 3 months ago
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on Not At School
Apparently LaGrande buys into the same kind of educational philosphy concerning sex ed that influenced Bristol Palin... and it's working just as well.
If anything, this play would serve to help the community have open dialog and discussion with their youth about the complexities and dangers in sexual activity.
posted 4 years, 3 months ago
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