some even have a drug benefit

After being on blood thinner injections during an illness, I'm quite keyed in to prices of drugs. I have coverage, so my co-pay was $30. The total price was $1000 for a month's supply.

And a two-week stay in the hospital ran $67,000. Not counting doctors, anesthesiologists, surgeons, etc.

I would like to thank my employer for enabling us to have coverage that took care of it all (40/60 we pay/she pays).

Green, bearded and balding, is attractive,

Until I figured out it was someone's last name, I thought maybe we now had a choice in color, too...

Paging a semi-local...paging a semi-local...

Well, ya know what I've found about life and the things that go on in it? It ain't all about me...

Feel free to put this into whatever category it belongs.

Habitat for Humanity International

At Habitat for Humanity International's Global Village & Discovery Center opening, visitors will see first-hand the housing transformation that liberates families living in poverty around the world. In the 6-acre attraction, guests travel to the Habitat homes of 15 countries in Africa, Asia and Central America, and participate in hands-on activities such as brick and tile making. The village eventually will expand to 35 houses, including those from Europe and South America, all with different building styles that demonstrate environmentally and culturally appropriate housing.

Guests and visitors will be treated to lots of international foods, children's activities, storytelling and tours. The opening ceremony will also feature international music as well as a performances by Atlanta based African Dance Connection.

The Global Village & Discovery Center is a valued addition to the rich cultural, historical and heritage attractions of southwest Georgia. It will feature: five guest areas, including a Visitor Welcome Center; an International Marketplace with Theater, Galleries, Marketplace Store and Exploration Center; a "Living in Poverty" housing exhibit; the Global Village of 35 Habitat houses (15 houses to be completed by opening day); the Experience area where families can learn how to make bricks and tiles; detailed descriptions of how Habitat homes are built globally at costs ranging from $2,900 to $4,300, including a hurricane-resistant stone home in Haiti, a Guatemalan house of concrete and steel, a pressed-earth brick home in Kenya and a wood home on stilts in Papua New Guinea; hosts and guides who describe the lives and customs of families around the world and re-create scenes with guests that include tribal welcomes in Ghana or villager meetings in Fiji; opportunities for visitors to plan a Global Village volunteer vacation to one of 80 countries or to purchase and inscribe a brick for the Donor Recognition Plaza.

You spot it, you got it...

When my son would act out in public...so would I.

You'd be surprised what breaking out into a rather garish song-and-dance routine in the aisle at WalMart does to calm a child.

Those of us on this site who cherish individual repoinsibility and liberty should show Mr. Bennett greater support.

I do support Bill Bennett. I posted those twenty questions not for him, but for the benefit of anyone reading this thread.

Only Mr. Bennett can answer the questions for himself.

But what about SOCIALIZATION???

< /sarcasm>

TWENTY QUESTIONS

1. Did you ever lose time from work or school due to gambling?
2. Has gambling ever made your home life unhappy?
3. Did gambling affect your reputation?
4. Have you ever felt remorse after gambling?
5. Did you ever gamble to get money with which to pay debts or otherwise solve financial difficulties?
6. Did gambling cause a decrease in your ambition or efficiency?
7. After losing did you feel you must return as soon as possible and win back your losses?
8. After a win did you have a strong urge to return and win more?
9. Did you often gamble until your last dollar was gone?
10. Did you ever borrow to finance your gambling?
11. Have you ever sold anything to finance gambling?
12. Were you reluctant to use "gambling money" for normal expenditures?
13. Did gambling make you careless of the welfare of yourself or your family?
14. Did you ever gamble longer than you had planned?
15. Have you ever gambled to escape worry or trouble?
16. Have you ever committed, or considered committing, an illegal act to finance gambling?
17. Did gambling cause you to have difficulty in sleeping?
18. Do arguments, disappointments or frustrations create within you an urge to gamble?
19. Did you ever have an urge to celebrate any good fortune by a few hours of gambling?
20. Have you ever considered self destruction or suicide as a result of your gambling?

Most compulsive gamblers will answer yes to at least seven of these questions.

Gamblers Anonymous

On Socialization

"I wish I had a dollar for every ... defender of the schools who talks about Real Life; it's almost never the fascinating courses, or the challenging teachers - their only concern [is] that home-schooled children will miss the 'social life' of schools. And when I point out that for the most part the social life of schools is mean-spirited, selfish, snobbish, conformist, ruthless, cold-hearted and often downright cruel and violent, nobody disagrees. 'That's Real Life.' they say, ... '[y]ou have to prepare children for the real world. How else are they ever going to get along with others?' Notice that they don't mean others who treat each other with kindness and dignity; they can't seem to conceive of that ..."

Never before published 1981 interview with John Holt http://www.rationalreview.com/archive/stevetrinward/stevetrinward042103.html

Some kids may be at "first grade level" (as determined by government experts) at age 10 because that's where they are supposed to be developmentally. Not all square peg kids are meant to fit into the round holes provided by government schools.

Reading levels for boys lag behind girls in many instances because their brains aren't wired the same way. My son learned to read in his own time, at seven and a half. Had he been in government school, he probably would have been labeled as a slow learner, skewering his self-esteem. He's above "grade level" now.

That said, God be with you in your chosen field...only the brave keep at it in today's scholastic and political climate.

"We saw one parent keeping a journal of what the child was learning during the week and it was the cat died, they buried the cat, they mourned the cat ... they ate lunch," said Delaine Easton, former superintendent of California Public Schools.

From an unschooling viewpoint, let's pick that apart.

"Cat died." -- dealing with feelings of sadness and loss (oh, without professional grief counselors), medical issues, life processes, family relationships.

"Buried cat." -- Biological processes, religious rituals, health issues.

"Mourned cat." -- Emotional closure, religious beliefs.

"Ate lunch." -- Life goes on.

They probably got another cat, too. All without government input, filling out mindless worksheets, or being tested on what happens when your cat dies. Which would also be used to build your emotional profile in your official school file, in case you went nuts and started killing fellow students.

Unschooling

jew·fish ( P ) Pronunciation Key (jfsh)
n. pl. jewfish or jew·fish·es
Any of several large, spotted, olive-brown marine fishes of the family Serranidae, especially the grouper Epinephelus itajara of tropical Atlantic and eastern Pacific waters.

What an idiot.

North Dakota won't win because "no one wants to go out there."

Uh, speak for yourself.

Pipe dreams...kinda like a representative republic carved from the wilderness of the New World...maybe we could call it the United States of America...

If you have a better gun group that does it better than the NRA, I'm sure we would all like to hear it.

OK.

How about the Second Amendment Sisters vs. the Million Mom March?

NRA couldn't touch that with a ten foot pole.

Thank you. Everyone has to hit their own "bottom" to recogize an addiction when they have it.

For your comments:

Genetic Research on AD/HD Finds Evolutionary Link

By Bob Seay

AD/HD May Not Have Always Been a Disorder; Research indicates that traits may have contributed to the survival of early humans

Thom Hartmann took a lot of flak when he proposed an evolutionary model of AD/HD. Now, researchers at the University of California, Irvine, have concluded that his controversial theory may well be correct. Researchers now believe that a gene variation associated with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (AD/HD) first appeared 10,000 to 40,000 years ago and was probably a significant advantage to the early humans who had it.

In an article published in the January 8, 2002 edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Dr. Robert K. Moyzis and other researchers speculate that early humans with AD/HD traits such as novelty-seeking, increased aggression and perseverance were more likely to survive. These traits have been associated with the DRD4 7R gene. Up to half of AD/HD individuals have this same variant gene, according to Moyzis, one of the authors of the study. More information about the article is available online.

Today, many of these same traits are deemed inappropriate in the typical classroom setting and hence diagnosed as AD/HD. Like their early ancestors, today's AD/HD children are more active and often more aggressive than their peers. These children are always looking for something new to capture their attention. Once they find something interesting, such as a video game, they "lock on" and focus intently on the task. They are often unable to shift their focus to something new.

Researchers speculate that a "survival of the fittest" scenario may have contributed to an ever-increasing number of people with AD/HD. For example, being more aggressive, inquisitive, and willing to take risks meant a higher probability for mate selection and perhaps multiple sex partners, spreading the gene – and its associated AD/HD behaviors – through the population. Primitive hunters with this gene would have been more successful and would have been better providers for their families and tribes. These and other factors may explain why the gene is so prevalent now.

What does the man who has been saying this for nine years say about the most recent research? "I appreciate the acknowledgment of my early work by Dr. Swanson of UCI, one of the authors of this study, in his public comments after the presentation of this study at last fall's CHADD meeting," Hartmann told additudemag.

"In light of these findings, we must also revisit the way we approach AD/HD treatment in adults, moving from a broken/pathology/therapy model to a skill-set/opportunity/coaching model," he added, noting that Thomas Edison, Ben Franklin and other innovators, inventors, and rebels of history would probably be diagnosed as having AD/HD if they were alive today. "This also demonstrates the need for us to revisit the way our schools and classrooms are organized, so our ADHD children are no longer wounded by the experience of growing up in public school." The Hunter School is a private school that specializes in teaching AD/HD students, using a curriculum based on instructional concepts created by Hartmann and others.

Hunters Living in a Farmer's World

Hartmann's Hunter-Farmer theory, first presented in his 1993 book Attention Deficit Disorder: A Different Perception, was featured in a Time Magazine article and was widely embraced by many in the ADD Community as a more positive view of the diagnosis.

Mainstream researchers, however, were not so quick to accept such an evolutionary – and revolutionary – idea. Hartmann and his ideas were blasted by many, including noted AD/HD researcher Russell Barkley, Ph.D. Speaking in the keynote address at the 1999 CHADD Conference, Barkley expressed sentiments he had previously published an article co-written with Sam Goldstein, Ph.D. ( ADHD, HUNTING, AND EVOLUTION: "JUST SO" STORIES. )

"(It) is not surprising that there is an increasingly popular, and to some extent, seductive trend among the lay public to view symptoms of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder … as adaptive behaviors," wrote Barkley and Goldstein. "Although this romantic view is embraced by many and may well pass the Readers Digest criteria for publication, is it truly accurate?"

Barkley continued, "In not a single instance of peer reviewed, published literature have symptoms or consequences of AD/HD been found to hold an advantage… Further, readers pursuing a brief introduction to evolutionary theory and evolutionary psychology quickly realize that it is implausible to perceive symptoms or behaviors related to AD/HD as being advantageous regardless of the time or cultural context in which one examines these data."

Barkley's comments came as a slap in the face to many in the ADD community.

Respecting Who We Are… And Who We May Have Been

Popular or not, Russell Barkley is perhaps the most significant source of much of what we currently know about AD/HD. His work has been used by other researchers, doctors, therapists, teachers and parents. His ideas about how AD/HD should be treated and managed have allowed millions of AD/HD children and adults to lead normal, productive lives. The ADD Community owes much, including our respect and gratitude, to Dr. Russell Barkley.

Likewise, people who have AD/HD owe much to Thom Hartmann, who stood up nine years ago and dared to disagree with the conventional wisdom. Hartmann's theories about AD/HD provided the hope and self-respect that had been missing from the medical model of the "disorder." His thoughts about AD/HD, education and other topics are sometimes controversial and always compelling. Books and articles by Hartmann are available on his web site at http://www.thomhartmann.com/home-add.shtml.

Research like the Irvine study can help doctors, teachers and parents to better understand how their AD/HD children think and learn. But for those of us who have AD/HD, the Irvine study provides an important link to our past and hopeful possibilities for the future.

The big telling sign is that your son could not read

Not necessarily so. My son (ADHD, non-medicated and homeschooled) was not ready to read until he was seven and a half...which is quite true of many boys. But our government school system says now if you can't "read" in kindergarten you are defective.

My son reads well above grade level now at 13.