OT: Ping e

...I already got that proposition straight-out at the deli counter a few months ago...

...and to beat that, I know another one that has six kids, including a set of twins. The TWINS have different fathers.

Around here they're generally just out of high school, and it's a cultural thing - graduate and get to makin' babies. Just one more by-product of "illegal immigration". And the failure of the California school system.

what is about this state?

here it's mostly white girls and black girls. the church is BIG here and shotgun weddings and graduation time are busy.

As far as the school system goes, the high schools are really failing the kids, and the JC's are now institutionalized as remedial finishing schools. Of course by then, it's too late unless the kid has really strong parents. It all starts at home.

Here and in Ventura the baby-boom is sort of lead by Hispanics, and the rest just seem to follow suit. (I know another white family who's daughter got knocked up by a guy older than her dad...) We've also become a dumping ground for parolees and social service referrals in the last few years.

I even had a not so mild brush with that sort of thing when I graduated HS back in Chi-land...a gal from an immigrant Indian family. We graduated together and her culture said women got married and made babies and she decided I was it (probably in an attempt to get ahead of a push for an arranged marriage, now that I think harder about it).

I left for college an she was still looking for me - right up to and through her wedding reception. She ended up marrying and then divorcing a guy around the block from me.

Looking back, I probably SHOULD have married her...

I gotta seriously watch my step...with a J-O-B and a C-A-R, I'm a hot property...

shoulda, woulda, coulda....i'm glad i didn't marry young. needed more seasoning and reasoning. had a lot of wild oats to make into beer.

I got my BA in history/political science, and I don't know if anyone else has noticed this, but this place is starting to freakishly resemble the Roman Empire when its ass was going into the blades. Want to be Emperor? You can buy the position. Just ask Mitt Romney or Hillary. Need food? The state supplies it...not great food, but it will keep you alive. And the food stamps are going up soon. Better bread. Entertainment? It's crude, violent, and free. We even have American Gladiators. Better circuses. When Caesar feels endangered by popular unrest, he distributes money to the populace to gain their favor. Last time it was $300.00, this time it's supposed to be around $800.00. Want to be a citizen of Rome? Simple - sign up for service in the Roman Legion, and at the end of your term, you are a Roman citizen. Too many barbarians sneaking into the Empire illegally? Hey, they are a great source of cheap labor, and can serve in our legions. Besides, someone has to do the shit work, and I sure as Tartarus don't want it to be me. Value of the coinage dropping? Well, we can replace silver with something that looks like silver, and copper with something that looks like copper.* Debt? Who cares. Over-extended Empire? Nah...we can do anything. Corrupt senators? Well, you've got to expect that, don't you? Yup, this is exactly how it all went down the crapper all those centuries ago.

• God bless the humble nickel - it remains untainted when even the pennies went wrong. Jefferson would be proud of that. Then he'd probably talk to his slaves a bit, just to make sure they didn't get any ideas about starting any revolt like Spartacus did when they have a kind master like him. :-D

Pat

Leaving aside the genetic ramifications down the line when the stupid are having more offspring than the smart - completely inverting the Darwinian concept of natural selection - I went with a vasectomy before having any children....who, as my older sister's siblings showed me could present a serious threat to my model collection. You can make models, or you can make babies...but the man who seeks to do both sets sail against a sea of troubles as Churchill said. Besides, the after-market parts available for babies are both limited and expensive, and generally end up either full of poop and pee, or gnawed and slobbered on. :-)

Pat

the car is enough.

read the marching morons by cm kornbluth for a where we're headed.

...what they're really after is my dental plan.

they must be tweakers. a lot of plans now will cancel your coverage if you have a speed bust.

A lot of them are, but most of them just have bad genetics coupled with poor hygiene. Serious gaps and mis-alignments...

Funny enough, most of the real distinguishable tweekers up here seem to be over 30.

"Warning Will Robinson! Dangerous ideas approaching!" Time for "The Cruel Math©". If you can make someone else happy...and by doing that, you yourself are made unhappy...then there are just as many happy and unhappy people at the end as when you started. ....except that you just moved from the "happy" to the "unhappy" list. This is not progress. All things being equal, it's best to stay on the "happy" list side of things. And in this case, all things were equal.

Pat

I think people should never marry till they are mature enough to realize the full ramifications of the commitment it requires. I'm thinking around age 55 to 60 here; any other thoughts? "No man is complete until he is married...after that, he's finished." - W.C. Fields Oat beer? Michelob makes theirs out of rice, but oats are pushing it, don't you think? "Black Beauty Malt Liquor"? Just a thought.

Pat

Pat

...been there...ended up in the hospital, nearly bleeding to death after spending 3.5 years in the wrong column. One more reason I won't date the locals anymore.

and are also alcoholics. i never saw a cokehead who didn't drink, too.

really, buy a russian bride you can sell off if need be.