It is obvious they hate women. I can't understand why any woman would stand up for this "fetal personhood" movement if they had any notion of what the consequences could be to them personally.

They hate women and they especially hate women who have sex, whether it is marital sex or extramarital sex or premarital sex.

I totally agree with the earlier comment that Nadya Suleman is the poster child for fetal personhood rights-- I made a similar comment in a different column last week. She doesn't even have sex! And, she gave every single one of her snowflake children an opportunity to be born and yet she is VILLIFIED for it, but only because she is a freeloading welfare queen.

I am glad to know that this idea, which I think should be obvious, is shared.

I am very sorry that your son is suffering so much, and that you are suffering so deeply. I believe that you did witness the very core of your son's good character and purpose during those good years when he seemed cured. I am sorry that he has changed so dramatically but I believe that his illness is causing this suffering and lashing out. It is a great loss, but as long as he lives there is still hope that a treatment may be discovered that will alter him from this path of violence and rage and you will once again know your son as he once was, a happier more peaceful soul.

I hope that you have thrown out your stash of pills. I hope that for the sake of your husband and all of your children, you will not let this illness break you, that you will not add that burden to your sick child or your healthy children.

You are a good person, a loving parent and a brave truth-teller. I admire you for telling the truth of your son's good times as well as his difficult times. None of us have a crystal ball for the future, but we can always hope that the difficulties will pass and the spring will come again.

I hope that you will find peace, always.

You claim that "a lot" of research points to a father's use of marijuana and the rising acceptibility of marijuana use is a factor in the rising rate of autism?

I would like to know more about that research. I ran a couple of different google searches on variations of the terms

"autism and marijuana" and came up with nothing that would back up your statement.

If marijuana use is on the rise at the same time that autism-spectrum disorder diagnoses are on the rise, that is correlative. As in, phenomena happening at the same time. The same could be said for, cell phone use has increased at the same time as autism diagnoses have increased. Does that prove that increased cell phone use causes autism?

Your research should demonstrate causation, if it is valid, and not just equate correlation with causation.

I am just curious because it is such a loaded theory-- you would think that if it is gaining traction there would be more information available.

The BigLove discussion earlier this week got me thinking of the Garp story and the film version-- which I think was made in the 1980s had Glenn Close playing Robin Williams mother and Jessica Lange playing his wife.

Aren't these people all the same age? Weren't they all like 30something in the 1980s?

Stupid. Although Glenn Close did a good job in the role. Her features are sort of timeless I guess.

Anyone else remember the episode where Carrie wears her $500 Manolo Blahniks to Tatum O'Neal's baby shower and Tatum O'Neal makes everyone take their shoes off at the door to keep the floors clean and someone steals Carrie's shoes and Tatum gives her a pair of cruddy old tennis shoes to walk home in and refuses to replace the shoes until Carrie sends her an "invitation" for a "shower for herself" for which only Tatum is invited and she registers only for that $500 pair of Manolos and Tatum finally relents out of guilt for all of the wedding and baby shower gifts Carrie has given her in the past and buys Carrie the shoes?

That was entertaining, mostly for the impracticality of owning a pair of shoes so expensive they become a theft risk if you are asked to remove them at a house party. However entertaining, Carrie was always a spoiled brat living in rarified air, not someone I could easily relate to in real life.

I would never dream of owning a $400 cell phone in the first place, but I am not a gadget person and rarely remember to keep my cell phone charged. I haven't even upgraded my phone in the last four years so my cell phone is pretty basic. I could use it to go online but I don't and it doesn't have a camera.

LW I would explain to your friend very gingerly that she broke your phone by opening it like a flip phone and ask your friend gently if she can contribute to the cost of repairing the phone. Not the whole damn bill, unless you think she can afford it easily. If you can afford $400 for a cell phone you can probably afford the repair-- but ask her to contribute what she can afford. You will feel a little better for the symbolic gesture and she won't be flattened out paying for a repair that she can neither afford nor understand very well.

That might save your friendship, and also make her think twice about borrowing your cell phone in the future.