They make a trans-fat free veggie shortening. I use it in my choco chip cookie recipe (with half butter) and it doesn't taste any different than using regular shortening. I can taste the difference between foods cooked in peanut, olive, and corn oil, but I couldn't tell the difference between cottonseed, palm, soybean or canola. I'm not sure I really think there should be a ban, but I'd like the option of having non-trans fat versions to choose from, and the easy availability of the information on the menu.

Anon: "I still maintian though that there would be NO child support liable BIRTHS if men could remove the obligation by getting an abortion"

I think you forgot about the children that married couples raise together until they get divorced. Or how about the gay or lesbian parents that have children together but dissolve their civil unions but still must support the children they were raising together. Or when a man encourages his girlfriend(s) to have his children while he has no intention of supporting his children and doesn't even support his existing children.

I've also got a question...just how would a man get out of his obligation by getting that abortion? Do you mean to hold down your wife/girlfriend/lover while the doctor does the work? If you are advocating male pregnancy, then sign me up! I want kids but I want to go through nine months of gaining a bunch of weight, stretching out my tummy, losing my pelvic muscle tone, and going through the pain of labor. ha, now I sound like my husband!

And for your comment:

"and that if men had a birth control pill it would NEVER get skipped or "forgotten" unless the man had reason to believe that he wasn't going to be on the hook for support."

see http://www.salon.com/mwt/broadsheet/2006/11/28/pill/index.html and the comments about it.

Yes, women experience "blue balls". It's called pelvic flooding. It happens to us often enough when our male partners think that sex begins and end with 2 minutes of thrusting and their ejaculation with or without the face shot.

Anyway back on the topic. I say hurray as long as side effects aren't anything as bad as hormonal birth control. I have no problem with the idea of dry orgasm, it would save a lot of mess and we'd save trees without all of the tissues. And on laundry.

Create a family/kids section or family only flights. All travelers will thank you then. It would also be a breast feeding friendly zone.

Really though this is stupid. I'm not even sure that underage children should be allowed to fly alone. But if they do they should just be placed near or with a flight attendant(of course that FA could be a child molester, so take your chances). *I* certainly don't want to be paying for the pleasure of being your child's nanny for the duration of my flight. Any unknown person male or female could harm your child while you aren't there to watch over them. They could be molested by a man, or they might be snatched by some woman. But most likely they will be fine except for annoying the unsuspecting female passenger now tasked with minding them and the completely innocent male passenger that is tagged a potential molester. It is _your_ responsibility to look after _your_ kid. If you want to protect your child, then travel with them and sit in the middle seat with your child next to you either on the aisle or in the window seat. Not all men are child molesters, and not all women are care givers.

And "A Cramer"...you are/were a strange little girl.

But I'm pretty sure that the US gov't does not allow the use of tax dollars to fund abortions. Aren't there laws also forbidding the use of tax dollars for family planning clinics that refer patients to abortion providers or provide abortion services along with things like birth control, prenatal care, mammograms, etc? If so, I just want every single person here that posted that they are sick of paying for abortions with their tax dollars to retract their statements. Okay? (I'm talking to you, Katherine Sullivan!)

As far as the "Left" losing ground because they refuse to talk about sexual responsibility, I call bullsh*t. It's organizations like NARAL and Planned Parenthood that have been pushing realistic sex ed and birth control access and research. The "Right" for the most part has blocked all of these things and have stopped funding to clinics that help provide women and families real help with pregnancy prevention and family planning. Their only solution is to tell kids to just say no to sex. Well that really doesn't help the multitude of adult men and women that don't want to deny their sexuality until menopause or the married couples that don't want to abstain until they can afford to raise a child or until their marriage is stable enough to withstand the impact of a new baby. What about the family may never be able to have a child if they can't get health care, earn more than the paltry minimum wage, find affordable housing or get more than two months of paid leave to care for their newborn. Yeah, it's the "Right" that's been working hard on fixing those problems.

And for someone to say that they've never needed to consider an abortion...are you sterile? If not, then please cross your fingers. Because you might be the woman who gets raped, or has an ectopic pregnancy, or who's birth control failed, or finds out their fetus has horrible genetic defects, or loses their job and health care and have to choose between the kids they have and the one on the way.

Personal responsibility is great, I support (and fund) groups that promote it. But let's not forget the golden rule: Sh*t happens.