Yeah, I wouldn't have wanted to have my 70+ year old mother-in-law embarassing me by looking old.

Though to be fair, I think she looked better than some of the plastic doll face 70 year olds I know. I find it disconcerting to look at an elderly face that is taut (not smooth) with large enhanced lips and eyebrows up so high that seem to be in perpetual "what?" mode.

In Newport Beach, I'm beginning to see more men having that overly corrected look, too. Though I doubt any guy I know would give the gift of Botox to his buddies before a wedding.

Think of the wedding photos...all those faces looking kind of neutral and not overly happy. Ick.

I am so sick of people going overseas and apologizing for us.

Did you actually listen to (or read) the speech? It wasn't an apology. It was an uplifiting, we are your allies in the world, kind of thing.

BTW, on McCain giving this speech, he would have had a hard time fitting the surge into this kind of speech, though he could have mentioned the little known fact that he had been a POW in the Vietnam war.

Acknowledges that the Germans, not Ronald Reagan, tore down the Berlin Wall

Uh oh. Now Obama's really gone and down it. I can just hear Sean Hannity's head exploding right now.

It was a nonpartisan speech, it was designed to be. He's not the President and he isn't there to set policy.

I doubt anyone in Berlin was there to listen to Obama give a detailed analysis about his plans for drug coverage for seniors or revisions to the capital gains tax.

They might have been interested in views of tariffs on sugar, but maybe not.

Bill Clinton could give a great rousing speech and also could get very wonky and boring and talk for hours about the arcane. He (mostly) knew when to do both, it is a gift not every politician shares.

My clue as to where this so-called Hillary supporter was coming from was the instant rush to defend Reagan, on why Berlin with cheering crowds was right thing for him to do.

It's cool to bash Bush nowadays, even Republicans can do it and try to pretend that Bush didn't have 98% Repub support on everything he did.

But the R's cannot abide ANY hint of criticism of Reagan.

I thought I was the only one that wasn't particularly offended by Alter, in general. I frequently disagree with him but he doesn't rub me the wrong way.

Back to the left, center, right argument. I was the dreaded centrist, fiscally conservative, socially liberal to libertarian, type. The last few years has moved me decidedly to the left and I suspect it's not just because the center moved, but that the right has overplayed their hand and it makes me want to oppose their actions.

MacGuyver shows why the NRA is right on target!

Sex in the City shows that single women do not want men!

Spiderman shows that mosquitoes are dangerous!

When someone pointed out that Obama speaking there was not a bad thing, JFK and Reagan did it to, your response was..

And other leaders spoke in Germanu to large crowds after the Berlin wall came down!!! That was a huge event!!!

There was no criticism of Reagan, but you instantly had to "defend" his speech.

I think in fact it might be scarily apt view of how this president, his staff, the do-nothing congress, and the complacent public have been willing to seek justice at all costs -- regardless of how many freaks and killers we might create in our vengeful wake.

Wow, that's a pretty damn good quote.

So in addition to IANAL I will add that IANAT (not a therapist).

Years ago, when I did volunteer work at a teenage runaway shelter (in CA), we were strictly advised NOT to promise unconditional confidentiality. If we found cases of child abuse, etc. we were required to report it, and we let the kids we were dealing with know that up front. We didn't abuse the trust of the kids by lying to them, the trust is what was needed to help them.

You don't have to be a CT type to think this story doesn't completely pass the smell test.

Thanks GG, for putting it out there in a straightforward way.

I'm relieved you survived your latest "adventure" with your wife....

Hopefully she's not planning any hunting outings with you soon.

two equally sized prizes

I soooo need to work on my "heaving" ability.

And she has a really cool kayak, too. Who can beat that? She sounds fun.

I like her, too.

I once heard her tell a woman to NOT refinance her house to pay for their kid's college. She said of course to help all they could, but only what they could afford, that going in way over your head on your house is not helping your kids, it's just going deeper into debt when you should be getting out of it as you get closer to retirement.

She basically tells people (women) to live within their means. It's not sexy advice, but it's sound.

Maybe the homes are investment properties and they are rented out? It's not a bad strategy if you didn't buy them between 2002 and 2006 and if you don't feel the need to refinance to take out your "equity" and increase your debt.

I know quite a few people that own multiple homes and none of them have the homes sitting empty. My boss still owns his first home that he bought in the early 80's and the rent he gets is 4x's what his mortgage payment is. His carbon footprint is still one home. The people that rent from him (he's a good guy and fair) are happy to be able to have a house that's well maintained in a neighborhood and school district that they would not be able to afford if they had to buy.