luckily i am not at lying as you are at reading, but it is moot.

i wrote: "IF my husband and i make $160,000". followed by a paragraph introduced by the words, "let's say..."

"if": a conjunction meaning "in the event that".

"let's say" often introduces similarly hypothetical scenarios.

in an earlier post, i did say that i at one time earned around $160,00K. for much of that time, i was a 1099 employee, and I only got to keep something like 65% of it.

in the same post i also said i would have been happy to pay so much in taxes if i felt that my taxes were benefitting people. like with universal health care.

i also said in a later post that IF i was married and trying to raise a family, the $160,000 wouldn't have gone as far as you (and others) seem to think it would, after all those taxes had been taken out.

IF (a conjunction meaning "in the event that") i had my parents' $50,000 in medical bills to cover (this was the part of my parents' health problems that the insurance wouldn't pay for),

and two kids' day care to pay for,

and a house payment to make,

and retirement to save for,

that $160,000 would not go as far as you seem to think it would.

this would be before any student loan payments from my undergraduate degrees, before car insurance, before any sort of extra-curricular activities for kids, and before saving for the kids' $80,000 college tuition bill to go to a UC.

also, i do lay well, since you asked.

and: how is your new-word learning coming? make any progress on "sexist"?

luckily i am not as bad at lying as you are at reading, but it is moot.

i wrote: "IF my husband and i make $160,000". followed by a paragraph introduced by the words, "let's say..."

"if": a conjunction meaning "in the event that".

"let's say" often introduces similarly hypothetical scenarios.

in an earlier post, i did say that i at one time earned around $160,00K. for much of that time, i was a 1099 employee, and I only got to keep something like 65% of it.

in the same post i also said i would have been happy to pay so much in taxes if i felt that my taxes were benefitting people. like with universal health care.

i also said in a later post that IF i was married and trying to raise a family, the $160,000 wouldn't have gone as far as you (and others) seem to think it would, after all those taxes had been taken out.

IF (a conjunction meaning "in the event that") i had my parents' $50,000 in medical bills to cover (this was the part of my parents' health problems that the insurance wouldn't pay for),

and two kids' day care to pay for,

and a house payment to make,

and retirement to save for,

that $160,000 would not go as far as you seem to think it would.

this would be before any student loan payments from my undergraduate degrees, before car insurance, before any sort of extra-curricular activities for kids, and before saving for the kids' $80,000 college tuition bill to go to a UC.

also, i do lay well, since you asked.

and: how is your new-word learning coming? make any progress on "sexist"?

i have never had an abortion. but most of my female friends have. i think of all of the choices that these women made, and i think, in just about every case: yup. these people made the Right Call.

the friend whose baby had spinal bifida? Right Call.

the friend who was a cocaine addict and in the midst of an abusive relationship? again, Right Call.

and the friend who was raped by her cousin? Total Right Call.

oh and there's the friend who had two abortions--one because she was a drug addict and couldn't get her act together about birth control and didn't know who the father was and was following the Grateful Dead and in no position to provide for the baby. This was the Right Call. the second was after she got clean and had reunited with her family, but her birth control method failed and because the father was not Jewish, she did not want to risk being disowned because he refused to convert. I'm so-so on this one. The guy was a douche. But would i have wanted a douche for a baby dady? no. so Right Call.

another friend had a condom break with a one night stand. Right Call.

and another friend was involved with an abusive husband. This was the catalyst she needed to get out of the relationship and was the Right Call.

I have exactly two friends who decided to have a child after becoming unintentionally pregnant. The father--in both cases a long term boyfriend-- left. Neither have any idea where to find him. Both are struggling and rely heavily on their parents--upper-middle class, in both cases--for help.

If I think harder I'll come up with more examples. I mean, one third--ONE THIRD--of American women will have an abortion in their lifetimes.

So maybe we are not as pro-life as we pretend? Or maybe we love to judge other people but when it comes to our own lives, we are above reproach? Who knows. But my friends, to a one, are happy with their decisions. No regrets, that I know of. And in their places--insofar as the abortions are concerned, i mean--I would have done the same thing.