John B

I'm in my late 50's, but I'd love to have an on-going chat relationship with a married woman. To talk about marriage, children, issues, work, and things like that.

Great little song "There's no one as Irish as Barak Obama" .. but how Irish is he really? Maybe 1/64th? Maybe?

Why is it that PhD programs are so inaccessable for working adults? I was in one but they had all of their classes and professors office hours during the work day amd even at as a part-time student I was required to read over 2,000 pages a week (yes, per week, and that didn't count the reading for the term's project). A friend of mine decided to do it full-time and he is now 12 years down the road and he still doesn't have his. This is stupid and unfair. I would love to pursue a PhD in a meaningful program but haven't been able to find anything anywhere reasonable. I already have three masters degrees and a dozen years teaching at the collegiate level. What am I to do?

Why is it that teachers are not eligible to receive Social Security? I worked for twenty years before I became a teacher and now I learn that all of those contributions I made to SS are useless to me because teachers can't receive SS benefits. And to add to this, I teach at a private university in the evenings, am still required to contribute to social security even though they tell me I can't recevie any benefits. If I've contributed, why can't I receive benefits? If I can't receive benefits, why am I still required to contribute? It doesn't make sense to me.

I love historical fictions, especially about England, Ireland and colonial USA. Do you have good recommedations? I just completed two of Shaara's books and loved them.

I know this is an issue filled with a great deal of anger, but did Nixon get a raw deal? I know that he screwed up, but he also was perhaps the greatest foreign policy president we've ever had, plus he was the one who got us out of Vietnam (no one seems to remember that Kennedy and Johnson got us in). Did he get a raw deal?

I have a dozen or so women that I maintain friendly contact with (this is very much non-sexual) and the last few months all of them, and I do mean all of them, have just stopped calling me. This ranges from women I work with to relatives, and I have no clue what is going on. Do women commonly do this? I know that women always complain that men never call, but now these friends and relatives of mine never ever return phone calls. What's going on?

My daughter just told us that she is pregnant (she is 21 and not married) but she wants to do the whole formal church wedding thing after the baby is born, and of course she wants us to pay for it. How much should we give her. While we are not on poverty row, we don't have a ton of money either. I've been thinking of just giving her $5,000 and being done with it. Is that too much? Too little? Oh, and she wants to get married 3,000 miles away where it will be almost impossible to have family attend. We do have a good relationship, but this is very frustrating for me.

My ADHD son recently joined the military and I am sensing that I am very glad he is gone and away from here. He was a constant problem throughout high school, he was in numerous fights, couldn't keep a job, and his teachers and vice principals were constantly calling. Is it wrong for me to feel happy that he is gone and also is it wrong for me to feel that I don't want to talk with him? I wrote him every day while he was in boot camp, but now I just don't want to bother.

My wife told me yesterday that she's been having sexual fantasies about a guy she works with. While I trust her, should I be concerned or is this a natural sort of a thing and I should be confident and happy she is so open with me?

How do California Native Americans in the pre-Colombian period vary from Native Americans in the rest of the United States?

I worked for a non-profit organization for 12 years and because I quit, honorably, they now are saying their retirement plan is ONLY for those who retire at 62-65 and who they choose to offer it to. This is majorly screwing up my retirement plans and I am not sure where to turn. Should I sue? When do I bring legal action? When I am ready to retire? I'm lost.

I've just recently heard that the Donner Party did not really go over Donner Pass, but the next pass to the South, Roller Pass. Is there any truth to this?

I just heard that 58% of all high school graduates will not read a single book the rest of their lives; 80% of households in the USA didn't buy a single book last year; and 51% of adults in America haven't been in a bookstore, any bookstore, for the past 5 years, for any reason (even to buy coffee, a card or a CD) ... what do these statistics say about America in 2007?