Paradox

Actually, my son who is 14 really enjoys roller hockey, but after being advanced to the more difficult division (sort of like varsity) he's behind everyone else and just isn't enjoying it. Plus, the other boys on his team are yelling at him, giving dirty looks, and talking trash. It's completely broken his spirit and he hates going anymore. And it's almost painful to watch him during the games because he's so lost and slower than the others. He was doing fine back in the slower division and was one of the best on his team. This is just a small hockey operation and the teams only play each other rather than traveling around for competitions with other schools or towns. The problem is my son wants to go back to where he was, even if it means being with younger kids. But my fiancee absolutely refuses and says either he stays where he is or he's just a quitter. He says he should just man up and deal with the other boys. He can't always have mom there to bail him out of tough situations.

To me sports should be for fun and if you're not enjoying yourself then what's the point. And having been bullied myself as a teen, I can't stand watching what he's going through. He's a sensitive boy and an average athlete who prefers video games to hanging out with friends, so he's a bit different, but he does love roller hockey. I don't want to be the overprotective mom always coming to the rescue. Is my fiancee right? Should I just have my son stay or should I let him quit?

I just took my dog to the groomers and she was found to have some fleas. This was obviously my fault because of major family stressors the last few months I completely forgot to apply her Frontline. The groomer said it wasn't a huge amount, she was given a flea dip, and I probably wouldn't need to worry about my home being infested. Still, this has me really freaked out. I've looked around and haven't seen any obvious bugs but used some flea spray on all the furniture and am cleaning the bedding. My question is, how do you really KNOW if you have a flea issue in your house?

Three months ago I was rear ended and my car was totaled after being crushed into the back of a school bus. The other driver was a 16-year-old with several other kids in his car. He did take responsibility for what he did and was found at fault. A police report was made.

Problem was that we BOTH have State Farm Insurance. I had an ER visit to check me and my son for whiplash injury. Although they did pay me for my car what I felt was a fair and decent amount, they are strong arming me to get me to sign a release on the claim. I've been advised by several people who have been in accidents to never sign this early and just wait until the 2 years is up in case something comes up and more bills were to come in (it DOES happen). I have this ER bill for $300 that State Farm will not pay. They say I MUST sign off on this first before they will pay it. That just sounds shady to me. Would they really advise this if there was a different insurance company involved? No, I don't think so.

Now they are saying that they will pay it if I file this as a claim under my policy. But if I do that won't that affect my policy and potentially raise my premium even though this accident was not my fault? I just don't like the sound of it, but this bill needs to get paid. I know $300 doesn't sound like a lot, but I live check-to-check and this is a lot of money to me, and I don't want it going into collections over an accident I wasn't responsible for. Also, the claims department talked to me like I was a child on the phone and were very rude. I'm good friends with my insurance agent but feel duped.

I have a feeling if this wasn't a State Farm-State Farm issue, this wouldn't even be coming up. What are my rights in this?

I wore a school uniform at a Catholic private school for 9 years and then switched to a public school where I could wear whatever I wanted. The uniforms were kind of ugly, but it was nice not having to worry about what to wear everyday. And you could still express your individuality in other ways like how you do your hair, what shoes you wear, jackets, etc. It didn't feel oppressive at all, but actually kind of freeing. When I had no dress code, kids were always focusing on clothes, looking sexy, and now you've got the guys wearing the pants down around their ankles (come on, please).

Don't you think a national dress code countrywide would help kids focus more on school? They wouldn't even have to be plaid skirts and dress jackets -- just khakis and a white shirt like most private schools are changing to.

I'm sick of seeing children and teenagers walking around with cell phones texting. I'm 31, and my son is 11. Our agreement is he will NOT have a cell phone until he's old enough to drive. And then he'll have to pay for the phone service himself when he gets a job. And it's not me being strict and an uncool parent. These phones and Facebook and Myspace -- it's all a distraction from what's really important in life. When I was a teen, life was complicated enough without all this crap. Does anyone else agree? Am I the ONLY one out there who is sick to death of kids texting and having their lives revolve around Facebook?

How can people think that illegal immigrants have ANY citizen rights? They are here ILLEGALY. Doesn't that mean anything? And don't go saying that I'm nothing but a racist. I have absolutely nothing against people who are here legally. I have friends and family of all kinds of different races, but they are citizens. I'm not saying illegals are lower than dogs or anything like some might suggest -- I'm merely saying that they have no right to be here. And it's sick when they come here, have babies and they cry about being taken deported and taken away from their children. Being born in this country should NO LONGER be automatic citizenship! And no other country in the world has open borders. We are no longer looking to populate our country, so why don't we change the rules to more reasonable immigration standards?

I'm looking for REAL immigration solutions only please. Not people throwing insults claiming I'm a racist Republican. I am an Indepedent voter and LOVE my country....

I'm looking to adopt a 3-year-old Yorkie and the owner is asking $700 for two of them. So this is assuming that one will be $350. Is that too much? Seems a bit steep for an older dog rather than a puppy. I won't see the dogs until this weekend, but I have no idea about these things as I've never owned a dog before. Looking at the pictures, the dogs look in very good health with beautiful coats, but I still think this is a bit much. There is no mention of champion blood or papers.

We've been together 4 years and lived together in this house a year and a half. I love him very much, but he's made it clear he's not ready for marriage. He's been so good to my son and he's been a far better father to him than his real dad.

I recently asked him to leave after a heated argument over him not contributing financially. He says he contributes where he can with things like buying us a snowblower, firewood, and groceries once in a while. I said that that's a drop in the bucket compared to the rent and bills I've had to pay, and it's especially hurtful because the only reason I moved into this overpriced place was because my boyfriend promised to pay half of everything. Really the reason he isn't paying is because he's been trying to get his business up off the ground for over 4 years and all the money he makes goes back into that. And now it's especially hard since my job has given me fewer hours and I'm basically "underemployed". The only way I can pay the bills now is with credit cards and tapping into my savings which is going fast.

He only just left this morning and my heart is absolutely broken to pieces. I don't know what I'm going to tell my son. He will be devastated. Was I right to stand up for myself? I really wanted to get married because he really is good to me and my son and he always said he loved me.

The letter I left him was pretty hateful and now I regret it. He will have to come back eventually -- either to beg me to take him back or just to get his stuff. My parents are offering to let me move in with them until I get back on my feet, but that would mean moving very far away.

Please help. My heart is breaking and I need to know if I did the right thing or if I'm a heartless *****...

I may have to increase the dose, but this is currently what I'm taking and I'm so afraid of becoming addicted or the Xanax becoming ineffective. I can't say I'm exactly addicted yet, but in the past it was great to have for social situations, graduation, giving speeches, etc. At the moment, I'm taking it on a regular basis because am going through a severe "bout" of anxiety -- almost to the point of having to quit my job any day now. My stress is on high because I am the only one paying the rent and bills right now since my boyfriend is working up his business and can't take home a paycheck. I feel like I have no choice to stay with my job, but any day now I feel I will burst and often have thoughts of downing the entire bottle of Xanax. Just don't know what to do and have no where to go...

Whether it was for burnout, loss of interest, occupational hazard, etc. If this has happened to you, please tell me your story and if you were able to come out of it successfully and move on to something better.

I would specifically like to hear from people who have tried it. I'm going to a free hypnotherapy session tomorrow. Never done it before, but I'm so curious. I know good old-fashioned will power is the best way to get rid of these pesky 20 pounds, but obviously will power alone doesn't seem to be working for me.

"So you don't believe that a fetus is a viable human being?" or something along those lines, why do they almost always refuse to answer the question? It seems they always balk at the question and redirect their answer. Why is this? It is obvious that they know a fetus in the womb at no matter what stage is a life. All faith and religious beliefs aside, it is scientific fact and they know it. So I'm assuming they don't want to come out and say, no, it isn't life, it isn't a baby, because it will make them look stupid or just plain evil.

And, no, I'm not a crazy pro-lifer. Pro-life for myself and pro-choice first trimester only for others is how I classify my stance on the issue. This is just something I've often observed in interviews with pro-choice congress people, advocates, journalists, etc. I just think they should come out and say what they believe which is basically -- yes, abortion IS ending a life, but it's a woman's choice to do so. They don't seem ashamed for their beliefs, but why can't they just admit it? Guilt perhaps? What do you think?

It seems that our Democratic Congress is determined to have us do so. I for one am very concerned about this whole health care overhaul being fast-tracked through. But that's for another whole rant.

What's your opinion on being forced to pay for others' abortions? I for one am pro-life for myself but pro-choice first trimester only for everyone else. But I should never have to pay for someone else's abortion. I can't believe that they would even suggest it when it is clearly a hotbutton issue as is.

Ok, so I've been raising these four ducks for the past couple months since they were ducklings. Well, started with five but one got killed by some unknown animal. Anyway, we finally felt they are big enough to just walk around the yard (we live in an excluded private lake community and have our own cove). We just let them out of their cage and let them wander around, but when we coaxed them down to the water they freaked out and hated the water. They seem to only want to be near the house, not venturing past the front lawn much, and so I'm still having to fill their little pool of water. It's such a pain and I wish they would have fun in the water on the lake, but they're petrified of the deep water. I know it sounds weird but that's exactly what happened and they refuse to get in that water.

So do I just stop filling their pool with water and force them to venture out to the cove? This sounds stupid, but would they die from water deprevation when they are within feet of a beautiful cove of water just because they are afraid to get in it? What should I do? I feel like a mother trying taking her kid to kindergarten! Silly but true.

The ducklings are about 6-7 weeks old. One pekin, three crested and one brown one I'm not sure of. Anyway, they normally stayed penned up in our garage, but it was so nice out today I put them into an outdoor pen we just made for them. I watched them swim in the makeshift pool we have for them (a sled) for about a half-hour. They seemed perfectly fine, swimming and having a great time. I went inside the house and 10 minutes later I went out to check on them and one of the crested ducks was laying on the ground with his neck all contorted back and one of his legs immobile, struggling and unable to get up, obviously in pain. What the hell happened? Could it be he broke a leg getting out of the pool? Or did some hawk or owl try to get him? Or could it be he was quickly struck down by a crippling illness?

My boyfriend had to "put it out of its misery" tonight and I feel so awful. Feel like it's all my fault for putting them outside and feel like such crap. Poor thing. Anyone who knows anything about ducks -- serious comments are appreciated.

I LOVE kholrabi!!! But whenever I describe this vegetable to most people they think I''m nuts and have never heard of such a thing. Almost every person I've ever mentioned this to, had no clue.

I know they are third in line to the presidency. So who elects them? You never really hear about election for the Speaker. Maybe it's just me, but for me it was like all of a sudden there was Newt Gingrich and all of a sudden there was Nancy Pelosi (ugh). I'm just curious how much longer Nancy will be in there. She's a left-wing psycho who puts all other extreme leftifts to shame.

I am infuriated about the whole thing. I would just like to know if there are any Obama supporters and those who voted for him who are just as horrified and are disappointed with their choice.

I've been thinking about going to see one, but am not sure if I should waste my money. What was your experience with a dermatologist?