MicahK

I was chosen to be the best man at a friend's wedding in a few months, and already I am nervous. I have never been fond of public speaking, and due to being raised by a single father who avoided weddings I have very little knowledge as to what my part is going to be in it all. The wedding at least has a rehearsal, and finding videos over the ceremony should not be hard. However, the reception frightens me. How are you supposed to know when to give your toast and what else are you supposed to do there? It would seem there is a gaping hole in the information posted on many sites since they only list how to outline the speech, how long it should be, and some things to do before and during the actual ceremony. Any information would be great as I am completely lost.

My oldest son who is six has started trying to use my home weights, and trying to come into the weight room with me on Saturdays. I have started letting him run on the treadmill with me, but am reluctant to let him start weight training. I am unaware of any dangers associated with it, and everything I have looked up says that starting a workout routine at 10 is healthy, but it just seems a bit much. Does anyone have any advice? A few outside opinions would be great.

I know he is still alive, but there is no reason to wait until the last minute to start making plans. So, what laws would be broken and what are the fines for those laws?

I know this is a bit late to be asking this question, but I was curious. The daycare my sons go to is right by city hall, and while driving by I saw several people carrying signs. When I stopped to pick up my sons I took a moment to ask one of the protesters what they were demonstrating, and was baffled when he responded, " We are demonstrating against the government that is becoming more and more socialist." I honestly find pure Capitalism to be a bit immoral since how can any moral human drive by homeless people, watch people suffer in their own towns, and yet still go home to a house full of excess and waste. I understand that I am more then a little of an idealist, but to me the socialist policies we have in place don't sound like the demons the conservative groups try to make them out to be. I am no historian, but if I remember right didn't Franklin D. Roosevelt start alot of these policys to help the suffering families during the Great Depression? Again if I remember right, he was the one who founded the social security program that my own grandmother would not be able to support herself without. At the same time he reformed the banking system, provided a work program to ease unemployment, established a minimum wage, and introduced a new tax system that had increases for the rich while providing relief for the poor. Any of this sounding familiar? I have wondered for some time why no one has pointed out that this very process has been done before, and worked! ( I understand WW2 had a big part of ending the depression, but the mending was well underway when it started.) I guess what I am getting to is what were these people protesting? Was it helping the needy, providing medication to the sick, or were they blind to where this money actually goes?

I am by no means for a pure socialist society, but without laws and programs, that are in fact socialist, to help those less fortunate I can not see our country moving forward.

Yes, I understand that what happend on Wall Street was a _______ crime, and like most Oklahomans I would love to put a bullet in the _______s. The sad truth though is that it would break the law to punish the greedy _______ , and any government that would break the law to do so would be unjust. It may taste like ____ now to have them still free, but the world turns round.

I hope that will take care of all the remarks die hard conservatives will make to try and argue my points while avoiding my question. Ahhh by the way, I do not dislike conservatives I hate abortion, am progun, and think each school day should be opened with a prayer. I just disagree with them on this.

A friend and I were doing a paper for psychology on the correlation of crime and music. Our assignment was to show a behavioral correlation, and express if we thought the correlation accurately showed a cause and effect. We used a statistic done by a university showing what people listened to and then compared those groups to the crime report posted by the department of justice. When discussing the correlation I mentioned that it could mean nothing. Rap came up as the music that most criminal offenders listened to in most of our categories. However since in those same categories black people, followed by people under 25 were the top offenders it could just mean that young black people, for whatever reason, tended to commit those crimes and not that rap influenced them to commit the crimes. My friend ( who is black ) said that was racist as hell to say, but I still don't see it that way. Sorry to offend Toby, but I think this view is narrow minded.Why is it that since it has to do with race it is automatically viewed negatively to say. If I stated that the correlation showing Spanish music listeners were unlikely to commit a crime could mean nothing since only 2% of the crime committed in the US is committed by Hispanics it would not be viewed as negative. So what since it is not positive it is racist? In all I think most people viewed my paper as a bit racist, and only because it showed a negative statistic about blacks. This disturbs me. If I was trying to knock the black community I would have left out the parts that most crimes against children under 10, violence against family members, ect. are committed by white people. Anyway what I want to know is why is it that if you say something negative about a race other then your own you are racist, even if it is statistically true. After all no one said anything about me stating the dirty deeds of other whites, or for that matter any other music besides rap!

How is it that there can be college funds for minorities only, but not for whites. Why is it ok to have an all black college, but not an all white? Why can Indians have casinos and tribal land that fall under their jurisdiction just because they are Indian? To grant anyone privileges denied to others on the grounds of race is slap in the face to our national ideology of equality. I am not asking for an all white college, or white only college fund, but think that the whole race specific rights ought to be tossed out.

I went to school with a guy by the name of Jeffrey Rios who shot his 15 year old girlfriend in the head, killing her. He spent 5 years in jail for this crime before he was released. My Uncle has been in jail for 9 years for possesion of a controled substance. It may just be me, but does this seem odd to anyone else? I see it again and again though rapests, armed robbers, and murders being released after a couple of years, but people who are in jail for child support, DUIs, possesion, and other petty crimes spend the same amount or more then them. I know this occured gradualy and is caused alot by politicians being "tough" on drugs to get reelected, but shouldn't we still keep a since of balance. That the bigger the crime the bigger the punishment.

I spent around an hour looking at posts, and was stunned at some of the incorrect responses that people gave. So for kicks I wanted to ask a few questions and see what answers I got.

1) Who was the primary author of the Constitution?

2) What is the difference in a liberal and a conservative political stance?

3) Who elects the president of the U.S.A.

4) Is America a democracy or a republic?

5) How many senators are there?

6) Can felons vote in any state?

Everyone has heard the campaigns of politicians that state how they will be the ones to end crime. I wonder then why is it that we prevent convicted felons of finding jobs then by allowing employers to discriminate against them. I used to be a professional thief, and on an average night would make around $400-$600. I like most thieves got got eventually, but after wards decided to go straight. I was soon found out how hard that would be. The only places that would hire me were fast food, and resale stores. That was a while back, and I have since completed college and found full filling work. How many people though do not persevere through the trying times though and just go back to their old ways out of nececisty? You can judge them, but if you had kids to feed, and bills coming in that you could not pay with $6/hr jobs, what would you do? So why is there not a national low preventing this cycle from happening. Should there be a law preventing employers from discriminating against felons when hiring for a non-security sensitive positon?