How dare you call me ludicrous for my convictions! Get lost. I am allowed to believe how I wish.

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I do spend every night reading to my children. I also tuck them in and rub their backs every night. I get up every morning to prepare them a warm breakfast before driving them to school so they don't have to ride a cold school bus in the morning. My kids are all on the high honor roll because my husband and I help them with their homework. I volunteer at their school once a week. My husband and I attends every sporting event with them, be it practice or a match, to make sure no harm comes to them. I make sure they have a hot meal on the table when they come home from school. I worked extra all summer to afford a trumpet for my son who wanted to join the elementary band. I don't resent my children. I love them very much.

But I do resent others critiquing my parenting abilities. I'm sure OP's DS and DD do a lot more than OP is giving them credit for. It's terrible for the kids to have fish sticks and yogurt, but it's okay for GP to spank them? She's complaining because DD and DS don't hit them, they just yell at them? Where are your scruples? It's obvious these parents love their children, they just need a little help, not criticism. Why is that so hard to understand? Do parents not deserve a break?

So many GPs have the mentality, "you made 'em, you raise 'em" and that's fine. No one said GPs should be raising their GKs, but is it that wrong to think that GPs could give the parents a break even just once a year? Maybe they'd be better parents if they weren't as stressed all the time.

Apparently, it's just sitting there. He's not teaching from it.

A Mount Vernon science teacher said yesterday that he will refuse to remove a Bible from his classroom desk, despite his school district's order.

"Thousands of citizens in this community have built their lives on deeply held religious convictions, and it is for them that I stand today," John Freshwater, 51, who teaches at Mount Vernon Middle School, said in a news release.

The religious activist Dave Daubenmire, Freshwater's friend, acted as his spokesman yesterday. "This is not a religion issue; this is a free-speech issue," Daubenmire said. "He didn't take the Bible to read to anybody."

Mount Vernon Superintendent Steve Short said Freshwater's characterization of the events leading to the district order that he remove religious items from his classroom was "not entirely accurate," but Short wouldn't elaborate.

The district later released a one-paragraph statement saying that district officials don't oppose religion but are required "under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution to protect against the establishment of religion in the schools. As a public school system the district cannot teach, promote or favor any religion or religious beliefs."

Freshwater and Daubenmire believe that separation of church and state "is a fraud" and that the framers of the Constitution never intended it to be practiced the way it is today, Daubenmire said.

The district asked Freshwater last week to remove the Ten Commandments from the door to his classroom and remove the Bible from the view of students. About 3,900 students attend Mount Vernon schools. Mount Vernon is about 52 miles northeast of Columbus.

Freshwater took down the Ten Commandments but decided that being prevented from taking a Bible into the classroom was going too far.

In the past, Freshwater has taught his students about the "holes in evolution" and intelligent design, the theory that a supernatural power created complex forms of life, Daubenmire said.

"Would our government ask a follower of Islam to remove her burqa in order to teach school?" Freshwater said in his written statement. "Would we ask a science teacher to remove The Origin of Species from his desk merely because the origin of man has never been proven?

"I cannot with a clear conscience follow a directive that makes religion and the religious viewpoint any less credible by those who deem themselves more enlightened."

Freshwater wouldn't answer questions directly because of the likelihood he will file a lawsuit charging "viewpoint discrimination," Daubenmire said.

Daubenmire is the former London High School football coach whose district was sued in 1999 by the American Civil Liberties Union because he led his players in prayer at games, practices and meetings. The district settled out of court, and its insurance company paid the ACLU $18,000 for court costs.

Pit bulls are either not allowed in Miami-Dade County in Florida but I heard something about having $600,000 insurance if you own one.....but that COULD be Broward County where they are allowed. I'm in Miami.

March 14, 2007� Dozens packed the Belmont (California) city council chambers tonight for the first public airing of a new smoking ban proposal.

The law would give Belmont the toughest smoking ban in the nation � possibly in the world.

The crackdown aims to curb the harmful effects of second-hand smoke by preventing puffs not just in parks and around public buildings � but in private apartments and city streets as well. If the law passes, the only places left in Belmont to smoke would be single family homes and private cars.

Mayor Coralin Feierbach says the proposal was made to protect residents who suffer from health problems aggravated by smoke.The council didn't take action tonight. It's just the first of several meetings to discuss the proposal.

Yes - they said the woman who parachuted was with an expedition that Penny sent.

Maybe she actually left it at school or someplace other than dance, but is certain in her mind that she last had it at dance. You could be looking in the wrong place. I don't ever trust my memory on things like this because when life is really hectic (whose life with kids is not hectic?), sometimes events run together in my mind. Maybe her coat is at school in the lost and found or in the back of the van under a seat, etc. Just a thought.