kvnchrist

Because the women reached over and prompted him saying. "Don't you have something you want to say.?" and why would this women want to be around this dizzy b&^$#$ if not to make a statement. Do you realy think that an 8 year old thinks of going somewhere and confronting adults, on camera and I quote ON CAMERA. This was a set up, if I ever saw one. Look. I'm not one for separate group rights, because I believe in Human rights. Last time I looked gays were human and deserve every right that anyone else has, but kids need to be left out of this. Personally, I wouldn't vote Bachman in for dog catcher, even if her parents were roaming the streets, but let the adults hash this out. This is where idealism goes off the chart and I know there are some out there in the gay community that see this my way, as well. Not everyone in a group are activists and many want the more vocal of the same just to shut the flip up.

Society is a crazy thing, with a mind all it's own. People can push or hang onto whatever realities they wish to, but nothing ever happens before Society is ready for that occurrence to happen. I met and fell in love with a gay women almost 40 years ago. It was the late 70's and she helped me more than any other person, I can remember. I was an awkward person, back then. Still trying to fit in where I could never really do so. She befriended me, when I needed it most and then she was gone. It was not til after she did so, that I found out why she was so understanding. She loved other women, and as such, she knew well the feeling of hurt that comes with rejection. I think I knew that, at some level, because I always saw a little bit of pain in her eyes, when we talked. I haven't seen her since that time, and I wonder about her constantly. I wonder what I could have done or said to keep me in her life, but I doubt if that could ever have happened. I went through some bad times after that, with drugs and alcohol, but I made it. I owe the beginning of the end of my childhood to this women, and I will love her as a sister, to my dieing day. At the time we were talking the world was much more harsh to gay people. They were the butts of many a joke and their families held them at arms length. I know her mother, which she stayed with, would not allow any of her friends over. At the time, I just thought she didn't like them, because she didn't like them. As time has pressed on, their plight has grown less and less grievous to the point where I don't really think that the gay people of today really appreciate the fight that these people went through, just a few decades ago. As for Karen, which is her name. I hope and prey that she found that special person, that would take her heart to the ceiling of the sky. I hope she found love and a wonderful life. She sure did make my life better, with her friendship.

I am really getting tired of adults throwing children into the fry of social/political issues. Can't we keep the lunacy of our busy bodied, small minded little world we call reality away from our children. At least long enough to recognize just how much like children we all act at times, and hopefully they will learn from experience, not to be us. My link Is that right to use children, who are not experienced life enough to have made up their minds, beyond what their parents have taught them?

I've lived around Kansas City all my life, except for the years in the military. I have family up there and ass the violence of this city rose, my relatives slowly moved to smaller towns. My aunt moved down to a small town 30 miles south of me, and has been taking care of older people since her husband died. She took on the case of an elderly man over on the Missouri side, when his wife passed on. He was legally blind and she acted as his caretaker. She drove him to his doctor appointments, and feed him at home, and during one of my phone calls with her I found out something interesting about him. He was in the Air force back in WWII and actually was one of those who lit the landing fires for the Enola Gay on her trip back from Japan. I wanted to talk with this old soldier, but never really could find the time and I heard last week he passed on. It's really a shame that there is so much history that lives around us a that we never really take the opportunity to enrich ourselves by it. Just a thought. Thank you and have a great day.

I posted a bunch of jokes in one thread when I original came here. Everybody thought I was a troll or something. Then I posted more of them separately and people got offended. I decided if I have any, I would just post them the way I find them and let people comment on the one's they like.

A family was having dinner on Mother's Day. For some reason the mother was unusually quiet. Finally the husband asked what was wrong. "Nothing," said the woman. Not buying it, he asked again. "Seriously, what's wrong?" "Do you really want to know? Well, I'll tell you. I have cooked and cleaned and fed the kids for 15 years and on Mother's Day, you don't even tell me so much as "Thank you." "Why should I?" he said. "Not once in 15 years have I gotten a Father's Day gift." "Yes," she said, "but I'm their real mother."

An old man in Phoenix calls his son in New York and says, "I hate to ruin your day, but I have to tell you that your mother and I are divorcing; forty-five years of misery is enough." "Pop, what are you talking about," the son screams. "We can't stand the sight of each other any longer," the old man said. "We're sick and tired of each other, and I'm sick of talking about this, so you call your sister in Chicago and tell her." And he hangs up. Frantic, the son calls his sister, who explodes on the phone, "Like heck they're getting a divorce," she shouts. "I'll take care of this." She calls Phoenix immediately, and screams at the old man, "You are NOT getting divorced! Don't do a single thing until I get there. I'm calling my brother back and we'll both be there tomorrow. Until then don't do a thing, DO YOU HEAR ME?" And she hangs up. The old man hangs up his phone and turns to his wife. "Okay," he says, "They're coming for Thanksgiving and paying their own way!!"

You know when you smell that moisture smell in the air you know pretty much that a change in the weather is coming. I think I smell that same smell coming from both the Europe as well as the U.S. I think that a lot of the old tired ideas that have structured our live, for so long is about to change. I hope that if and when they do, that these changes are fair for everyone, including the rich and the poor. I think that for too long the powers that be have sued their color of thread into the fabric of society, so that they can reap the spoils of whatever passed by them. For a long time the west has meddled in the affairs of the Middle East and now, with the Arab Spring, I think the West is setting around with puckered butt holes, hoping that these people have forgotten that the West first colonized them, then put in place dictators who were friendly to the West and sold them cheap oil. All you have to do, is look at the living standards of the Muslim people in these countries and know that very little, if any of this money, found it's way into the their pockets. Hell, just look at the food for fuel program that the U.N. had with Iraq. We got cheap oil and Saddam got several more palaces. Did his people get food and medical supply's. I think not. Are these countries going to be as freindly to the West or are they going to rape us as they've seen their countries raped, for such a long time, and can you blame them, if they do? I see over in Europe that their whole system is teetering on the edge of collapse and It Is to Germany that many are looking to be bailed out. Why? What are these countries doing that have placed them in so much difficulty. I've been to Europe and those people are just the same as any other people in the world. They have existed, far longer than America has, so what is going on over there. ? Is it the same that is going on over here? Are we about to plunge ourselves into the same turmoil that is happening elsewhere. Now we have two opposing subgroups in our country that are at odds with the prevailing mindset. The Tea Party on the right and the Occupiers on the left. Both of these entities were vilified, when they first appeared and nothing their critics have done has changed their ideals. Are these two entities about to collide? Is America and Europe about to go into a gut wrenching period of self evaluation? Will the powers tha be still be standing when we come out of this period. I've been hearing that the world is supposed to end in 2012. Maybe it will, but will it be the entire world or will it be the world we are used to and will a better world come out of it.

To me, liberalism concerns are the same as conservative concerns. They only look at things through separate lenses. Both want everybody to succeed. Liberals see things as more aof a collective effort and conservatives are more into personal individual effort. The main thing that screws everybody up is the governments ineffectual attempts at controlling itself and the polacies that come from it. Waste fraud, abuse, graft, and corruption has made what once was very well meaning ideals into a cesspool of waste and the partisans are stirring the pot, hoping that their party floats to the top every election cycle. This left, right, conservative, liberal fight is just the politicians way of keeping us occupied with infighting, while they steal our rights, liberties and our money away from us. We are all Americans and the only true enemies are the ones that pit ourselves against each other. We become exhausted and they become more powerful. When we finally stop and realyze this, is when the politicians begin to work for us instead of working on us. If you get my drift.

I don't care what anybody says. This is the most horrific video of child abuse I've seen. I wanted to jump through that video and beat the crap out of the guy. Should there be a statute of limitations on this type of allegation. Should these people get away with this, just because it happened in the past. Should this judge be trusted to judge anyone at all. I think not. http://img285.imagevenue.com/loc415/th_68653_240437_2052803646741_1444"]Judge beats child

What I meant was the spirit of the movement.

I honestly can't decide whether to tell you that this is a verbatim copy of the plot of Bioshock, give you a price quote on a one-way trip to Somalia, or encourage you to post “world's top artists, scientists, and engineers wanted for organic-farming/bell-making commune in 0.2 acre backyard; PARASITES NEED NOT APPLY” on Craigslist. Literally, I just do not know where to start. So your idea is technically untrollable. Congratulations? I have been thinking about this since I first saw the movie Billy Jack. It has nothing to do with any game. I couldn't care less where you want to strat. I do know where this ends. It ends with you being placed on my ignore list. You are hardly worth me getting banned from here, by responding to your silliness.

I was wondering if with the advent of the occupy Wall street movement, we are now returning back to a place we were in the 60's. I was born in 1958, so I wasn't that old, when the civil rights issues and the anti-war movement turned into mass protests, but I do remember the 70's when I was a teenager. It started out with the same spirit, but without the same issues. I remember the bell bottoms and the long hair. The smoking weed and doing drugs. People here, know well my past. I also remember, as the 70's progressed into the 80's. The hippy movement morphed into the yippy movement and flower power was forgotten. The new attitude was more into personal wealth to the exclusion of all else. After a period of 40 years, has the me first generation reached the pentacle of their power and has taken the rest of the country with them. Are the protests the beginning of a new generation of selflessness. where greed and prosperity are placed on the back burner. Are we about to return to the hey days of the 60's with a new issue. Corporate greed.

Let me first explain to you, my dream. If I ever would gain the money, I would like to purchase a plot of land to create a moderately self sustaining commune, and fill it with artists, scientists and inventors to create a world devoid of the restrictions of religion and politics. They would have full sway to experiment and to evaluate every faset of science and knowledge. There would be an artist colony, as well for every form of self expression and teachers and tutors for every artform. People who were willing to work and live off the land, would be welcome to do so. There would be fields, graineries bakeries and livestock, vineyards, for this purpose, but every facet of these would be purely natural. I would have a free clinic, an amphitheater and a cafeteria and a winery for those people who would need them, but people who lived there would have their own houses in which to live and no restrictions would be put on their lifestyles, as long as they were consenting adults, above the age of consent. I believe the age should be 16 or over. They could live there as long as they were productive within the society, or had been for an extended time and had reached the age of retirement. The only thing that would be banned would be those who continually caused problems. There would be a counsel of elders, from all the pursuits, that would take up these matters. The laws would be just and measured. I was thinking we might have tours for those interested in what was going on there or from the colleges that may wish to partner with the commune. We would have an outside structure that would sell products and artwork that were made there and the proceeds would be distributed first to the creators and then the remainder of the complex. This way people would see the fruits of their labors, before anyone else. As I believe that this type of social structure could work I have my doubts about the current political structure of America. This conglomerate of ideals that demonize one group against the other is absolutely criminal. The main thing in the I want your money, because you are evil and greedy mindset is that once the revenues of the rich fall down to your income level, then you become the new rich and are just as vulnerable. What is more greedy. Someone that works for and expects the fruits of their labor or someone who wants to take more from them, because they have more to take. This idea of giving back is something the government should be doing, since they've demonstrated, over and over that they can't be responsible with the money we give them, now. Is this true Socialism or is it just a grab for power. Can there be anything like social justice when the politically powerful define fairness, while removing themselves from the equation? If they do this, do they really want equality, or to be our rulers.

Yeah, you've gotta be careful huffing petrol. It makes you see some crazy stuff. You've also have to be careful showing your ass. But I guess you've never made a spelling error. This is a Halloween story dick!

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I felt like a million dollars as I left that room. First time in a long time and I loved it. I headed back into the kitchen and went through the drawers and found several packets of popcorn, a few toaster pastries and snake food, but nothing to really satisfy. Great, I told myself. First time in a decade I have a woman over and I’m stocked like a Roman gladiator’s cell. I ended up popping some microwave popcorn and while that was going on, I went back to check on Marcy. She was leaning back in the tub, when I got there and I told her I was going to wash and dry her clothes, while she soaked. She told me to go ahead and went back to her soaking. I went back several times, checking up on her and I turned on the TV, to see if there was anything worth listening to and I looked up to see her standing there, in the hallway, Wrapped in a towel. Her hair was still damp and she had a demure smile on her face. “Hey, you ok,” I asked and she said, she was feeling better and would I turn down the lights. I guess that the cold made her sensitive to light, but what did I know. So I turned off the overhead light and used one of the table lamps. After that she came over and slowly set down on the opposite side of the couch. We watched a three stooge’s movie and ate popcorn, while her clothes finished drying. I asked her about herself, but she really wasn’t open too much of that. I started thinking she might be running from something, but I put that down as more of my imagination. All I got from her, was she put her car in the ditch and must have walked right past my lane to have me find her where I did. I told her, I’d try to get her out tomorrow and we left it at that. Anyway, I had had a long day and told her I was getting tired. I showed her the spare bedroom and went to bed, myself. The next day I was awoken by the Sun pouring in through my window. I laid there for a few minutes deciding wither I wanted to get up or not, and then I remembered my guest. “s***” I said as I got up and got dressed. Went out to the living room to find it empty. The bag of popcorn was still on the table, but the bowl Marcy used was not there. I went back in the kitchen and found the bowl where it belonged, in the pantry, but it was clean and the sink still had dirty dishes in it. I thought that was odd, so I walked back to the spare bedroom and found the door open. The room was empty and the bed wasn’t touched. That’s when I started panicking. I looked in my wallet and all the money and cards were still there. I looked around the house and nothing was taken. As I entered the living room I noticed the TV was still on and the morning news was on, but the volume was turned down. I found a piece of paper, with writing on it, but the writing was so thin I had to walk over to the window to get enough light to read it. As I did so, I glanced at the TV and found myself looking at the very face of the woman I had here, last night. Oh, s***, I thought as I grabbed the remote and turned up the volume. The person talking was one of the local announcers and he said “Well it’s the one year anniversary of the finding of the body of this Jane Dole and the authorities have not found out her true name. She was found frozen to death on Hawthorn lane today, one year ago by deputy Caruthers on petrol and we’d like to make sure that relatives check up on the elderly this time of year…… The report went on, but my head started reeling. what the f***? I looked down at the paper I was holding and read. “Thank you very much for your kindness. I’d forgotten just how wonderful it was to be with someone. It’s so cold here. I ho9pe that I can return again next year’” and my jaw dropped and a cold shutter ran through my spine. I looked out at the barn my truck was at and saw the tracks, the single track I had left in the snow, when I walked up here. No second track, just mine. Then I looked back down at the spidery letters on the paper and saw them in the warm light of the Sun, slowly…….. Fade……..away…….. Happy Halloween, my friends.

It was a lot easier to get her out of the truck, than it was getting her in. I had to put her boots back on. She was so cold her hands would not work right. I didn’t know if that was good or bad, but it was disconcerting. I had to help her down and then support her as we left the barn and made to trek across the snow covered ground. I had to fumble for the key so I let her set on the top step of my porch. Thank God, I remembered to turn the outside light on, when I left before or that would have taken quite a long time. Opening the door, I got her up and into the house. We had to go through a foyer and through my small kitchen to get to through living room, but we made it as quickly as possible. She wasn’t the steadiest of people and we hit about every wall and piece of furniture, but I finally got here to the couch. It laid her out and the turned the thermostat up as far as I could turn it, and went to close the back door. I then reached for the phone to call for help, but I found it, as usual in iclimate weather, Inoperable. With these old lines, every time a deer farted the thing would go dead. I had contemplated getting a ham radio, but was too lazy to go get the license. It would sure have helped out, right then, but that was wishing for air. I then hit up the frig, trying to see what liquids I had, that I could heat up and get inside her, but being a bachelor, all I had were the residue of past paltry meals. I remember saying to myself, “I got to get a girlfriend!” When I closed to door. I had nothing but a ½ can of Pepsi; I couldn’t remember putting in there, so I went on back into the living room. “How are you doing?” I asked her, as I knelt before her and she mumbled something. “Look’ I’ve got to get your warmed up inside. I don’t have anything for you to drink, but I can draw some bath water and let you soak in there. “I told her and she shook her head yes. So I ran back to the bathroom, which was just off the hallway to the bedrooms. I could hear the gas burners roaring to life and I hoped the pilot light was still on under the water heater. I loved baths and I had the biggest water heater there was. I could fill the bathtub up, twice over, with hot water, if I wanted to, but I thought it would be better for her, if I would fill it with Luke warm water and then warm it up slowly, over a period of time. I turned the water on and tested it, then went back and got her. I donned on me that I might have to take her clothes off, when I got her back there, but I resolved to get her down to her underwear and then put her in. She could do the rest later. I didn’t want her to think I was trying something. So when we got back there I sat her down on the toilet and asked her if she could take off her clothes. She looked up at me in shock and I said, “Do you want to go in clothed? We have to get you warmed up. I don’t know everything, but I do know that.” She looked down and then at me, as if to say. “Are you going to leave or what?” I told her, I’d leave if she could do it alone, but we need to hurry. She feebly tried to take off her boots but her hands were still too cold. So I knelt down and started removing the. “No’: she tried to protest and I responded. “Look. I’ll get your boots off and then we can work on your pants. I know this is a bit degrading, but we half to do this. If your hands and feet don’t get circulation, then they might have to get cut off. Please let me help you. “ She looked down a little embaraced but she let me take off the boots. And remove her pants, which were hard as ice. But when I started unbuttoning her blouse she resisted. “I’m only taking this off. Nothing below” I said sternly and she gave me a look as if to ask, If she could trust me. “You can trust me on this!” I reassured her. She looked down demurely, as I did one button at a time and removed her blouse. I felt more like a big brother to her than anything that night. I know I’d have had fantasies about doing this with a woman, but this night I felt like protecting her from everyone, including myself. I would not touch this woman. Ever. I would get her back to heath, but from this day forward, I was her brother and she was my sister. I got her up on her feet and then sat her on the side of the tub. “We’ll take this one step at a time, alright, “I assured her and she lifted up one leg and tried putting it in the warm water and cried out at if she got shot. She yelled. “It hurts!” and I said, that’s good, you have feeling down there. And she looked at me like she was going to hit me. “We got to do this lady!” I told her. “We can take it slowly, but we got to do this. “ Closing her eyes, she swiveled, as I held her and she placed one foot in and then the other. I could fell her tense up and her face contorted with pain. I could see tears welling up in her eyes and I too started tearing up. We took it slowly, as she went down. First her legs and then her butt and I tell you, the pain I could see in her tore through me, like a slow motion lightning bolt. I felt like, just hugging her, when we got her fully into the water, which was getting up to the top of the tub. She was holding me like a vice all the time and I could see her slowly getting over the pain. “You, alright?” I asked as she lessoned the death grip, she had on me. She shook her head yes, but I could see she was still struggling with her composure. I reached down and rubbed each foot a little and asked,”Can you feel that?” “That’s wonderful; can you feel your hands?” I asked as I touched each one of those and she told me, she could. “Hey look, I’m going to go in and see what I have to eat, and you set here and soak up this hot water. There’s more of that, so don’t be afraid to add some more hot water, if it gets cold.” I said and got up to leave. “My name is Marcy,” She said as I was entering the hallway. “I’m Kevin,” I said, and she replied, “Thank you!”

She stirred a little and opened her eyes, but only for the briefest of seconds. She let out a moan like if she was sleeping and that went through me like a bolt of lightning. I had seen dead bodies before. I had given another truck driver mouth to mouth, surrounded by a group of other drivers, yelling out things they heard from others about saving lives. Even almost got into it with some idiot, trying to tell me I was doing it wrong, after I’ve received lifesaving training in the military. I wasn’t able to help him and I didn’t want to go through that again. Driving around with the thought of all the things you could have done differently, that day to bring me upon the guy sooner, tore me up for several months. I remember lifting her as much as I could. She was still acting like she was asleep. She’d say something, I could understand and move around, but nothing that could help me, help her. Being 135 lbs, I wasn’t exactly a weight lifter and I had to cradle her under her arms and crawl backwards to get her out of that ditch. I got her upright, as much as possible and drug her over to the side of the truck. I remember the hardest part was manhandling her up into the passenger side of the truck. It was like pushing and pulling a 150 lb blob of jello up onto a 5’ wall. It wasn’t the most dignified, I’ve ever treated a lady, but I got her up across the passenger seat and drug her back to the bunk, before I thought I’d have a heart attack, myself. There is nothing more energy draining than doing anything out in the cold, and what I just did topped anything I’ve ever did before and after. I remember, I was on my knees, by that time, and the melted snow was seeping through my jeans. My face felt like it was made of wax and I couldn’t feel my fingers. I had just enough energy to lean over the seat, grab the door and close it. I started pulling off her boots, because I was going to put her in my Arctic sleeping bag. I figured it was the most thermal thing I had there. I didn’t want the snow on the boots to dampen the inside. I had spent 8.5 years in the military and knew a lot about keeping the body warm. She was still incoherent, when her boots finally hit the floor and I’d pushed her into the bag and closed it up around her. I remember, still on my knees, leaning against the bunk and putting my head down, thinking “I need to get in better shape,” When the thought, that she might not be alone, struck me. “Oh s***!” I said and stood up; I collapsed into the driver’s seat and rolled down the windows to yell out, but decided to pull the air horn instead. I think that would get out farther than me voice. I then turned on the C.B. And called out, over the airwaves that I had an emergency, but all I got back was static. I then turn the frequency to channel 9, which was the emergency channel that the highway patrol used and still came up with nothing. This was the time that beepers were all the rage, but cell phones had not yet hit the market, so I was pretty much at the mercy of anyone listening to the C.B. I called out several times on each channel and got nothing. Then I heard her cough a couple of times and I looked back to see her turn on her side, facing away from me, and I remember calling out to her, but didn’t get any response, and I remembered something about using body heat and messaging the extremities. I couldn’t remember where from. Possibly some stupid movie, I’d seen, but I went back in the bunk, removing the snow covered coat and letting it drop into the passenger seat, I turned her towards me, and setting down beside her, I pulled her upper torso out of the bag, leaving her waist down still inside. I embraced her and rubbed her back like I’d seen before, in the movies. I did that for a while and then took her arms and hands and messaged them from her shoulders, down to her fingertips and I remember her body started to shack. I didn’t know if that was good or bad, but I took it as a good sign and started on her legs and feet. I remember feeling how ice cold her toes were and thought she might lose them, if she survived. God, there are so many things rushing through your mind at a time like these, I just hoped what I was doing was doing some good here. I’d go from her upper to lower torso and message the arms, hands, legs and feet, then I would pull the air horn and do my emergency calls, but I got nothing from the outside world. I lost track of how many times I did that, but everything started to pay off as she began to respond more coherently. I could pick out words and names, she would blurt out and I encouraged her, saying, that’s it and come on, you can do it” I don’t know how long it had been, but finally, I was there embracing her upper torso and rubbing the heck out of her back when she finally came back fully into the world of the living. All of a sudden I heard her speak, “What?” and I felt her push against me, saying “get off me!’ It was muffled but it was the best sound I’d heard all day. I had her head buried into my chest, when she jerked away, nearly taking my jaw with her. I looked down at her trying to focus in on me and then her eyes went wide and she pushed harder and tried to crawl backwards towards the back of the bunk. “Easy, I said,” trying to calm her. “I found you out into the cold and drug you in here.” She looked, wild-eyed at me and then around at the bunk. “Hey, you’re ok!” I added and she responded, “Where am I? How’d I get here?” “I don’t know” were you in a car? Were there others out there?” She looked at me as if she was searching through her memory. “Where is here? She finally asked. “You’re in my truck!” I responded. “I found you walking out in the cold. All you had was a blanket wrapped around you and I came along right before you passed out. You must have been out there for awhile. Where did you come from?” She again, looked at me strangely and then replied, “I don’t know. It’s all a fog.” She added and it looked like she was going to pass out again. I realized I wasn’t going to get anything out of her. I hadn’t passed anyone since I hit the dirt road, so if there was anyone out there, they had to be in front of me. I knew there was virtually no one living within miles of here and I had to get this person somewhere, where I could raise her body temperature. So I told her to rest and I jumped behind the wheel. I gave the horn one last push and looked around in the mirrors. The sky was still filled with huge snowflakes flirting around everywhere and I felt the cold emanating through the driver’s door. If anything, it was getting colder. I pulled out slowly and looked around as I went further down the road. Hopefully if the was a car off in the ditch, I would see it. I knew I would feel terrible, if I missed someone and they died because of it. I made another couple of miles on down the road and saw nothing. I even honked my horn so often, but nothing, not even a deer. Finally I saw the familiar entrance to the road leading to my house. It was fairly wide, but I still had issues with making that turn, in climate weather. Our ditches were 3-4’ deep out there and this time it was filled with snow. I could easily flip this thing on its side, if I swung too far. To those who don’t know it. The trailer of a semi doesn’t follow the track of the truck. It’s like dragging a towel around a corner in your home. It always cuts the corner deeper, so drivers have to swing wide, in order for the end of the trailer to clear the same corner. I creped around the corner and straightened out on the way down to me housie. It was a slight incline and the house sat to the left of where the road was. It made a ½ circle around the place and emptied out beside some old barn and old dilapidated animal buildings, none of which were being used. I wasn’t a farmer, so I used the barn to put my rig in. It kept it, out of the weather and I had Electricity out there, so I could plug the core heater in, when it was cold. I made it back there, no problem. I had to get out a remove some of the snow from the barn doors, so I could open them. Then I pulled inside all the way to accomidate the truck and trailer. I looked behind me at the women and she was fully covered in the sleeping bag. All I could see of her was her head, but I could still see she was shivering like a leaf. “I’m going to get out, close the doors to my barn and then I’ll get you into my house.” I told her and I saw her shake her head in acknowledgement. I jumped out and turned the light on, so I could see, then closed the big barn doors and plugged the extension cord into the core heated. I’d hate to have to pay someone to come out, all this way to jump start a truck. I was looking at $200.00 at the very least to do that.

You know, there seems to be a lot of headaches and heartaches coming from everyone, about politics and, personally, I’m fairly sick of all the laying in wait and the political posturing. I’m going to recount something that happened to me a few years ago, just to get everyone’s minds off the present dilemma, that no one here brought into being and no one knows the full story on. This happened about 12 years ago, when I was living by myself on a farm just south of Kansas City. I had delivered a load of pharmaceuticals, in one of the cold storage caves in Independence, Mo. A place I hate to go into, because it was cut out of limestone, with 10’ wide pillars every 30’. These pillars are wider at their base and at its top, so if you don’t keep an eye out, you can easily rip the top corner of a trailer. My company loses all types of humor, when you damage their equipment. All that week, it had been snowing, steadily, but nothing heavy. I came in from the East through Indiana and Illinois, and the roads were fairly clean. There was the occasional fender bender, which people get into, when they don’t pay attention to what they were doing, but I hadn’t heard of anything major. Further out West past Topeka, I heard that drizzling rain was following the snow, but I knew I’d be back out the house before that hit. I was delivering at noon and the way I saw it, I’d be getting out of there about 2 pm and I’d drop my trailer and be at the house by 5 pm at the most. Well, they say, “the best laid plans of mice and men”, the place I was delivering to was behind several trucks and I ended up getting into a dock about 3 pm and left the place about 5 pm. By that time it was getting dark and the light snow, I’d seen when I arrived was coming down in big flakes. Thank God the sleet hadn’t hit yet, and I had a decision to make. Either I could set there and take the chance of getting snowed in till they got us out, which could be two or three day, or head for the house. I still had my trailer, which gave me traction. People don’t know, but a truck without a trailer, has very little traction, because all the weight is on the front or steer tires, because of the position of the engine. Driving without a trailer in climate weather, which is called bobtailing, is one of the most dangerous things a truck driver can do, since all the stopping power is in the steer tires. I’ve seen bobtails spin out and end up every which way, if they have to brake in an emergency. If you are around one in less than dry conditions, give them a wide birth, especially if they are behind you. You may just end up being a door mat. Getting back to my story, I had been out for nearly a month, and I was sick and tired of sleeping in this darn truck. It makes me money, but living in a space the size of a closet, for an extended time has its drawbacks. I decided to take off and head for the house. Normally, I would drive down to the drop lot and drop the trailer, but I wasn’t going to take the time. I didn’t want to risk, getting into all that ice and ending up on my side. I hit the road and got into Kansas City, about 15 minutes later. The traffic was rather light and the salt trucks and the plows were out in droves. It was pitch black and the snow was coming down even thicker that before, by the time I hit the outskirts of Kansas City, and I knew I still had 15 miles between me and my home. I began to have second thoughts about what I was doing, when the 4-lane turned to two lanes. I lived some 3 miles off the beaten track, on a twisting county road. I thought, “Well I’m here. I’ve gone this far, so I might as well keep on moving”. It was past 6pm and way out past the streetlights, all I could hear is the flap of the windshield wipers, keeping the snow from gathering, the sound of the engine and the blowing of the heater, keeping the chill off me. I creped off the paved road, onto the road leading in the direction of the farm and straightening out, I ran about 20 mph down that dirt road. Man, you do a lot of soul searching, when you are alone in a truck. I’ve pondered my life on many an overnight run. The solitude and the mundane existence of a truck driver seems to bring that out, but never was it more evident than when you are out in a cold winter night, watching the world slowly pass you by, with huge flacks of snow appearing out of the darkness, being blown diagonally past the beams of your headlight. That was what I was doing that very minute as I was slowing to make a turn at a bend in the road, when out of the darkness to the left, I saw a figure come out of the darkness, moving quickly across the road and just as it was about to move out of the light, to the right, It looked like it stumbled and fell into the ditch, I knew was there. Well, as soon as I saw it I put on the breaks and felt the truck start to slide into the curb. Thank God I was going so slowly, or I’d have jackknifed. I came to a stop, still where I could drive out of it and the shock of having someone run out in front of me subsided. I got a little pissed and then it donned on me. What the crap is someone doing out here, in the middle of the night. Heck, my thermometer said it was getting down in the teens. I put on my emergency flashers and grabbed my coat and flashlight off the bunk. Getting out, I yelled out for whoever it was. There is something about that brings up the most absurd thoughts when I’m out of the truck, alone at night. I started thinking of being attacked by a werewolf or something, so I grabbed a hammer and walked out around the truck, being hit by the icy cold flacks of snow. “Hello,” I yelled out as I walked through the headlight beams and pointed the flashlight beam to the edge of the road, where I last saw the figure. I hesitated, there as the vision of me reaching the edge of the road, just to have a saber-toothed land whale, whatever that would be suddenly popping up out of the ditch and gobbling me up. I could just see them finding my truck and my boots in a few days from now. I told you I have a vivid imagination. Well, I dismissed that vision and stepped on the brim of the snow bank and peered over the edge. It took me a few seconds, but I saw the figure of someone, looking like they were wrapped up in a blanket lying at the bottom. I tell you, there is nothing that can prepare you with the feeling of seeing someone in that condition. I don’t even remember jumping into that ditch. I do remember lifting up the head and seeing the blanket fall away from the face. It was a woman. I remember yelling out, “Hey, are you alright?” I guess it was the only thing I could think of, since thinking about it, even now, It was just about the stupidest thing, I could ask. You could see she was just about the farthest thing from being that.

There will be nothing coming out of this administration.

I don't think it was the OP's position to bring up anything more than what Amnesty International's posting. Organizations are notorious for demanding responsibility from those reacting to a crisis, when they ignore what the perpetrators did to garnish such actions. They are very short sited on many things

What is your definition of life? Mine is "an organismic state characterized by capacity for metabolism, growth, reaction to stimuli, and reproduction" Science considers bacteria and really minor things life as well based on the scientific definition. No one is intelligent enough to define life. Science merely pokes at it like a child with a stick.

I don't believe in artificial creation of life How do you not believe in something that has actually happened, and is well documented? http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/discoveries/2010-05-21-genome21_ST_N.htm Man creates a unique bacterium. Bacterium reproduces. Man has artificially created life. You can stick a 9 volt battery in a can of Campbell's soup and call it life all you want to. It is still not life.

As far as treatment of any sentient being, I think any entity needs to be treated ethically and appropriately. Animals domestic or not. Spiders, snakes and the like. These AI entities deserve to be treated according to their capabilities. As far as equal rights, That is something sacred to me. Not religiously so, but socially. When I think of equal rights, I think of inequality between the races, not between a machine and a man. Same as me, except I put no such definitive reservation on what type of being can earn equality. If it only seemed appropriate and mutual, I don't see why it is totally to be ruled out. That is easily said so far away from these beings ever coming to being. I've known many who have preconceived ideas going into a situation that they have had to extract themselves from. Most say, "They didn't know!" Well of course they didn't know and neither do you. I was an optimistic Idealist, myself, until I found out how human I was. Things change, my friend once reality strikes.