Samual's comments

Eco Smart Home Tips - Blog Entry

16 Apr 2008 02:32 PM

It's not just household energy though. It is also, where do you buy your food from? How are your veg and salad grown? Where did your cleaning products come from? How many chemicals do they contain?

Can You Live on One Income? Insurance and Auto - Blog Entry

15 Apr 2008 02:53 PM

We live on one income at the moment, Frank recieves the standard 9months paid maternity leave that everyone gets here in the UK, but instead of spending it we put it into an account for when the child is older so they already have savings. We havn't had to cut down on anything and there has been no financial strain for us.

You Can't Have Your Cake and Eat it Too: Thoughts on Refusing Vaccines - Blog Entry

14 Apr 2008 05:29 AM

Not many people here bother with a Flu vaccine unless they are high risk, such as the elderly or those with immune problems. Here you don't have to provide your legal name to go to school so forcing people to bring medical records would make that rule nul I suppose. Here though most people have their vaccinations done at school, in reception the nurses come and give everyone MMR or a booster if they have already had one, then Meningitus jab when they are 8 I believe. Then when you are 14 they come around and test everyone for TB immunity then a week later it is jab time. I don't think they do tetnus and polio in schools anymore though, but if you injure yourself at school you are taken straight to hospital to have it done.

You Can't Have Your Cake and Eat it Too: Thoughts on Refusing Vaccines - Blog Entry

14 Apr 2008 04:38 AM

It isn't a law for pregnant women, it's like a union rule a moral issue. You don't need to form schools here of anything medical unless they need medication during the school day or medical treatment such as a diabetic studen, or it is contagious then they are not allowed into school until they have been deemed fit and non-contagious. As for some reason we are allowed to hand a student a knife or scalpel but we can't allow them to use their own medication, which is odd. But letters are constantly sent home to students parents as it is not fair that children can bring in diseases which are vaccinated against before symptoms show especially when you have high risk students such as those with CF.

You Can't Have Your Cake and Eat it Too: Thoughts on Refusing Vaccines - Blog Entry

14 Apr 2008 04:22 AM

In the UK there is a big problem, people from eastern europe don't generally don't vaccinate at all, so recently there has been a boom in illnesses which we vaccinate against. As very few people here deny their children protection against disease we have had very few outbreaks of such diseases for decades and our break outs are tiny. Here you do not have to have vaccinations to go to school or nursery we don't have a rule against as until we have had mass immigration we have not had a problem. However if a teacher or work mate is pregnant everyone working in that facility or attending it have to be fully vaccinated with MMR. Also to say vaccines cause autism is very flawed, there is no proof what so ever, just like someone in the UK claiming that sausauges cause cancer. You will find if you take a group of vaccinated children and a group of non-vaccinated children the rates of autism are the same. There seems to have been alot more actual medical and scientific research about it in the UK than the US. Though I find it odd so many people trust a man who illegally took blood samples from children by giving them sweets and not informing the parents. I don't think anyone should be able to refuse vaccinations unless they keep their child on their own property away from other people.

Gas Prices Affect Schools - Blog Entry

11 Apr 2008 03:11 AM

See I don't understand this, petrol and diesel is amazingly cheap in america, here it is around £4/$8 a gallon, but thats not exactly expensive.

A New Parent's Surprising Look at Birth Control - Blog Entry

15 Mar 2008 02:41 PM

The withdrawl method is the worst form of 'contraception' purely due to the fact that the penis constantly releases sperm from the moment the erection forms until ejaulation. I would be very worried about someones fertility if they were succesful with the withdrawl method as there as to say it is successful when you know your body is utter pish, if you knew your body you would realise you constantly release sperm. I think 0% effectiveness and 99% effectiveness are very different.

My mother was told she was infertile, so she stopped using any contraception, a month later, she was pregnant and went on to have three of us.

Gay Parents: Less Than Optimal? - Blog Entry

12 Mar 2008 03:01 PM

Someone has said gay parenting is a problem due to cruel children, but I very much doubt anyone would say, you can't be a parent is you are chubby, you can't be a parent if you are gingeras it will clearly lead to your child being bullied. The childs ignorance and cruelty is the problem, to suggest it is the problem of the parent is rediculous. The problem is a badly parented child who believes it is ok to hurt others, other people should not be punished for anothers ignorance.

My husband is a social worker and we used to have children who were in care stay with us some weekends so they could get at least some stability by getting to know two people, one being their social worker quite well. So they had someone they could always rely on and talk if they so wished. You don't realise how lonely alot of children in care are until you actually see the lives they are living.

It does make me angry when people would rather a child be in care than with good parents, if they understood what it is like to be in care, they would have to be heartless to still believe having loving parents of the same sex is wrong. Obviously is a child is used to having a mum or a dad, that probably is not a good situation to place a child with gay parents, unless the child is confident about it as otherwise it would be too stressful, or the simply would refuse to live with them. Now a baby or a very young toddler is different, clearly they will know they are different, but are far as family is concerned there are so many different situations that it isn't looked down on to be different, only 10 years ago it was considered horrific to be a single mother.

The whole thing is dependant on the childs situation and the adults ability to be parents, not what is inbetween their legs. I live in england, there are virtually no hurdles for gay people, I would actually be shocked to recieve abuse or anything at all for being gay. Not once in my life have I recieved any negativety or cruelty because I am gay.

Our three children were all adopted from care, our two oldest boys had been abused physically by their parents so we fosted them until adoption, they are 2 and 4. Our youngest was given up by her mother as a baby, so we started fostering her in november when she was 6 weeks old and we are going through all the legal procedures to hopefully adopt her.

I think one big misconception is that any gay person wanted to be a parent, is going to be a parent. I think if people saw it's about being a good parent, there would be less bad press in countries such as america where there is alot of homophobia. Though some gay people have been known to claim they are being discriminate when they fail the requirements and interviews for adoptions.

One thing I do agree about that article though, is that with any adoption gay, straight single parent. It is never a desicion made on a wim, it is a long hard process you have to take alot of tests, undergo police tests and have many interviews, before they even consider you as a parent. It does cost quite a bit of money, but you can get help with the legal fees as alot of people would not be able to afford them, ours with our first son cost £4200. We were on the adoption 'list' for one and a half years before we were matched with our son, then he was with us a year and a half when the adoption became legal. Not only that but fostering a child for even fours years to become their legal parents, does not mean the adoption will be approved in court, it is a scary process. But definately worth it. Then again that article made naturally conceived children seem to be made out of a mistake, the article does seem quite biased and anti-normal.