My_soliloquy

True, but I'm also talking about the prison system buildup.

The moral debate is only framed because of the religious folks that have hijacked the Republican Party over the last 20 years or so. They are morally repugnant with their hypocrisy, and try to shove their misguided views on everyone, ala the Temperance movement that forced Prohibition on our country in the 20's. We all know how that turned out.

The real problem is we no longer value critical thinking in our society and lack the emphasis of it in our schools. Dan Rather just did a very good piece on HDNET on the Finnish school system. Check it out if you get a chance.

And good luck.

Thanks, I DVR Dan Rather reports because I can't get quality reporting from the mainstream anymore. Thanks for what you do.

Do you understand the financial incentives in place that favor continuing the Drug war? The real reasons why they do not want to legalize it?

Don't want to scare you, but sit down here and let me tell you a story.

I wore braces from 11-16, finally told the orthodontist to remove them or I would, I had to sign a statement that he couldn't correct my overbite without surgery, and parents were tired of paying for ortho. Even though I would take a bite of a baloney sandwich and leave the baloney behind, after 5 years of pain, I just didn't care, braces in high school suck. Only my incisors met, upper molars were inside my lower molars and front teeth were in a big overbite, lower jaw was underdeveloped, it sucked. I would gnaw on food to eat. Had to have something to drink when I ate to soften the food.

Joined the service at 18, (surprise, they didn't care, everything else worked fine) they agreed I needed surgery but I had to wait until I was stationed on land long enough to see about getting it done. 10 years later, I get seen by an Orthodontist in the NAVY who really wants to work on me.

He gets all the approvals, puts me back in braces (for 2 more years) and I have a series of 3 surgery's (including the expanders described below) during this time culminating in the big one (in 97) where they cut the entire top of my mouth off, split it in four pieces to spread it out, and did a z cut on the bottom mandible to slide it forward. It was supposed to be a 7 hour surgery, I was supposed to go home that evening and only have my jaw closed by rubber bands so they would be able to move and heal faster. I'd still be able to eat soft foods, talk, etc. Max 4 weeks. I had a cold going in, but they said don't worry as they would be cutting out my sinuses anyhow and they would grow back. The surgeons were great, even volunteered to do some plastic surgery and pin my ears back (had the vulcan look) and some liposuction on my neck, (I was not fat, just had a double chin)

You know where this is going.

My lower jaw broke all the way through during the 9 hour surgery, they said I had the slimmest mandible they had ever seen. I woke up with my jaw wired shut, my mouth was so tight the only gaps were in the very back, the surgeons and orthodontist had done such a good job lining up my teeth, air could barely pass through. My nose was completely stuffed up with the swelling and then with the remnants of the cold. I had a pair of wire cutters on a string around my neck in case I couldn't breath, I wore those for the next 8 weeks. I was put inpatient in the hospital, but what they didn't tell me is they had just given two week notice to the entire nursing staff on my floor, they were all being fired. I could only communicate with grunts or by writing on a board. Not a pretty picture.

Needless to say the care left a lot to be desired. I was pretty doped up, but never really in any pain, just thought I was going to die because I was having so many problems breathing and not getting any real care on that floor (lots of horror stories) I was scared to go to sleep. I ended up convincing the Dr's to let me go after a week, but I was taken back to the emergency room the same evening because I was still having problems breathing. Did another 4 days on a different floor with outstanding care this time, cold finally went away and I could breath and then finally came home.

I ended up using a syringe with a catheter attached to get some liquid food in though the tiny gap in the back of my mouth. Lost a ton of weight, 8 weeks later, the wires were removed, and the slow process of opening and closing my mouth began. Braces came off 8 months later.

Unfortunately, the nerve running though the left jaw was severed in the break, they tried stitching it up, but I'm permanently numb on the left front chin. Only on the outside of my face, I have control, just can't feel anything on the surface, (except if I have a beard). I never really needed the Codeine they gave me and I lived on Nutriment. So if you do this, stock up on Nutriment, I even had solid bowel movements.

The real problem showed up about 10 years later, Sleep Apnea. I think the liposuction damaged my throat; I'm not obese, but the sleep tests say I stop breathing about 80 times an hour, my throat collapses when I'm asleep, and it's considered severe. Now I have to sleep with a mask on, or I'm exhausted during the day.

I still would still do it all again, being able to eat is worth it, and I didn't pay for anything as it was done while in the service. I think the quote was about 35K back in the 80's.

What do you think of Gary Johnson?