Well, for 'normal'--county jury--around here, you can expect to be called pretty much every 2 years (couldn't even tell you how many times I've been summoned for that--but at least a dozen times). Beings as I said, our county includes the most violent city in the country, the county court system is pretty busy. For that, I know they use the voter registrations, licenses and car registrations for the jury pool. You only have to serve there every 2 years. Of course, I'm speaking about the 'old' county--I don't think it's quite as active at the new place. I'm not sure how they pull the jurors for the federal system. There, too, you only have to serve if it's more than 2 years since your last summons--which it is for me. Not sure if the moving plays into that. I simply have never ever heard of ANYONE in my area getting a federal summons, so it's not THAT common, I don't think. The federal courts cover many counties, so I surely wouldn't be the only one being inconvenienced by a 40 mile drive, I guess. Oh, and serving on regular jury has nothing to do with federal, so you can't get off of federal just because you served last month at the county level. Well, we'll see. Of course, being a newspaper stringer, I think it's unlikely I'd be seated on most juries, anyway.

This has come about, the way I understand it, from the recent increase in unsafe toys and products imported from Asia, and more specifically China. It is going to just ruin more small American businesses, cottage industry and crafters who make safe products from 'natural' local resources and who cannot bear the burden of product testing for items who weren't even under suspicion and were already manufactured in compliance with already existing safety laws. The obvious place to put more restrictions is at the source of the danger, and the country who supplies the imports. All imports should be subjected to a pre-defined safety standard and bear the cost of complying with meeting them. We already have become aware of China's relunctance to work with our import inspections or allow us in country to do it at the site of manufacture........so we can't easily control that, so we 'feel better' by putting into effect a law to control 'somebody' even if they're not part of the problem. Excuse my reaction. I am a small business owner who has lived with the ever-increasing ocean of laws and quarantines when the problems in my industry have been overwhelmingly brought upon us by imports. So I watch as our ports are increasingly accepting more, and I am the one who lives with trying to contain spread of their diseases by quarantines on my stock!

Jerica, You've written practically the story of my life, only it happened to me at 40 and not 18. I'm going to back up what some of the other posters say, in that you must tread softly in relation to how you talk about his wife. Keep in mind, though, that you may be getting the blame for things that you haven't said or done. My SM is good at making things up, to the point that my dad actually believed her. I believe you've sized the situation up correctly: Your SM is jealous of the closeness you have with your dad. Women like that (and it happens with biological mothers of sons, as well) can't seem to tell the difference between the love a man has for his wife and the love he has for his daughters. In other words, she may see you and your sister as a romantic rival for her husband's affections. Sick, but sometimes true. Talk to your dad, alone if at all possible, about the situation ... that you feel estranged from him and that you would like to spend more time with him. If he seems reluctant or won't look you in the eye or is evasive, ask him point blank if there's anything you've said or done that has made him or your SM mad. This is where you have to be careful. If your SM is inventing problems for him (things that she says you've done or said), it'll be hard to listen to it and not get really angry. I made that mistake a couple of times. Now that my father is actually talking to me again, I usually wait until he tells me what my "offense" is and then I, very calmly, tell him whether or not it actually happened. Be careful, though. Me and my siblings were really close to my dad until my SM came on the scene. He allowed her to estrange him from his family ... to the point that at one point, he didn't see or speak to any of his children or grandchildren for more than two years.

Frieda, re your question about school assemblies and Jerusalem in particular. It used to be the law that every school began each day with a form of religious 'observance'. As far as I know this is still the case, although the large 'secondary' schools get round it by claiming lack of space/time etc. But junior schools, even the non-denominational ones, will have a couple of prayers and a hymn plus 'announcements'. And C of E and RC kids will probably attend weekly/occasional services in their local church. Of course these days, as your friend says we have become a far more 'secular' country plus we have had a huge influx of people bringing in a wide range of faiths, all of which are meant to be catered for within the 'Religious Education' systems of each school area. RE is still taught as a 'lesson' up to exam standard. That is certainly how I learnt the words and tunes of so many hymns. As far as Jerusalem goes. I feel the words don't mean much on their own but with that wonderfully confidant Victorian music, it would be difficult not to be moved by hearing it sung en masse . . . have you ever been/or heard the 'Last Night of the Proms' from the Royal Albert Hall and large parks around the UK when Jerusalem and Land of Hope and Glory etc are sung by the thousands in the audience? It may be considered very 'jingoistic' by the nay-sayers but it is a truly rousing sound. Below is an extract from the Last Night of the Proms. I hope it doesn't make your fillings tingle . . .luckily I, unlike millions of my countrymen have never needed any 'work' on my teeth so my head is quite amalgam-free. ;-) Here is a link that might be useful: Last Night of the Proms