Posted by monablair: "What surprises me is that DillyDally suggested it be moved to Hot Topics and then went on to post a link to something equally, if not more depraved, in her thread about a CL ad leading to the murder of an expectant mom." I have repeatedly in the past pointed out that "hot topics" be discussed in the *Hot topics Forum* only to be blindsided with mockery from all sides. Since it seems that 'consensus rules' here, I guess I can learn to 'go with the flow' and join in with the postings. Why fight it right? "And this link solicited no negative comments about the information being too horrible to be posted here. Why is that?" I think people realized that I had made my point. ------ All the links the OP posted, went to stories about how a mob beat a guy rather than just calling the police with a suspicion that he was in the neighborhood walking down the street. They could have called 911 and if they "wanted to help" then followed him and kept a good eye on him until the police arrived in a few minutes to apprehend him. Another innocent man was savagely beaten the same day by those who thought they had the right guy. Today is another day and thousands of children will be raped today. None of them will get a party and a parade, or be awarded a "princess plaque". None of them have a "Little Angel Fund" set up by Bank of America. Those kids need solace just as much as this girl does and there is no one to give it to them.

Without getting sexist about the issue, now you have me thinking part of this might be a girl thing men don't understand. Men and women communicate differently, we all know that. And it starts young. Yeah, our sons and daughters both need verbal stimuli and physical stimuli. But there really is a difference in the equation. Girls and women generally need that verbal release of stress every day. Boys need a physical release of stress. I know mothers suddenly frustrated by their 10-12 y/o son's intense physical expression. Someone new to boys might be annoyed by the natural change level of aggression that comes on pre-puberty. Boys are more likely to naturally release their daily stress by wrestling with each other, hitting a ball as hard as they can, running for no reason. I've seen it with my boys. Girls have to tell stories to someone to get the feelings out. Sometimes the same story over and over again. But of course we don't make that an excuse to let our boys aggression or physical expressions run rampant. They have to learn to focus and release it in healthy ways, or without taking it out on other people. So I can see that girls need to do the same thing, learn to focus that need to release in words, without taking it out too much on the people around them. ;o) I don't think I'd get her a cell phone either. I'd get a journal. I can see that she would learn to use the talking to control you sometimes, hold you hostage just to test the limits of your patience or even if she's angry at your control over her as a parent so she flexes control where she can. I will admit to having done that a few times in my life. I remember my mother having conversations with me about how I was using words to control other people's feelings. So I think the trick would be to recognize when 1)she truly needs to be heard, 2)when she's manipulating you, and 3) when it's casual conversation that only seems manipulative b/c you're worn out from your own day before she even saw you. My 13 y/o is a boy and doesn't do the talking thing. But he does the physical bully thing to his siblings. I send him outside to release that energy in a better way. He is learning to recognize in himself the energy building in him that will either come out as anger or controlled with exercise. My 10 y/o is a boy, too, and is starting to feel that physical energy he doesn't know what to do with. DD is only 7, but talks a lot, especially in the car! Sometimes when the AC is running I really cannot hear what she is saying. I had to tell her the other day I can either listen to her or run the AC, "Is what you're saying important enough to let the car get hot?" It wasn't. LOL, she chose the AC. Sometimes at home I've sat and listened to her for 20 minutes. But then it's like it encouraged her and she doesn't stop, she follows me right to the bathroom door and keeps talking. I have to tell her "It's not your turn anymore." Or if I'm trying to get dinner going and can't pay attention to so many things at once, or the kitchen noises make it impossible to have conversation at the same time, I just tell her "Is this really more important that our family having some dinner?" She needs to learn when it can wait. I think this sounds like an issue of family dynamics. While you don't want to let one member's habit control the family dynamics, you can't let resentment of that person's habit control the family dynamics either. You have to be careful not to generalize and define that person by that one annoying habit.

Firemans wife, I wish you all the best. I am really debating on whether or not to make a web page with all this crap that's gone on for 7yrs now. See, I wasn't in the picture in 1995 when the kids were removed and my spouse was very lax about the CS thing. When I came in the picture in 1999 and they started taking out money AGAIN from his check (they'd stop and start CS over and over) we went to the office and he signed an affidavit so I could have access to his case. It wasn't until then that things started getting done. I like to think that if I had been around in 1995 this wouldn't have gone on for so long...but the fact remains that they (attorney general) had access to any and all court documents that were issued out of Montgomery county. They've had this all along but didn't bother to look into it. His file is literally 6inches thick. The attorney that represented the state of texas didn't even bother to crack the folder. Each time we went to court (4 times since Jan) there was a different attorney. I hope everything goes well for you but be prepared for anything to happen. We thought it was all over and done with...then the judge gave his ruling. I was suprised to say the least and so angry that when I got home I called all the newspapers and television stations. I've received 4 phone calls back from different different news stations that want to do investigative work. Oh...did I mention that I taped conversations when we went into the AG's office? Yup, got them talking in circles...saying one thing and doing another. We're still debating on whether or not to go with the television stations. I'm to the point where I'm so exhausted of living in the middle of all that mess and I really shouldn't even be posting about it because it just gets me all worked up again. The more I think about it, the more I think I'll scan our court documents and transcribe the recordings, make a web page and be done with it...that way it'll be out of my system for good and I can tell the entire world at one time without having to go back into that 'mode' I was in for so long when we were dealing with these incompetent morons.

To answer the question - it never even dawned on me to think about what arsenic did to teeth, but that dream was SO startling and I'm not 100% sure it was a "dream" - per se. I was in that almost-but-not-quite asleep place when I was startled by Addie rushing up to me and as she got VERY close, she bared her teeth and she said - urgently - LOOK AT MY TEETH and I did and that was the end of the dream. However, it sure woke me up! I do feel strongly connected to Addie and I am not sure I can even articulate why. For decades, I've carried ONE old photo around with me from house to house (and marriage to marriage...) and it's the picture of Anna Hoyt Whitmore - Addie's older sister. One day I walked downstairs and into my dining room (where this picture hangs) and I feel like I heard someone say, "You're on the right track. Don't give up. Keep going forward with this." I really do feel almost a calling to see where this leads. If I had the money, I'd have her exhumed, but it's not just the cost of exhumation, but also the legal fees. An exhumation would have to be court ordered at this point, and that's where the serious dough will come in. Down deep in my bones, I know that Addie will rest in peace when the truth is revealed. And that furniture of my father's - oh boy - that's another story but now we're learning that there's a better than 50% chance it came from Enoch's HOUSE!!!! Can you believe it? We always heard from Father that it was an exhibition piece and I wasn't even sure what that meant. We also knew it was made in the mid-1890s. We also knew that it came into my Father's life when he was 13 or 14 (about 1933 or 1934). Two weeks ago, I was talking with the owner of The Fargo Mansion (B&B) and he said that Enoch Fargo would tell anyone who'd listen that all his furnishings were "exhibition pieces" from the 1893 World's Fair (in Chicago). That perked up my ears. And then the B&B owner said, "In the 1930s, Mattie Hoyt Fargo (Wife #3) decided to sell the house (Enoch died in 1921) and she invited the Hoyt family into the house to take whatever they wanted out of the house. We understand that Mattie's sister and cousins pretty well cleaned the place out." Well, my father's grandmother was Anna Hoyt (cousin of Mattie Hoyt) and that was like the missing puzzle piece! So now I *suspect* that my father's furniture might have come from the Fargo mansion. Rose