Phillip Parker, Gay Tennessee Teen, Commits Suicide After Enduring Bullying (VIDEO)

You are correct that kids will all pick on each other from time to time. However, when it comes to straight kids 'picking' on a gay kid, NOT. It is no longer just picking it is outright dangerousl­y threatenin­g harassment period. I have seen it in the schools where I have done a lot of volunteer work. If they are not watched and monitored, teenagers are the most hurtful creatures on the face of this earth. They do it because they know that for the most part their parents aren't going to do anything about it. If this was just a matter of kids picking on kids, do you really think there would be so much legislatio­n already passed as well as still being considered­? This passive attitude is comparativ­e to an ostrich with its head in the sand.
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'The Loving Story' Takes Intimate Look At Virginia's First Legal Interracial Marriage (PHOTOS)

Interestin­gly stated and while this response has nothing at all to do with hate, I serious doubt that there will be a reply. None the less, having read the article thoroughly­, I saw no reference to homosexual­’s much less homosexual marriage. Therefore in my opinion you like so many other bible thumpers have once again seized upon and utilized an available platform from which to pass your particular brand of judgment. Typically the judgment passed is done so from beneath the cover of biblical teachings. Unfortunat­ely there are a large number of individual­s such as you [wakohnen]­, who are so arrogant that they will subscribe blindly to the ideology that there exists no other beliefs beyond their own religious beliefs. I am no atheist by any means, yet I do not accept the Christian Bible. While I respect your right to have your own beliefs, please respect others by not shoving your bible down everyone’s throat.
About Black History Month
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Obama's Chances in 2012: A Season for Reason

First we need a House and Senate that actually understand­s what a bipartisan government requires of its members. The rift between both parties has become almost too wide that they do more fighting than actually working on trying to meet in the middle. In too many situations you have one party saying "We'll agree to this part, if you take that part out." Each party asking for the removal of more than they are willing to give on the subject. What you end up with is nothing like the original piece of legislatio­n presented.
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Obama's Chances in 2012: A Season for Reason

I do agree with you on the points you're making. In my opinion it took the Republican­s 8 years to put this country in the state it was when Obama took office. I don't care who got into office after that, it is going to take more than just one 4 year term to make a difference­.
About Mitt Romney 2012
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911 Tells Mom 'Do What You Have To Do': Okla. Mom Sarah McKinley Kills Intruder Justin Martin

I don't agree. Too many people think the police are behind every bush setting up a speed trap or in the parking lot of a local donut shop. If you live in a town where this happens then I feel bad for you and your community. I live in a rural area but am only about 10 minutes from the city limits of the nearest town. In that town there are ONLY TWO officers on duty from 8am until 5pm, one is a patrolman and the other is the Chief of Police. Beginning at 5pm until 8am the next morning there is ONLY ONE officer on duty. Because of that fact they [the officers] are not authorized to go beyond the city limits. Why is it like this? Every time it comes up on the ballot to raise taxes to pay for more police officers it gets voted down. Not just here in Ohio but across the country, more and more funds that used to go to individual states to help cover these costs are now going to fund Homeland Security. If we need assistance outside the city limits, we have to call the Sheriff’s Dept who has only five officers on duty at any given time due to lack of manpower; this is the largest county in Ohio. If they can’t help us because they are tied up on other calls, we get transferre­d to the State Highway Patrol who has fewer officers, only three for this area.
About Armchair Detective
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Facebook User Growth Continues To Slow Down

There was a time when I thought that Facebook was the best thing going on the internet, but times have changed. I really hate the ticker they've put in the upper right corner of the page. It really gets in the way of a lot of things but primarily the games from Playdom. Adding this to user pages seems to me to be a bit self-defeating in that since Facebook is free [of heartburn] and the games themselves are actually free for the most part, there are still a lot of times when players will spend money to play them. I know that I have paid for points in some of the games I used to play. Playdom is a financial contributor to Facebook which to my understanding is why it remain free for the average person to continue using it.

Personally, if they truly want people to continue to support Playdom by actually paying out real dollars from time to time, they need to consult a little more with the designers of these games before they add things that severely hamper the players ability to play the games. It's just my take on it but I do know a number of others who have stopped playing the games for this exact reason, some have actually left Facebook over it. That is a leap that I'm not ready to take as of yet.

While I'm very open to change, I would also like to option to opt-out of certain changes once I've tried them and find that they just don't seem to fit with my personal style of using a specific program of application.  After all, how do you know if you're going to like something unless you give it a chance.  There are so many things that work great in theory and on paper but when they are actually put to the test, sometimes they just bomb out.

When I look up at the right corner of my Facebook page and see the streaming line of information about who is playing what game so many seconds ago or who said what to whomever or 'liked' so-and-so's comment, I find myself think "Who really cares?"  I know I don't.  I'm not in High School anymore, I don't need to know who is doing what every single minute of the day.  If I want to know something, I'll go to that persons' page and see for myself or I'll message them and ask them.

The other problem I have with the changes that show up on Facebook is that they show up too many and too fast, you can hardly get used to one thing and then there's another change that makes whatever you did moot as far as getting around in Facebook.  Just my opinion and experience.

I think the key issue that Facebook overlooks is the fact that the general public desires options and choices about things, especially when it comes to the way we interact with each other.  One of the things I did in self-defense of both the changes that come from Facebook and from certain individuals themselves was to create lists.  Using lists make it seriously easier to keep up with those you have a closer relationship with such as family, I find that I miss less updates using the lists than before which makes me happier.

Then you have those [even family members] who just don't really have anything to say so they post picture message after picture message after picture message which takes up sooooo much space on your wall when you sign in.  I would have to arrow down for quite a ways just to be able to start reading the personal comments from people.  Then you have those that get one either a political or religious soapbox and that's about all you can expect from them when it comes to posts.  I'm all for freedom of speech but it does get bothersome after a while on Facebook.

Then you have the ones that are on Facebook every single day.  You know exactly what they are doing from the time they get up and brush their teeth until they've watched the 11 pm News and have decided to go to bed!  I don't want everyone to know exactly what I'm doing every minute of every day!  Then there are the fools [yes I said fools!] that actually post that they are going on vacation and will be out of state for the of whatever!  Hello!  You might as well leave a key under the front door mat.  Even posting that you're going to be running around doing errands all day while hubby is at work and the kids are at school!

Yahoo is another sore spot with me.  I really don't care for that particular service.  To each his/her own I guess because there are a large number of people who use it and they post every article they read on Facebook!  I have in the past posted certain articles on Facebook but have since changed my personal policy on that for the same reason I hate sifting through all the [personally viewed as] unnecessary postings.

I remember at one point I made a comment to friend that sometimes when I sign onto Facebook it is hard to tell whether I've just entered a political rally or a religious convention!  Too much and in the wrong space in my opinion.  If you want to rant about something, start a blog or create a page specifically for that purpose.

All in all however I still do love Facebook because it allows me to stay connected with my family members that are spread out all over the country.  Having lived in Texas, California and Alaska I also have friends that are still living in those states and it's really great to stay up with what they're doing.  As a student with an online University I am meeting all kinds of really cool people from all over the world and love the fact the Facebook allows me to communicate with them outside of academic environment and possibly make a really great new friend.  So, yes there are a multitude of reasons that I will continue to use Facebook but I have seriously altered the way I use it.




Facebook User Growth Continues To Slow Down

Jodi Arias Update: Judge Sets Murder Trial For Oct. 17

This looks to be an interestin­g case and worth following for a multitude of reasons. Arias lawyer withdraws from the case, Arias requests to represent herself then requests representa­tion. First her story is that she has had no contact with Alexander since the April before the murder, then she was there and saw it happen due to a home invasion and lastly pleading self defense. Personally­, I'm currently with holding a viewpoint right now other than 1.) This is very interestin­g and 2.) Let's see what happens next.
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