Comments on: Ask Mike: The Origin of Father’s Day

By: johnjr

johnjr — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 21:58:20 +0000

i live in fairmont wv which claims to have been the first town/ city to celebrate fathers day

By: Brittany

Brittany — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 20:50:26 +0000

An immigrant’s day.. Ellis Island day.. or something.. along those lines..

By: Bertram Bumblebritches

Bertram Bumblebritches — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 20:27:16 +0000

Anyone who has reviewed even a few of the twenty-odd major English-language studies on drug policy realises that our present prohibition policies are inconsistent with available evidence and scholarly analysis. Without exception, all of these studies conclude that the use of cannabis and other illegal drugs is not intrinsically very harmful, and that punitive and law-enforcement approaches to adult drug use should be abandoned.
Moreover, these studies, which represent many years of careful analysis and research by distinguished scholarly bodies, have refuted virtually all of the charges commonly made (still) by those who advocate prohibition policies, including the myths that cannabis is addictive, leads to harder drugs, causes schizophrenia, and destroys brain cells.
Many citations from the works could be offered, but the clarity of the evidence showing the relative safety of adult cannabis use is perhaps best reflected by recent editorials in the British Medical Journal and the Lancet, both of which called for the legalisation of cannabis. The lead sentence in the Lancet was succinct: “The smoking of cannabis, even long term, is not harmful to health.”
The problem here is not simply that politicians have ignored reports from commissions that they themselves have set up. That kind of thing happens all the time.
What is noteworthy, rather, is the positive disdain and hostility evinced toward scholarly work on drug policy. U.S. President Richard Nixon set the tone in his response to the report prepared by his own National Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse, which he had carefully stacked with conservatives and prohibitionists. After studying the evidence from all angles for two years, the Commission concluded (almost inevitably, it would seem) that cannabis is relatively harmless and ought to be legalised.
Nixon’s dismissal of the Commission’s report was brisk: “I read it and reading it did not change my mind.” As recounted by former Wall Street Journal reporter Dan Baum in his new book Smoke and Mirrors, Nixon offered no reason for his decision. None of the big newsweeklies reported on the commission’s findings. After years of emotional back and forth about the medical, legal, and social implications of the boom in marijuana use, a commission of Nixon’s own choosing recommended legalization, and the press let Nixon bury the story.

By: jason

jason — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 17:51:23 +0000

I wish I had a relationship with my Dad.
Anyone just hanging out with their dad having a good time today, is lucky. Enjoy it.

By: Jeff gordon

Jeff gordon — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 17:45:50 +0000

The thought of a mothers day without a fathers day is unthinkable. To assume that mothers are the only parents that love care for and nurture their children on a hands on basis is obsurd. With millions of fulltime stay at home dads and millions more single dads raising their kids nearly single handed, the least society can do it start to recognize the equality and start to share the recognition. Time to grow up and mature to a society that practices gender equality.
The courts are just starting to wake up to this fact, with the exception of some hardcore female judges who practice gender bias, the courts are starting to recognize that the child is not the property of the mother but both parents who created this wonder of life.

Thank You

By: Fraser

Fraser — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 14:55:25 +0000

We also need a day to recognize the people who are incarcerated for the War on Drugs and the families they leave behind to struggle.

I’m with PhillyNORML myself and here in Philadelphia over 7,000 people are arrested for marijuana charges annually. These are all different types of people who see this as medicine, to a safer alternative to alcohol, to religion, to down right stupid to be illegal. They return to a disadvantaged life in the streets.

They need a day to be recognized!

By: wendy maddy

wendy maddy — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 14:39:57 +0000

I seriously miss my war hero dad, who flew 105 missions as a tail gunner for the Army Air Force until his plane was shot down behind enemy lines in France and he received a Purple Heart for his leg wounds after they scraped him up and flew him home. He was always around home – came home after work directly, worked in his shop making violins and repairing things hours after supper, sat with us and talked to us, worked all weekend improving our property outside and inside, and parked his shoes under his own wife’s bed every night. My parents had a very loving relationship while I was growing up, and we kids, though raised in a strict, no-nonsense manner, enjoyed meals on time, a clean home, clean and mended clothes to wear, both parents in the home, mom sitting on father’s lap with their arms around each other, and family games and family tv nights and picnic outings to the beach, and camping trips, and movies once in awhile. Life’s not perfect, but they did a lot of things right in theirs. I always respected my dad and he played with us as small children, told us about the stars, and took us fishing out on the lake. Most of all, he gave us the gift of his presence in our peaceful home. More dads should be like him! He unfailingly supported us all with his hard work and enterprise. He succeeded in all the important things in life. I was lucky to have him in my life until he was 82. I will miss him and Mom forever!

By: wendy maddy

wendy maddy — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 14:33:08 +0000

i LOVE all of Honeybee’s suggestions. Now there’s somebody with a great sense of humor and fun!

Joe, your idea of friends day is a nice one, too. I tried to make every day children’s day when mine were growing up, but a special day just for them is so important – too many people just see them as a burden instead of enjoying their kids and spending time with them having a good time or working together to improve the family homestead.

By: wendy maddy

wendy maddy — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 14:28:26 +0000

Hey Julz! You’re a da..ed fool! Stop spreading this junk around. Drug addicts ARE gangbangers, growing the stuff illegally, using guns to protect their profits, driving around with mobile meth labs, blowing up their homes and garages for a da..ed drug! I worked for a pair of drug addicts who ran a school for kids. They got their pharmacy degrees so they could get all the harmful drugs they wanted free. They cooked down so much narcotic cough medicine to stay high the state shut them down and yanked their licenses. Then the mother started shoplifting small bottles of liquor and cough medicine. She had a collection of hundreds of bottles on her back porch. They had a patch of weed in the woods. Their four daughters, all highly intelligent, tried to get away from the drug life their parents dragged them into, but the most promising one, who had wanted to go to college and learn French, ended up “gardening” the weed and living at home. Their drugged up dad ran the family van into a lake one high night, and died at 50 of a heart attack from ingesting too much weed at a typical hippie festival. Their mother was arrested for her crimes and force into rehabilitation, but she just went back to her usual ways. Their home was always a wreck, and none of their children got away from the drugs in their lives. They are all doing menial jobs for hardly any money, those that are employed. It is a terrible mess, a waste of talent and intelligence, and a tragedy all around. To HE double toothpicks with drugging of ANY kind! Pot is not a gateway drug all right – it is a gigantic tragedy all on its own! Worst of all, addicts like NORML fool innocent, naive young kids into thinking that it’s “cool” to drug themselves up and ruin so many other peoples’ lives before they have even grown up enough to think critically and JUST SAY NO to all that horrible nonsense! DON’T LISTEN TO ANYTHING NORMAL SAYS! There isn’t even a valid reason to drug for pain alleviation – the other effects of this dangerous and debilitating drug are too bad to excuse that idea, and there are PLENTY of alternatives for pain relief on the market! Drug addicts are just looking, as always for excuses to use their favorite way of destroying their own lives and bring the cost down and not have to clean up and live life with clear minds and healthy bodies! Worst of all, they drag so many others down into the gutter with them! I think all addicts should be sequestered and treated for as long as it takes for them to get clean and sober. And they should be followed up for life by having to submit random monthly drug tests and be counseled all their lives to keep them straight and clean, since they are not willing or able to do it for themselves. The psychological therapy they and their families need is a big part of the answer, but they are also a scourge on our society by being allowed to influence others into a horrible, awful way of life and imminent death!

By: wendy maddy

wendy maddy — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 14:14:12 +0000

i LOVE all of Honeybee’s suggestions. Now there’s somebody with a great sense of humor and fun!