Roe v. Wade...For Men??

What happens when a man finds out his girlfriend is pregnant after making it clear he didn't want children and being told she couldn't get pregnant to begin with? This is a rising debate as a lawsuit is being prepared by the National Center for Men in defense of a man who is having exactly this problem. See the full article from USA Today.

There are definitely so many factors that play into this that I think it will take some serious looking at. Whatever comes of this will be quite interesting, though. If this case gets some ground, my fear would be...how many men would then try to use this argument to get out of having to pay child support? It will start to become a major "he said, she said" problem too.

Honestly, I think the whole child support system needs to be revamped anyway (as does the welfare system...but that's another story). In defense of the honest men, there are many who are trying to do the right thing in paying child support, but are being taken advantage of. For example, in a situation where the mother is clearly not fit to raise a child, why is it so hard to award custody to the father if he is a good and decent man? I know the argument of the woman having the right because she gave birth...but clearly, after there is a child brought into this world, shouldn't the well-being of that child be of utmost importance? What ends up happening is the unfit mother usually keeps the child and then the father, in a way, gets pulled into providing well over his share of the deal. And, to me, that's just not right.

What it comes down to for me, however, is that this will not, and should not, be an easy decision for the courts to make. I don't yet really know how I feel either way on the issue when there is deceit on the woman's part...which is what is being claimed in the above article. It's a sticky situation, for sure.

What do you think?? Please share your thoughts.

Am I a Music Snob?

Okay, so if you were reading carefully in my previous post, I talked about how some family members have never heard of many music groups that I listen to. This seemed to be the general concensus on Christmas Eve. So, here's what happened. Before my cousins and I opened our polyanna gifts, the kids were playing some music on the radio. A song by the pop group Fall Out Boy came on and, immediately, my younger pre-teen cousins as well as my 17-year-old sister, Kelli, started singing along and professing their love for their music. I just kinda rolled my eyes and made some kind of noise that showed my obvious distaste...Kelli immediately starts questioning me, "What, Col, you don't like them?...What's wrong with them?"...and so on.

Now, fast-forward to about 45-minutes later...the polyanna gift-opening has begun and it is my turn to open. On top of the packages is what appears to be a wrapped CD...so, I go for that first. I have about half of the paper off when I see the words "...Out Boy" appear under the partially-ripped paper. I immediately freeze and carefully look over to my Aunt Mary who does all the wrapping for her kids' polyanna gifts. She wasn't paying attention at the time, so I lean over to my cousin Julianna (Aunt Mary's daughter) and say "Jules, is this gift supposed to be for me from Frankie, or is it supposed to be for Kelli from you?" She stammers (knowing full well that I didn't like this group) and then whispers something to her Mom. Aunt Mary instantaneously pipes up that she must have gotten my CD mixed up with the one meant for Kelli. So, of course, everyone had a good laugh at my expense...Kelli found it hilarious that I received a CD of a group I had slammed not an hour before. When I finally got the right CD, it was The Shins, Chutes Too Narrow...this led to even more snickers and questions from the peanut gallery..."What's a Shin? Are they anything like 'The Elbows?'" So, Kelli starts spouting off that I am a music snob because I like bands like Pearl Jam, The Beatles, Neil Young, Death Cab For Cutie, The Who, etc... My Dad immediately backs me up and says, "She just has good taste in music...she gets that from me..."

So, what do you think? Is there such a thing as a music snob? Am I one?