British Same-*** Couples Can Now Legally Adopt Children:

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Luigi my old Cheese, I wouldn't have expected anything other from you, you're obviously a man of Compassion *

It's not a matter of compassion or tolerance.
It's the facts.

Dear Fritz.................hope you'll have a good new year.
Heartly from freezing mountains.

Gianluigi

You too Luigi, me old walker of the high Peaks & Troughs


I have just made an executive decision, and have decided to stay at home this evening for the first time ever since being here in Berlin City. I have everything I need here, and can save spending a fortune doing the same thing (not smoke cigarettes) and watch the fireworks from my window, with some good music, and maybe a good movie later too, to help the Champagne go down, innit ***

That Smiley above, was the last one that I will ever use on this forum Old Bean, as like Our Mick, I am a man of my word ! **********

I'm still struggling with the worry that anyone rattling off messages to a HiFi forum on New Year's Eve is somehow rather sad. I am slowly working my way through a second 75cl bottle of Bishop's Finger with Mrs Nime "having a lie down" after three days of continuously clearing snow. So we are now in the twilight zone....

The poor old cat insisted on his usual evening stroll despite the snow and is now surrounded by the Danish equivelant of WW1. The poor sod gets very anxious at the sound of fireworks or thunder (or indeed DVD action films). But he usually triggers the security lights on his return so we may yet save him from the terrors yet to come.

Same as my old doggy.
She was terrified form the bloody bombs my "brain dismantled" neighbour is use to fire on this night.
I'm attacking the third wine bottle.
But Bach (J.S.) seems to make it easier to swallow!
HICK!

OPS!!!!
Dear Nime!
A good new year to you and your wife as well!

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Originally posted by Tarquin Maynard-Portly:

quote:

Originally posted by Nime:
Mick is to punctuation as a horse is to ..... ;-)

Finishing sentances?

'I can type in wank, fuck and fart.'


But can you type in sentences Tarquers me old Soldier? **** * ***


Yes Nime! cats and fireworks do not mix, my friends new 7 month old fox terrier is doing well here so far too, though she's a little cracker in her own right (the dog that is *), innit *


They're Whizz-Banging all around as we write *

Phritz!

Are you alone?

We should be told! *

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Originally posted by Nime:
Phritz!

Are you alone?

We should be told! *

Berlin Fritz is never alone *

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Originally posted by Tarquin Maynard-Portly:
£100 to the charity of your choice if you can refrain from smilies for a month. £100 to my choice if you fail.

Regards

Mike

How about the European Society for Berlin Fritz's Monthly Internet Bills Fund?

Smilies are a point of choice, I think personally they are a very good thing, I mean if you send an alien race (Scousers or the Welsh for instance) a picture of a beautuful smiling Woman/Man, they'll be more inclined to see reason than if you blind them with a score from Cats, innit.


The Chief's neighbours have just rang me to ask if he is indeed related to the Flodders? **


I love pissed squaddies me, they're soooo predictable *


Where the fuck's Charlton Athletic anyway *

i cant adam and steve it why the fact that gay couples werent 'allowed' to adopt children before, the criteria is to provide a loving, safe enviroment...why did any one ever think that one man ( single parent ) can provide this enviroment, but if there are two men ie, double the previous miniumn..they cant provide a stable home?

and please dont bore me with ignorant cliches about kids having to explain their two daddies in the playground and surviving bullying-lots of kids with with hetrosexual parents suffer bullying!

there is only one predjuice about gay men becoing foster parents and I wont dignify it with bandwidth!

Bravely put!

If only I knew a polite term for the plural of the abbreviation for inadequate heterosexuals I would qualify my reaction with my own observations.

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Originally posted by Voltaire:
i cant adam and steve it why the fact that gay couples werent 'allowed' to adopt children before, the criteria is to provide a loving, safe enviroment

I think the concern is that it isn't an ideal, balanced environment. Kids could loose sight of the fact that sexual reproduction requires opposite sex couplings.

I think kids need to mature a little before being exposed to homosexuality - or indeed sexuality of any sort.

EW

Earwicker

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I think the concern is that it isn't an ideal, balanced environment. Kids could loose sight of the fact that sexual reproduction requires opposite sex couplings.

I think kids need to mature a little before being exposed to homosexuality - or indeed sexuality of any sort.

You are surely not serious with this post!

I'm speechless if you are!

Doug

Don't they have bike sheds for learning "the facts of life"? Is one to assume that homosexual couples are incapable of articulating "the birds and the bees" in a sympathetic manner?

I'm merely pointing out that married opposite sex couples are the ideal for bringing up kids. Let's not loose sight of the fact that male/female copulations is where babies come from, NOT male/male ones.

I'm not saying that same sex couples shouldn't be allowed to adopt, but it should be a last resort.

EW

It might lead to a reduction in homophobia in the long term? Though I doubt the numbers involved would have much effect. Let us not forget that the partners will be carefully vetted before they are accepted as adoptive parents.

Earwicker

Refering to the answer I gave earlier I'd suggest parenting skills are a more important arbiter of suitability than what the parents do in bed.

To me your argument is (hopefully unintentionally) homophobic.

Doug

quote:

Originally posted by Dougunn:
To me your argument is (hopefully unintentionally) homophobic.

My comments are certainly not intended to offend, although I do, to some extent, have a phobia of having sex with other men - no thank you!

I can't pretend I'm comfortable with the idea of two men raising kids though - not least because I consider it to be women's work! I'm always a bit suspicious of men who want to be with kids... why? What for??

EW

quote:

Originally posted by Earwicker:
I'm not saying that same sex couples shouldn't be allowed to adopt, but it should be a last resort.
EW

You just provided me with an image of a row of good looking kids being adopted one by one until the elephant kid at the end of the line is the only one left. Time to call in the gay couple........

I know thats not how you meant it but surely its either acceptable or its not?

I dont know the statistics but I would bet that even after balancing the ratio of same sex vs opposite sex parents, more unbalanced kids come from opposite sex parented homes.

Producing a child obviously requires very different skills to raising one so why should the ability to produce one be criterion for adopting?

Merto

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Producing a child obviously requires very different skills to raising one so why should the ability to produce one be criterion for adopting?

Well put.


Earwicker

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I can't pretend I'm comfortable with the idea of two men raising kids though - not least because I consider it to be women's work! I'm always a bit suspicious of men who want to be with kids... why? What for??

Just stop now mate, you are just digging a deeper hole . . . .

Doug

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Originally posted by Dougunn:
Just stop now mate, you are just digging a deeper hole . . . .

Which bit don't you like? The bit about women being better with kids than men?

Ignoring the issue of homosexuality entirely, I reiterate that there's something suspect about grown men who want to be with kids. I think back to the blokes who used to teach me when I was at primary and middle school. They were strange and generally vindictive. It is a woman's job.

I am a man, and, like most of my fellow men, I don't like being near kids. I can't stand that noise they make, I don't like the smells, I don't like being hassled.

Now, when two grown men tell me they want to adopt a kid, I ask myself why?

Maybe under the right conditions it's better for the child than not being adopted at all, but it's still non-ideal behaviour, as we say in chemistry.

EW

Earwicker

I'm sorry to hear you did not have positive experiences of male teachers in your younger days . . that is a shame.

However do you not think your assertion that childcare "is a woman's job" is narrow and sexist?

Worse still, to believe that "there's something suspect about grown men who want to be with kids" is a depressing and IMHO thoroughly unpleasant assertion.

For what it's worth the company of children doesn't float my boat either but I wouldn't dream of suggesting that for those who do enjoy it there is anything sinister or unpleasant about it.

Doug

quote:

Originally posted by Dougunn:
However do you not think your assertion that childcare "is a woman's job" is narrow and sexist?

Well it is, up to a point, yes.

But I sense that small kids feel more comfortable with women than men. And women are better at looking after kids than men, on the whole. Men, I suggest, don't make very good mums, and kids need mums.

Of course, by the very fact that a child needs adopting at all, we see that things are already not as they should be; but I can't help thinking that in allowing same sex couples - especially men - the right to adopt, we are putting their right to... er... oh I don't know, possess a child, above the right of the child to have a normal healthy upbringing and a mum.

Like I say, perhaps under the right circumstances being brought up by two blokes might be better than being raised in an institution, but it remains a fair old compromise.

EW

I remember as a kid at school the teasing that went on when parents werent married. However, society has moved on in such a way that simply living together is perfectly normal and acceptable these days and it is no longer anything odd to the kids.
Once the adults stop sounding off about these issues, especially in front of the kids, then it may just be that there will be less to tease about. Remove the taboo and you remove a lot of the curiosity. The first generation or two will undoubtedly be teased but by the time they in turn become parents, it will be more of a non issue and the kids will be back to teasing those with big ears and buck teeth.
By the way, I do like spending time with kids, I am not married and am not gay but I resent and reject entirely any assertion that this implies anything sinister. The very thought that someone could make an assumption like that is sickening in itself and those whose minds tend in that direction should perhaps do a little self analysis.

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Originally posted by Tarquin Maynard-Portly:
I see no such accusation, Merto.

M

I dont refer to a specific accusation but the following quotes from Earwicker seem to represent implication. Perhaps I misunderstood.....?
Quote `Ignoring the issue of homosexuality entirely, I reiterate that there's something suspect about grown men who want to be with kids.` Unquote
Quote `I'm always a bit suspicious of men who want to be with kids... why? What for??` Unquote

Beautiful girl, congratulations!