1.? What was the silliest thing an adult told you to do as a child?

My mom used to tell me not to undress in front of the window because someone might look in to watch me. We lived in a rural area surrounded by cornfields, although our house was in the middle of cleared acre, with only 1 neighbor within half a mile. And that neighbor was an elderly woman.? The chances of someone driving out to a house in the middle of nowhere, creeping up over half and acre with no shrubbery or trees to hide behind, for the slim chance of catch someone undressing in front of a window for 2 minutes, was pretty much non-existent. My mother used to worry about all kinds of things, and pass those worries on to me, that I now realize as an adult were extremely unlikely to be a concern.

2.? Should preoperatve transexuals be allowed to compete in women's sporting events?

Generally no, although I’m OK with each sports sporting body deciding the rules for their individual sport.

I think only in cases if any physical advantage conferred by being a biological male would not be a concern, should preop transwomen be allowed to play on women’s teams. Like chess (but I guess that isn’t technically a sporting event.) Or darts, shooting sports, car racing, maybe volleyball teams, if each team had equal numbers of biological women and transwomen.

Now if we are talking transmen wanting to play in women’s sports….that is trickier. Taking testosterone would definitely give them an advantage, and that would be against the rules in most sports, but a transman is not going to have the biological advantages that a biological male would have.

3.? ?Should politicians be required to say out loud without a crib sheet the cost of a loaf of bread at the average supermarket?

Haha, no. First, the cost of bread is going to vary widely by area of the country. It will vary widely even by city vs rural grocery stores located just a few miles away.

Also, I have no idea what the average cost of a loaf of bread costs, many people don’t because 1) their spouse (and/or teenage children in my case) do a majority of the grocery shopping ?or 2) bread is considered more of a necessity than a luxury item, so if people are going to buy bread regardless of the cost, they may not bother to even look at the cost. This is true for me on the rare occasions I’m in the grocery buying bread….I will check the cost for soda, and look for sales in the frozen dinner departments, but milk and bread I’m going to buy regardless of cost, so I don’t check what they cost.

I think a politician should be aware of inflation, real wages, and the general percentage that the average or median person in their district is paying for necessities such as groceries, housing, healthcare. I see nationwide, the median income is $37,500 and the average person is spending 11% of that on groceries…although its not clear what size of households they are talking about. I’d expect a politician to be able to get more precise figures for the area of their state that they are serving.

4.? Should mailings about controversial subjects be subject to control under federal mailing laws?

There are already regulations concerning pornography and other sexually explicit mailings. Although I suppose most mailing of that type now deal over the internet, rather than through postal mail.

I think it would be difficult to define “controversial” for the purpose of other mailings. Religion can be very controversial…should all religious mailings have an age warning on them? That seems ludicrous, since minors are not prohibited from participating in the vast majority of religious services and practices. I’m actually not aware of any law prohibiting minors from participating in any religious ceremony, certainly they are allowed to drink alcohol during communion and smoke peyote during Native American ceremonies—even though they would not be allowed to do either outside of a religious context. ?

And as with pornography, I think any “controversial” subject would be far more accessible over the internet, than through postal mail.

So unless there something I’m missing, I would be against federal mailing laws being put in place over controversial subjects.

5.? Is the war in the Middle East about to expand?

I hope not. I honestly think its equally likely to go either way at this point.

Rhonda
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