Agree. I think perhaps part of the reason that so many people claim to believe this is because it's both a common tenet of the faith across many denominations, but it isn't necessarily a core belief. I mean, it's in the creeds, so I'm confronted by it at just about every service, but for churchs who don't do creeds—or…

Episcopal high five! I feel very much as you do, and I can't even really pin down why. I believe in the virgin birth and the immaculate conception (two different things, but as an anglo-catholic I've got both) because I believe in them. I understand that there's no scientific explanation for either one, and I wouldn't…

Eh, my part of California is still a sad little blue part. We've reelected our republican congressman and state legislators. I'm glad about 47—no one here voted for it but me.

Except that the comma in the first case is incorrect, and that both meanings are punctuated the exact same way.

I think there's some truth to that, but the pricing doesn't track to plus size. I've never seen anything at a plus size retailer that costs $15 except on extreme clearance. LB, in particular, prices things like a department store, but they aren't using better fabrics or even better construction to justify that price…

Hey, thanks! I don't live near a Lane Bryant anymore, but I will check that out next time I'm in a major city. I'm glad to hear that more natural fabrics are coming, because life's too short for polyester.

I sew for similar reasons, and it's amazing to me what a difference in comfort good fabric choices can make.

Thank you!

There are some beautiful things there, but the prices! I will keep them in mind.

I actually don't hate rayon—it's synthesized from a natural fiber and it does breathe, plus it drapes really well. That said, I'm sure you are right. I'm just not sure why. Is it because polyester is cheap and fat chicks don't have enough options to be choosy?

Oh god the fern print. It has to be a conscious choice, right? I buy apparel fabric for sewing, so I know you have other options than tropical hotel upholstery prints.

The most important question here is about FABRICS, not about colors or prints. Will these be made of polyester like almost everything else at Lane Bryant? If so, even if it's pretty, I'm walking. I swear, if one retailer offered stylish plus size basics in natural fibers, I'd spend my entire paycheck there are least…

No kidding. Every time I walk into Lane Bryant, I'm aghast at the prints and embellishment. It's not that I don't want to draw attention to myself—I just want to get attention because I look good, not because someone's glued rhinestones to everything I'm wearing.

Exactly! The myth that every Victorian woman was a crazy tightlacer is absolute nonsense. There were people who did use corsets to get to extremely small sizes, but they weren't the norm, in the same way that most women don't have extremely large breast implants today. Yes, it happens, but it's not common and not even…

It almost certainly never happened. Surgery in the Victorian era was incredibly primitive. Anesthesia had barely been discovered. Surgical hygiene was cutting edge technology. Even if there were women who were vain enough to risk it, you'd have been hard pressed to find a doctor crazy enough to try it. Also, 18" is…

I'm also allergic to melon and avocados. Fortunately, a couple of bad reactions has made guacamole pretty unappealing to me anyway, but I do miss watermelon in the summer something fierce.

So your argument is that a teenage boys should be able to encourage a teenage girl to have an abortion by withholding his portion of the child's financial support, even though that support legally comes from his parents, not from him (at least until he reaches the age of majority). It seems pretty apparent to me that…

She only has the right to opt out by a) having an abortion, which he can't have for obvious reasons, or b) putting the baby up for adoption, which neither can do without the consent of the other, as long as paternity is established. She can't forfeit parental rights and financial responsibility without him consenting,…

No, everyone's allowed to be dumb children, which is good, because most of us are. But for reasons that should be clear to anyone familiar with biology, a teenage boy can't insist that a teenage girl have an abortion she doesn't want, or carry a baby she doesn't want. Bodily autonomy is really important, and no one's…

Yes, of course. Teenage girls should be sure to do a full evaluation of their teenage sex partners to ensure they don't get pregnant by one of the few teenage boys who isn't ready to be a good father. Because if there's anything that teenagers are really good at, it's making good decisions, especially where hormones…