I'm really sorry that happened to you. I don't think what I'm describing is like your situation though. There wasn't any lying involved, as I explained (perhaps not very well) in the original post - except concealing the identity of the girlfriend, for her safety (I understand that some men lie and describe their…

This is what I mean about not knowing what you don't know about a situation. I know all the people involved very well, including the children (and no, I am not one of the people directly involved - I don't have any vested interest in making any of these people look good or bad). And the guy - he does at least as much…

Not everyone who dates a married man is an evil home wrecker. Besides the women who don't know the man is married, I can think of other justifications where even the married man isn't a bad person.

An adolescence spent courting rugby players means that the combined smell of wet mud, man-sweat and liniment makes me weak at the knees. I know all of those things are kind of gross - but - still.... so good

I need help with this. My kids (2 and 4) watch a lot of TV. They usually do other stuff at the same time - but still... I want to cut down without it becoming a forbidden-fruit object-of-fascination thing. The one good thing about my (thus far) relaxed attitude to the TV is that they don't see it as anything special…

Males find genuine aggression costly too. It can - you know - kill them. If I recall correctly, the vast majority of male aggression, across a wide variety of species, is bluster. That is, you don't actually need to beat up another guy to dominate him; you only have to puff yourself up bigger than the other guy and…

After six days of healing and bonding, we woke up one morning to find our baby Ulysses had gripped hold of the cord and detached it by himself BECAUSE IT WAS SO SUPER-GROSS EVEN A 6-DAY OLD BABY COULDN'T ABIDE IT

I understand. It's just - I'm not American and all I know about the CPS I know from cop drama - but wouldn't the CPS be a very threatening agency for a pregnant addict? I mean, obviously a pregnant addict needs help - but I'm not sure it should be from the people who take your kids off you. And - and I said to…

I don't think you are listening. Of course having an addict parent and being subjected to drugs in utero is bad for a child. The question is, when you have a woman who is an addict and pregnant, how do you minimise harm? One option is to create conditions where an addict (a person with an illness, remember - not…

I thought we were talking about how we ought to treat the issue. Obviously it is treated as a criminal issue in some jurisdictions. I'm arguing that that is a very unhelpful approach. It is bad for the mother and for her children.

Yeah, but think it through. If the testing is mandatory and/or treatment is forced - what are the penalties for not complying? Prison? Fines (to be paid for with what?)? Having the kid taken off them? You still end up alienating an already marginalised group - and encouraging women to avoid the testing altogether.…

"Selfish need to gratify herself"? You do know what addiction is, right? Selfishly gratifying myself is buying $400 boots instead of giving the money to Oxfam. Taking cocaine because I have a disease - the main symptom of which is taking cocaine - is...... for crying out loud - I have better things to do with my time!

I've explained the difference in my reply to this post. Have a look. I explain why there is no contradiction in saying that a foetus is the kind of thing that you can kill AND saying that it is wrong to do certain things that will affect a foetus that will not be aborted.
That aside - if a pregnant woman is an addict,…

Have a look at my post on this article on the moral status of foetuses that are intended to be carried to term. I explain why even the pro-choiciest of pro-choice philosophers think there are things that it would be morally wrong to do to a foetus that is going to be carried to term (though an addict isn't doing…

This is horrifying and there should not be laws that criminalise women with addictions or that get too far up in any woman's vagina; no good can come of it.

I thought Americans were supposed to hate the French for not being part of the "coalition of the willing" - hence all the "freedom fries" palaver. I thought New Zealand only missed out on the hatred because we are are too small and insignificant and our military wouldn't have been any use anyway.

I know it's probably a bit Pollyanna of me (which is Not a Good Thing as being a pretty blond is apparently quite wrong) but the first thing I thought when I read that headline was: probably lots of people give a shit about her - she's a real person with a family and friends etc. Then to see her torn to shreds in the…

"Pot, meet kettle. You are both fucking assholes"
This is the best thing I have read today. Is it yours? Can it be mine too?