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As far as I can tell, I'm still here! I don't even have any PM's funny enough. Reading through the responses as well as what Charles said, I kept thinking "how was I able to log in?" That's beside the point though. I'm going to take statements in no particular order and address them in a probably less than complete fashion since there is so much and I only feel like wasting so much of my time. Obviously some of you have had far different experiences than I have, but I have rarely seen large families that were successful. I have however seen time and time again parents have children in an attempt to save a marriage that was on the rocks. I've seen people who obviously have something that was missing from there life try to fill that void with children. I've seen people to whom children were little more than possessions to be accumulated. I've seen people who looked at children as insurance plans ie: "when I get old, they'd better take care of me!" and who actually followed through on that attitude by constantly trying to get money or assistance from there children. In short, my personal experiences have been far different than your own, and perhaps that is unfortunate.

As for birth control, I HAVE seen people have birth control fail of course, but they do say that you should use more than one form. I can guarantee you that if my wife ever ends up pregnant, I will be having a vasectomy the very next day (although I have been considering one for some time already) and we will be waiting until I am CERTAIN I'm shooting blanks, even then we would probably still use something! I would also urge her to consider adoption with me, as there are others out there who actually want children and who should have that ability. I was adopted and I know that I have brought my parents a great deal of happiness (I don't see how, but they say its true!) My grandfather used to have a saying..."Everything in moderation" and I believe he was very much onto something. I think that attitude should be applied universally, whether it be to the money you spend, alcohol you drink, food you eat, or children you produce.

I find it interesting that everyone seems so offended by what I said. I'm a person you don't know at all, and who you know positively nothing about. The only thing you know about me is probably fewer than 1000 words that I've typed on this forum total, which is hardly enough to really know anything at all. Oddly enough we would probably ALL get along much better in real life where we could have a much more rational and reasoned discussion that included all the nuances, inflection, and greater understanding that a face to face conversation can provide. That said, as it stands...I'm just some random guy on the internet who you don't like. Why be offended by me? Just blow me off and move on, its what I'm doing about what you guys are saying! Personally you can say whatever you want about me and I won't be particularly offended because I will just right it off as "he doesn't really know me."

Ruger...funny enough, I've never been on a single internet gaming forum that I can remember (although I had a brief stay on a Sim City forum one time, when that game caught my attention for about a week.) I can generally be found on one of numerous photography or fly fishing forums where there are VERY few internet tough guys! I haven't owned a gaming console since the original Nintendo (go duck hunt!) and I generally find the people on those forums to be bothersome. Don't worry though, I'm not just an internet tough guy...I would have said the same thing in real life, we probably just would have been able to have a more intelligent conversation there where I wouldn't have come off as quite such a jerk and you guys would have understood my position better.

To the people who seem to think that I HATE Palin for her daughters failings...remember when I said this "Watching people my age have unplanned pregnancies has helped to shape my opinion of people and families involved with them. I generally consider it a failing in some form or fashion and in some degree of everyone involved." I want to stress the degree part...while I think everyone failed on some level, it was most certainly chiefly the daughters fault and the vast majority of the blame lies with her. However, I hold those who aspire to public office to a higher standard than others and if Palin can give a wonderful and energizing speech to all of America, then perhaps she could have given a thought provoking speech to her daughter that would have made a difference. I'm sure she tried but again, its the whole higher standard thing. Tonight my wife ate dinner with some friends and they watched more of the convention (I was unable to do anything more than catch bits and pieces while at work). She came back and told me what they discussed and her friends had interesting points that I had not considered. One of her friends thinks that Palin is being hypocritical by being so family values oriented while potentially taking on a job that will keep her from spending time with her youngest son who will have more needs than most. My wife pointed out that by having a child at an age where a higher risk was involved she may have unwittingly caused her child Trig's autism. Maybe, maybe not, studies I just googled show a 30% higher risk over the age of 40...but it's not terribly responsible of her or her husband. With a potential President, we need them to be as responsible as possible! I really don't hate Palin, in fact from what I know I like her better than that crackpot Obama, his bizarre and scary wife, or even McCain. I just don't have the initial excitement still with me in the first few minutes that I was learning about her. It was like hearing that a movie was AMAZING and only finding out that it was decent!

To those who still tried to be nice to me despite disagreeing, thanks! I do appreciate it, but don't worry...I can take my lumps and keep on rolling. Nobody has said anything that will make me loose any sleep at night ;) I'm on this forum because I want to find out more specific information about concealed carry in Texas and the laws, rules, and regulations of it. I'm not here to be popular and I don't particularly care if people like me, I have my opinions and I'll be sticking with them! They've been brought about by things I've seen throughout my life and my own personal experiences are the best guiding force for me. I am sorry I've led this thread so off track, I really had no idea the backlash I would incite with my initial post...in my world I was just throwing out how I felt, no big deal. Oh, and in case anyone is wondering I'm 24 and married. I know there's nothing wrong with starting young because it's what my wife and I did, although we got married because we love each other profoundly and not because she'd gotten pregnant. My wife and I won't even consider children until we are at least 30 and only then if it is financially feasible. Which basically means when we are rich because kids are extremely expensive...if I don't own a home, am completely debt free, and generating SUBSTANTIALLY more income than my expenses...I wont consider myself to be in a proper financial position to take on that level of fiscal responsibility. Not even to mention the HUGE risk of screwing up a child through shoddy parenting that I would definitely be concerned about! My mother has been on us a lot recently about having children and I've had a really hard time convincing her that we are just not interested and probably never will be. She's a "a baby is a joy that you can't understand until you experience it" kinda lady. I'm a "I love my dog and she's more than enough" kind of guy!

WOW, I had no idea that A: I could possibly cause such a stir. B: that so many people had so many freaking kids. I've never been around very many large families and the noise, commotion, and ruckus caused by them is a real turn off to me. I come from a small family and was an only child, my wife has two sisters...at least one of which was an attempt to fix a failing marriage. Her extended family tends to be much larger and younger than mine, and she has seen first hand that it can be difficult to "manage" large groups of offspring. The largest family group in my family has 3 children but the youngest of those children is 40 now. I write that one off to a generational thing. Very few of my friends and people my age are even interested in having kids, and the majority who do have them did not plan on it if you get my drift. Watching people my age have unplanned pregnancies has helped to shape my opinion of people and families involved with them. I generally consider it a failing in some form or fashion and in some degree of everyone involved. With the myriad forms of birth control available these days and a small dose of self control, it should be possible for virtually anyone with half a brain to prevent an unwanted pregnancy. At the very least I think that Sarah Palin and her husband should have done a much better job of educating their daughter on how NOT to get pregnant. I realize they may have tried their hardest and failed, but any failure by someone who may run my country worries me.

My earlier post was not at all tongue in cheek and I meant every word of it. It only takes a drive through the city to realize that while the world itself may not be overpopulated in a completely literal sense, there are definitely a few too many people. I don't think anyone can argue that we are consuming natural resources at an alarming rate and replenishing them way too slowly. I don't care that we could fit the whole world into Alaska, because you could not sustain yourself for a lifetime or even for a day on your 4 square foot plot of land, not to mention the generations to come. To think otherwise jeopardizes the futures of all of those children you know Sarcastically speaking, I'm glad to have received such a WARM welcome now. My screen name on here is the same one I use almost everywhere if it is available. It happens to be my first name, middle, and then last initial. I'd say that I'm sorry if I offended but I'm really not. I say what I feel and I mean what I say, and I feel its my prerogative to do so. Feel free to direct me to the nearest cliff to jump off of and I'm sure we can all get along. It's only the internet after all!

As for political affiliations, I'm leaning towards Bob Barr this go around, I'm not thrilled with any of them but he seems better than the rest. Yes, I do realize he his on his third marriage and most likely cheated on at least one of his wives, this does not thrill me in the least and certainly constitutes a character flaw but at least his policies will waste less of my money overall. Far more than family sizes, pregnant daughters, cheating husbands, or the war in Iraq...I care most about my money (or lack thereof).

Edit: I'm pretty sure I got called a troll (that was a first by the way, and I've probably frequented 20 or more forums over the years...top notch work there!) and a sanctimonious person of questionable parentage, background and location. I don't really get the location bit...perhaps I was being called a yankee? That one perplexes me, I was born and raised in Dallas...but if I WAS a yankee I can't particularly see that it would matter. People move so much these days it doesn't matter really what state you are from anymore. Maybe its just that I'm not country enough for you though, I'm comfortable with that though. Now, I thought you might have had something with the sanctimonious comment, but it turns out I'm not. Now I DO tend to think I'm better than most other people, so I may be a little full of myself, but I'm not terribly hypocritical which I would have to be to count as sanctimonious. I'll leave the parentage part alone, my parents would probably be upset if they new that I was inciting conflict and trouble...they tried very hard to raise me right you know

When they announced that the VP pick was Sarah Palin I at first thought "maybe I could get excited about this one". I'm incredibly un-excited about McCain, so this seemed like a move in the right direction. However, as I found out more about her my excitement waned. One of my biggest sources of frustration is the out of control breeding that is taking place. Nobody NEEDS 5 kids, I can see having 1 or 2, but beyond that your just adding more people to the world who really do NOT need to be here. The last thing I want is yet another person clogging up traffic, wasting natural resources etc. On top of that, she gave her children ridiculous names. We better not let her name anything as VP...we could end up with a Discus Library, or the State of Javelin. The worst thing though is this pregnant daughter. I don't care if teenagers have sex really, its going to happen and no amount of "parenting" can really stop it. However, she couldn't teach her to be responsible about it? That's where I draw the line. Get the kid on birth control and tell them to use some darn protection!