Right. Here, especially if you work for the government, I believe it is up to five years maternity leave may be taken without pay (for men or women)

>Surprising to some I suppose, I don't disagree with you. It is the reason many women chose to sacrifice their careers to stay home and care for their children (some until they start school others until they graduate) if they can afford to. I did. I stayed home with my daughter for almost two years and wished it could have been longer. I was eventually forced back into the workforce for economic reasons. I was terrified of leaving her with someone else. After a few different daycares and caregivers, my daughter's aunt and grandma were able to take care of her while I worked. Otherwise, I may have lost my mind. However, some do not have the choice. For those who do and can, it is an uphill battle all over again when they re-enter the workforce and extremely stressful being away from their child(ren).
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>>During the second world war there was a shortage of labour. Women took up the slack and opened a few eyes to a different way of getting things done. Women realized that they could do anything a man could do. Governments and business managers also woke up to that fact. Things began to change. More and more women went to work others went to university and then to work. Soon our nations experienced the power of an almost doubled work force. The fifties and sixties were fabulous times. Economies roared ahead and consumer items were everywhere. We made a fundamental change to our society and being adaptable creatures we put a fix in place to handle the change. Now, here we are some sixty five years later. A nation of people raised by day care workers and left leaning teachers. Day care workers and teachers don't offer value to life. Gone is the warmth of a mother's love and her teachings about hard work, morality, fairness, honesty and forgiveness. Latch key kids have arrived. One of mother nature's evolutionary laws was broken by us and we pay for it with a change in our society. I think back to the early times of my life and cannot remember hearing of luntics going berserk until July 13,1966 when twenty five year old Richard Speck killed some college girls in the Chicago area. Then the Texas tower sniper comes to mind. Before those two events not much of that type of crime existed. Yes, there was organized gangster crime in the thirties. There will always be a criminal element in any society. But lost is the basic mother child bond that quietly guides us and implants some very basic and good principles for life, in our heads. Now, before you begin to club me into into submission ladies, let me state that I am a feminist. I believe in equality for all, but I also believe that a way to recover what we have lost must be restored and blended into our declining society before we get our asses kicked.
>>
>>End diatribe
>>
>>>I agree with you. There are some countries that are actually scary to walk around in.
>>>
>>>
>>>>Hi Mike,
>>>>
>>>>I come from Venezuela, which is a country that looses on average 10,000 people every year to violent crime. It's been like that for maybe some 15 years now.
>>>>
>>>>Killer sprees are mainly a US thing. I have no idea what it is with this country, but in the rest of the world, you're likely to be killed because someone wants your watch, you slept with his wife, or you wanted someone's watch and he was faster drawing his gun than you could shoot.
>>>>
>>>>Until 10 minutes ago, I thought that these sprees are part of our nation's personality, but aparently they have happened in other nations as well. Nevertheless, the US is waaaaaay ahead of the rest of the world when it comes to people who just up and decides to go out and kill others for the heck of it.
>>>>
>>>>It baffles me, that people here are extraordinarily honest, crime rates (by my standards are amazingly low - even in what you'd consider dangerous parts of town), yet, it's like the center of the universe when it comes to particularly gruesome crimes.
>>>>
>>>>I haven't been able to understand it.
>>>>
>>>>Alex
>>>>
>>>>>I don't mean the rock band, those old geezers. Although being Keef for a day would be a hell of a lot of fun.
>>>>>
>>>>>It has been suggested that the U.S is a nation of restless rolling stones. People who were dissatisfied elsewhere and came here. There is some truth to that, although it is true as well that some of them made us the great nation we are. This is not a self-hating anti-U.S, screed,
>>>>>
>>>>>There are some things that make you wonder, though. Two mass shootings in two days. They might have happened if not for the easy availability of guns, but that isn't my point, either. There may be a screw loose somewhere in our national character.
>>>>>
>>>>>We are a big country in more way than one. A certain percentage of lethal rolling stones are to be expected. But this many? High schoolers? Columbine is a well to do suburb of Denver, allegedly the American dream. And yet.
>>>>>
>>>>>We are a nation of migrants, Hispanics being the latest wave. That much is clear. Most -- all -- of our achievements have come from immigrants. And yet the issue persists. And the question persists in my mind, what kind of people have made us? Personal histories encouraged.
>>>>>
>>>>>Now this is funny. I could not possibly have scripted it. A neighbor just rang the doorbell to invite me over to watch a boxing match on cable tonight. He and his wife moved here from Puerto Rico a long time ago. Their daughter Stephanie is as American as they come. She is the captain of the HS volleyball team -- Emily is a two year teammate and probable successor -- and a burst of pure energy. She is a natural leader and was the leader of this team, not only in ability but in attitude. And she is as American as Glenn Beck. Born and bred here. Ask her what a Spanish word means and you will get a stony look.
>>>>>
>>>>>Let me revise my hypothesis, then. We are a complicated country.