I did not "see the light", Sean. I've never wavered on this one. At all.

"70 miles down the road with 2 adults and six kids crammed in a Buick LeSabre isn't practical, Dan."

So one adult stays home with 5 of the children, the other drives the one needing a checkup to your medical professional of choice. It's a trade-off between whats important to you. There are always excuses but you made the case that there were no options.

I'm not splitting hairs with you here Gid, but there are always options, whether or not they appear practical, what's more important to you? Being asked a question by a stranger they have no business asking? Or seeing a medical professional you trust and commuting the extra distance for that privilege.

"The "solutions" you offer work in urban America, but not always in rural America."

You choose to live in a rural area. Nobody made that choice for you. You choose to not vaccinate your children, nobody made that choice for you. You choose to home school your children. Again nobody made that choice for you. Each choice you, I, anybody makes, has consequences good and bad, intended and unintended.

"You really don't have any idea what it's like for a lot of Americans, Dan."

Do explain what that is supposed to mean beyond being extremely insulting. As a matter of fact, I have been an American all my life, so I don't know what the fuck that is supposed to mean, and how exactly it is I know another group of people better, or Americans any worse then you, or then I, should. Do explain.

I have found that you consistently are changing the issue over and over and over again. From one being of invasion of privacy, to being about what's wrong with society, professionals, government officials, and everybody else in general. That's fine. But I can see little more then excuses and petty wish that things were different then they are. It is precisely because society is what it is, faulted, dangerous, and self-destructive at times, sometimes more often then not, that doctors are asking questions to assess risk factors in confidence with patients.

You don't like it, great, fine. Nor do I, but short of changing society, withdrawing from society, or going on a we-must-change society rampage, making the world perfect for everybody, I'm content to do the best I can, as I believe are you. As I believe are the medical professionals doing their job as their conscience and ethics dictate.

You don't vaccinate your kids, your choice, but also one that the general consensus thinks, puts your children at great risk. As for the homeschooling bit, granted I didn't go through your experience, but I have encountered zealots and people who think it's their way or the highway, as I have said before you will find zealots in all lots of life, but carrying that experience over above it's own weighted measure into everything else i.e. We have become Nazi's, or some such is just lunacy.

Do explain what is so different about living rurally and in a city. Aside from the lack of noise, congestion, traffic, violence, and the excess of manure outside city limits. Do you take it that I have never traveled outside the city limits of Appleton?

Personally, I don't own a gun because I'd use it. The prospect of spending the rest of my life in a small gray room (despite not sounding too different from my life anyway) does not appeal to me. Besides, those guys won't even slip on latex before telling you to roll over.

That's called "personal" control! I have a friend who says he would never want a CCW permit. When asked why he said, "I'd want to shoot "every" stupid person I saw! And that being the case, I'd NEVER be able to have enough ammo!".

Damn straight, Dan. We should just remove all medical care completely from rural areas, those people were stupid enough to move there.

You're right, Dan. We made a horrible mistake moving here. We're finding that out. But when we moved, we had little choice but to move, something you'd have known if you were here and reading my blog at the time. It was that or basically homelessness, because you can't pay $1000 a month rent with a $7 an hour job. It's financially impossible, in case you hadn't noticed. We chose here because it was the most attractive option, and, frankly, the people appeared to be nice when we met them.

I realize you have all the answers, Dan. I realize that if people would just be like you, the world would be perfect. But we're not all like you and you haven't marketed your "be like Dan" course on the Oprah show, so we're a long ways from it. And I realize if I would just do what I'm told and not view myself as an individual with rights, I'd be a lot better off. But until you and your comrades take over the Kremlin...err, I mean White House, you've got no right demanding I conform to your image.

Dan,

The area where we are living isn't that place. When we moved out to Nevada, it wasn't the case. The real estate market literally shot through the market WHILE WE WERE there...A crystal ball would have helped, but, umm, those don't exist.

While we're at it, why don't we chastise those morons who lived in Oklahoma during the dust bowl? Or the idiots in Ireland during the potato famine? I have worked to raise and take care of my family, Dan, something you know NOTHING about, a fact that is GLARINGLY obvious in every one of your posts. Granted, not every decision we've made has been the best, but we do the best with what we have. You are absurd enough to state that because we live in a rural area, we DESERVE substandard health care, and we DESERVE to be isolated from these choices.

This article was about a doctor asking a child about guns in her house, Dan, something far beyond the doctor's area of concern. Defend it all you want, but what you are defending is unconscionable, and antithetical to the values on which our nation was established. Period.

I stand up for the things I believe in, Dan, and I do so passionately. As do you, obviously. Why is it wrong when I do it and right when you do it? The answer's pretty clear. Because you have all the answers and anyone who thinks differently is an idiot, right? I've veered no further off topic than you have, Dan. I offered illustrations that supported what KFC was saying, that was all. But you know better, because at twenty something you've really been around the block, right?

I know you were in high school when columbine happened. Which means either you're in about your mid 20's or you flunked a heckuva lot. And I know you're too smart for the latter to be an option. And I also know that there is a lot you DON'T know at 20 something, even when you're sure you do (it's called "been there, done that").

Dan, you are a gnat. This will be my last response to you. You're not worth my attention.