Did you hear about the butcher who backed up into the meat grinder and got a little behind in his work? Altogether now: GROAN!

J.M.J.: No e-mail yet! I revisited the site, sent a note to info@
and asked that it be forwarded.

I listened to Joan Sutherland several times before arriving at my choices the first time around. It's incredible that Joan Sutherland still performs at this level; my jaw dropped at her stunning vocal acrobatics. I seem to remember hearing her Hi-C in the 60's. Is that possible? Also, I did notice that someone noticed that she wasn't mentioned.

After listenning to others again, I heard Jessye Norman bubble to the top. Jessye's poise, her presence, her gown (gotta mention that), her graciousness, her delicatesse (except for the openning notes)…the tops.

I do like the Scottish simplicity though, and I will hear more of Aled.

Rick George: R U at all familiar with The White Crane Institute (gaywisdom dot org) from New york?

Was that D. Skinner who was spotted with the B. of Rochester going to Eugenics 101? I hope TomPaine got wind of Skinner's ultimate solution – abortion. A real corker!

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In reply to your comment at 304. No she didn't. She was probably Dutch and had much more sense than to do that. She stuck her finger in a dyke as any intelligent woman would have done!

Grief! That remark probably offends everybody. I have no wish to offend anybody but I simply can't resist immature and schoolboyish humour. It probably means that I haven't grown up yet!

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No she didn't. She was Dutch and had much more sense than that. She stuck her finger in a dyke as any intelligent woman would!

Yikes! That probably offends everybody. I don't wish to offend anybody – I simply can't resist immature, schoolboy humour. I probably haven't grown up yet!

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Wonderful! The late lamented Spike would surely have been proud of you! Love it!

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For me it's always Jessye Norman, but that's just my personal taste, run a close second by Joan Sutherland.

No, I'm not Unitarian; I'm C. of E. (high Church and almost, but not quite, Anglo-Catholic). That revelation should give Mr. Skinner pause for thought – one can't help but wonder what invective he'll throw at me for that!

Did you get my email?

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What do you get if you cross a table-tennis ball with a larg chamber-Pot?
You get a PIN-PONG-PIDDLE-I-POE!

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John M.J.:

On second thought, it's a toss-up between Aled Jones and Jessye Norman, and yes, I have heard Joan Sutherland's version.

Call me nosey, but R U Unitarian?

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And his sac in close by her sacristy, no doubt.

Grief! Why can I never resist a bad pun?

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Early one morning, just as the sun was rising.
I heard a maid sing, in a vally below.
Oh! don't deceive me, Oh! never Leave me.
How could you use, a poor Maiden so?

Remember the vow that you made to your Mary?
Remember the Bower, where youvowed to be true?
Oh! don't deceive me, Oh! never leave me.
How could you use such a poor Maiden so?

There had to be a villan in a vivtorian song!

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The last thing he would want is to hack us to death in the womb; it just doesn't add up. I mean…what would he do, without us?

We have brought so many happy hours to his life, so much meaning and inspiration…m-m-m that sounds like a good title for a song: Me-me-me-me-me!

Marching to the beat of his own drummer, is he?

So much time alone in the desert, the dazzling heat, the blinding sun… and not a computer in sight, one mirage after another, and where's a good stenographer when you need one?

By the way, I do believe Lezabella has been patient long enough. How long does Mr. Skinner expect her to wait? She has equal rights to his attention, doesn't she?

Do you suppose Skinner has forgotten to answer Iris' post 278?

David 'Ham' Skinner, where are yo-o-o-u? We have a MEMO for you!

There I go, babblin' agin. Time for my green tea.

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"Finally I don’t know which Jesus you follow but it is not the one of the Bible. But then I forgot, silly me, the Bible is full of errors and so we cannot even believe that he even existed."

No, that is not what I said. Once again you have deliberately twisted someone's meaning to suit your own views as to what he said. There is ample evidence that Jesus Christ existed and that he preached a great gospel of love, forgiveness and tolerance – and that is the Christ whom I believe in.

What I actually said was, and to put it in plainer words, that other than deriving that great message from our ancient texts, both Biblical and non-Biblical, one would be on extremely unsound ground to assert that anything else was uncontrovertibly and absolutely true and factual.

You said:

"As for your certainty of the existence of a homosexual gene, why has it not revealed itself? Where is the proof? Describe it. And if scientists can identify and locate it, why can they not screen it out for those mothers who don’t want a homosexual baby? Surely by the time the foetus has reached 22 weeks old it would be evident and the mother would, because it is her choice- apparently, according the law- be free to abort it."

You are deliberately attempting to mislead by your implication that human genome has been fully explored – it has been fully mapped but only a tiny percentage of it has been fully investigated. Research geneticists will one day (sooner or much, much later) establish whether or not the theoretical and the statistical geneticists are correct about the gay gene and about many other genes also. So far the record of the theoreticians and the statisticians has been one hundred percent.

Further, scientists are working at screening out, as you phrase it, known genes for known illnesses and this unlikely to be possible for many a long decade yet. As for developing accurate tests for genetic deformities that can be carried out on the foetus in the womb with out there being any risk to that foetus then that too is likely to be many decades away – if it's even going to be possible at all.

Finally, you end up at another of your wilfully and deliberately misleading assertions – namely that a mother would be free to abort a foetus in which the putative gay gene had expressed itself. You know as well as I do that being gay is not regarded by any reputable medical authority as an illness and that no such abortions would be permitted under the law of this country or many other countries in the civilised world. Scare tactics, unfounded in any fact or learning, will not work at this site for this is a site where your mean and petty viciousness and your obvious hatred, as well as your twisted and illogical method or arguing, will be challenged here every step of the way by me and by many others who are more learned and skilled than I.

I'm irresistibly reminded of the little boy who just couldn't get it right in his first marching to music class. Eventually he lay down on the ground and drummed his heels on the floor in a tantrum.

"Why are you all out of step," he screamed at his classmates, "I'm the only one in step. It's you who are all wrong!"

You, Mr. Skinner, are that little boy.

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