Cleo's Mom

You're acting like a 16 year old The crap you're spewing You sound ignorant You are sadder with every post You screwed up WTF is wrong with you. Get over yourself You are an elitist of epic proportions You have zero class whatsoever The above are your insults to me personally but I didn't report you. I guess I hurt your feeling and you reported me.:sad: Boo hoo. Well have fun arguing with yourself.

Those who have come on R&R know that I am a political poster. I am an unapologetic, liberal leaning, progressive democrat. I have posted about many political topics but I would like to summarize my views. I support the middle class and working class. The union movement and the government programs that resulted from it helped create the middle class. And these people are largely democrats. The republicans have never done one thing for the middle class and everything that you enjoy in your standard of living and workplace is a result of democrats. I have said that there are 4 R's of republicanism: rich, racist, red-neck and religious right. That is not to say that everyone in the republican party is one of these. They aren't - but if you are one of these you are more likely to belong to the republican party than the democratic party. I had an entire thread about republican hypocrisy and not one post was refuted. Sure there are examples of democratic hypocrisy but not on the large scale as in the republican party. They will talk about cutting the deficit while raising the deficit with tax cuts for their wealthy donors. The new republican congress talks of nothing but cutting spending and the deficit when the american people are focused on the economy and jobs. That's because they have no jobs program and indeed their economic plan and spending cuts will cause a loss of 700,000 jobs and destroy this fragile economic recovery. While they are giving your tax money to oil companies and the rich, they are saying - hey look over here, it's really Social Security, funding for family planning or subsidies for home heating that is the problem. And people who are either in denial or just don't fact check will believe this. SS has NOT contributed one dime to the deficit. It has a 2.6 trillion dollar surplus and can pay out for the next 27 years. But you wouldn't know that listening to them. Medicare has been more of a problem because it is tied into the general rise in health care costs and rising premiums. People on the right advocate for smaller government, less spending, fewer regulations and less government in our lives - unless it's in a woman's body and those who can marry then they want a large federal footprint. De-regulation worked out really well with the economic crash of 2008, didn't it? And people (and states with republican governors) are okay with cuts in spending as long as it doesn't affect them (just the other guy). Those who think that they are self made and earned everything they have and need no help from the federal government can't get out of the house to work without all levels of government affecting the quality of their lives - from their clean air and Water, the inspected food they ate, the safety laws for their cars and the highways they drive on - and many many more. The middle class has been sinking for 30 years while the rich get richer. You are all working harder and actually making less (buying power). These are facts the right doesn't want to talk about. But the current line of thinking is to blame government, blame unions, blame public workers, blame teachers, the single mom,etc..These are not the problems. The problem is corporate america who owns you and their enormous influence on our government and our lives. They are the real enemy, not the government. They are laughing all the way to the bank because they have gotten working class people to take to the streets protesting a rise in estate taxes and hope you don't notice the power and money you have lost. So, I am wasting my valuable time on here. I have a lot of work to do as I am involved in local politics. We are starting on our 2012 campaign to re-elect Pres. Obama and I will direct my time and talents in that direction. .

What does it feel like to be stuck? Well, my worst stuck episode took me to the ER. It was by far the worst pain of my life. I couldn't even talk to the admitting nurse. I am sure getting shot could not have been more painful. I was given strong narcotics (didn't help) and unfilled. I spent the night in the hospital and it resolved itself eventually. The upper GI the next day showed everything was okay. But if it hadn't resolved, they would have had to go in their with instruments to remove the food.. The lesson here is not to get stuck but few people escape it. Good luck to you.

Actually I spoke too soon. Republicans Take Credit for Jobs Report By: David Dayen Friday March 4, 2011 10:36 am It was inevitable and not really even worth rebutting that Republicans are somehow taking credit for today's decent February jobs report. Before I introduce you to their argument, let's go over the three (3) bills that have passed since Republicans came into control of the House: 1) renaming a courthouse in Arizona after John Roll, who was murdered in the Tuscon shooting; 2) extending the Patriot Act for 90 days; 3) extending government funding for two weeks, with $4 billion in cuts added. Now, the third one happened this week, so it wouldn't have any impact on February jobs numbers. So unless an army of 100,000 people are changing the nameplates on that Arizona courthouse, and the other 100,000 are busily employed getting wiretaps on US citizens, Republican "credit" is totally bogus. But you see, their argument isn't based on any legislation passed, but just a feeling. This is from Jeb Hensarling, chairman of the House Republican conference: The improvement in our nation's jobs report is welcome news and demonstrates the resilience of the free enterprise economy in spite of the onslaught of the Democrats' big government agenda. But the real question is why is it taking so long and why is the recovery so weak? The modest improvement can be attributed to two factors the free-market economy is slowly moving toward a recovery from this deep recession, and with Republicans controlling one lever of the lawmaking powers, job creators know the upper limits of the Democrats' legislative pain is behind them. Nothing can be more uncertain than what Republicans have put the economy through over the past month. They waited until the final days to extend the government's funding, and then did so only for two weeks. Nobody knows how things will turn out after March 18. They haven't given too much certainty about raising the debt limit, which could cause a financial catastrophe. They want to block implementation of the health care law, which has a massive impact on businesses and creates significant uncertainty about what their costs as employers will end up being. Same with the effort to block EPA regulation of greenhouse gas emissions. It wasn't so long ago like months when uncertainty was seen as a the biggest obstacle for job creation. Republicans ushered in a whole mess of it. But, House Speaker John Boehner says, it was the tax cut deal that really stopped the bleeding here, and brought certainty to job creators. Those would be the tax cuts which expire again in less than two years (some of them in less than a year, actually). But Boehner actually gives the credit to "the American voters" for forcing the tax cut deal forward. OK, it's at least a little more modest. But let me then ask another question. The American voters have no interest in massive near-term budget cuts, not when you ask them about specifics. This has been polled time and time again with the same result. Yet the House GOP plan would cut those budget items in the near term, risking hundreds of thousands of jobs in the process. So when those cuts kick in, will Boehner take credit on behalf of the American voters, who told him and his colleagues in no uncertain terms that they didn't want them, or the economic fallout that resulted from them? Somehow, I think not.

If you're talking to me about insults you need to follow you own advice. As to the subjects of my posts - I will feel free to post about the topics I choose. Last time I checked moderators didn't lock threads just for people going off topic.

A new Rasmussen poll in Wisconsin shows Governor Scott Walker, who won with 52% of the vote just four months ago, has become incredibly unpopular, with 57% of likely Wisconsin voters disapproving of Walker. And that's Rasmussen, the most Republican leaning polling outfit on earth! 48% of these voters strongly disapprove of him, while only 43% approve of the job Walker has done. This may be one of the most dramatic reversals in public opinion we've ever seen. Jon Terbush of TPM reports that almost 80% of public union members disapprove of the Governors strong-arm approach to governance. 67% of families with children in school disapprove, with 54% disapproving strongly. I have felt that this would be a victory for Unions and for Democrats, but I am shocked by how fast Governor Walker's political ship is sinking.

Even the hypocritical republicans haven't tried to take credit for this. If the tax cuts to the wealthy helped create jobs then since the tax cuts of 2001 and 2003 we would have seen that. Instead during bush's regime we went from 4.1% to 8% unemployement before bush's disastrous economic policies combined with wall street greed took us to a 9.8% unemployment. Now that Obama's economic policies and payroll tax cuts to the working people, among other things, has had a chance to take effect, it's working. Great job, Obama, keep up the good work. And BTW, the republican's economic policy relying heavily on spending cuts would destroy this fragile recovery and cause the loss of 700,000 jobs. They had absolutely nothing to do with this recovery and everything to do with the crisis.

Very well said. And SO true. Thank you for your support. I am so glad the band has worked so well for you - and effortless, too. Isn't that what we all wanted when we got the band? And when it didn't work out for some of us, like it did for you, that is no reason to blame or judge. That is the time for support. And what ever happened to a little bit of old fashioned sympathy? I wish you continued good luck with your lapband journey.

Hey, look over here, some of her posts are long, etc.. Oh, you can't read them. Boo hoo, but I do sympathize. I know it takes a certain amount of intelligence to read and understand my cut & paste posts, so I can understand why you can't do it.

I agree. I think successful bandsters should be congratulated. I think struggling posters who ask for help should be given help - suggestions, good advice, etc.. things that worked for you. I don't think any struggling bandster needs to be judged, criticized or told that they are a failure because the band doesn't fail you, you fail the band. Successful bandsters post all the time about their journey. That is great and it encourages others. Struggling bandster post too but are often afraid because they get criticized and blamed. And you're right, until we've walked in the struggler's shoes - who are we to be judgemental? So, this seems to be something we can all agree on.

Not preachy at all. Thanks for this great and informative post. This is EXACTLY the kind of posts that I think struggling bansters need to read. Full of great information and suggestions, not judgemental, not "you failed the band, it didn't fail you", etc.. Thanks again. I will copy this and give it a try.

Nice try, again. But you asked for proof in #154, I supplied it in post #155 - which you didn't read all the way through, because you again asked for proof in #157. And you call asking for proof a second time after I supplied it somehow my fault? Get over yourself. Typical con thinking.

Just as I thought, you have nothing to back up your specific accusations and attacks against me. I sure hope that your experience with the band is successful and it doesn't fail you but there are no guarantees. And as far as those who don't want to read these posts - well, I guess they can stay off this thread or skip over them. Good luck to you, too.

Yeah, I did. It's in post #155. You asked for proof in post #157.