leroyspuds

Obama got elected because he was the well-mannered, well-meaning, cerebral, inclusive guy who cared about people and played nice with others. Now we say he has no balls and the winners are the mean-spirited, devisive, hypocritical, red-in-the-face loudmouths, angrily spinning their lies and shoving their agenda of self-interest down our throats. Funny how Americans reject the former and embrace the latter. I guess facts just aren't as entertaining as drama. It's like the Roman coliseum where the masses were distracted by the spectacle while the empire's problems went unsolved and the rich and powerful grew their stockpiles when no one was really paying attention.

I had surgery late February 2010 and by June had lost about 30 pounds. Goal was 65. Didn't lose anything from June to date and have gained 5 pounds. I'm eating junk food and not exercizing. The band does help with portion control but not the willpower to quit the junk and exercize. I wish there was a support group in Helena Montana. If anyone can help me get back on track and lend their support I sure would appreciate it.

LBob, we saw the same thing when Clinton was the president. Whenever the repubs are not in control they throw a tantrum like a bunch of spoiled brats. They refuse to do their jobs and cooperate to better our nation and its people. How much more unpatriotic can they be? We may have once been a great nation, but so long as this kind of devisiveness and pandoring to extremistist government haters and religious fanatics is the republican game plan, we're sure to go down the tubes. Civilized nations must be laughing at the ignorant Americans.

Joe the Plumber joins the teabaggers in opposing Missouri's puppy mill anti-cruelty legislation. Americans should have the right to torture and abuse animals for profit. Just another right our government wants to take away. Geez, where will it end. Gosh, they've made it so little children can't work in my coal mine, I have to give jobs to blacks and and women and let them vote, I have to serve them at my business establishment. Shucks, they're takin' all the fun out of being a white anglo saxon male Jesus lovin' racist chauvenist. If I can't abuse women, children and blacks by god I'm not giving up the right to abuse breeding dogs. Heck, I'd treat 'em just as good as my wife.

I looked at the red and blue election map this morning and felt sick. Can it be true that so many people got in line yesterday to sign up to be pawns of the greedy and powerful? That so many people are that ignorant or that hateful? What have we become? If we want to consider ourselves a great nation based on our values and beliefs then we'd better take a good look in the mirror. We hate gays. We hate non-Christians. We hate non-whites. We hate poor people. We hate our government. We hate our environment. We hate our schools. We hate intellectuals. We hate science. We hate the truth. We love huge corporations. We love our guns. We love our Xbox. We love our 52" flat screen. We love our cars and trucks. We love our sports teams. We love our movie stars and rock idols. We love our cell phones. We love our quarter pounders. We love our lies. I love my country and we could be such a force of good here and around the world. Yet we choose this. I'm sad and ashamed.

Looks like the repubs will get the house. It will be interesting to see how fast jobs and the economy grow, and how their policies will make all the angry people so happy, and how quickly they'll solve the illegal immigrant problem and the energy problem and the war, and how they'll improve our education, infrastructure, and health systems. I can't wait to see how wonderful everything will be now that they'll be back in control. The middleclass will be so much better off just as they were under the last repub rule when your 401ks tanked while Wall Street licked it's chops and the blood of your sons and daughters flowed on the streets of Bagdad while Cheney's friends got rich. The fat cats are grinning as they prepare to grow their bank accounts. They rode the coattails of racism, greed and that ol' time religion right back into the halls of Congress. If only there were boxes of IQ points stored in a warehouse somewhere that could be handed out at election time. My poor country -- I weep for you.

I lost 30 pounds since late February but haven't lost a pound all summer. It's completely my fault. I am at my sweet spot I think but have found that of my two bad habits, overeating and eating junk food, the band has only helped with overeating. It doesn't take a lot to make me feel full. That's why I haven't gained it all back, in spite of the junk food. The junk food problem is a willpower thing and I need to re-commit to changing that habit. I also don't seem to be able to motivate myself to exercize and need to work on that too. I'm going to Costa Rica in March so I plan to use that to motivate myself to get back on track. Good luck to you all.

Sharon checking in: Was down 29 pounds but gained two back this past month. I've been a bad girl and found the joy of ice cream this summer. I've stopped though and am re-committing to eat properly. In the past my binging would have resulted in gaining lots of weight, but with the band my mini-binge didn't set me back too far. Though the band doesn't prevent me from eating fat and sugar it sure does limit the amount of food I can eat. Still need to work on willpower to avoid fat and sugar and to exercize. Good luck everyone!:thumbup:

The presidency of Obama is God's plan. He wants us to see how harmful the rich and greedy republicans have been to his children. Obama is God's message to them and to the hateful and the hypocrits. His policies are part of God's plan to make our country a more loving and fruitful place. God has called out the evil speakers to tell the truth like right wing talk show hosts and religious leaders who preach hate. God doesn't make mistakes so this was meant to be. Why not be on God's side and help Obama carry out his plan instead of rejecting Obama and God out of selfishness?

Banded late February. Have lost 29 of the 62 pound goal so far. Slow but sure. Have found my sweet spot at 6.5 cc in 10 cc band. Cholesterol down considerably and no more GERD. Feeling wonderful! Hope you are all doing well. :cool:

Anyone who takes the bible literally is suspect of having mental health issues. Anyone who pushes it down the throats of others is a pest. Anyone who uses it to hurt others is a jerk.

The majority of people are of average intelligence. The problem with that is the issues are so complex that the average person can't really understand them well enough to make an informed decision at election time. Instead they get their "information" from entertainers like Rush and Glen who use the lowest common demoninator to appeal to the average person in order get high ratings for their shows. They use inflamatory language rather than presenting difficult facts and concepts in order to get the average person to listen to them. People are frustrated that things aren't as easy as they seemed to be in the "good 'ol days." Right wing media gives people a convenient scapegoat to blame it on -- the poor, the liberals, the immigrants, etc. It's a lot like Germany in the 30's. In fact, there is no easy answer to our problems. If politicians used their time and energy to solve problems instead of only doing what's necessary to beat their political opponents our country would be a better place. Our political system has failed us all -- that's what we should be most angry about.

Stimulus projects and census jobs put people to work. Those people spend their paychecks on goods and services so the money goes directly to businesses. Businesses make more money and start hiring again. Sounds like a good idea to me.

Associated Press: The tally of laid-off workers continuing to claim jobless benefits fell by the largest amount in almost a year, suggesting that more unemployed workers may be finding work. At the same time, new claims for unemployment insurance dipped slightly for the third straight week. The Dept of Labor says the total unemployment benefit rolls fell by 255,000 to a seasonally adjusted 4.5 million. It was the lowest total since December 2008. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial expected a much smaller drop The number of first-time claims fell by 3,000 to a seasonally adjusted 456,000. New claims have been stuck at 450,000 since the beginning of the year.

Oh and finally -can some one please tell me what happened to acid rain, cos I grew up being told that acid rain would destroy the planet.It hasn't been mentioned for a long time now because obviously they were wrong. Maybe we should take bets on what the next smokescreen environmental issue will be. -------------------------------------------------------------- Problem probably went away when clean air laws were enacted. :thumbup:

I just heard from Patty that it's against god's law - says it's somewhere in Leviticus. What I'm really afraid of is that liberals will want to allow people and trees to marry. A tree once proposed to me and I said, "Ah, you're such a sap!"

I have two cats, one a rescue and three dogs, all three rescues. I'm against puppy mills. One of my "pet" peaves! I think so many bad things happen to animals and children because they cannot defend themselves against mean abusive people. It makes me mad.

Unfortunately, there are very few ways to make a living that don't require high level skills and education. Years ago a factory worker with no high school education could make a decent living. No more. In order for our children do be able to compete and survive in this world economy a quality education and superior technical skills are needed more than ever. What does that mean? Perhaps more homework, more difficult assignments, less time texting, playing Xbox and watching TV. Also, more involvement by parents and more support for teachers. We can't expect to invest little in our children and our education system and have our nation prosper and be secure. This debate all started with Patty's assertion that teachers in her state were being greedy by wanting higher pay. Well, everyone would like higher pay in order to be able to maintain a decent standard of living so why attack the teaching profession specifically? I know Patty doesn't really feel that all teachers suck. Maybe some do, like employees of any profession, including CNAs. But most employees want to do a good job. I think the teaching profession is particularly difficult because teachers, in a sense, are helping raise our children a good part of the day. They can make or break a child's chance for a secure productive future. It's a very important role in our society and we should give them all the support they need. We need to invest in our education system because what we sew, so shall we reap.

Ooooh, I just can't wait until it's legal for me and my Great Dane Butch to get married. Then I can have a litter of puppies. Of course, we'll need to go on welfare because there will be so many mouths to feed. Fortunately Affirmative Action will make make sure my sweet little half-breeds all get into the best schools and get good jobs. Those health insurance subsidies will help us get all the vet care we need for the little tykes. Food stamps will ensure we have plenty of Purina to go around. I just know that someday one of my darlin' pups will enter the priesthood and hump all the little alter boys. :thumbup: Patty Green Patty Green how come you're so very mean half a brain derailed your train please let me marry my Great Dane

"they are also crazy kooks who think it's okay to murder babies in the womb and they think it's just peachy to let homosexuals form marriages, and they feel that it's okay to redistribute the wealth around" -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Well at least we don't drink strychnine and dance with snakes....... ....we don't wear our sheets ....we don't expect people to pay for health care with a chicken ....we don't think god's going to drop a pyramid on Greenland ---we don't marry our sister ---we don't bomb abortion clinics and kill doctors because we're against killing must I go on?????

Didn't fool O B A M A Anyway the Democrats were forced into giving approval to fund a potential war or be seen as unpatriotic. They didn't bargain on him going to war on such flimsy information and poor planning afterward. The president is responsible as commander and chief for making informed decisions and leading congress and the nation in the right direction -- not leading them off a cliff! Anyway he knew there were no wmd's before he got us in so deep. He had daddy issues.

With regard to teachers: I may be wrong but I think they also work in the evening grading papers and during the summer putting together lesson plans and doing their continuing education. In any case, neither unions nor employers should be greedy. There needs to be a balance between the workers' needs and the employers' needs and collective bargaining is the tool to achieve that balance. There are statistics that can be used to determine what a fair wage is for a given occupation and area of the country too. Now to: "I'm 63 and Im Tired" by Robert A. Hall I'm 63. Except for one semester in college when jobs were scarce and a six-month period when I was between jobs, but job-hunting every day, I've worked, hard, since I was 18. Despite some health challenges, I still put in 50-hour weeks, and haven't called in sick in seven or eight years. I make a good salary, but I didn't inherit my job or my income, and I worked to get where I am. Given the economy, there's no retirement in sight, and I'm tired. Very tired. I'm also close to retirement and my investments are in the dumper because of Wall Street shenanigans, corporate greed and insufficient regulations. I'll likely be a WalMart greeter till I'm 90 yrs old! I'm tired of being told that I have to "spread the wealth" to people who don't have my work ethic. (I believe this refers to the middle class, not welfare recipients.) I'm tired of being told the government will take the money I earned, by force if necessary, and give it to people too lazy to earn it. There has been a lot of reform to the welfare system. I don't think many people are allowed to be on general welfare these days. Most programs require working and/or job training to qualify for assistance. Things have changed and many social programs have helped people lift themselves up and become productive citizens. I was the Director of a job training program and have personally seen many sucess stories. We took people who were living under the poverty limit and spent a few thousand dollars to train them and they gained a lifetime skill and increased their income four fold, became taxpayers, and no longer needed assistance. There are statistics that show the success rates of these programs. I'm sure there are some who take advantage but, like any other government program, they need to be analyzed to determine effectiveness and to avoid wasteful spending. I'm tired of being told that I have to pay more taxes to "keep people in their homes." Sure, if they lost their jobs or got sick, I'm willing to help. But if they bought McMansions at three times the price of our paid-off, $250,000 condo, on one-third of my salary, then let the left-wing Congress-critters who passed Fannie and Freddie and the Community Reinvestment Act that created the bubble help them with their own money. I don't want to shoulder the burden for any McMansions or house flippers either. But I think many folks were lured into low teaser rate and low downpayment mortages by bankers who should have known better, and who then turned around and packaged the loans and sold them as derivatives which sunk the market. My friend Frank bought his first home for him and his young son and they were doing fine until his employer decided to move the business to another state. Frank was unable to find a decent paying job in this economy and was unable to make his house payments and lost his little house. Just an ordinary guy who wanted a home of his own for his family. I'm tired of being told how bad America is by left-wing millionaires like Michael Moore, George Soros and Hollywood Entertainers who live in luxury because of the opportunities America offers. In thirty years, if they get their way, the United States will have the economy of Zimbabwe , the freedom of the press of China , the crime and violence of Mexico , the tolerance for Christian people of Iran , and the freedom of speech of Venezuela. This is just silly talk. I'm tired of being told that Islam is a "Religion of Peace," when every day I can read dozens of stories of Muslim men killing their sisters, wives and daughters for their family "honor"; of Muslims rioting over some slight offense; of Muslims murdering Christian and Jews because they aren't "believers"; of Muslims burning schools for girls; of Muslims stoning teenage rape victims to death for "adultery"; of Muslims mutilating the genitals of little girls; all in the name of Allah, because the Qur'an and Shari'a law tells them to. I don't care for that culture much either because of their treatment of women,but who is he blaming for this? I'm tired of being told that "race doesn't matter" in the post-racial world of Obama, when it's all that matters in affirmative action jobs, lower college admission and graduation standards for minorities (harming them the most), government contract set-asides, tolerance for the ghetto culture of violence and fatherless children that hurts minorities more than anyone, and in the appointment of U.S. Senators from Illinois. Don't blame race for these problems. The problem is poverty, poor schools, and lack of job opportunities in poor neighborhoods. Yes, the welfare culture of the past fostered dependence; hence, welfare reform under Clinton. I have some heartburn with quota systems too, but then my family weren't slaves and didn't face the discrimination that blacks had to deal with for so long. This did call for some evening out of things for a while. Drugs and violence are hurting decent families in these neighborhoods. A lot of communities have gotten into a hole that's real hard to dig out of. Education, job training, economic development, proper nutrition and health care, and strong law enforcement is what's called for. Being pissed off at black people isn't going to solve the problem. I think it's very cool that we have a black president and that a black child is doing her homework at the desk where Lincoln wrote the Emancipation Proclamation. I just wish the black president was Condi Rice, or someone who believes more in freedom and the individual and less arrogantly of an all-knowing government. Condi Rice didn't do squat. I'm quite sure Obama belives in freedom. The difference between Obama and Bush on the subject of freedom is god isn't telling Obama to invade other countries. I'm tired of a news media that thinks Bush's fundraising and inaugural expenses were obscene, but that think Obama's, at triple the cost, were wonderful; that thinks Bush exercising daily was a waste of presidential time, but Obama exercising is a great example for the public to control weight and stress trivial-who cares; that picked over every line of Bush's military records, but never demanded that Kerry release his Kerry wasn't a drunken coke snortin privleged chicken shit like Bush; that slammed Palin, with two years as governor, for being too inexperienced for VP Palin doesn't qualify because her IQ is on the left side of bell curve, but touted Obama with three years as senator as potentially the best president ever. Wonder why people are dropping their subscriptions or switching to Fox News? Get a clue. I didn't vote for Bush in 2000, but the media and Kerry drove me to his camp in 2004. Not too bright. I'm tired of being told that out of "tolerance for other cultures" we must let Saudi Arabia use our oil money to fund mosques and mandrassa Islamic schools to preach hate in America , while no American group is allowed to fund a church, synagogue or religious school in Saudi Arabia to teach love and tolerance. Don't want my taxes spent on religion - PERIOD! We kiss up to Saudi Arabia because we need allies to help us protect our Middle East interests because we're oil junkies. I'm tired of being told I must lower my living standard to fight global warming, which no one is allowed to debate. It's been debated ad infinitum. Scientists agree on it, only rich corporations and their Republican lackies dispute it. My wife and I live in a two-bedroom apartment and carpool together five miles to our jobs. We also own a three-bedroom condo where our daughter and granddaughter live. Our carbon footprint is about 5% of Al Gore's, and if you're greener than Gore, you're green enough. I'm tired of being told that drug addicts have a disease, and I must help support and treat them, and pay for the damage they do. Did a giant germ rush out of a dark alley, grab them, and stuff white powder up their noses while they tried to fight it off? I don't think Gay people choose to be Gay, but I damn sure think druggies chose to take drugs. And I'm tired of harassment from cool people treating me like a freak when I tell them I never tried marijuana. Ignorant. I'm tired of illegal aliens being called "undocumented workers," especially the ones who aren't working, but are living on welfare or crime. Undocumented workers does mean "workers" without a green card authorizing them to be here to work -- illegal immigrants are a broader definition of all who come here with having gone through the paperwork. Anyway, who gives a crap about the semantics. Most people who immigrate don't commit crimes. I believe most people who immigrate want to work. Read the statistics. What's next? Calling drug dealers, "Undocumented Pharmacists"? :thumbup: And, no, I'm not against Hispanics. Most of them are Catholic, and it's been a few hundred years since Catholics wanted to kill me for my religion I'm willing to fast track for citizenship any Hispanic person, who can speak English, doesn't have a criminal record and who is self-supporting without family on welfare, or who serves honorably for three years in our military.... Those are the citizens we need. I don't know anyone who is "for" illegal immigration. A lot of the problem is the backlog in processing the work permits. A lot of employers depend on this workforce so we need to get more efficient in this area. Even Republicans acknowledge this. I'm tired of latte yummy liberals and journalists, who would never wear the uniform of the Republic themselves, or let their entitlement- handicapped kids near a recruiting station, trashing our military. They and their kids can sit at home, never having to make split-second decisions under life and death circumstances, and bad mouth better people than themselves Do bad things happen in war? You bet. Do our troops sometimes misbehave? Sure. Does this compare with the atrocities that were the policy of our enemies for the last fifty years and still are? Not even close. So here's the deal. I'll let myself be subjected to all the humiliation and abuse that was heaped on terrorists at Abu Ghraib or Gitmo, and the critics can let themselves be subject to captivity by the Muslims, who tortured and beheaded Daniel Pearl in Pakistan, or the Muslims who tortured and murdered Marine Lt. Col. William Higgins in Lebanon, or the Muslims who ran the blood-spattered Al Qaeda torture rooms our troops found in Iraq, or the Muslims who cut off the heads of schoolgirls in Indonesia, because the girls were Christian. Then we'll compare notes. British and American soldiers are the only troops in history that civilians came to for help and handouts, instead of hiding from in fear. Sorry this isn't the Viet Nam era. Americans support their troops but many disagree with unnecessarily spilling their blood in senseless so called wars. Civilized nations shouldn't torture. Even if you ignore the humanitarian issue and just evaluate the effectiveness of it -- it's been proven not to work. Not much we can do about the uncivilized terrorists, but we don't need to model ourselves after them right? I'm tired of people telling me that their party has a corner on virtue and the other party has a corner on corruption. Read the papers; bums are bipartisan. And I'm tired of people telling me we need bipartisanship I live in Illinois , where the "Illinois Combine" of Democrats has worked to loot the public for years. Not to mention the tax cheats in Obama's cabinet. Blah, blah. Agreed that bums come in all political parties, races, religions and so forth. Liberals to tend to be more altruistic and less self-serving though, which is why I'm one of them. Just one of my values. I'm tired of hearing wealthy athletes, entertainers and politicians of both parties talking about innocent mistakes, stupid mistakes or youthful mistakes, when we all know they think their only mistake was getting caught. I'm tired of people with a sense of entitlement, rich or poor. Trivial. Speaking of poor, I'm tired of hearing people with air-conditioned homes, color TVs and two cars called poor. The majority of Americans didn't have that in 1970, but we didn't know we were "poor." The poverty pimps have to keep changing the definition of poor to keep the dollars flowing. Blah blah. I'm real tired of people who don't take responsibility for their lives and actions. I'm tired of hearing them blame the government, or discrimination or big-whatever for their problems. Actually, some problems are caused by these things and we need to correct those, not ignore them because it's easier. Yes, I'm damn tired. But I'm also glad to be 63. Because, mostly, I'm not going to have to see the world these people are making. I'm just sorry for my granddaughter. Agreed. Robert A. Hall is a Marine Vietnam veteran who served five terms in the Massachusetts State Senate. This guy makes a few good points but most of this is Fox Noise and trivial rambling. He's clearly feeling frustrated like the rest of us though. Guess we all have our own versions of what the causes and fixes are. Patty, in your own words what are your frustrations? Not cut and paste.

You've got my vote Phil!

No matter what the figures bear out (very obvious from Cleo's chart) the right wing is trying to blame the deficit and the economy on Obama. Of course they are. They're pandering to the people who don't understand the facts so they can get re-elected and back into power. They're manipulating the people who don't understand the facts by making them fearful. They're stirring up anger among the people who don't understand the facts to divert attention from their own failed policies. Bush and his crowd brought our country to it's knees. That's an undeniable fact. It's all been dumped in Obama's and the Democrats' laps to fix. It's incredible that the eight years of damage done by George Bush and his crowd is being blamed on Obama. What cowards, what liars.

So, Bush spent 2 trillion dollars in his 8 years. 1 Trillion on a war that congress (dems) approved. (And the American people wanted at the time.) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Whoa, back up the truck! 1 trillion was spent on a war that Bush and Cheney justified with faulty intelligence. They lied to Congress and the American people. Not only did it cost us money, but it cost us the lives of American men and women who were fighting for Bush's folly. Anyone who opposed it, and many did (Obama for example), was considered unpatriotic. I can't think of anything more unpatriotic than unnecessarily spilling the blood of brave Americans. Did the money invested in that "war" benefit anyone? Did it make us safer? No, it was money flushed down the toilet. But rich corporations benefited from all those nice government contracts didn't they? That moron redneck Bush and his dog Cheney did serious damage to our economy and our reputation around the world. I'm sick of these rich bastards having their boot on the necks of the American people. :Dancing_biggrin: