Carlene

Why wouldn't you want to legislate against bikers who don't wear helmets? If they spread their brains all over the pavement and end up at the county hospital, you will have to pick up the tab. Same with people who smoke, drink, are MO, use drugs, don't wear seat belts, ride skateboards, play football, Water ski, snow ski, participate in rodeos and motocross, play ice hockey and a thousand other things. Though perhaps small as individuals groups, these people's aggregate injuries increase health care costs in general, across the board. And you are absolutely right....freedom means the freedom to make bad choices and engage in risky behavior. And we all pick up the tab. It's not socialism...it's democracy. Remember that someone besides yourself has most likely picked up part of the tab for you, too. None of us are totally above "risky behavior".

There is a radio station/Lap Band doctor combo in DFW area that gave away a LB surgery last year. I know a woman who was closely involved with the promo and selection. I could ask her the particulars regarding liability, etc if you'd like. I'm sure they took all the right steps to CYA.

Bumping for Carol.

Maybe.....where the hell is Malawi? LOL... I live in Texas, so I know hot and dry. I eat soup all year round.

Christa (my daughter's name, by the way)... If your doctor can't find a reason for this, I'm afraid there might be no other treatment except to stay far away from sugar. I guess you could get a complete unfill and see if that helps, but I'm betting it would be a waste of time. Have you had a fasting glucose tolerance test recently? Could you be pregnant? Have you been tested for Crohn's or other autoimmune diseases? That's about everything I can think of....

I agree. I would HOPE that people would have enough sense not to marry their sisters, or at least not to have children with them, but to legislate stupidity is....well, a losing battle. Are we going to legally prohibit drug addicted, alcoholic women from marrying and delivering brain-damaged babies? I doubt it. My oldest son and his wife are not related, yet their first child was born with Hirschsprung's Disease, a rare birth defect that is genetic, and which never shows up unless both parents carry the recessive gene for HD. Should they have been denied by law the right to choose to have more children? (They had a second child, by the way, and he does not have HD.) People should be entitled to choose their marital status, and that includes WHO they marry, as long as both are consenting adults. Every state in the union allows convicted criminals to marry, even though the marriage will never be consumated. That does not fit the mold of "traditional marriage", yet it's not illegal. I think it's a shame that violent offenders are given more consideration than productive, tax-paying citizens.

Rush Limbaugh Doll Get Yours Today! 3 Talking Heads in One... Pill Head Bush Head D___ Head

TOM... Politically I agree with you, but (and I say this with all due respect) you need to leave these people alone. Unless they post a personal attack on you, you should be a gentleman and let them have their rally. Your repeated intrusion into this thread makes your motives appear to be suspect - as in baiting political argument. It also makes you look like an over-bearing, argumentative, know-it-all. I'm sure that's not your intention, but the road to hell is paved with good intentions, as my mother used to say. Please don't take offense. This is just heartfelt advice from one big-mouth, opinionated Democrat to another.

Dear Mom and Dad... I am truly humbled by your generosity. Please don't let anyone talk you out of this. I am a big fan of grass roots giving - knowing who/where your $$ go, and I have huge issues with big name agencies who want to "administer" other people's money. I worked in Social Services for 15 years and I have seen it all.....greed, fraud, dishonesty - and not just from the clients, either. From my experience, I would say devise an intake sheet for basic information. Require proof of income (check stubs) and things like rent receipts or mortgage coupon, utilities, etc. That will give you a good idea of whether this person doesn't have the money, or just doesn't manage money well. I'd say, if your net income is $4000 per month and your house payment is half that, you're living beyond your means. Now the bad news....you can't give anyone more than $13000 a year (I think that's the latest cap) without paying gift tax. But you can gift part in Dec and part in Jan, if you want. I know all the "what if's", but most states have what are called "good Samaritin laws". I think you would probably be protected under that statute. If I can be of any assistance to you, please PM me for my e-mail addy and phone number. Edited to add....you won't have to advertise in the newspaper, etc. I'm betting you will get dozens of nominations from this site alone.

Oh, please....is that the best you can come up with. I posted "What are you smoking?" to Jodi (the Poli Sci major who declares that politics are her passion) after she said that all political parties were basically the same, just the candidates were different. Even SHE knew it was a joke. This was her response. Ive had a horrible day and that made me giggle a little.... Sorry to butt back into your thread, Missy. I promised not to get into red/blue debate here but Leatha's post was a personal attack, and an unwarranted one, at that.

I've been really surprised by my in-laws who seem to think that getting Medicaid to pay for the care of their elderly parents is somehow more noble than the single mom who tries to get her kids on public assistance. They are very careful not to refer to their parents' benefits as "welfare", though that's exactly what it is. If everyone should get free elder care, regardless of how much money he/she has in the bank, why shouldn't families (especially low-income families) get free medical care? How about free child care? Does the government owe old, rich people more than it owes poor children? I'm very curious about what I perceive as a double standard.

I have to agree. For such a long time, people thought the idea of a black man marrying a white woman was about as bad as the dolphin thing. It was illegal in Texas until 1967. In retrospect, we now think that the idea of outlawing interracial marriage is simply ludicrous. Someday we will look back and think the same thing about gay marriage.

My kids are 33,34,36, and 38. They didn't want their mommy to get cut open either. But they are okay with it now. Not too long ago my youngest son was here and he was talking to my husband when I walked in the room. He stopped and said, "Mom, you are so thin!" I told him that he was officially my favorite and the others were all out of the will...LOL.

I just looked at the current application for a TX marriage license and you still can't marry your cousin or other close relative (related by whole blood or half, or by adoption) and you can't marry your step-parent/child, but they have removed the provision against marrying step-siblings, step-aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. This is a good thing, too. If you are under a child support order, your child support has to be current or they won't issue a marriage license.

OH, MY GOD!!!!!! That's right. I had not thought of that until now. Folks, this is the single best reason to vote Democratic that I've seen yet!

My girlfriend had never had children. She married a man with a 12 year old son. Betsy is a gourmet cook. The kid wanted nothing but McDonald's. So every day she took him to McDonald's after school until he begged to eat at home.

Sorry....what I meant to say was I thought the US did not recognize dual citizenship of its own citizens. If you are born in the US and want to become a citizen of Great Britain, you have to renounce your US citizenship. But if you were born in Britain, since it recognizes dual citizenship, you can become a US citizen and NOT renounce your allegiance to the UK. I think it depends on where you were born. That's the country that gets to say "yes" or "no".

Correct me if I'm wrong (like you wouldn't....LOL), but I thought the US did not recognize dual citizenship.

Did you read my post about being married for 25 years to a man who was, at one time, my stepbrother? Very strange, to some people. My kids were a little weirded out by the fact that both their grandmothers had the same last name, once they got old enough to realize that wasn't the norm. We actually met another couple in a similar situation. They met when their kids were dating, so they were the mother and father of both the bride and the groom. Their granddaughter used to joke that she was going to need years of therapy. I find it utterly ridiculous that the state of Texas considers these unions incestuous. There is no shared DNA, so what's the problem?

Redneck foreplay... Hey, Sis....you awake?

You know you're a redneck if you've ever dated someone you met at a family reunion.

We will keep my MIL with us as long as we can. My brother-in-law does not want any of his mom's money while she is alive. He wants to pay her way with her income and nursing home insurance, plus whatever it takes from her principle. He estimates $1000-$1500 per month from her assets to keep her in a nice place. There would still be money left for "her boys" after she died - just not as much. My MIL tells them ("the boys") to spend the money. She doesn't care on what, as long as the government doesn't get it. My BIL pretty much discounts her input. He thinks she's less than competent. I'm wondering....with an income of $2000 per month, will she still qualify for Medicaid, even after her assets are depleted? That seems like a pretty high income to get assistance, plus she will have $1350 per month from the long term care insurance. Will that ($3350 per month) pay for a decent nursing home? What do the reallynice ones cost?

BILL CLINTON appointed more Jews to his cabinet than all of the previous presidents combined, and put Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer, both first appointed to the federal bench by Jimmy Carter, on the Supreme Court. GEORGE W. BUSH is the first president since Herbert Hoover who has no Jews in his cabinet at all and has appointed no Jews to the Federal bench. Franklin Roosevelt’s family was Jewish Dutch. The first Roosevelt came to America in 1649. Roosevelt himself was not a practicing Jew and took care not to appear pro-Jewish. Unfortunately, his administration’s failure to expand the refuge quota ensured that large numbers of Jews would ultimately become part of the Holocaust’s six million victims.

Nora... I understand why those words are such "hot buttons" for you. Most of us were not alive during the Holocaust (well....maybe Tired Old Man was...LOL). We don't have relatives to tell us first hand what it was like. That makes a huge difference. I have toured the Holocaust Museum in Washington DC. Never has anything moved me so much. Like so many others, it was the shoes that made me break down and cry. Something as mundane as shoes had such an enormous impact....amazing. Believe me, we do not take those words lightly. They just don't carry the same weight for us as they do for you, nor could they. I am deeply sorry for your FIL and all that he and his family suffered. We should recall every day when and where and how Hitler started his reign of unspeakable terror and guard against it ever happening again. But we should also be cautious not to make the words "Hitler" and "Nazi" a throw-away insult for purely political purposes.

Green... What becomes of them depends on the choices they make. We can't force them. We can't police them 24 hours a day. I had several very good friends from church who were GREAT moms - better moms than I was - and yet their boys got mixed up in drugs and mine didn't. My neighbor is the sweetest, nicest woman in the world. Her daughter is a wonderful Christian and a super wife and mom. But the son is 45 years old and never held a real job in his life. He is always "recovering" from drug addiction. Except when he relapses. Then when he's half dead he calls his mom up and comes back home to "recover" again. He has drained her dry financially. She is 75 yeas old and all her credit cards are maxed out. She can't afford to have her teeth fixed. At least her (second) husband was an attorney and smart enough to leave her money in an annuity, otherwise the worthless son would have gone thru it all by now and they would have zero to live on. My daughter had some friends who came from terrible homes - little to no supervision, no consistent consequences, no moral understructure, awful parental examples, etc. Some of those girls turned out 100 times better than my daughter. I beat myself up over my daughter's lifestyle for years. Finally, I stopped. She's 34 years old and if she hasn't pulled it together by now, shame on her. In the end, it's up to them. We give them the tools and the instruction manual and the rest is all in how well they use them. If they throw them out the window, THAT'S NOT OUR FAULT.