Carlene

Actually, you are misinformed but I have decided not to spend huge blocks of time arguing religious, political, or ethical questions on the numerous forums to which I subscribe. It is not only non-productive in the extreme, but it's actually very BAD for one of the things that matters most - my health. I have found that I am well on my way to being an Internet slug, and I hate that. I own 6 pair of jeans. Three of them are tight. The other 3 are hopeless. I was wearing ALL of those jeans quite comfortably at Christmas. The only thing that's changed is that I have hardly walked at all in weeks. I can blame cold weather for some of that, but certainly not ALL. So I have been walking more, eating smarter, and typing less. So far, I've walked 4 miles today. I hope to get in another mile before the day is over. I'd rather stay inside and argue with Ron (and others) but it's making me FAT. I'll still post, but not as much.

I haven't had a slice of bread (or pizza) for over two years. It turns into a golf ball right in the middle of my chest. And I was the bread queen, pre-band.

Anyone who has issues with Bill Clinton's morals had best not climb on Rudy's bandwagon. He is no model of propriety himself.

Until 1967, when it was struck down by a federal court ruling, there were miscegenation laws all across the south. Texas used the "one-eighth" rule to determine a person's race. If you had one great-grandparent who was black, then you were black, and could not marry a white person. It was a Virginia couple whose trial for violating the state's law against interracial marriage that made its way to the Supreme Court and eventually made it possible for people of any race to marry. Now we just need to work on achieving the same rights for gay and lesbian couples.

Yeah....he was - by the Landmark Legal Foundation, an ultra-conservative group of Republicans with financial ties to oil and big business.

It's normal to feel like your best friend has died. Truth is, if you are successful with the band, it will be because you can no longer eat like a starving, third-world refugee. No more bread. Get over it. No pizza, pasta, cake or rice (for me, anyway). I can eat half an order of nachos. I can eat 4 small meatballs in sauce (no spaghetti, no salad, no breadsticks). I can eat tuna, but chicken gives me trouble sometimes. You can live quite nicely without meat - really, you can. There is lots of protein in skim milk, low-fat cheese, and other foods. Life without cheesecake is still better than life with 100 extra pounds to drag around.

Works for me. Your internet connection is obviously okay, else you wouldn't be posting here. Their site may have been having some problems. Happens to the best of them from time to time. If there are tons of people already on a site, you won't be able to access it. Try, try again.

I saw a great one yesterday. It had a female cartoonish figure and underneath it said, "Girls Kick Butt". I like that a LOT.

Do you need another grandmother, Wheetsin? I have tons of experience and impeccable references.

I do wish you the best of luck, but just wanted to mention here that the insurance company is not the "bad guy". They would be happy to provide coverage for WLS, if only your employer was willing to pay the higher premiums to cover it. Employers negotiate lower premiums by opting to exclude/limit certain things - like WLS or drugs, drugs for ED (Viagra, etc), mental health inpatient care, drug and alcohol rehab, etc. Just because Medicaid/Medicare patients may be eligible for WLS does not mean they receive an all around higher standard of care. Medicare patients, last I heard, were having their coverage for fills denied, although Medicare paid for the band.

My mother had a friend whose infant grandchild was killed, riding in Grandma's lap while she drove. There was an accident - not even a major collision - but it was fatal for the baby.

I think they came pretty close to getting beaten. Their vehicles were pelted with rocks and I think they were genuinely frightened. Serves them right. I loved the woman at the gas station who asked them if they were gay and did they come to a hick town lookin' to be beaten up? Alabama does seem to be the butt of a lot of redneck jokes. But don't forget Arkansas' unofficial motto....thank God for Mississippi.

My state requires vaccination against Hepatitis B, and that virus is primarily transmitted via sex. No one raised a hue and cry when it became a mandatory vaccine. I don't understand the difference between the Hep B vaccine and HPV, as far as promoting sexual behavior. But to answer your question, of course I would endore a vaccine for HIV/AIDS. But you gotta remember....I'm a liberal.

Kitty....that's terrible news about/for your grandmother. What rotten luck! The first date in 40 or 50 years and the jerk gives you an STD! I think anyone is entitled to get the vaccine if they are willing to pay for it. The point being that if you are already infected, it won't do you any good. And by the age of 28, most people either know they have it or are less likely to be exposed. If I were to find myself single and dating tomorrow, I would get it. You are right....they should market it to old ladies who are "suddenly single". Most of us have had less exposure than the average 20 year old!

In Texas the plan is to make the vaccine mandatory for girls in the 6th grade (and older). I hope that by the time your daughters are 11 or 12 years old you have discussed sex with them, at least on some level. Remember that many girls begin to menstruate before the 6th grade. It would be AWFUL for them to wake up one day to blood on their panties and have no idea what was happening. I have known women that had that happen to them and they were terrified.

I take Estrogen and haven't noticed a thing - seriously. It doesn't seem to have any effect on me at all. I have taken it, off and on, for a long time. Severe Osteoporosis runs in my family and my doctor thinks the benefits outweigh the risks of HRT in my case. I don't know where I am, menopause-wise. I had a partial hysterectomy when I was in my 30's, but kept my ovaries. Without loss of menses as a measuring stick, I don't know how you tell. I've never had a hot flash. Are there other signs?

I think it was the "NASCAR Sucks" that really got to them. I think they should have added another car: "WWF IS FOR PANSIES".

I saw a sticker on a horse trailer last week. It said "If you can read this, you need to get your face out of my horse's ass". I have no bumper stickers on my car. No ribbons. No decals. I am not ashamed of my politics or my religious beliefs, but I don't know the general population well enough to share with them.

For the same reason they charge 99 cents for a man's dress shirt at the laundry, and $3.99 for a woman's blouse. And our clothes are generally smaller and less labor-intensive.

What I remember most about Jenny Jones is that she hosted a guy who wanted to hook up with a secret crush (another guy), and the "surprised" guest was so indignant, he killed the would-be lover. Ambush journalism at its worst.

First of all, there is no evidence that the vaccine caused the condition. I quote from your source: "The condition also can occur spontaneously. Indeed, the reports don’t exceed the numbers expected to occur naturally each year — the so-called background rate, the FDA said." Secondly, mandatory vaccinations have wiped out Smallpox, Polio, Diptheria, Whooping Cough, and Tetnus in the US - all once-dreaded diseases that killed thousands each year. My brother contracted Whooping Cough when he was a baby and almost died. When a vaccine became available, my mother could not have me innoculated fast enough. The same for Polio. Epidemics of Polio swept across the US, crippling and killing children around the time I was born. The last Polio epidemic in the United States was in 1979, when an outbreak occurred among the Amish in several Midwest states, by the way. The Amish do not believe in having their children vaccinated. Below is a picture of an iron lung. This particular device was donated to the CDC by the family of Mr. Barton Hebert of Covington, Louisiana. The machine kept Mr. Hebert, who suffered from Polio, alive from the late 1950s until his death in 2003. I'm betting that he wished he could have had the option to be vaccinated against the disease. Vaccination....it's a GOOD thing.

I was furious to read the quotes in this morning's paper.....Cervical Cancer is a "lifestyle decision", according to a group of ultra-conservative fruitcakes opposing Texas' governor Rick Perry's executive order mandating that all girls be vaccinated against HPV, starting at age 11. If you abstain from premarital sex, and marry someone who likewise abstained, you won't have to worry about HPV. So....I guess those nasty girls who will die from Cervical Cancer have no one but themselves to blame. A Dallas woman said the only women at risk for Cervical Cancer are those with other risk factors, such as smoking, HIV, Chlamydia, multiple sex partners, poor diet, and "low income". Well, let's hope for her sake that she never finds herself in that despicable condition.....LOW INCOME. I guess the quicker we stamp out those losers, the better. And for the benefit of all who might agree with the dissenters, I'd like to point out, as did columnist Bud Kennedy, that for years we have required that school children be immunized against another virus that is spread primarily thru sexual contact AND causes Cancer (liver Cancer). That would be the Hepatitis B vaccine. But I don't recall anyone making a moral issue out of it. Why is that, do you suppose?

The latest "news" claims that there were multiple vials of Methadone found in a refrigerator at ANS's home in the Bahamas. One would think, if this is true, that she would stay far, far away from the same stuff that killed her son.

Wheetsin... I am the quintessential "Earth Mother", I guess. Growing up, I loved babies....couldn't wait to get married and have a whole bunch of them. That did not make me a good parent, however. And sometimes, I wasn't. Like everyone else, there were times when I definitely was not in the running for Mother of the Year. I have noticed that many times, the people who WANT children are not necessarily people who SHOULD be having them. They have one, don't parent it very well, and instead of stopping, they have MORE. That doesn't mean they don't love them. My daughter has 3 children. She loves them more than her own life, but she is not good at parenting them...because she is not good at acting responsibly. You, on the other hand, seem to be very responsible. Very reliable. And that counts for a lot. Your children will grow up feeling secure - knowing that they can count on you. Knowing that if school is out at 3:00, they won't still be standing by the flagpole at 3:30, wondering where you are and when you - IF you - will show up to collect them. One of the best mothers I know has just one child - a son whom they adopted as an infant. She put off having children until she was almost 40, then found that she was unable to conceive. Carol wasn't sure she would be a good mom, either. The first thing she lined up was a reliable babysitter. She did not want to feel overwhelmed by a crying, demanding, infant. But when the time came to hand him over, it was much harder than she had anticipated. She called the sitter a LOT. Just to check on Christopher. Christopher is 23 years old now and his mom is VERY glad she made the decision to be a parent. And she's looking forward to being a grandmother.

When I was in the hospital delivering my first (biological) child, my DH, unasked, brought me the bills that had arrived in my absence, the checkbook, and some stamps. He thought you were supposed to pay them the day after they landed in the mailbox and he was seriously concerned that in the 2 1/2 days I would be gone, something might be "late".