dawg

Foreign Policy: imho making a first strike at someone who wants to kill you is AOK with me That goes for any nation out there that would like to see us "capitlist infidels" dead. I don't personally believe in sitting around and waiting for someone to kill me. Peaceful Foreign Policy works great, if the other side is willing to negotiate or talk. Communism: I think the ideal was Marxism, communism was what it turned into. And as for who Bush surrounded himself with and what they advised him to do, show me a politician that was ever trully "for the people". They are principally "for themselves getting re-elected". And I don't care what color they claim to be. Have democratic politicians demonstrated a "higher standard" of advosors? I suspect not. Judges: the High Court is laughable with any party in charge. Justices shouldn't be politically alligned, but indeed they are. Face it folks. It matters not one damn bit who is presently in the White House, or 10 Downing Street, or any other presidential residence. They aren't out for their constituents. They aren't interested in "the little people" despite what anyone thinks. They are out for re-election. God: I agree this is all part of His plan, and I suspect there is much snickering and laughter at all of our antics. Me: I can't vote because I'm not a citizen. I'm taking an outsider's viewpoint of the system. My opinion is just that, mine.

With regards to the news. You can take what you are fed by the tabloid news approach, or you can actually take an interest and find the 'real' news. Perhaps in ten years time a lot of people will only remember that guy who claimed to kill that kid beauty pageant girl. I bet they will know about the Afghan campaign and Iraq as well. In a military situation, people get killed. The term "Friendly Fire" has been around for a very very long time. I remember well the UK tank that got destroyed by "friendly fire" in the Gulf War. Who was to blame? Certainly not any government, or the generals, and probably not even the person who pulled the trigger. The bottom line is, in any offensive or defensive situation people get hurt. I don't mind people pointing the finger at the government and saying its their fault, if it's categorically true. Scenario time. You are in charge (whatever political "side" you like). Your chief security advisors (and lets face it, the people passing the information are civil servants, not politicians) walk in and say "Mr/Mrs/Ms President, we have firm belief that there is massive proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and that Iraq will supply these weapons to Al'Quaide (yeah I know I spelled that wrong)." Your military leaders advise you "We think this represents a clear and present danger to the United States, we recommend a first strike". Now you sit in the big chair. All by yourself. You decide. Given the reams of material data provided to the White House by the NSA (civil servants), the CIA (whoops, so are they), Secret Service (them too), FBI (and them), and of course, the Military (whatdya know, they aren't elected either), I wouldn't have wanted to make the choice.

I personally think a country is like a good old cajun gumbo. It has lots of ingredients, some you can identify, some you can't. Somehow the entire mess comes together and works. As for getting what we deserve, very few people get what they deserve. A few people get what they think they want, but rarely does anyone get what they deserve. Would 9/11 have happened if a democrat was in the White House? No idea. I can't say it wouldn't, I can't say it would. Would we have gone to war in Iraq if a democrat had been in the chair? Again, no clue. I see little value in pointing fingers at who did what, and what should have been done when it is already history. Facts matter. We are in Iraq. 9/11 did happen. Whether either could or should have been prevented is purely academic. The best thing anyone can do now, is lobby their political representative and demand the action be taken that they think is appropriate. The majority does rule (sort of - Electoral college system is a bit mad, if you ask me - speaking as an "outsider"). There, have my 9 dollars and 57 cents.

Welcome and good luck on your journey!

Kathy, How kind of you to... erm cheer me up in such an unorthodox fashion Actually you got a smile outa me (well - an eyelid crinkle) so it worked! I don't measure month to month but... I have removed a total of 14 inches from my waist. I've also removed about 45 points from my IQ, but I'm not sure how I managed that.

I read through a lot of the news stories on this, and the thing that I wonder is "Is this the guy that did it, or is this a mentally ill person attempting to claim a crime he didn't commit?". Given some of the history on him (according to the media) there certainly seems some evidence he has some issues. I think the one thing that really saddens me is that this was so "high profile" simply because of the beauty pageant angle. This type of crime will continue to be commited and even if this one case is "solved" there are so many others that will remain unsolved. I think the trial (and more specifically the DNA evidence) will make for interesting viewing and I hope justice is done. No matter what happens I will stand in faith that whoever perpetrates such terrible crimes will face the "ultimate" judgment.

Well. This is me checking in. I guess. I'm saying no change. The scales said I lost a pound tuesday but - it's going up and down faster than a kangaroo on a pogo stick. I feel like crap. Two of my wisdom extractions got infected. Bummed whiney and overall feeling like I have rolled in pig poo. Glad to see everyone is alive and well (Though I think old GI Jane over there should stay out of the bandana - looks great without). I'm now going to hold icepacks to my face and whine some more.

I'd agree with Paul. I was on the Atkins diet for a few months and it certainly does cause pounds to fall off. And It probably isn't too bad pre-op because you definately want a good Protein level to assist healing. I'd add though that some things allowable on the Atkins diet aren't so great, in that fatty foods are allowable and I personally wouldn't recommend them. As an unbanded individual losing weight I am on a low fat, low(ish) carb, moderate protein diet. I try and get fifty to sixty grams of protein a day and keep my carbs complicated / natural. The Atkins diet can and does work. Is it the healthiest choice? Probably not. Would I do it pre-op? No. Pre-op I'd be doing a "modified" Atkins. I'd avoid red and fatty meats, focusing on low fat complex carbs. Here's a list of what I'd do: I would eat: Fish chicken Protein supplements Fresh vegatables / salad Fruit (limited) Vitamin Supplements I wouldn't eat: Flour products of any kind. Refined sugars (or products that have them) Fatty foods (cheese, Peanut Butter etc - while not "bad", too many calories from fat for my taste!). And those, are my two cents!

I personally think everyone's wrong. *laugh* On a side note though - a discussion can be easily killed by everyone either agreeing to disagree, or agreeing with each other.

By the way... what is a PB and... what is a fill???? *runs off snickering insanely*

Figured I'd post this to give someone a chuckle, and possibly someone else a chance to voice the unforseen "odd" side effects of weight loss. Here's my very annoying side affect of losing weight: My BUM hurts. It appears that because I have refused to exercise (so no buns of steel) and I now have lost a massive ammount of padding, I sit directly on my tailbone. This pinches and pokes the skin between the tailbone and my chair. Sad but true folks, weightless is a pain in the ass. :huggie: (now, if I could just get up and work on those buns of steel, I wouldn't be sitting here thinking about making people laugh over my painful tuckus....)

Har! New diet tip. Have all of your Wisdom teeth pulled. THe lack of desire to eat anything is amazing. Ow Ow FRICKIN Ow! Get me the tooth fairy. Stat.

Trails in late.... C 225.5 (-81.5lbs total, -5 this week) Move me up on the honors! And here's an NSV to go with it: The last time I weighed this much, I was 16 years old. Oh and Paul - how do I do this bandless? Simple, I'm not. If I didn't have the wife's band to keep me in check, I doubt I would have made it this far. I think I'm now getting closer to being strong in my own right but I am so aware that one tiny slip and I could be right back where I was. Now if I could just follow the exercise fiends example and haul my butt to the gym I could even call myself.... fit. Laugh.

Being in a somewhat introspective mood, I got to thinking about silly little things I take for granted, that I really ought not to. Here's my top 5. 1. Employer provided coffee. Okay I know sounds a bit stupid. I come from the UK though and have had to pay for crap coffee for most of my working life. Now I whine because the employer provided coffee isn't awesome. 2. Gas Prices: Am I mental? Yep. Fraid so. Even at three bucks a gallon, I'd probably pay more to fill up a Ford Focus in the UK, than I pay to fill up an Expedition here. 3. High speed internet: Yep, I now get grumpy if I download at less than 150K a second. Maybe I should spend a month on dialup at 3K a second as a reminder. 4. Music: I have enough music that I could start it all playing today, and it wouldn't finish (without repeating a song) for about three weeks. I expect it to be there, but I rarely show any appreciation for having it! 5. Air Conditioning - everywhere: Again, the UK. We had air conditioning in our house. It was called a big window. A window with no sensible screen to keep the bugs out. Now I expect it to be everywhere, but I certainly don't give much appreciation for it. Yes this is kind of light hearted but I do trully wonder about how much we all take for granted, and just how desperate we'd be if we didn't have it. So, what's your top five?

I always say you can't own a thread, you merely birth it and set it free :huggie: Be thankful, take for granted, it's all good. If this thread gets someone to take a moment and give a round of appreciate for something they feel deserving, have at it.

Ironically, I've suffered with hives for years. I am clincally allergic to... you guessed it! ME. True, sad to say. I have a form called Dermatographisgm. My body naturally produces too much histmaine so I welt up and itch frequnetly. Nothing compared to what my lil P'Nut is going through though :huggie: We're hoping that once they are under control we can back some of the anti-histamines off and get it down to a management level where we can figure out if it's just stress or an actual allergy.

Sneak peek at weight... 227.0 Hello 80 pounds gone! w0000t :huggie:

Heh, I can definately go for 6 #6 My Computers. No they aren't bleeding edge. No they aren't monster gaming machines. No they can't churn data like a Kray supercomputer. But they are stable. Efficient and thus far, unfailing (why do I feel it is a mistake to say that??). I always take it for granted that it will be there. Heh - regarding my #3... turns out my internet went out for over ten minutes today, I was quite upset. Man I'm spoiled.

One of my old co-workers used to wear a shirt that said simply: "I carry no cash". *nudge nudge* Those machines don't offer credit Hang in there, and avoid the Tuna slap o' doom!

Hello folks. Well looks like the thread ran into technical difficulties, so I'm not going to be looking at updating this until the Moderators figure out how to fix it. If it can't be fixed I'm going tohave to get really creative on how to present the data in a meaningful way (heh, I'm not good at creative - laugh). I'm going to give the "creative" bit some thought until I hear back from the Mod's / Alex. Sorry folks! watch this space.

Greetings folks, tis I! Still alive (mostly a good thing) Still losing (but slower - my old flame came back - beer) Still a member! C 230.5 (-4.5 er... since last time I weighed in) Yes, I know, I am early 1 day. But I might not be back in for another month. Work, exhaustion. Excellent. NOT. Have fun until I re-appear!

Sing with me! "I'm sitting at the bottom of the bay, watching that fish swim away, sitting at the bottom of the bay wasting time, left my home in Id'y, headed for the 'Frisco Bay..."

I'll take four of whatever she's having. And regret it later.

If people don't behave they can all go stand in the corner or face a fish slap This is me.. checking in for July. Roger Roger, over and out.

So... everyone is getting married... and when they aren't getting married, they will be bridesmaids... and... and... You guys could confuse for your country. Let's hope they set it up as an Olympic event...