KartMan

Obama won the election 52.9% to McCain’s 45.7% (365 to 173 electoral votes). It may have been a while since you took 7th grade math so I’d like to inform you that that is a majority, and by the way its also a plurality, which has great significance in our political system. Democrats hold a majority in the Senate with 57 seats (2 Independents, 1 open seat, and 40 Republicans) and a sizable majority in the House with 256 seats (178 Republicans, no Independents, and 1 open seat). A good number of the voters in 2008 rallied behind Obama because of a number of his core issues, not the least of which was a major overhaul to our failing Health Care system. Several of the current congressional democrats were swept into office with him on that wave of change. So surprise Patty, change is what we (the voters) want, it’s about us (the people). There are not far more people against it as you put it, the numbers don’t support that claim. Even if you are right, and Democrats lose their seats by voting for this, I am fine with that. Making Health Care a Right and not a Privilege is that important. We have been trying to get this done since Truman and we should not cave into the special interests and the Insurance lobby yet again.

I doubt they drug test. I would quit if I were you though. I don’t have a moral issue with Marijuana, but I don’t think it is at all good for you. A lot of people get the munchies when they get high, not a very good side effect for someone trying to lose weight. Just my 2 cents.

Heck no, it’s not ok for me (except as a rare treat, and rare for me is a treat every other week or so). I am a 6’ tall male. I consume between 900-1500 calories a day. When I workout, I bump that up to about 1800 calories. Within those daily calories, I need to consume about 150 grams of protein. It doesn’t matter where my calories come from. But if they come from crap like milkshakes (which is all a flavored coffee is), then I need to miss a meal, and I don’t like doing that. Now I love coffee as much as the next guy, but I have switched to no cream or milk and only Splenda as a sweetener, I never go for the flavored stuff. Aside form empty calories, I find that sweets like this tend to make me hungrier, which only spirals downhill if I give in to it. I am on a roll with weight loss, I don’t want to screw it up with the 5 minutes of pleasure this drink can give me. On those rare occasions that I do treat myself to something like this or ice cream, I do my best to over compensate with working out or being extra strict with food the next few days. There is a saying on a lot of tickers on here that goes something like this “nothing tastes as good as being thin feels”. Well, I’m pretty close to goal and a lot of folks that know me are actually starting to call me thin. Thin? Me? Can you believe it? Well, it’s true. And you know what? That saying is very true.

I was excited right away because the pounds were melting away pretty steadily right from the beginning. But then I got super excited when people that didn’t know about the surgery really started to notice (which was about 3-4 months out and about 40lbs down). Then I got even more excited when I passed my lowest ever dieting weight (206lbs) about 6 months out. Now, I am under 200 lbs and haven’t been this low since getting out of bootcamp back in 1984. I’m really stoked right now because I am less than 10lbs from my goal weight and within striking distance of my main goal, which is to get to a Body Fat of 15%.

At this point I think he should do just that. He has the mandate and the majority. As for the spineless blue dogs, they should worry less about their seats in 2010 and remember who brought them to the dance in the first place.

Gee Patty, have you ever had a thought for yourself or do you always plagiarize? I thought the writing style looked a little different and I was right. If anyone wants to read the full article in the WSJ, here it is in it’s original format (written by two Republican congressmen BTW). Patty, I know this isn’t high school and you are not technically cheating. But you came across in your statement that YOU had the answer. Not the BEST answer in my opinion, and not really even YOUR answer.

To be honest I only researched bypass and the band. I didn’t give bypass much thought because it seemed a little scary to me. For good or bad, I bought into the marketing hype about the band being adjustable and reversible which helped a lot in decision. I didn’t know anything about the sleeve so I didn’t look into it. The thing that stuck in my head about the band was that because of it’s restrictive nature, it should help dramatically with portion control. I had been pretty successful losing weight in the past on NutriSystem (which is all about portion control), but I couldn’t keep it off because I was never able to curb my hunger. I knew the band was for me because I knew that portion size was my big problem. I was never much of a snacker or junk food junkie, but when I ate I ATE BIG:eek:. After about 7 months, I can say that from that perspective it has worked beautifully. It’s worked great for me:thumbup: No complications to speak of. The learning curve on relearning how to eat has been a little tough, but I think I finally have it figured out. I am down over 95lbs, about 5-10lbs from goal and still losing fairly easily, dropped from XXXL shirts and 44 pants to M shirts and 34 pants, have more energy than ever and generally feel great.

These answers apply only to my situation, your mileage may vary. 1.How much does it hurt? The surgery didn’t hurt at all. I had moderate shoulder pain for about 7-10 days but it was very manageable. 2. How much pain meds did you need? (I have a 3 year old and don't want to be out of it.) I took liquid Tylenol for the first few days, I was very alert. 3. How long until you were released to go home? I went home about 2 hours after surgery (somebody else drove) and had a moderate work day the next day. 4. How long do you feel one should take off work? (I'm a teacher so my job's not demanding - physically that is) I avoided heavy lifting for several days. I would say give yourself a cushion from work for at least a few days if you can. 5. Anyone have any experience with CIGNA good or bad? Sorry, I was self pay

Oh my, I’ve lost 96.4lbs or: a small bale of hay, an average 2 year old, an automobile tire (I know where that was) and a Guinea Pig

It happened to me too, although I didn’t use insurance so it didn’t matter. It did mean though that I was even fatter than I expected (at least from a BMI perspective) and that all of my goals had to shift a little. I know that I used to be 6’1” because I was in the military and they are pretty specific about that sort of thing. About 8 years ago I hurt my back pretty badly and crushed a few discs, now I am closer to 6’ 0” rather than 6’1”

I hate to be the one to defend the media… But I have to call it the way I see it. The media is not our friend, they are not the purveyors of justice. They are a business, and they are trying to make money. How do they make money? By getting people to watch. How do they get people to watch? By sensationalizing the news, by making a big deal about the lunatic fringe. They just love the way the town halls erupted. When history looks back, it will probably see that a relatively small (but probably very organized) group actually led the outrage at those meetings. The media is just doing what it does, making ratings for themselves. Don Henley said it best in Dirty Laundry

I’ve said on here before that I'm for all reform, even Tort Reform. But reforming the legal system, while important and may though it may have merit, should not be the crux of our focus. The problem is how for years the Insurance Industry has been allowed to dismantle everything good about medical care in this country. Pre-existing condition clauses, rampant under coverage, exorbitant rates, last minute claim denials, insurance portability, etc, etc, etc need to be the real focus of the problem. When are we going to realize in this country (the way the rest of the Industrialized World has) that Health Care is a right and not a privilege?

LOL:lol: Facts? We don’t need no stinking facts. In all seriousness, the Right in this issue just doesn’t have a lot of facts on why Health Care reform is a bad idea. In fact it’s not a bad idea and they know it, but it may be a way for them to strike a blow to Obama. That is why they throw blood in the Water with things like “death panels”, gutting Medicare for seniors, putting a bureaucrat in you doctors office, blah, blah, blah. This country has needed reform for a long time and we are finally on the cusp of getting it right. Patty, I’m sorry – you are being duped by the people in the industry that fear that their cash cow is going to go away. I know you don’t believe it, and that is sad for you. But it will be even sadder for they country if we collectively fall for this BS yet again and do nothing.

Would you then suggest we do away with the SBA? Look it up. It is a government program (funded with tax dollars) that helps many small businesses get started and stay running. Oh, and by the way, by all accounts it works pretty well. Sweeping remarks like yours about all programs being bad and government involvement in business being the end to democracy are not only small minded, they show your lack of true understanding of how our system works.

When you get stuck and PB from a piece of meat that you just toothpicked out of your teeth and swallowed. This actually happened to me today.

As well he should have. Anytime a member of the administration becomes a bigger story than the task at hand, they need to go. The work that Obama needs to accomplish is too big to be weighed down by one guy. I think most people on the President’s staff (this has been true of past administrations as well) know this to be the case. In the last administration, I don’t think Rumsfeld read that memo, he stayed on way too long and damaged his administration and the country.

I don’t think that is true. I think that the organizers of the groups that are leading the opposition to the reform are actually against Obama and not necessarily against any one component of the reform. They see this as a way to drive a wedge into his popularity and their best chance of defeating him in the mid-terms and ultimately in 2012. The way I see it, if he backs down on the public option he will be admitting defeat and he will be weakened by it. I think he should use the mandate he was given in November and the majorities he has in both houses of congress to push through Health Care for all as right and not a privilege.

Ok, so I am an unabashed Obama supporter. Having said that, I am not a fan of this whole “Czar” concept and this should be an impetus to end it. Now to be fair – Obama did not invent the Czar role. Unless I am mistaken, I think it may have been Regan back in the 80’s with the Drug Czar (maybe it was Bush I). In any event, the whole Czar thing needs to be reigned in. We have cabinet level positions for all of these roles and those cabinet officers have a full vetting process and need to be approved by congress, we should stick with that.

You’re funny Do you really think BET is a way to put down whites? Have you ever watched the station? It is a niche market mostly run by blacks for a black audience and it is market driven. They make money because they can drum up enough advertisers to pay their bills, they are clearly not getting rich over there though. A quick google check would probably show that they are in their bottom tier of revenue for the various cable networks. Just curious, what is the “real reason” for dieagreements?

You know Patty this is exactly the sort of head in the sand attitude that got us into this situation. If we had fixed this 20 or even 40 years ago we would not be in the dire straights that we are in now. Your argument has huge holes in it, but the most glaring is the statement that we have the best care in the world. Do just a little research and you will see that this is clearly not the case. Sure, you can make the argument that we have some of the best facilities and some of the best procedures available, but the cold hard reality is those are not available to everyone – not even people with coverage. The fact is, we spend more than just about any country per person on health care and are very low on the list in terms of infant mortality, life expectance, medical quality of life, etc., etc. I have cited reference to you before on these stats, since you have chosen to ignore them and continue to spout the drivel about how great we are I can only assume you are deaf, ignorant or extremely biased on the issue. If you think it so good today, then why are we spending so much and getting so little?

Totally agree Bjean. I too believe that people really do believe in their own hearts that their own religious experience are real. Patty, with all due respect to your beliefs, I have to agree with BJean. You see, for me, faith or someone else’s account of a miracle is just not enough for me. It’s not that I am cynical (well maybe a little:sneaky:), it’s just my analytical nature. Please don’t make another analogy about not seeing air, yet believing in that or asking me to prove the existence of Abe Lincoln based on old history books. You know that those are hollow comparisons and really do a disservice to your argument.

HappyHome, great post – you are an inspiration. CM, you are so right as usual. I totally agree with you on the racism aspect of this. I think there are factions out there truly hate Obama not for his policies but for the color of his skin. You see it in the fracas about his birth certificate, in they way they oppose his speech to the students, in the emphasizing of his middle name, and in so many other ways. I have seen racism up close and I know it when I see it, this is it.

That would take losing some years too. I whish there were a band to take off years the way this one takes of pounds. To make matters worse, with the fat gone from my face, the wrinkles look a little more prominent. Oh well, at least they are skinny wrinkles:lol:.

I think it’s just a rumor. For it to be true it would have to be Palin for Pres and Cheney for VP. He has a proven record of being the brains behind the jacka$$.