BJean

I don't know if you are aware of how rabid people are about abortion and getting it banned. They literally will stop at nothing to change the laws. We can't take Roe v. Wade for granted. We have to stay on top of things or trust me, they will prevail. The minute we just say, it's legal so deal with it, is the minute they manage to creep people out to such an extent the powers that be will do something stupid.

I think you're spot on, Phil! The "Mission Accomplished" banner was in reference to the completed mission of sufficiently propagandizing American politics, not the war in Iraq. That's why he was so happy sporting that $hit eating grin on his face. You know he had help, years of it. Pat Robertson and his ilk constantly telling people what was meant when "Acts of God" occurred, like the earthquake that hurt so many in San Francisco, the hurricane in New Orleans, and so many disasters in between. George said God made him do it. So it must be right to corrupt the election. And it's certainly right that he drop bombs on Iraq. It's all spelled out for us, if not in the Bible which they claim is the direct divine word of God, then we have all manner of religious spouters telling us what God means because God told them personally. And who can argue with that? If God spoke to someone how are you going to prove that he didn't? It's a neat little package of ridiculous bastardization of an entire religion. And it's making America an unhealthy place to live.

Remember Phil, the Flat Earth Society is still alive and well.

So exactly how do you propose that YOU determine what situation is life threatening ENOUGH for YOU to decide whether a woman can have an abortion? See, my dear, YOU do not have that right. And legislators do not have that right. That is why it is untenable for lawmakers and people like the doctor-killer and the protestors outside of Planned Parenthood to insist on making abortion illegal. They just do not have the right to decide for EVERYONE what constitutes a life threatening condition for ALL women. So continue fighting to save little children. Counsel women who are newly pregnant on how to have a safe, healthy pregnancy, birth, and delivery. Teach women how to safely raise an unwanted child. Give them your money to ensure that they can successfully create new life and add to the population of this great country of ours. Recruit the babies into the fold of your religion. But when it comes to taking away a woman's right to choose by making abortion illegal, back off. You do not and should not have that power.

I will be happy to apologize for characterizing you the way I did just as soon as you stop making posts that prove that I'm right. Sometimes I don't think you understand what you're saying. Because when someone calls you on something you've posted, you deny that you meant it the way it came across. Get some kahunas and stand by what you post. Or don't get so outraged when someone lets you have it for what you've put out in cyberspace. You just can't have it both ways.

patty if someone wants to kill another human being you can't stop them. you can make it illegal but you can't stop it from happening before it happens. Making abortion illegal will not stop abortions from happening either. I don't care whether you think it is murder or not. Some women are unable for many reasons, to survive a pregnancy. They have a right to their own lives. It may make you personally uncomfortable and unhappy, but it is a delimma that only the people involved can have the power to resolve. You cannot insert yourself into people's lives and tell them that they must die in order for a new life to begin. And even if you could somehow manage to do that, it would be wrong. You do not have that power and you do not in any way deserve to have that power.

She doesn't have to, I will. It is flat out stupid to keep blaming the economic mess we're in on President Obama's "spending spree." Yours and people like you's insistence that big government, now that we have a Democratic President, is the problem and that our president is spending us into oblivion, is poppycock, pure and simple. You detest the fact that we have a Democratic President. You detest the fact that he cares about making changes in this country because you don't want change. You want to keep us in the America that allowed discrimination and white supremacy. Furthermore, you have been manipulated by your politicians, who are driven by greed, to believe that supporting big corporations is more worthy than supporting your government. And that is flat out stupid because history has told us that the Republican "trickle down" theory of economics absolutely does not work. And it's also been proven that without government interference and regulation, our economy won't make it. In a perfect democracy it would work, but we don't have any such thing. What we have is a wealthy few who are amassing huge utterly unspendable in a life-time fortunes, on the back of the working class citizens. And people who can't think for themselves are championing that cause. It is so wrong and so backasswards it is bound to bite them in the butt eventually. Thank God.

Congratulations Cleo's!!!! That's fabulous news! Yay grandma!

And what Leigha said about advertising is absolutely the truth. And it's one huge reason why we work so hard to acquire all the things that we see in all the commercials and print ads. We'll die, but we'll have cool clothes, highly styled hair, lots of flashy jewely and sophisticated make up to make us look good in our coffins.

It's pretty tough to get Americans off high center and actually moving in the right direction. People are afraid of change and we've been very comfortable living with a car for every member of the family. We've never developed a good transit system in any place but the really major cities. We have a society that relies so much on their cars, they don't even want to get out of them to go to the bank, buy food or get their prescriptions refilled. Now Walmart (being the brilliant money makers that they are) are proposing to have drive up windows. I guess you'll be able to go online, fill out a form to order and then pay online and drive by and pop your trunk while you sit in the driver's seat and let them put your order in. It isn't really that we're all too lazy. We're just too busy. Working long hours to get ahead and buy more stuff and eating in our cars as we rush to the next place is killing us. We work more than most other industrialized countries and vacation less. We're huge consumers of everything. We've moved away from our birthplace and some of us hardly know our neighbors. What a lifestyle! And it's killing us. And it's killing our children.

It's the ultimate mystery of the decade! How they've been able to get middle class people join up to the "Tea Party" movement and rant and rave against taxing corporations and making corporations pay their fair share and at the same time preaching that government is bad. Of course the Tea Party movement was started by big business and funded by them so I get that part, but why so many regular folk support it and march in the streets when it is not at all in their own best interest is a real shocker. (Btw, there's no Martin Marietta anymore. It's Lockheed Martin. And it's made up of segments of General Electric and other various and sundry corporations they bought up along the way.)

I just can't imagine what rock you've been living under. We need a strong department of defense... everyone knows that. What we don't need are obscene government defense contracts for weapons and airplanes and bullets and crap that we stockpile and never use or only use if someone like Bush makes sure that we do. What we need in America is a healthy and safe environment for our citizens. We need safe roads, safe schools (and high quality schools for our future), top-notch health care for everyone, safe food supply, clean air and water and all the things that make a country a great place to live. What we don't need is war. And we'd like to not have terrorists in this country. But you don't stop terrorists with a massive department of defense. You can try to stop acts of terrorism by learning about them and nipping their activities in the bud. But if you think that big guns are going to stop terrorism you must have your head in the sand. :smile2:

Oh yeah... minimal governmental intrustion and regulations - look how great that worked for us. Where do you think and why do you think that governmental regulations became necessary? Because corporations have been proven to use fair business practices? This conversation would be humorous if it weren't so dangerous and irresponsible.

You just like to start stuff. You just spew crap. If someone did a poll that said, Are you Pro Abortion or Pro Life, why would you think anyone would choose Pro Abortion? Most Americans believe in a woman's right to choose. That's very different from saying that most Americans are pro abortion or pro life. You can't change this anymore than you can justfiy people's "feelings" that discrimination is acceptable in any form!!!

Free speech?? You think that ending discrimination is akin to giving up free speech? What you're advocating (no doubt without even realizing it) is having this country wind up in some kind of civil war again. You need to dig a little deeper, my dear, just using terms like "free speech" cannot excuse racial discrimination. And racial discrimination is ignorant and unacceptable. There is no way to justify it, no matter how much you'd like to do just that.

Jane gives good post!

Helen I've seen my dauther-in-law's father die from a long time addiction to alcohol. He tried to quit cold turkey when he was in his 50s. He developed a very rare disease that messed up his motor skills and his mental capacities. He died very soon after that. So you're doing the right thing, even though I know how very hard it is. Especially when you're around people who drink in a very carefree manner, with no thoughts of becoming addicted. I had a friend who became a serious drunk after her husband left her. Some of the things she did, with her children being able to observe them, eventually became devastating to her. She thought no one knew but the fact was that everyone knew. I quickly decided that I'd better get a handle on why I overeat and am so addicted to certain foods before my kids became as disgusted and embarrassed about me as hers were at her behavior. This is not an easy road we take, trying to live a beautiful, healthy life. But we have to love ourselves enough to do it for us. Not for our love of anyone else, but for the love of ourselves. Because if we love ourselves and we take care of us, we will be the best we can be for our loved ones. I'm still not sure exactly what was causing me to dislike myself so much that I became self-destructive through food. But now that I am beginning to get adjusted to an entire new way of dealing with food, with the sleeve, I am already feeling better about myself. And I have high hopes that I will be a much happier and healthier mother, wife and friend. It looks like you're doing quite well now and I wish you the very best. I know you are going to be so much happier and healthier now that you've made the decision to take care of yourself. Screw the stress - you're much more important than anything that can cause stress in your life.

ourorborus, I feel your pain. Having a little glass of wine sure makes a night of Bridge or Canasta be more fun. And if it were my birthday... darn that would suck. But you are right on when you say that being healthy and losing weight will feel a whole lot better!!

Tiff I've never been able to drink OJ either! Man it does a number on me. I find it uncomfortable to even watch a child drink it for breakfast. Ouch!

When I'm feeling decadant (pre-sleeve) I loved to have a Kaluha Sombrero after dinner (sorry for the spelling). Just kaluha and half 'n half. It seemed to calm my stomach after eating anything. I've never checked the calorie count. But now I will!

You know I was a cheap date before the sleeve. I cannot imagine how quickly I would be knee-walking now! Hold onto your lampshades girls, here comes BJean! Not pretty! But I don't like the idea of giving it up totally. Although I don't blame Helen one bit. That was a nasty spill you took. I imagine since the stuff affects us quicker and with less of it, you were not expecting to be a tipsy enough to lose it like that. Glad you're okay now! Tiff, V-8 was one of the first juices that they prescribed after clear liquids! And I was able to drink some of that. Lacing it with a little Stoli seemed like a reasonable choice to me. I must say that I was at a burger joint with the family over the weekend (I heart cheeseburgers) and decided that the only thing on their menu that might work was their "Famous, Fabulous Chili." Well that was wrong! It was very spicy and I couldn't get more than one bite down. And my tummy wasn't happy the rest of the day. Yuk!

You don't need a memo for proof. Their actions are proof enough. What they're doing is immoral and counter to the entire demoratic process. If they disagree with any policies or proposed legislation it is within their powers to argue against them and to come up with legislation they like and present it in the proper way and time and venue. The president and many democrats have shown themselves to be willing to work with republicans to get the work of the people done. So if any kind of reasonable compromises or substantive legislation were to be put forth by these obstructionists, it might prove beneficial to the process of making the repairs and changes that we need. But that is not their plan. Their plan is to stop anything that might improve our country and resolve the terrible problems that we face for the simple reason that they are afraid that the democrats would take credit for those improvements made and thereby ensure that even more democrats might be elected. They're a dishonest, slimy bunch and their constiuents should clean house on election day.

patty I didn't accuse you of hating kids. **rolleyes** For you to say something that doesn't make sense only proves my point. **rolleyes** **flutter eyelids** And you're right about one thing, my dear, I don't have to comment on your inane posts, people can read them for themselves. **rolleyes, flutter eyelids, shrug shoulders** It's just that it's so much fun I can't help myself. **big toothy grin**

Ohhh, I wonder if a Bloody Mary would be a good choice. It has lemon or lime usually, celery and V-8 or tomato juice. Anybody have an answer to that??

When my daughter decided she no longer wanted to go to a private Catholic school, we agreed to send her to a public middle school. One day I went to take her something she'd forgotten and I was astonished at the physical plant that they called a middle school - in Orlando. There were ceiling tiles caving in from being wet from roof leaks, mold creeping everywhere along the hallways, peeling paint, everything that you would absolutely not expect to find in a school. The place was dangerous! And the brilliant governor we had allowed the advertising to promote the lottery to claim that a certain percentage of lottery profits would go to the schools. Well because our schools were often in poor condition and our children were having to share books, etc., we all voted for the state to bring in the lottery. Oops, surprise... they forgot to tell us one very important thing. Yeah, they were planning to give schools a certain percentage of lottery winnings but they were planning to take the usual schools funding out of the budget. So instead of getting more money for our lousy schools, we got less!!! So the comment that the photo just means somebody needs to do a little painting is absolutely frickin ridiculous. What in the world would someone know about it if they home school their kids? Don't make big proclamations when you don't know what the heck you're talking about. It just makes you look very stupid and hateful.