Ok so I love polls. And I love politics. So what political party has the most lapband recipient votes? We'll soon find out!!

Regarding Putting the 10 Commandments into public buildings.

There are three generally accepted versions of the 10 commandments:

Protestant Version:

1. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

2. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the Water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.

3. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain: for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.

4. Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy Manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

5. Honor thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.

6. Thou shalt not kill.

7. Thou shalt not commit adultery.

8. Thou shalt not steal.

9. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.

10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbor's.

Catholic Version:

1. I am the Lord thy God. Thou shalt not have strange gods before me.

2. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.

3. Remember thou keep the Sabbath Day.

4. Honor thy Father and thy Mother.

5. Thou shalt not kill.

6. Thou shalt not commit adultery.

7. Thou shalt not steal.

8. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.

9. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife.

10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's goods.

Hebrew Version:

1. I am the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

2. Thou shalt have no other gods before Me. Thou shalt not make unto thee a graven image, nor any manner of likeness, of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; Thou shalt not bow down unto them, nor serve them; for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate Me; And showing mercy unto the thousandth generation of them that love Me and keep My commandments.

3. Remember the sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work. But the seventh day is the sabbath in honour of the Lord thy God; on it thou shalt not do any work, neither thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

4. Remember the sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work. But the seventh day is the sabbath in honour of the Lord thy God; on it thou shalt not do any work, neither thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

5. Honour thy father and thy mother; in order that thy days may be prolonged upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.

6. Thou shalt not kill.

7. Thou shalt not commit adultery.

8. Thou shalt not steal.

9. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.

10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house; thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.

However, I defy anyone to show me anywhere in the Bible where 10 commandments are laid out and numbered 1 through 10. In both Exodus and Deuteronomy, there are what most people would call the basis for the Ten Commandments, but Exodus 20 takes verses 2 to 17 to spell out the Ten Commandments, while Deuteronomy 5 needs verses 6 through 21. That is 16 verses in each book to spell out 10 commandments. Of course this makes the 10 commandments rather arbitrary as to where each commandment starts and ends.

I am all for the honest hard working American who needs assistance getting that assistance.(although I think anything >5years needs looked at, these individuals who have collected assistance for 20yrs thats abuse and its not right.) I'd love to see it in an area where it is appreciated not expected, where it actually has graduates who then pay in to help the next person.

The problem is that in the Dallas area the system is BROKEN!!

So my view of the welfare system is skewed.

Daily I encounter all the problems the welfare system has. Our county hospital is the largest in the nation under one roof and only second to LA county. We deliver18,000babies/yr of those 12,000 babies per year who are considered "anchor babies" (and no they are not all from Mexico.) These infants enable the family to get assistance unchecked. The military, fire fighters and other civil servants who make less than a "reasonable income" 30K do not qualify for the same benefits and that is wrong! We currently see a family from Macedonia. They have been in the US >10yrs. They go "home" twice a year, own 3 pizza resturants, drive mercedes, and own a hummer and they are on medicaid. That is wrong. That is abuse of the system. Reporting the abuse in this area falls on deaf ears, nothing gets done.

Families of premature infants are awarded $400-600/mo assistance for medical bills in addition to medicaid for their premature infant. They recieve these payments until the infant is 1yr. IT is seen as a reward in the population who routinely collects and repeatedly has premature infants. I dont know what the answer is I just know its broken.!!

There is a HUGE problem in this area with the Katrina relocatees. They have had 14 paid months to find jobs, arrange housing and repair their unfortunately shattered lives. The aid is ending and a disporportionate number of these individuals are still sitting and waiting for more assistance. They "had nothing when the hurricane hit and now they have more than they could imagine" and want even more. They loudly verbalize they will not get a job. This casts a negative light on them and the system. I realize that these individuals are the minority of the peple affected by the hurricane. Did I mention the crime rate increased 30% in my area?

We have an entire section of Dallas who has been on welfare more than 20 years and the problem continues. These individuals know how to benefit from the system, and it is taught to the next generation.

So actually my answer is I vote Independent. I vote for the individual who claims to be able to DO something to end this vicious cycle. Im disappointed alot!!

I voted for Reagan and yes a democrat- ANN RICHARDS. I wish she could have gone on to the national level!!

Dear Scribby...

Not to start a big war or anything, but GENOCIDE???? In what respect was our nation founded on genocide?

well, my family is Native American and I consider what was done to them genocide....

[quote name=Scribby

well, my family is Native American and I consider what was done to them genocide....[/quote]

Mine too!!! Not immigrants- we were here!!

gonnabethin:

Your complaints are honest, valid and logical.

If the words socialism and communism were never invented, could you see where a Canadian style medical program might be beneficial to this problem and this country?

GM & Ford are on the verge of bankruptcy. Yes, they could do better with their car quality, but that is not the real problem.

The problem is the medical system in the USA.

Medical? GM? Ford? Bankruptcy?

Yes!!

GM & Ford claim that the cost of covering employee medical benefits is more money per car than the cost of the steel in each car. GM & Ford have to add almost $2,000 to the price of each vehicle to cover the cost of medical insurance.

If GM & Ford each produced a car identical in quality to a Toyota Camry, they would have to charge $2000 more for it.

That is why GM & Ford have offered buyout packages to most of their workers. GM & Ford are willing to pay these people $140,000 each to leave as long as GM & Ford can get out of their medical insurance obligations.

WHY?

Because, the foreign car manufactures' car-builders in Japan and Germany have medical plans funded by taxes. Toyota, Nissan, Mercedes,etc. do not have to pay for medical insurance for their workers.

The workers that GM & Ford hire, if and when business gets better will not have medical insurance as a benefit. They may become more of the same problem that gonnabethin describes in the intelligently written piece above.

I understand your point and certainly don't disagree, however, Native Americans became victims of genocide much later than the founding fathers era. Our country was not founded on genocide, it just prospered as a result of it, which is just as bad, of course.

While I only discussed GM & Ford, the point is valid for all US business which must compete against foreign companies.

I understand your point and certainly don't disagree, however, Native Americans became victims of genocide much later than the founding fathers era. Our country was not founded on genocide, it just prospered as a result of it, which is just as bad, of course.

I though it was much earlier.

Did you ever read of the smallpox blankets given to the Indians?

I agree with you. Some of the problem is that people have moved from their extended families. They dont have people to ask and trust, they wouldnt probably even if they did. We are not in a depression yet because we still have people bringing their kids to the doctor for a fever of 101 for 4 hours!! The common sense era is gone. Alot of the parents of today have more money than sense because they come into the doctors office for EVERYTHING!! Runny nose for 12 hours, diarrhea once, cough for 2 days.. the list goes on and on!! The copays of $5 -15 encourage running in for everything. We even have a nurse line answered by our office nurses to give advice but the parents want to come in anyway! So I can see how employeers are going broke trying to insure people who use it irresponsibility. I think those individuals should have to pay based on usage. If its an emergency or really sick kid thats one thing, but our days are filled with 8 hours of nonsense. And like wise the hospitals charge more than is reasonable, the insurance companies pay what they want to when they want to. The system broke sometime in the 70-80s but Im not sure I understand why or how.

BuSh's own Church Calls for Withdrawal from Iraq

:faint:

I understand your point and certainly don't disagree, however, Native Americans became victims of genocide much later than the founding fathers era. Our country was not founded on genocide, it just prospered as a result of it, which is just as bad, of course.

Actually it was much earlier. Native Americans were killed for their land. IMMEDIATELY once we started to settle this land. It was the founding fathers.

Our founding fathers also did ALL own African slaves. Not one of the 55 delegates disagreed with slavery, if you ever read our constitution you will see how our founding fathers really felt. Native Americans were not only not allowed to vote, but were not considered people at all. African were considered 3/5 of a person, not even a WHOLE person. If they escaped they were to be treated as PROPERTY not people.

This still extends today. We are in the war because war is good for the ELITE of the nation, not the general public. I am a wife of a veteran and I still totally disagree with this war.

I could go on and on, this is my thing. I encourage anyone that questions where this country REALLY stands, check out the census material in regards to income/race. It is shocking.

Gonnabethin...

I worked in social services for 15 years (in Tarrant County). I saw lots of abuse of "the system", and I saw the system abuse many struggling, desperate people, too.

The problem is that everyone wants to see their entitlement dollars go only to "honest, hard-working Americans" who "appreciate it". There is, unfortunately, no practical way to achieve that. It is a lot more complex than "kick the lazy slackers off the welfare roles". As long as there are entitlement programs, there will be some degree of fraud; it's inevitable. But the solution is not to punish people for being poor.

What amazes me is that John Q Public does not seem nearly as outraged by the BILLIONS of dollars misdirected, stolen, and wasted by those whose job it is to be good stewards of our public funds. I promise you, there was way more money thrown away, misused, and stolen by dishonest, lazy, unqualified, underhanded, good-old-boy politicians and government employees last year than was collected by the parents of premature babies. (I'm also curious as to how one deliberately delivers their baby prematurely.)

I agree with you about the evacuees. In 14 months they should at least have started to get back on their feet, and many have. Lots more haven't, and their "relief" should have been curtailed long before now. Bear in mind, however, that these programs were all headed up by the Feds.

The Katrina mess was an administrative abortion from day one. Everyone, I think, agrees with that. "Brownie", far from doing "one hell of a good job", stank as head of FEMA and NEVER should have been appointed. He had ZERO credentials for the job. The man's area of expertise was in judging horse shows! He got the job because Bush owed someone a favor, and that's abusing the system, too.

I also agree with you that the system is flawed and broken. Handout programs are not the answer. They sap a family's initiative and not everyone will use them as a ladder out of poverty, but as a stopping place where they can live forever, albeit not comfortably. In Texas you can't really live exclusively on welfare. You can get a Section 8 housing subsidy if you are elderly or a single mom, or if you are disabled. And you can get food stamps and Medicaid...maybe some WIC coupons if you have pre-school kids. There are time constraints on food stamps, however, so sooner or later, the state is going to stop feeding you. You still have to find a way to pay for utilities, transportation, clothing, laundry, shoes, haircuts, etc. In other words, you do have to work and earn some cash, somewhere. But that's small consolation to people who work 40 hours a week and are picking up the slack.

I am raising a grandchild who is on Medicaid. Because we do not have court-ordered custody of her, our group medical plan will not allow us to add her, even though we are willing to pay the additional premium, so the state considers her to be in the same category as a foster child, or a homeless child. Mostly I do it all by mail and phone, but occasionally I have to make a trip down to my local Dept of Human Services, and I absolutely HATE it.

I hate seeing caseworkers treat other human beings like dirt just because they can, and some of them definitely do. They are condescending, impatient, and rude and the clients have to swallow their pride and take whatever they dish out. I also want to tie some of the clients down and force feed them some common sense and self-respect. They come to the food stamp office loaded down with bags and bags of fast food because you can easily be there the whole day, and they might get hungry. Didn't they ever hear of a Peanut Butter and jelly sandwich??? And because it's such a boring, depressing place (and it really IS), they bring video games to entertain their kids, while they talk non-stop on their cell phones!!!!! HELLO....is there something wrong with this picture????

I hate it when I see young parents lay a baby on that nasty, disgusting linoleum floor to change a diaper, or pick up a dropped pacifer and give it back to a dirty, already sick looking toddler. I hate it when they leave crying because they were turned down for food stamps (and it never fails - someone always does). I feel like I want to explain to everyone around me that I don't belong in this place, and I hate that, too.

I am all for the honest hard working American who needs assistance getting that assistance.(although I think anything >5years needs looked at, these individuals who have collected assistance for 20yrs thats abuse and its not right.) I'd love to see it in an area where it is appreciated not expected, where it actually has graduates who then pay in to help the next person.

The problem is that in the Dallas area the system is BROKEN!!

So my view of the welfare system is skewed.

Daily I encounter all the problems the welfare system has. Our county hospital is the largest in the nation under one roof and only second to LA county. We deliver18,000babies/yr of those 12,000 babies per year who are considered "anchor babies" (and no they are not all from Mexico.) These infants enable the family to get assistance unchecked. The military, fire fighters and other civil servants who make less than a "reasonable income" 30K do not qualify for the same benefits and that is wrong! We currently see a family from Macedonia. They have been in the US >10yrs. They go "home" twice a year, own 3 pizza resturants, drive mercedes, and own a hummer and they are on medicaid. That is wrong. That is abuse of the system. Reporting the abuse in this area falls on deaf ears, nothing gets done.

Families of premature infants are awarded $400-600/mo assistance for medical bills in addition to medicaid for their premature infant. They recieve these payments until the infant is 1yr. IT is seen as a reward in the population who routinely collects and repeatedly has premature infants. I dont know what the answer is I just know its broken.!!

There is a HUGE problem in this area with the Katrina relocatees. They have had 14 paid months to find jobs, arrange housing and repair their unfortunately shattered lives. The aid is ending and a disporportionate number of these individuals are still sitting and waiting for more assistance. They "had nothing when the hurricane hit and now they have more than they could imagine" and want even more. They loudly verbalize they will not get a job. This casts a negative light on them and the system. I realize that these individuals are the minority of the peple affected by the hurricane. Did I mention the crime rate increased 30% in my area?

We have an entire section of Dallas who has been on welfare more than 20 years and the problem continues. These individuals know how to benefit from the system, and it is taught to the next generation.

So actually my answer is I vote Independent. I vote for the individual who claims to be able to DO something to end this vicious cycle. Im disappointed alot!!

I voted for Reagan and yes a democrat- ANN RICHARDS. I wish she could have gone on to the national level!!

Wow! I should read all of this before I post... it's more serious then I thought.

Regarding Putting the 10 Commandments into public buildings.There are three generally accepted versions of the 10 commandments:

The Lutherans use the "Catholic version"...go figure. Martin Luther, being the original "protester", you would think otherwise, wouldn't 'ya?

I though it was much earlier.

Did you ever read of the smallpox blankets given to the Indians?

Yes, I have. Was that deliberate, or did it wreak havoc simply because the Indians had no immunity to the disease?