Cleo's Mom

If we start making things in this country and stop importing them, yes they will cost more but people will be working and able to afford them for the most part. Henry Ford knew this idea. He payed his workers more than what would have been the prevailing wage at the time. Why? Because he was smart and he wanted his employees to be able to buy his product. We could make clothes in this country and horror - even by union workers. If we put people to work making clothes that promotes all the associated industries. This puts people to work and then they have money to spend. This spending stimulates the economy. Putting people to work, who pay taxes, and stimulating the economy will go a long way to reducing the deficit. As for tariffs. Yes, raise tariffs on everything. And start making things other countries want. Like computers and cell phones and all that technology stuff. Export more. And if countries like India and China won't buy our stuff or play hardball then maybe we could stop letting their people come here to go to medical school. Just a thought. I don't know the logistics behind how it would work. That's what we pay our elected officials to do. Advocate for us and our country. Corporate America is always looking for the best game in town no matter where it is - they have no loyaty to our country.

Why are Republicans bashing Obama's tax loophole plan against offshore companies? Posted By: on November 4, 2010 at 1:45 am People are making the claim that companies will have to leave the country if we impose tax penalties on them for sending our jobs overseas. That is absolutely not how this works. If a company sends our jobs overseas, which is generally for cheaper labor, if we penalize them for doing so, then they will not have a financial incentive for going overseas. If, however, those same companies decide to leave our country due to those tax penalties, then they will lose their main market, the U.S. How is this not a perfect way to prevent companies from sending our jobs overseas? I concur. Close the loopholes, punish them if they send jobs overseas, rewards them for keeping them here, and impose stiff tariffs if they want to enter our lucrative market to sell their stuff, which they need. What's to prevent them from just doing that now? Moving to another country? Surely the benefit of doing business in a country with low taxes and cheap labor would more than offset their tax loopholes.

I found my post - here it is: Well here it is from the New York Times: Published: November 3, 2010 The PowerPoint slides presented to House Republicans in January 2009 seemed incongruously optimistic at a time when the very word “hope” belonged to the newly ascendant Democrats and their incoming president, Barack Obama. “If the goal of the majority is to govern, what is the purpose of the minority?” one slide asked. “The purpose of the minority,” came the answer, “is to become the majority.” The presentation was the product of a strategy session held 11 days before Mr. Obama’s inauguration, when top Republican leaders in the House of Representatives began devising an early blueprint for what they would accomplish in Tuesday’s election: their comeback. So, there was no spirit of working together, of helping the economy on the brink of destruction, of working to help build America. None of that. Their first order of business was to find out how to unseat Obama and the democrats. This post has been edited by Cleo's Mom: 04 November 2010 - 11:42 AM I am not going to split hairs on the syntax they used. By saying you want to unseat Obama and the democrats that means that you can't support anything they propose lest they be given the credit for success. So the republicans opposed everything Obama proposed even BEFORE he was inaugurated and proposed anything. Their mind was made up at least 11 days before the swearing in. By being laser focused on becoming the majority, they weren't focused on the nation's problems. So, as far as I'm concerned that translates into wanting Obama and America to fail.

It is not overregulation that is outsourcing jobs, it is cheap labor. It is also the trade imbalance. We import much more than we export. We had regulations when we made things and we did well. When Reagan lifted the tariffs off of cheap, imported Japanese steel, that pretty much destroyed the steel and related industries. We don't make clothes in this country anymore and that isn't due to regulations, that's because they can pay someone in Vietnam 50 cents an hour to make it and import it cheaper. We need to punish corporations that ship jobs overseas and reward them when they keep them here. We already reward them to the tune of $25 billion dollars a year in tax loopholes but apparently that isn't enough. Walmart is the biggest retailer in the country. They want to under cut any competition so they set the prices. So, let's say Mattel wants to sell a Barbie doll for $10 and make $5 profit. Walmart says it will sell the doll for $7 or $6. That's the deal, take it or leave it. The only way for Mattel to still make that $5 profit is to have them made in some developing, cheap labor country. They need Walmart. The biggest importer of cheap goods.

I hope your results turn out well but if not- know that catching it early will give you an enormous chance of being free of cancer in the future.

With regard to child car seats: After the first automobile was manufactured and put on the market in the early 1900s, many modifications and adjustments have been implemented to protect those that drive and ride in these vehicles. Most restraints were put into place to protect adults without regard for children, infant through pre-school age. Though child seats were beginning to be manufactured in the early 1930s, their purpose was not the safety of children. The purpose was to act as booster seats to bring the child to a height easier for the driving parent to see them. It wasn’t until 1962 that seats were invented with the purpose of protecting a child, by Leonard Rivkin, of Denver Colorado.[1] Before these seats were invented, rates of death in infants to young children were staggering.[citation needed] Over 2,000 children under the age of fourteen in the United States die every year in automobile accidents.[2] and another 320,000 are injured each year.[3] These injuries and deaths are not just a result of the severity of the accidents themselves. The staggering numbers, in general, can be related to the number of children not being properly restrained within the vehicles. These children are either strapped into adult seat belts or else completely unrestrained. Law United States of America As a result of these statistics, it is required by law the children under the age of seven be secured in safety seats made for children in all of the fifty states. Also, all states require booster seats for children aged four to fourteen depending upon each individual child's age, weight, height, and state. Note that these laws are basic guidelines only and can differ state to state, because each state has some variance in the laws. Child deaths would decline when the big, bad government made their use mandatory. But today's republicans and tea party hypocrites would probably be opposed to these laws.

Seat belts and child car seats are of no use unless they are used properly. Many people will not do the right or safe thing unless mandated (by government) to do it. So mandatory seatbelt use didn't go into affect until around 1985. Idiot parents wouldn't use child car seats unless required to (again, by government). No, they didn't have them when I was growing up but we didn't have all the super highways and do all the driving we do today. People lived in small town or suburbs and worked there and did their shopping there, etc... "So yes they will do what is safest for us because they know that is what we want" you wrote. I almost choked when I read that. I have never heard a more naive statement. I know a creek where Marcellus shale dumps their waste Water that you can either drink out of or eat the fish out of (if there are any). Remember that scene in Erin Brockovich when the reps from the big polluting company were sitting at the table and one reached for the water and Erin said - go ahead we brought it in from the ____creek (the one that was being polluted) and the rep declined. Well, if you trust corporate America to do the right thing, you are in the minority. Also, don't you remember Ralph Nadar's "Unsafe at any speed". Another case: this one manufacturer of the hip replacement parts didn't want to spend 5 cents to clean the oil off of the ball part in their manufacturing process. Because of this, when these were placed in people, the oil prevented their tissue from growing on it. The people had excruciating pain, had to have them removed and replaced. Yeah, corporate American is looking out for our safety and well-being. I said the republicans wanted Obama to fail and thus America. Because if his agenda failed - which was economic recovery and health care - then America fails. The economy is slowly improving. All people need to be able to have health insurance. These are things that improve American life but the republicans didn't support it. They even withdrew their support from their own ideas when Obama supported it. I don't have time to find my post but it was from the NYT about the republicans meeting on Jan. 11, 2009 to band together to oppose everything Obama would be proposing. This was before the swearing in of Obama. If you know what # post that was, let me know. I will look later. He gave in to them on the stimulus with making about 30% of it tax cuts and they still opposed it. Their opposition was to Obama. They recently opposed aid to 9/11 first responders even though it was paid for. That one republican said he wanted more committee hearings about it. Guess what? There were committe hearings, he is on that committee and he didn;t show up. This is just one of many examples of how they just want Obama to fail and they don't care what is good for the country. How could aid to 9/11 responders be bad for the country. I don't know what you mean about Issa. He wants to know from them what government regulations they don't like. Well, those would be any that interfere with their maximizing profits. Duh!! Safety be damned. Concern for the middle class investments be damned. Get rid of all those. And just let us do our thing, and oh, by the way, if we fail we will be asking for a bailout. Then we will welcome government "interference" I don't buy the arguement that just because it's always been done that way that it always should be. If people are buying and selling things - that is regulated. I don't see the big deal. I need a license or permit to fix up my house. Neocons, republicans and those right wing extremists don't just want to cherry pick regulations, they want to eliminate them almost entirely. I would rather err on the side of over-regulation than under-regulation. We already saw what happens when we do that.

The unemployment dropped from 9.8% to 9.4%. The silence from those on the right is deafening. Had it gone up .4 points, Boehner would have needed a full box of kleenex.

The republican and conservative idea of "some oversight" was in full force under the bush administration. And the results were disatrous. We saw what happened with "some oversight" on Wall Street. If this "some oversight" had been in place when thalidomide was being given to pregnant women in other countries, we would have had deformed babies born here. But the government oversight stopped it. If this "some oversight" had been applied to cars over the years we wouldn't have seat belts or air bags. Car manufacturers are not going to voluntarily add what they think are unnecessary safety features that would increase the price. "Some oversight" might give parents the option of using car seats for infants or not. After all, we don't want the big, bad government to tell parents what to do. Republican rep. Issa sent a letter to 125 corporations asking them which regulations they didn't like. That's like the umpire asking the pitcher where the strike zone should be as the batter (middle class) comes up to bat. Issa represents the "some (read: none) oversight" policy the new republicans are promoting. We require licenses for people to sell things in this country. I can't just decide to sell my home baked Cookies (this is a far fetched example - I don't bake) from my home. I can't do hair styling or do make overs in my home without a license (and zoning). These laws are in place for a reason. It's regulation of commerce. So, the republicans like to cherry pick which "oversight" is okay. They mostly want oversight of unions (no card check), trial lawyers (tort reform), welfare (get those single moms) and the minimum wage (is it constitutional?) but lets give wall street and corporate america free reign. They are not offering one concrete thing that is different from their disastrous policies that got us in this mess to begin with. Liberals and the left wing don't want people to rely on the government for everything. We want people to be able to have a level playing field and to help the least among us. And many of those who ask "what is the government going to do" (this also applies when they use the generic -"somebody should do something" - which means government) are the same ones who yap about smaller government and the nanny state (a right wing buzz word) and I call it for what it is - hypocrisy (and not a small dose of stupidity). You're one to talk about not addressing things. You said that if I could prove that the republicans wanted Obama to fail before he was sworn in, you would vote for him, or some other such thing. Well, I found the article from the NYT that on Jan. 11, 2009, the republicans met and did just that. I posted it, I think, on election issues. I noticed that you didn't address any of the republican hypocrisy that I posted. Add to that that two of the freshmen republicans were at fundraisers and missed their swearing in, but none the less proceeded to be involved in committee hearings. Where's the justification for that in the constitution?

As usual, you're wrong. Liberals, progressives and democrats believe that the government should look out for the safety and well being of the people. They do this by making sure that our food, Water, medicines, products, cars and workplace are safe and our air clean. Conservatives and republicans think that corporate america will provide all these safe things on their own (that sound you hear is me laughing), when the ONLY thing corporate america is interested in is increasing profits. Period. We should be embarassed that we are the only industrialized country that up until now didn't provide healthcare for everyone. That makes us less able to compete with countries that do (and who spend less of their GDP on healthcare than we do). Pres. Obama was right to pass the healthcare reform. Marcellus shale drilling results in toxic waste water. This pollutes wells, streams, rivers. People drink that water. Who do you think is going to oversee the cleanup of this water? Those who do the polluting? When BP spilled all that oil - that was a private corporation. But the first thing people said was - what is the government going to do about it? Not one cent of my tax dollars should have gone for any of the clean up. And if it did, BP should reimburse the government. But REPUBLICAN Barton apologized to BP for what he called a "shakedown" by Pres. Obama in securing a $20 billion dollar fund from BP for clean up and to pay those displaced workers. And now Barton will head up the Energy Committee. A guy who apologizes to BP and he is heading up the energy committee. Wrap your head around that one!!! And the only ones in government that I see wanting to control what we do and with whom are the republicans who want to deny the same rights to gays as straights. So, don't tell me there is no difference between republicans and democrats.

That's great that you have been a responsible person. Your opinion is shared by many. But where it's flawed is that you think you did it all without government help. You didn't. No one does. You can't get out of bed and make it to the bathroom without something the government did affecting your life. We tend to either not realize it, take it for granted or dismiss it. From providing tax write off for your employer to provide health insurance and write off 100% of its capital improvements, to insuring your savings, providing help with mortgages, etc.. I know it is the current popular view to be anti-government. But I am glad they are there to protect me against the abuses of corporate america. We wouldn't need big government if we didn't have big, corrupt corporate america. People lose their jobs and their health care. Then when they can't pay their medical bills they lose their homes (the leading cause of foreclosure). These are people who played by the rules. And the republicans who didn't support extending unemployment benefits wanted to throw them under the bus. So don't tell me there is no difference between republicans and democrats.

You absolutely need to tell your doctor that you smoke. Being a smoker affects your surgery and recovery, not to mention being under general anesthesia. From what other smokers have posted, some were tested before surgery. They were refused surgery if they hadn't quit. There are drugs (Chantix) and patches to help you quit. Tell your doctor and ask for help with quitting. Good luck.

This has been my criticism of those who post that they can't eat solids for breakfast (sometimes not until night), have reflux, heartburn are PBing, vomiting, etc..all signs that they are too tight..but then they go on to say that they are losing weight and are afraid of getting a slight unfill. They don't realize that by being too tight and putting up with these problems that they are putting their health in jeopardy. Constant GERD can lead to esophageal cancer. This is not the price you have to pay for losing weight. My doctor said too many patients rely on getting the band tighter and tighter to lose weight.

Only day 2 of the republican congress and already they are backpedaling on their promises. How do you spell hypocrisy? R-E-P-U-B-L-I-C-A-N. With regard to their bill to repeal healthcare: They said they were going to have committee meetings for every legislation- not so for this bill They said they were going to allow amendments - not so for this bill They said they would cite area of constitution for every bill - not so for this bill They said they would offset with spending cuts any bill that raised the deficit - not so with this bill (the CBO said the repeal of healthcare would add $250 billion to the deficit over 10 years) They also said they were going to trim $100 billion from the federal budget. Now it looks like it could be as little as $35 billion. Oh, and that whole "bills that increase the deficit have to be offset by spending cuts (not revenue increases) doesn't apply to the recent tax cuts for the wealthy". These guys are just too much. They aren't even embarrased by their staggering hypocrisy. For those who voted for these hypocrites - feel duped yet? lol

Was anyone told at their WLS orientation meeting/seminar that in order to lose weight your band would have to be so tight that you couldn't eat breakfast or only have liquids for that meal? I wonder how many would get the band if they were told this.

Have you had your gallbladder checked? Some of the pain you're having sounds like it could be the gallbladder. That is not to say the band isn't also causing problems, but it might be in addition to. Here are my thoughts and suggestions: 1) Some WLS surgeons are idiots. They are in it for the money - can do the surgery but are woefully inadequate with follow up care. Your surgeon sounds like one of them. 2) Get copies of all your test results. Where I get my upper GI's they can make a CD of it and you can get one. Plus get paper copies of all the tests you've had, including your operative report. You might be surprised what is in it. Plus asking for test results will indicate to your doctor that you are serious. 3) When you get all the test results (from your latest upper GI, too) - take them with you and get a second opinion. Try to find a surgeon who only does WLS (not a general surgeon) at a hospital of excellence. 4) You have the right to have the band work for you as promoted. If it isn't then your surgeon should do what he can to make it work or remove it. Their one size fits all attitude about the chewing, etc.. is unacceptable. He is not listening to you. 5) Become proactive in your treatment and demand results. You should not be in the pain/discomfort that you have been in. You deserve better. Post again to let us know the outcome of all of this. Good luck.

I am opposed to doctor's giving fills at the time of surgery. Your body, stomach, pouch, etc..are swollen and need time to heal. There is plenty of times for fills. And 6cc in a 10cc band is way too much at the time of surgery. The swelling plus the fill is what probably gave you the restriction that you first felt. Now that the swelling is down, you have less restriction. I would really question why your surgeon did this. As to the hunger - well you will have that until you reach the proper restriction, maybe. But it doesn't always work out that way for everyone.

Happy New Year and I hope the only news you hear is good.

How long after you started on Wellbutrin did you notice it decreasing your appetite and you started to lose weight?

There have been some good suggestions about talking to your doctor to see if your band has been placed and is working correctly. You didn't say what kind of sick you got but I assume it was band related - thus the 2cc unfill. If your band is okay and you can't for whatever reason get a fill at this time, and you seem like you can eat most foods - then I recommend that you just count calories. Stay under 1500. At your weight you should be able to lose at that calorie level. And eat healthy foods that fill you up. High Fiber, salads with lots of veggies. Wraps with lite deli chicken or ham. Baked potatoes with I can't believe it's not butter spray. High fiber cereals. And lite oatmeal. Lite Soups (progresso makes good ones). Whole grain crackers. Protein bars (special K makes a great choc. Peanut Butter Meal Replacement bar). Don't drink any calories. Just crystal lite. And Water. Use skim milk. Get lite whole wheat bread for toast. For fruit, use no sugar added cups of fruit (they come in 1/2 cup sizes). For Snacks try sugar free pudding, Jello, or the fruit. I mix the jello and sugar free peaches. Use a little fat free whipped topping. I hate cheese and yogurt but you could try that, too. Try this for about 3 weeks and see how it goes. Exercise daily, too. Do something you like. Take a walk. Join a gym. Lift weights. Take a dancing class. Whatever you like. Good luck

I was banded here with a 4cc band in Sept. 2008. When my idiot former surgeon told me I had a 10cc band and I found out I had a 4cc band when I got a second opinion, I called Allergan to find out about the 4cc band and was told at that time that it was not discontinued. It is not used very often, however. I believe my former surgeon was using up old inventory from a practice he and his partner took over as these bands have expiration (sterility) dates.

I couldn't disagree more. As a victim of breast cancer and the wife of a husband who died of esophageal cancer I can tell you first hand that cancer doesn't give a rat's ass about attitude. It's about the type of cancer, stage of cancer, treatment options and quality of care you receive. While it's important to take care of your whole self during cancer treatment and remain committed to fighting it, I don't buy into that whole positive attitude thing. I do believe you have to be an informed patient and be proactive with your care. Do not allow you doctor to treat you with a one size fits all attitude. Cancer is not a blessing. It is a horror. No one wants to hear the doctor say "There's no good way to tell you this.". loserbob - I wish your wife the best with her mammogram results. I was called back, too, and told that 80% of the time it is benign. Hope for the best but be prepared for the worst. We have great hospitals here. Good luck.

I'm sure there are those who would deny what he says: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677//vp/40834383#40834383

Global warming is a fact. 95% of scientists agree. I am sure there are still some holdouts about whether the earth is round, revolves around the sun and gravity exists. As far as I'm concernced the debate is over. It's not that China and India don't believe in climate change, they just don't care. The hell with pollution and greenhouse gases, etc.. We have to take the higher road and be responsible stewards of this earth. It's not just an endless banquet for us to feast on. Did you not read the week long in depth look the PG did about pollution in this area and what dire consequences it has had on our health with death rates far above normal from things like cancer, respiratory disease, etc.? But when the mills were going strong in their heydey, the economy was great, people were working. But they were also polluting the hell out of our air and Water. I am sure that any push to regulate air and water pollution was met with the same resistance and the same arguments - it will stifle employment, etc. But if we continue to put our heads in the sand and just kick the can down the road about this issue, then what world are we leaving our children and grandchildren.