Carlene

Let's all vote for our favorite.....mine is: Impeachment: It's Not Just for Blowjobs Anymore

I think Barbara is doing a great imitation of a 14 year old middle school girl....talk trash to Rosie about Donald; tell Donald you hate Rosie. She better be careful, though...I'm pretty sure Rosie can take her.

He registered the name (lapbandsurgery.us) on July2, 2005, when Lisa weighed (according to him) 250 pounds, so he's been thinking of doing something like this for a while. I e-mailed the guy and pretended to be "shocked" by what had happened to his wife. I asked him the name of Lisa's surgeon and the hospital where she had the second surgery because, I said, I was considering the Lap Band. Let's see if he answers me. Edited to add... Never mind....the e-mail bounced I guess we aren't allowed to post his physical address, huh?

Thank you for clearing that up, Leatha. I have seen AA/NA/Al Anon work miracles, even for people who had absolutely zero religious beliefs, and that is no exaggeration. It is a very successful, worthwhile organization that does good with every dime it receives, whether from public or private funds.

Years ago (pre-Vatican II) the Church frowned on cremation. Organ donation is a much more recent issue, however. My own parish encourages organ donation. The following is from the Red Cross web sight. Catholics view organ donation as an act of charity, fraternal love and self sacrifice. Transplants are ethically and morally acceptable to the Vatican. Pope John Paul II in a recent statement said, "Those who believe in our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave His life for the salvation of all, should recognize the urgent need for a ready availability of organs for transplants a challenge to their generosity and fraternal love." According to Father Leroy Wickowski, Director of the Office of Health Affairs of the Archdiocese of Chicago, "We encourage donation as an act of charity. It is something good that can result from tragedy and a way for families to find comfort by helping others. We do caution, however, that the organs are removed only after death and that people's wishes are respected."

Yes, that's true - at least in Texas. I'd just like to add that I am the grandmother of a 3 1/2 month old organ donor. Because my daughter (and my otherwise jerk SIL, but that's another story) agreed to donate their son's organs, four other children received the gift of life (or sight). The organ bank sent my daughter a medallion that says "Organ Donor". She had it set into Baby James' tombstone. It is her hope that everyone who sees it will be inspired to be an organ donor.

AA/NA has a long history of success, though. And drug/alcohol abuse is a HUGE problem in this country. Remember, too, that once convicted of a felony, you lose some of your constitutional rights FOREVER (the right to vote, hold public office, and the right to bear arms/own a gun), so why is it so important to protect this particular one (separation of church and state)?

I agree, Missy! I have the same feelings about organ donation. If you aren't willing to donate yours, don't you DARE ask for one in return - not for yourself, not for your child, your parents, or your spouse.

You have obviously not suffered from hunger - genuine, day in and day out hunger. There are children in this country who do. There are children in America who eat mayonaise sandwiches for dinner on a regular basis. Maybe it's because their parents traded the food stamps for booze. Maybe it's because $150.00 won't buy enough food to last all month. Or maybe it's just because no one cares about them. If you have never visited a homeless shelter or a soup kitchen, I highly recommend it. Everyone should see the face of hopelessness first hand. And if you assume that Child Protective Services would not allow children to live like that, you would be wrong. I have never been to a shelter that had no children in residence. Imagine going to the pound, only with children instead of dogs. · National Homeless Estimates: 700,000 per night(National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty, 1999). · Thirty-one million Americans now live in hunger or on the edge of hunger. (State Government Responses to the Food Assistance Gap 2000, Third Annual Report and 50 State Survey, December 2000). · One in five people in a soup kitchen line is a child (America's Second Harvest, Hunger 1997: The Faces & Facts). · In 1999, approximately 12 million American children were hungry or at risk of hunger (United States Department of Agriculture, Household Food Security in the United States, Fall 2000). · Families are the largest and fastest growing segment of the homeless population. In 2000, requests for emergency food assistance from families with children increased by 16% in American cities over the past year, the highest rate of increase since the recession of 1991 (U.S. Conference of Mayors, Hunger and Homelessness in America's Cities, December 2000). · Nearly 1 in 5 children (more than 12 million) in the U.S. live in poverty (U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey, October 2000 Update). The U.S. child poverty rate is higher than that of most other industrialized nations. · In 1999, more than half of all food stamp recipients, 9.3 million people were children (Children's Defense Fund, Poverty Matters: The Cost of Child Poverty in America, 2000). · Nearly 9 million children in the U.S. live in working poor families (Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, The Poverty Despite Work Handbook, 1999). · Research indicates that 40% of homeless men have served in the armed forces, as compared to 34% of the general adult male population (Rosenheck, Robert, Homeless Veterans, in Homelessness in America, 1996). · Recent research indicates that even mild under-nutrition experienced by young children during critical periods of growth may lead to reductions in physical growth and affect brain development (The Links Between Nutrition and Cognitive Development of Children, 1998, Tufts University School of Nutrition Science and Policy).

I looked at the example of his work. Some things ought to be banned just because they're ugly.

Oh, I sooooooo agree with this guy! I am from the "whatever works" school. If rubbing cow manure on my extra arm flab would make it disappear, you can bet your sweet ass I'd be shoveling me some cow poop tomorrow! And if people feel called to work toward rehabilitating prisoners, I say "go for it". Can they do much worse than the system we have now?

I just forced my DH to give me his list. He said the cast from Desperate Housewives, but not Nicolette Sheridan. He has no imagination.

The best moment since banding was the day my middle son said, "Mom....you're so thin!"

Amen....and some of those bastards literally ruined other people's lives. Show me a welfare mother who caused one single retiree to lose out on a pension.

Is there such a thing as faith-based prisons?

I write a check every time I go to Mass, plus they have a food bank and we donate to that - probably around $15.00 worth of food per week. My DH insists we give to all the veteran's groups and the police/sheriff depts. We donate to the American Diabetes Society (DH has Type II), the March of Dimes, and the American Cancer Society. And every time I am at a store or restaurant where they ask for a dollar for some cause, I always say "yes". One dollar to me is nothing, but many people giving a dollar each can make a difference.

Wasn't that Leo's first movie? The first time I saw Johnny was in that weird film with Ricki Lake - Cry Baby.

Oh, Jim....that's so bad! I'll bet you wanted to have sex with Mary Ann, too (from Gilligan's Island).

You mean anti-abortion? Because I'm Catholic.

I would LOVE to see a new system whereby everyone had to give a modest % of their income to charities of their choice, and were allowed to reduce their taxes by the same amount. You know what would happen though, don't you? The same thing that happened in Texas when they legalized Bingo for charity - all kinds of weird charities were suddenly born. Google "Highland Park TX" and you will find that it is one of the most affluent areas in the state. "Trees for Highland Park" was one of the charities on the Comptroller's list of Bingo charities. What a crock! Sometimes private citizens are just as morally bankrupt as elected officials.

No, it's NOT a goofy concept. It's the way things SHOULD be, but aren't (unfortunately). My mother was a single mom who worked two jobs most of my life. My dad was an alcoholic who would show up every once in a while with some grand gesture - bicycles or a TV or something - but did not make regular child support payments. It was a tough life - for her and for us. But it wasn't my fault (or my brother's) that our dad didn't do the right thing. Fast forward to today. There are lots of deadbeat parents, no argument about that. But should we, as a society, punish their kids for that? If we don't provide for those children, who will? Whatsoever you do for the least of mine, you do for me.

No, just the things that are near and dear to my heart. But please feel free to put me on "ignore" if my posts offend you.

Oh, my God, Dotofoz......ME, a conservative? Bite your tongue. I'm a bleeding heart Liberal.

Welcome, Madine. I live in North Richland Hills. My surgery was Nov 29, 2004 and my surgeon was Adam Smith. He ROCKS!

You are so right about that. I had a client whose ex was a professional baseball player. His career ended with an injury, so he invested ALL their savings in the oil business - in the early 80's. After the divorce (and the bankruptcy), she remarried. Husband number two went to prison for 20 years (some kind of white collar crime). This woman had 5 kids and a house full of gorgeous antique furniture, which she ended up selling a lot of. She had designer clothes. You would have looked at her and wondered what the hell she was doing in the welfare line. My oldest son and his wife had a child born with a serious GI deformity (Hirschsprung's Disease). Tommy's group policy did not pick up newborns until day 11, and would not cover birth defects for 18 months. Nick spent 30 days in NICU. Then he had to have expensive ostomy supplies, special formula ($20.00 a can) and several surgeries. Medicaid paid out over $200,000 for his care. My DIL's Republican parents no longer bad-mouth the welfare system. They are still Republicans, but they don't dare talk about "those lazy bums" on Medicaid or WIC. They have now seen the story from the other side, and that makes all the difference in the world.