Carlene

Give VERY careful consideration to this before you "opt out" of Medicare Part D. If you do so, you will be charged a penalty FOREVER AFTER when you do join. It is unlikely that it will be worth it financially, in the long run.

More than anyone else, it benefits BIG BUSINESS - most of which is self-insured. Almost all companies who provided drug coverage for retirees stopped doing so, once they became eligible for Medicare Part D, saving themselves BILLIONS. Big business is Mr. Bush's best friend, and vice versa. If you didn't know this before, surely you do now.

Now we know where Bush plans to get all those additional troops he wants to send to Iraq!

If you are irritated by this thread, please just don't read it instead of attacking this poor woman (WonderKidsMom). In fact, that goes for ALL members and ALL threads....can't you let people vent and just ignore their posts if don't want to be bothered? It's one thing to disagree or offer constructive criticism, but to suggest someone NOT post about something - or stop posting about a particular topic - is high-handed and hateful. PS....you misspelled "persistence".

January 1st Texas raised the tax on a pack of cigarettes by $1.00, making them about $4.50 per pack. I wish they would not resort to "sin" taxes. The die-hard smokers will ante up the extra $$$, even if their kids have to go barefoot to do it.

Maybe this will give you a much-needed laugh... This text is from a county emergency manager out in the Western part of Colorado after the recent snow storm. WEATHER BULLETIN Up here in mountainous Colorado we just recovered from a Historic event--- may I even say a "Weather Event" of "Biblical Proportions" --- with a historic blizzard of up to 44" inches of snow and winds to 90 MPH that broke trees in half, knocked down utility poles, stranded hundreds of motorists in lethal snow banks, closed ALL roads, isolated scores of communities and cut power to 10's of thousands. FYI: George Bush did not come. FEMA did nothing. No one howled for the government. No one blamed the government. No one even uttered an expletive on TV. Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton did not visit. Our Mayor's did not blame Bush or anyone else. Our Governor did not blame Bush or anyone else either CNN, ABC, CBS, FOX, or NBC did not visit - or report on this category 5 snow storm Nobody demanded $2,000 debit cards. No one asked for a FEMA Trailer House. No one looted. Nobody - I mean Nobody demanded the government do something. Nobody expected the government to do anything either. No Larry King, No Katie Couric, No Oprah, No Chris Mathews and No Geraldo Rivera No Sean Penn, No Barbara Striesand, No Hollywood types to be found. Nope, we just melted the snow for Water. Sent out caravans of SUV's to pluck people out of snow engulfed cars. The truck drivers pulled people out of snow banks and didn't ask for a penny. Local restaurants made food, and the police and fire departments delivered it to the snow bound families. Families took in the stranded people - total strangers. We Fired up wood stoves, broke out coal oil lanterns or Coleman lanterns. We put on an extra layers of clothes because up here it is "Work or Die." We did not wait for some affirmative action government to get us out of a mess created by being immobilized by a welfare program that trades votes for 'sitting at home' checks. Even though a Category "5" blizzard of this scale has never fallen this early, we know it can happen and how to deal with it ourselves. "In my many travels, I have noticed that once one gets north of about 48 degrees North Latitude, 90% of the world's social problems evaporate." It does seem that way, at least to me. I hope this gets passed on. Maybe SOME people will get the message The world does Not owe you a living.

Just my little euphemism for "Atheists believe they are just gonna rot in the cold, damp ground. Worm food...nothing more." Now...don't you think "sleeping thru" it sounds better?

If this works at all, it's usually after the plane has boarded. There are almost always people who ask for upgrades, especially on long flights. The airlines are happy to accomodate them - for a fee, or in exchange for some of their frequent flier miles. Last summer we were flying from DFW to Cancun. I was at the counter for some reason or other, right behind a perky little brunette who wanted to know if there were any "upgrades to First Class available". The gate agent said there were. "Great," said PLB, "I'm on my way to get married and I need to reduce my stress level." "How would you like to pay for this?" asked the agent. "Huh?" "Credit card, or cash?" "How much is it?" "Four hundred, seventy three dollars." "But I thought....if there were empty seats in First Class..." "No, ma'am; it doesn't work that way." "But if no one else is going to use them...." "Ma'am, we don't just give away First Class seats." "I don't understand....if they're empty, why not?" "Ma'am, we just don't." "But someone told me that if I asked, and there were empty seats in First Class, I could get a free upgrade." "Ma'am, I don't know who told you that, but they were incorrect." "Well....they do it on cruise ships all the time." "Ma'am, our ships don't cruise - they fly." True story. It was about 6 AM and I was half asleep and really wanted to suggest that PLB climb back on her broom and fly to Mexico all by her lonesome. But I didn't.

Me, too. Me, too.

Atheists plan on sleeping thru judgment day, do they not?

Are we talking made in 2006, or released in 2006, or viewed in 2006? I tend to get bogged down in details....can you tell? This is my list. Some of them may be from 2005. The Devil Wears Prada March of the Penguins Hard Candy Crash Walk the Line Shadow Boxer Still waiting to see... Letters From Iwo Jima Flags of Our Fathers The Queen Hated... A Prairie Home Companion Little Miss Sunshine Mr and Mrs Smith

Oh, if I were Hillary, that would definitely have been my first thought....a rubber band around Bill's willie.

I'm going to be accused of male bashing, but I'm going to say this anyway...a man has a penis and a brain, but only enough blood to operate one at a time.

Forget the free world. Forget the Oval Office. You're a 50 year old man and a good-looking 22 year old wants to have sex with you in the worst way....in ANY way, in fact. Still surprised he did it?

That is a very, very important part of Christianity. Not just doing "good works", but being a living symbol of your faith. Yours may be the only face of Christ those people ever see.

Not me....I'd have held out for the "real deal". Monica begged him to have intercourse with her, but he refused. That is totally amazing to me, in view of his willingness to go all the way with just about every other female who crossed his path.

I don't think men are bad "in general". I thought, until now, that there were a fair number of good guys left. Now I'm not so sure. If Mr P, the all-time (in my estimation) winner of the world's best husband title, then anyone's husband is capable of doing the same thing - even mine. That knowledge makes me feel very insecure....very vulnerable. We all judge people's actions. That's way different than judging them in the Biblical sense. I said he was a creep. I said that what he has done to his wife is wrong - especially not going to the home regularly and seeing with his own eyes if she is being cared for properly or not. I said his actions were horribly disrespectful to a woman who has given him 40 years of her life, whether she "knows" what is going on, or not. If that is judging him then so be it. I just don't have it in me to say, "Poor Mr P.....maybe he's suffering from depression and that's why he's taken to screwing another woman in his wife's bed, while she lays neglected and possibly dying in a nursing home - alone."

He knows my feels. DH told him. He said, "I'm real sorry to hear that." He and DH have been friends for over 40 years. DH loves him like a brother. I have to be "nice" to Mr P, for the sake of DH. You have no idea what a great husband this guy was to Mrs P.....for 40 years. He treated her like a queen - truly. He was the best of all the "good husbands" I know, or have ever known. Very true.....except that most people - even most men - wait until their spouse is actually dead before they move another woman into their house. He's 60.....looks 50, though. I'm just going to be as civil as I can, when I have to be. But I draw the line at socializing with Mr P and his girlfriend. It's a compromise....my best offer. And DH is just going to have to deal with that.

You go, girl. I wish I was your age and had the chance to join the derby. Those girls are some tough cookies, though. My (late) DH used to belong to a derby team (long, long ago) called the Ft Worth Texans (I think). Sometimes he had to wear his uniform home after a tour because the burns would weep and it would stick to his skin. He had to sit in the bathtub and soak it off. But when I asked him if he had ever dated any of the female skaters, he said, "Hell no! They were all a lot tougher than I was!"

I'm a great shot. I used to shoot skeet. Even pregnancy did not discourage me. I have always told my youngest son that he was born shell shocked....LOL

It's hard to run for office, or even hold public office, without some source of outside income. Bill Clinton couldn't have gotten elected dog catcher if Hillary hadn't worked and supported the family financially. She worked her way up to partner in the most prestigious law firm in Hot Springs, and that's where their rent money came from for a long time. They literally moved their belongings into the governor's mansion in the back of a pickup truck after his first successful bid for governor. By the way, did anyone else know that in college, Hillary was one of the "Goldwater Girls"?

But not sexy. Not sexy at ALL. Very humble,though. He still works on Habitat for Humanity houses - real work....with his own two hands. Even when there are no photographers around.

I thought he was just uncomfortable with the idea of performing surgery, since he wasn't a doctor. Lord knows, I would be!

My surgeon has all his patients do this, except the guys only have to do one mark - the waistline...LOL

Yes, I know. And a graduate of Yale law school - without the money to pay for it outright, so he had to make grades good enough to win scholarships and grants.