MacMadame

What's a throat scope? I had an Upper GI, which includes the throat.

Hey, Dr. C. is my surgeon too! I really like him. I don't have a band though, but a sleeve. But either way he's a really awesome surgeon.

The difference is, if the surgeon is willing to do your band and you are a self-pay, you get a band. If you have insurance, then you have to prove to them you deserve one.

Whenever I eat lots of meat, my cholesterol goes down.

Ain't gonna get one. White carbs are evil. :smile2:

If course it's about denying rights. The first words on the ballot measure are "Eliminate right of". That means if you vote yes, you voted to eliminate a right for a certain segment of the population. By definition. I don't know if they funded putting the proposition on the ballot, but they poured heavy money into the Yes on 8 campaign from their headquarters in .... Utah. I said consenting adults. Are you going to argue that a horse is an adult, let alone a consenting one? :smile2: I would be so happy if the government got out of the marriage business and just had civil unions -- for everyone. Then, if you wanted a religious ceremony, knock yourself out. But as long as a judge is saying "by the power vested in me by the state of [fill in the blank], I now pronounce you married" then they have to do it for everyone, not just a favored few. Anything else is discrimination.

It's no different than a hetero couple who choose not to have kids or who are not capable of having kids. Nature understands that not every union leads to offspring and has built in safeguards to make sure enough reproduction happens, but (hopefully) not too much. There are animals in nature who are "gay" after all and there are "adoptions" in nature too. If you believe that the *only* reason to be married is to have kids, then, to be logically consistent, you need to outlaw any marriage where the people don't have any intention of having kids and all couples where one is infertile must get divorced so the fertile one can have kids with a new, fertile, mate. Somehow, I suspect that idea is not very palatable to many people. Probably because marriage is about more than having kids. There are benefits to society when long-term couples chose to make their unions more permanent and that's why married people get certain legal rights that single people do not. They get most of these right even if they don't have kids. But, of course, many gay couples are raising kids so it's not like gay marriage means no kids. They get their kids the same way a lot of straight couples do: kid from a prior (straight) relationship, donor sperm/eggs, adoption, etc. It's mostly only intolerant if you try to get your views in the Constituation so that it's forced on everyone. If you think homosexuality is wrong or unnatural or whatever, it's no skin off my nose. I don't agree, but it's your business. But when people make it my business -- by trying to deny others basic human rights that belong to everyone -- well then I'll come out fighting and I consider those people to be intolerant. They can't "live and let live" and accept that their views aren't universal and maybe aren't even right.

The nicest, most moving wedding I ever went to was for my friends Mike & Ken. I was actually crying and I hardly ever do that at weddings. Mostly I just tear up a little, but lots of times I don't even do that. This is what I mean about personalizing the issue. If you had been at their wedding, even if homosexuality makes you uncomfortable, you would have seen the love and respect and would be indignant that someone wants to take that away from them and make things harder when it comes to raising their daughter. Well, you probably would, especially if you have a heart and an open mind.

Maybe you can come back and be one of the before/afters. :smile2:

Um, you probably want me to give him MORE respect and patience and consideration than I gave the 43rd president. :smile2:

Welcome to LBT! Congrats on getting a date. It's so close too; I bet you are excited. Be sure to check out the Nov. 2008 forum to find more people who are getting banded around your date.

Welcome to LBT. Most insurance companies want your PCP to do the 6 month supervised diet. Sometimes the nutritionist at the surgeon's office can do it, but you should make sure your insurance company is okay with that because some are but some aren't.

Honestly, I though the No on 8 campaign was poorly run. The ads were ineffective and didn't adequately address real fears. I have been saying from the beginning that we need to PERSONALIZE the issue. Make people really aware that a Yes vote is stabbing real people they probably know and like in the back. They also needed to better address the lies. Just saying "Prop 8 isn't about schools" isn't enough. They never did a commercial where they listed all the rights that marriage brings and that gays can't get in other ways to address the lie that marriage isn't necessary because of the CA Domestic Partnership Act. They never had people tell their tales of how they were denied basic human rights because they couldn't say they were married to their partner of 10, 20 and 30 years. I think for the next round, I'll get more involved. I'm kind of obessed with my surgery right now so just sent money. But clearly they needed leadership more. :biggrin: Then, once we get this abomination struck down, the next step is to amend the constitution so that it's harder to amend the constitution!!

Exactly... why shouldn't two consenting adults have the right to have their union recognized by the state? The Yes on 8 campaign was ridiculous. Lie after lie. Protect our children so they don't have to learn about homosexuality in the schools! They are taking away our rights to free speech! Protect traditional marriage! Gays don't need marriage because they have the Domestic Partner Act. To which I say: 1) There is nothing in Prop 8 that prohibits schools from teaching about homosexuality. I hope they start doing it tomorrow. 2) Having people do things you don't approve of does not violate your right to free speech. If you want to shout to the rooftops that homosexuality is a sin, nothing was stopping you before Prop 8 from doing so. 3) How does forbidding some people from marrying protect traditional marriage? Was there some danger that traditional marriages would be outlawed? No. I bet the divorce rate completely falls now! I know my marriage got stronger the second the results were announced. Only NOT. It's only "protection" if you are the sort of person who absolutely can't stand to think that people do things you don't approve of. So now you are "protected" from having to hear about gay people being married in CA. Big whoop. 4) The Domestic Partner Act doesn't being to confer the rights and priviledges of marriage. Not only that, it is completely worthless if you leave CA. Wouldn't you just love it if you went somewhere else on vacation with your partner of 20 years and your kids, your partner died and the government refused to deal with you because you weren't "next of kin" so you weren't able to get your partner's body back home? That's the sort of rights that being married and having your union recognized by the state gives you. It's such a basic right and the fact that people want to deny those kinds of basic rights to others just appalls me on every level. This amendment is completely and utterly about forcing someone's religious beliefs onto the rest of us and nothing else. I'm really ashamed of all the CA who bought the lies of the Prop 8 campaign hook line and sinker. As for the people who are so appalled by homosexuality that they welcome such an amendment, at least admit that your campaign is based on lies instead of being a complete hypocrit about your motives.

Running is my worst thing too. In fact, part of why I'm training for a triathlon is that the swimming and biking are the reward that allows me to actually work on the running part.

But it still makes the statement risque. Of course they are bad... they are full of carbs, usually white carbs.

Okay, I am seriously freaking out now. 25% of precincts reporting and Yes is still AHEAD.

Welcome to LapBandTalk! Have you found the FL forum, yet?

The surgery? Yes. I used my FSA for mine.

Maybe heads will roll at Google. That would be even better.

You got your wish. Resounding victory! Actually, it does mean the same thing... Multiquote is awesome. But going to the first new post you haven't read? Beats everything. Tell Alex. That's not right. Maybe you have bad cookies.

Raising hand! Someone I barely know because we share a hobby just sent me some political crap last night. I told him to delete my email address from his address book because I don't associate with bigots. Mine too. It was pretty crushed when MLK was killed and the 80s and 90s in particular have filled me with despair. But now I'm proud to be an American again.

Maybe they only show up if your profile says you are from CA? Because I'm looking at one right now!!

Okay, last night I got an email from a friend of mine... someone I know casually through figure skating and haven't seen or talked to in over a year. He was sending out an email blast telling everyone he knew to join him in voting Yes on prop 8. I went through the roof. His entire email was full of every lie the Yes on 8 campaign had put out. First of all, what made him think that was appropriate to send to me? We don't know each other that well and have never discussed politics. Secondly, I thought he was smarter than that. This was my reply: "What utter nonsense. Please delete my email from your address book and never contact me again" I haven't sent it yet because I wanted to cool down first. Do you think I'm over-reacting?

There should be a icon right next to the thread title to the left. The one for the last post is an icon to the right of the name of the last poster. (I'd be more descriptive but I'm on the new style, not the old style so it's different.) Now if people are clicking on the icon on the left and getting to the last post, that sounds like a bug. But being confused about where to click is just par for UI design. It means the design isn't clear. :tongue: