pattygreen

Have you ever asked God to make you a part of His family or Jesus to be your Savior? All I know is all it takes is believing. "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved." (Acts 16:310

Sometimes born again Christians may appear 'pushy', but they are just living their life. God is a big part of their lives, as it is mine, so in every conversation, He pops up. When a Christian is questioned about how he feels about an issue, he says his mind and when asked 'why' he feels that way, he naturally tells about God's influence on his decision making. Some take this as them being pushy. I tend to think, (and no offense to anyone ) that when Christians are living their lives and talking about God in general to others as if everyone thought as they did, that others feel as they are being judged by the Christian. This is not so. Only God makes judgements. Christians just 'know' how God feels about issues, cause they read the bible.

Hi. I can see that you are new here. This is the rants and raves "off topic" section of Lap Band Talk. This is where people go who are tired of talking about their lapband with others and want to talk about other topics. So, if the lap band is your thing, then this is the wrong firum for you to be on. But, if you like politics, and if you're a conservative, I'd love to have you join my side of the conversation here!:Dancing_biggrin: I have all these liberals against me!

There are so many wants in life. The government can NOT afford to meet them all. Our funds are not unlimited, you know. But, I know that doesn't matter to you. Just like a liberal. Spend! Spend! spend! Who cares where the money is going to come from. "I'll worry about that tomorrow!" Every bit of spending the government does is "for a good cause" in the eyes of the one who put in for it, but we just have too many "good" causes these days.:Dancing_biggrin: Time to STOP the spending. What happend to Obama's promise to reign in the spending? He lies!

That was no misrepresentation. The link was right there on Cleo's post and Fact check wrote it.

Fact check states: Also, the bill, in Section 202, sets up a new building retrofit program that would give federal funds to states to provide financial assistance to homeowners who want, and volunteer, to make upgrades to their current homes More spending!!!! WOW!! If all the current give aways wasn't enough! Now the government will steal my money and GIVE it to anyone who wants to upgrade their home! That's what I call curbing the spending!

I agree, abut I don't like either. Giving oney away is one thing when you have some to spare, but when you don't have any and you have to borrow it to give it away, then you have big problems. It makes me sick when I hear teachers unions complaining about not getting a raise this year when they are making about $70-80,000. in CT. I say if you don't like it, you don't have to work for us! I didn't get a raise for the last 2 years because our company couldn't give anyone a raise. I still have my job and I'm thankful for it. If the government would cut the spending, we could recover. But at the rate the Obama administration spends, we will never do it.

{QUOTE] America is fast approaching the point where there are more people living off the government than paying for it. The government is the only one that can stop this nasty trend of "MORE PEOPLE LIVING OFF THE GOVERNMENT THAN PAYING FOR IT" I don't care if they are giving our money to corporations or people, they need to STOP giving it away for nothing in exchange. So, since the government is giving your hard earned dollars to corporations, why are you so happy with them? You think you'd be against all this corporate welfare that the government bestows upon those greedy people. The Constitution provides no authority for Congress to redistribute money collected via taxation, in an effort to subsidize businesses or individuals. In fact, the spending power of Congress is specifically detailed and limited. Corporate welfare breeds corruption. It seems that frequently, those that make the greatest campaign contributions receive the greatest windfalls. Like when all those lawyers contributed to Obama's campaign, and he kept tort reform out of the HC bill to "repay" them for their support.

I don't hold anything against you. I actually like talking to you. How did you become a part of God's family by being born into the world? Because everyone is born into the world, but we know that not everyone will be in Heaven, right? It's not ridiculus to say you were born twice. I didn't make it up. God tells about it in the bible. John Chapter 3: 1Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. 2He came to Jesus at night and said, "Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him." 3In reply Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.[a]" 4"How can a man be born when he is old?" Nicodemus asked. "Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born!" (Nicodemis thought it was ridiculus, too.) 5Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of Water and the Spirit. 6Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit[b] gives birth to spirit. 7You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You[c] must be born again.' 8The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit." 9"How can this be?" Nicodemus asked. 10"You are Israel's teacher," said Jesus, "and do you not understand these things? 11I tell you the truth, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. 12I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? 13No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man.[d] 14Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.[e] 16"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,[f] that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.[g] 19This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 21But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God." Oh, and by the way, I wasn't worried about your relationship with God, as you say, I was only speaking my mind on this 'born again' thread. I wouldn't dream of telling anyone what they should believe. So, if I offended you, I apologize. Patty

Wow! Tense? Are you speaking of me? If you are, I would like you to explain how I have been hypocritical. Or how you got the impression that I only turn to God when I need something or do something wrong.

Just 41.9% of the nation's personal income in the first quarter came from private sector wages, a record low; 27.7 % came from Social Security, welfare and other government giveaways, a record high. America is fast approaching the point where there are more people living off the government than paying for it. Moreover, The bureau of Economic Ananylsis reports income from all sources in the first quarter worked out to an annual rate of $12.2 trillion. The national debt just exceeded $13 trillion for the first time and is expected to grow by more than $1 trillion a year for at least the next decade. These trends, described by Hoover Institution economic analyst David Henderson as people being "paid for being rather than for producing," are unsustainable. Let's just keep on spending Washington!!!!

I didn't say they don't count. I said this: where noone lives and would be as severely effected by an accident such as this. They would be affected, just not as severely as humans are affected.

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IF you own a Home Read this it will make you SICK.!!?? Something every home owner should be made aware of! Don't want to be bothered with "Political stuff?" You'd better read this one. It will come as a huge shock to you if you aren't informed as to what Obama is up to, and apparently it has already passed one hurdle. It will take very little now to put it into actual law!! YOU'D BETTER WAKE UP AMERICA !!!! So you think you live in a free country, boy have you got a surprise coming. A License Required for your HOUSE? If you own your home you really need to check this out. At the end of this email is the Google link to verify. If the country thinks the housing market is depressed now, wait until everyone sees this; no one will be buying homes in the future. We encourage you to read the provisions of the Cap and Trade Bill that has passed the House of Representatives and being considered by the Senate. We are ready to join the next march on Washington ! This Congress and whoever on their staffs that write this junk are truly out to destroy the middle class of the U.S.A .... A License will be required for your house...no longer just for cars and mobile homes....Thinking about selling your house. Take a look at H.R. 2454 (Cap and Trade bill). This is unbelievable! Only the beginning from this administration! Home owners take note & tell your friends and relatives who are home owners! Beginning 1 year after enactment of the Cap and Trade Act, you won't be able to sell your home unless you retrofit it to comply with the energy and water efficiency standards of this Act. H.R. 2454, the "Cap & Trade" bill passed by the House of Representatives, if it is also passed by the Senate, will be the largest tax increase any of us has ever experienced. The Congressional Budget Office (supposedly non-partisan) estimates that in just a few years the average cost to every family of four will be $6,800 per year. No one is excluded. However, once the lower classes feel the pinch in their wallets, you can be sure these voters get a tax refund (even if they pay no taxes at all) to offset this new cost. Thus, you Mr. And Mrs. Middle Class have to pay even more since additional tax dollars will be needed to bail out everyone else.. But wait. This awful bill (that no one in Congress has actually read) has many more surprises in it. Probably the worst one is this: A year from now you won't be able to sell your house. Yes, you read that right. The caveat is (there always is a caveat) that if you have enough money to make required major upgrades to your home, then you can sell it. But, if not, then forget it. Even pre-fabricated homes ("mobile homes") are included. In effect, this bill prevents you from selling your home without the permission of the EPA administrator. To get this permission,you will have to have the energy efficiency of your home measured. Then the government will tell you what your new energy efficiency requirement is and you will be forced to make modifications to your home under the retrofit provisions of this Act to comply with the new energy and water efficiency requirements. Then you will have to get your home measured again and get a license (called a "label" in the Act) that must be posted on your property to show what your efficiency rating is; sort of like the Energy Star efficiency rating label on your refrigerator or air conditioner. If you don't get a high enough rating, you can't sell. And, the EPA administrator is authorized to raise the standards every year, even above the automatic energy efficiency increases built into the Act. The EPA administrator, appointed by the President, will run the Cap & Trade program (AKA the "American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009") and is authorized to make any future changes to the regulations and standards he/she alone determines to be in the government's best interest. Requirements are set low initially so the bill will pass Congress; then the Administrator can set much tougher new standards every year. The Act itself contains annual required increases in energy efficiency for private and commercial residences and buildings. However, the EPA administrator can set higher standards at any time. Sect. 202 Building Retrofit Program mandates a national retrofit program to increase the energy efficiency of all existing homes across America. Beginning 1 year after enactment of the Act, you won't be able to sell your home unless you retrofit it to comply with the energy and water efficiency standards of this Act. You had better sell soon, because the standards will be raised each year and will be really hard (I.e., ex$pen$ive) to meet in a few years. Oh, goody! The Act allows the government to give you a grant of several thousand dollars to comply with the retrofit program requirements IF you meet certain energy efficiency levels. But, wait, the State can set additional requirements on who qualifies to receive the grants. You should expect requirements such as "can't have an income of more than $50K per year", "home selling price can't be more than $125K", or anything else to target the upper middle class (and that's YOU) and prevent them from qualifying for the grants. Most of us won't get a dime and will have to pay the entire cost of the retrofit out of our own pockets. More transfer of wealth, more "change you can believe in." Sect. 204 Building Energy Performance Labeling Program establishes a labeling program that for each individual residence will identify the achieved energy efficiency performance for "at least 90 percent of the residential market within 5 years after the date of the enactment of this Act." This means that within 5 years 90% of all residential homes in the U.S. must be measured and labeled. The EPA administrator will get $50M each year to enforce the labeling program. The Secretary of the Department of Energy will get an additional $20M each year to help enforce the labeling program. Some of this money will, of course, be spent on coming up with tougher standards each year... Oh, the label will be like a license for your car. You will be required to post the label in a conspicuous location in your home and will not be allowed to sell your home without having this label. And, just like your car license, you will probably be required to get a new label every so often - maybe every year. But, the government estimates the cost of measuring the energy efficiency of your home should only cost about $200 each time. Remember what they said about the auto smog inspections when they first started: that in California it would only cost $15. That was when the program started. Now the cost is about $50 for the inspection and certificate; a 333% increase. Expect the same from the home labeling program. Sect. 304 Greater Energy Efficiency in Building Codes establishes new energy efficiency guidelines for the National Building Code and mandates at 304(d) that 1 year after enactment of this Act, all state and local jurisdictions must adopt the National Building Code energy efficiency provisions or must obtain a certification from the federal government that their state and/or local codes have been brought into full compliance with the National Building Code energy efficiency standards. CHECK OUT Just a few of the sites; Cap and Trade: A License Required for your Home Cap and Trade: A License Required for your Home - InterNACHI Message Board HR2454 American Clean Energy & Security Act: Waxman-Markey Climate Change Bill -- H.R. 2454: American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 (GovTrack.us) Cap & Trade A license required for your home: Cap and Trade: A License Required for your Home Cap and trade is a license to cheat and steal: Cap and trade is a license to cheat and steal | San Francisco Examiner Cap and Trade: A License Required for your Home: Cap and Trade: A License Required for your Home (Thinking about selling your house? HA!) Thinking about selling you House? Look at HR 2454: The Federal Observer www.google.com/search?hl=en&source=hp&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=A+License+required+for+your+home-+Cap+and+Trade&btnG=Google+Search This is bad.....real bad....these guys MUST be stopped, stopped now, and stopped HARD!!!! Pass this on to everyone on your e-mail list pass it across America! Some how this group must be stopped they will do more damage until we can elect new people to replace them. You must remember all this next time you vote.

This post was written to show you that welfare is an uneccessary government expenditure at times. Oh, I agree that welfare helps the poor, and I am okay with SOME welfare, but too many people abuse it. I used welfare 30 years ago, and abused it. ( I was one of the only few who paid it back, but still, that doesn't happen any more) I can name many people who are abusing gov. funds right now. (from welfare, to unemployment, to housing assistance, etc) The government wastes money! that was my point.

Reading your last 2 paragraphs shows me that you are believing that all you need in life is within yourself. How sad. Because that's not all you need in life. God says that in the end times man will look to himself for peace. They will be a 'god' unto themselves. They will deny Jesus and his sacrifice for them and thus perish from God's presence in eternity. If you rely on yourself to get you there, you will not make it.

I agree totally that the accident was their fault. I never said that it wasn't. I just feel that if the government did not listen to the crazed liberal environmentalists, we would be drilling in the Arctic instead, where noone lives and would be as severely effected by an accident such as this. I partially put the blame on the environmentalist nuts!

That's EXACTLY what the government is supposed to be set up for. Disaster relief! (among other things like defense) Conservatives do not want to abolish the federal government. They want it to do what it was originally set up by the people to do. The government is supposed to be there for disasters like this. It shows you how screwed up the government is. In a disaster such as an oil spill like this one, they stay out of it, but then they stick their nose everywhere else it doesn't belong.

You must heat your home with wood.

I agree. The only problem is that the government makes it very difficult with all their regualtions. When you allow some regulating , which is needed, they take it to the extreem. There regulations don't JUST effect the BIG companies, that probably can afford to abide by them without going under, but they effect the small businessman as well, and here is where these regulations play a part. Businesses have to end because they can't abide fimnacially by all the Rules the giovernment demands of them. The government then gets to the point of telling you whether we can have salt or not. Or they try to ban eating, drinking soda or tying your hair up while driving. If they pass those, they may add taking your hand off the wheel to turn on the radio, or talking to a passenger. They just go TOO far. Here's a few laws in CT that are ridiculus, yet someone , probably a liberal, felt they were needed. Devon, CT It is unlawful to walk backwards after sunset. Guilford Only white Christmas lights are allowed for display. Hartford You aren't allowed to cross a street while walking on your hands. You may not educate dogs. It is illegal for a man to kiss his wife on Sunday. New Britain It is illegal for fire trucks to exceed 25mph, even when going to a fire. Southington Silly string is banned. Waterbury It is illegal for any beautician to hum, whistle, or sing while working on a customer. Stupid Laws Go here to look up the stupid laws in your state!

What he does is irrelevent to this topic. I did not research his life stand on all the issues in the world.:confused: I read it in the paper and I agreed with what he said IN THAT ARTICLE.

What! You didn't read the last sentence in the post: You just read what you wanted to read and ASSumed that I put TOTAL blame on environmentalists! It read: Not that the environmentalists are the only ones to blame. Not by far. But it is odd they've escaped mention.

Thinking back to that time in my life, I can see that I would have survived without the welfare help. What would I have done if the state didn't offer me that help? Well, I would not have quit my job, for one. I remember choosing, at 3 months pregnant, to go on welfare because it was there for me. My sister in law informed me about welfare when I told her I was pregnant. She said that pregnant girls can get on very easily if they didn't have a job, so I quit my job, found low income housing projects and moved there. Or I could have moved in with any member of my family. Or the father of my child, who is my husband now, could have married me 2 years earlier than he did and we could have avoided the assistance thing altogether. All I know is that if the welfare was NOT there for people to use, they would find a way to get by. The would HAVE to be independent. Oh, that dirty word that liberals hate! If the government didn't provide the formula through the WIC program for my first son, I would have quit smoking cigarettes so I could afford the formula for him. I would have been forced to make a choice. My cigs or the baby formula. Thinking back, I was getting welfare, yet I could afford cigarettes and I could afford to be on the bowling team, and other things that I did for entertainment. I had a car and paid insurance on it, yet no job to use it to get to. It wasn't right. I never gave it a thought back then that I was actually spending other peoples hard earned money, because I didn't equate the two.

No one has the assets and expertise of BP. The government can fight wars, conduct a census and hand out billions in earmarks, but it has not a clue how to cap a mile-deep, out-of-control oil well. Obama didn't help much with his finger-pointing Rose Garden speech in which he denounced finger-pointing, then proceeded to blame everyone but himself. Even the grace note of admitting some federal responsibility turned sour when he reflexively added these problems have been going on "for a decade or more." Translation: Bush did it. In contrast, his own Interior secretary had worked diligently to solve the problem "from the day he took office." Really? Why hadn't we heard a thing about this? What about the September 2009 letter from Obama's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration accusing Interior's Minerals Management Service of understating the "risk and impacts" of a major oil spill? When you get a blow- out 15 months into your administration, and your own Interior Department had given BP a "categorical" environmental exemption in April 2009, the buck stops. In the end, speeches will make no difference. If BP can cap the well in time to prevent an absolute calamity in the Gulf, as it seemed poised to do last week, the president will escape politically. If the gusher isn't stopped before the relief wells are completed in August, it will become Obama's Katrina. That will be unfair because Obama is no more responsible for the damage caused by this than Bush was for the damage caused by Katrina. But that's the nature of American politics and its presidential cult of personality: We expect presidents to play Superman. Helplessness, however undeniable, is no defense. Moreover, Obama has never been overly modest about his own powers. Two years ago next week, he declared that history will mark his ascent to the presidency as the moment when "our planet began to heal" and "the rise of the oceans began to slow." How true! Well, when you anoint yourself King Canute, you mustn't be surprised when your subjects expect you to command the tides. Charles Krauthammer

Why are we drilling in 5,000 feet of water in the first place? Many reasons, but this one goes unmentioned: Environmental chic has driven us out there. As production from the shallower Gulf of Mexico wells declines, we go deep (1,000-plus feet) and ultra deep (5,000-plus feet) because environmentalists have succeeded in rendering the Pacific and nearly all of the Atlantic Coast off-limits to oil production. (President Obama's tentative, selective opening of some Atlantic and offshore Alaska sites is now dead.) And in the safest of all places, on land, we've had a 30-year ban on drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. So we go deep, ultra deep, to such a technological frontier that no precedent exists for the April 20 blowout in the Gulf of Mexico. There always will be catastrophic oil spills. You make them as rare as humanly possible, but where would you rather have one: in the Gulf of Mexico, upon which thousands depend for their livelihood, or in the Arctic, where there are practically no people? All spills damage wildlife. But why have we pushed the drilling from the barren to the populated, from the remote wilderness to a center of fishing, shipping, tourism and recreation? Not that the environmentalists are the only ones to blame. Not by far. But it is odd they've escaped mention. Charles Krauthammer