BJean

Oooh. Now I get it. I have a feeling that Huckabee might be her man.

She's Catholic? I used to have a client who was totally into Benny Hinn. His ministry was located in Orlando and when she and her husband moved to town, they were overwhelmed with joy at the thought of being able to be a part of his congregation. They were anxious to make their financial pledge too. (They were "blessed" financially.) I thought they were kidding when they first told me how much they believed in Benny. Good thing I didn't bust out in the side splitting uproarious belly laugh that I was feeling on the inside. :cursing: Had I done that, it would've been bye, bye client! Can't wait to hear what you think of Obama!

Green! That's priceless and absolutely the way I see him... Huckabee, the love child of Dubya and Benny Hinn. luluc I did not know that Obama was in big D tomorrow. Please give us a report afterwards. If I were your MIL and you surprised me with a political speech when I was expecting your undivided attention, I'm not sure I would be thrilled. Well, that's not true. Being the political animal that I seem to be, I'd probably be delighted. My DIL would NEVER take me to a political rally of any kind. That would mean she would have to listen to my assessment of the speech all the way home and her head would explode. :cursing:

You are wrong about the "relatively" issue, but please, let's drop it - it's a really obtuse argument. As for the rest, I will repeat it as many times and as many ways as I feel it needs repeating... government should not be in the business of forcing women to either have unwanted children or to not have wanted children. There are many more factors involved than just the definition of when a fertilized egg becomes an individual human being.

gadget the reason I used the term "relatively" is because Down's Syndrome is found in the offspring of older women more often than in younger healthy women. Watching what China has chosen to legislate with regard to babies clearly points to why governments should never be allowed to intervene or legislate the reproduction process in their citizens.

Romney would be heads and shoulders above that doofus Huckabee as far as I'm concerned!

gadget, you think we should become sterilized and that would make us responsible citizens in your eyes if we continue to have sex? A very dear friend of mine had her tubes tied when she was 41 years old. She bacame pregnant two years later. No, she didn't have an abortion, but she did die when her daughter was 3. Cervical cancer. Fortunately her daughter was born healthy and without Down's Syndrome which is relatively common for people her parents' age. And her husband married a pretty young thing, and the little girl got a new mother, so I guess everything was hunkey dorey for everyone, but my friend, Sue of course. Marjon, you crack me up.

We can set that up for you. Pick out your purtiest blue dress!

Power and money are very attractive "qualities" in a man. Booties certainly factor in as a close third. Just kidding. Face and booty come first, no matter what!!! And then sense of humor... Cheers!!!

Green if only you hadn't have added that caveat. Be that as it may... you'll never convince me or my daughter that today's medicine makes pregnancy, labor and childbirth completely safe for women.

No, not a red herring at all. I didn't say that you don't like sex. I said that the only way a person can insure that they don't get pregnant when they don't want to is by abstaining. I was merely trying to logic it through. You say that it doesn't matter whether a woman wants to be pregnant or not. If a woman becomes pregnant she should have the baby. So it make sense, logically, that your advice and wishes would be that I abstain from sex since it is dangerous to my health if I were to be impregnated. Of course you did say that women will always be able to get an abortion if their health is in danger. I sincerely disagree. The government would make the ultimate decision - not the doctor, not me. That is, if you were to have your way and take that choice out of my hands.

If we're talkin' looks here grrls, I favor the John Edwards type. Brains and booty. Good combination. Isn't that just like us... reduce everything to sexual innuendo. Woo hoo!

Green, this isn't the first time you've mentioned Osama's temperature. Me thinks you might be smitten?

Elenaton: You are so very right. You and I can never change anything - at least not on our own. :wink: I would much rather enjoy your friendship here than get into some p....sing contest. (I actually did forget that I used the term "buffoon" which wasn't nice. So I probably had no business calling you down on your Osama remarks. See, you know more about Obama than I anyway... I didn't know his middle name is Hussein.) :thumbup: Besides, I think this is going to be a very interesting political race - on both sides. We may as well sit back and enjoy it. :mad: :thumbup: :eek: :thumbup: :crying:

Green, doncha just love that some people claim that Dubya is just acting dumb? I have a good friend who actually said that a couple of years ago. He said Dubya is crazy like a fox. However he has revised his assessment, of which I am pleased. And he has gone on to say that even he can't cut the guy anymore slack. And my friend is a former Marine (once a Marine, always a Marine) and has done some serious black ops for this country. He has his photo that was taken with 4 presidents on his office wall with their signatures and their thanks.

Everett Koop is your backup? Whoa, I'm surprised... Not. The bottom line, gadget, is that to abort or not abort should never be put in the hands of people who are not physically involved in the decision. It is completely and utterly wrong for some people to have control over other people's bodies, even when they, like you and Everett Koop, believe they are doing it for the greater good. There are several cases of women I know personally whose lives have been in jeapordy during labor and delivery. I don't think that I am an exception to the norm in this world. In fact, I almost lost my own daughter and I barely made it. Many women are told never to have children because of the risk of their own death. Birth control fails. In fact, all birth control fails some of the time. I am sure it would be fine with you if those of us who have problems with pregnancy, labor and delivery, were to abstain from sex for the rest of our lives. In fact, you might even like to police our activities so that we could never become pregnant. That way, the decision of whether to carry a baby to term that we did not plan for, will never come up. I am not willing, nor do I want my daughter to have to, petition the government with my doctor's testimony, if we were ever faced with an unwanted pregnancy. And I'll be damned if I'm going to abstain from sex just because you think it is wrong. Sex is a biological drive and a biological function that is healthy. God made me this way.

Ok, calling G.W. "Dubya", doesn't exactly equate to calling Obama "Hussein" and "Osama". :thumbup: I didn't go line by line down your overwhelming list of items that you love that you say this president has done and point out the error of your ways, so how about a truce? Either that or I'm gonna have to do some serious head butting with you. :thumbup: Yup. That's what this country's politics is all about. :eek:

You don't have to be a liberal to disagree with most of what you listed Elenation. Dubya is a buffoon. He has not restored dignity to the White House. He has done just the opposite. Separation of Church and State is the only intelligent approach to life in these United States. We couldn't disagree more. And yet I quite respect you.

re: "These cases are virtually nil" - care to cite some stats on that? Also, how in the world could you possibly know what is in a woman's mind when she is considering abortion? Some women absolutely do think they will die if they are unable to get an abortion. You tend to make light of or ignore the women's problems and rights in favor of the fetus. That isn't practical, fair or right as far as I am concerned. You know I am not against adoption or against women carrying a baby to term even when she may not want to keep her baby, right? The bottom line on this entire issue is that women are all different with different problems, different mental states of mind, different socio-economic issues, different medical issues and you are wanting to force each and every one of them to carry an unwanted, unplanned baby to term. My belief is that each and every woman should continue to have the right to make her own choices in each and every case. One band-aide does not fit all and this issue is much too important to pretend (or wish) that the only choice a woman should have is a cut and dried decision that should be governed by law.

I like the way you put it about the ability to change, green. In America we seem to think that if someone does something good or bad, it represents who they are forever. Forgiveness doesn't seem to be one of our strong points. Change isn't embraced either. Regarding Obama, our television in Texas is being flooded with an Obama political ad that is beginning to wear thin. He is beginning to sound just like every other politician. It is campaign retoric because it doesn't really say much of anything and he's trying to play on our sympathy because his mom died from cancer at an early age. I do know that a 15 or 30 second spot isn't enough time to say anything in depth, but I think he needs to learn from Kerry and others that running the same ad over and over is a major turn off. Of course he's completely right about health care and the problems that we face in fixing it, but I'm reminded of Jimmy Carter when I hear that he's planning to "fix Washington". Ain't gonna happen. Presidents have to work WITH Congress, not against them. Clinton learned it early on and did very well (except for the extremely mean-spirited right wing that never let up and nearly drove him into the ground in the end.) Now if Obama convinces me that he is able to work Congress like Dubya and Reagan did, I'll be on his team. You do understand that I don't approve of the things that Dubya and Reagan did, but I do respect the fact that they got their way most of the time. :mad:

lisah your last paragraph is hilarious. I'm with green. I know my kids often ask me if my parents were really the same ones who produced my siblings. :mad: gadget: we do go off and kill people who have less value all the time. As green pointed out, it is the way of the world. I agreed and said that there's no way to change it. You seemed to agree too. But I couldn't disagree with you more when you said, "The mother won't die by bringing the baby to term." That is just plain wrong. Some women do die. When abortion was illegal some women committed suicide when they realized they were pregnant. Women die in childbirth more often than you'd probably like to admit. Women can be driven to the brink of insanity and beyond when they learn they have been impregnated against their wishes. The problems an unwanted pregnancy can present to some women are very real and tangible and sometimes insurmountable. And there are many women who could never give a child up for adoption but who are unable to take care of a child in any case, and for miriad reasons. You have no right to demand that all women, in every circumstance, absolutely must carry a child to term, no matter what. If we legislate your beliefs, we would definitely be saying that the unborn fetus trumps the life of the mother.

Jack I respect you, but if you can't see how weakened we are as a nation and if you can't easily itemize the things that have broken down our economy, our military, our unification as a free nation, our approach to enviornmental issues and much more, I am very surprised indeed. Anyway, green has done a good job of saying what I believe is true and a lot about what is wrong in America due to the president specifically and the Republicans in general. Once again, thank you green! Jack, what has this president done that you agree with and are proud of? Please tell me it isn't the tax cuts. If it is, I'd love to know how this has actually benefitted most Americans to any measurable extent.

biggestloser-thanks for your post. I really think this is more important than some people realize and if you wind up having major problems, it may be too late. If you can't eat anything, eventually you actually can stop your metabolism (like you said) and you just won't lose. Once you are able to eat - and eventually you HAVE to - you will gain. Not at all what we want or expect from the band. It's is just very, very hard to be satisfied with a 1 to 2 lb. weight loss per week. Btw, Congratulations on your nice weight loss - you're in a good spot right now with only 22 lbs. to lose!! That's great! Tyme 2 Shine- As I understand it, erosion is not real common. Although I have heard of several cases both here at LBT and through my doctor. I believe that erosion is a slow process and that is one reason we may not even realize that it is happening, so there are various degrees of erosion. But we definitely do not want any erosion ever! The band is a very good thing if we realize that we have to take care of it and baby it when we need to. My doctor doesn't ask us to go on liquids after a fill because he is extremely conservative with fills. He is for very good reasons - slippage and erosion are just 2 of them. You can also enlarge your esophogus and that can be a big problem down the road. You can develop a hiatal hernia. And I am sure there are other problems that can arise that I've never heard of. If your doctor is aggressive with fills, the whole area can be sensitive and you really need to be careful for several days after a fill. I've heard lots of bandsters say that they managed to keep pizza and sodas down. I ask at what price? Hey, we only have one body folks and we need to take good care of ourselves and our friend, the band. No one wants to read another story about someone having to be hospitalized and suffering due to the abuse of themselves or the band.

faithmd: Finally, voice of reason and sanity here! Thank goodness. I thought I was the lone ranger on this topic. I know you've been here awhile too so you obviously have some knowledge and may even have some experience with the downside of being overly restricted. Thanks for the backup!

Ok. I'll shut up. Everyone probably has to learn for themselves.