BJean

If we keep lettin' them gays marry and stuff, marriage will go out of style and nobody will want to get married anymore. :heh: I may be out of the loop since I've been married over 30 years, but it seems to me that many people really don't get married anymore. They live together then sometimes they get married "for the children" and then they break up. Oh well, it's better than the alternative of NOT living together then getting married to have children and then breaking up.

Let's hear it for our brave and well-built men in (and out) of a fireman's uniform! I just got a Fire Fighter's calendar forwarded thru email. Woo-hoo! BTW Cloe - whatdaya have against hot stuff in their 20's?? Discrimination just makes no sense to me when it comes to our hansome, brave, studly fire fighters.

There were people in my previous city who decided they wanted a theatre like Sunta described. They opened their own. They ran a lot of European films. It became very popular. They expanded their menu and seating. Included wine and beer. The whole thing became such a hit they now have their very own Film Festival. I now live in a city where they have opened a new concept in the theater experience. They are attempting to serve high quality food with their first run movies. It is not exactly quiet since eating a steak or salmon requires knives and forks, but the food is quite good and the chairs are delux cushioned leather on wheels and that rotate 360 degrees. For 4 screens they have a couple of hundred waiters. All the kinks haven't been worked out yet, but it promises to be a neat alternative to theaters offering the usual popcorn/candy/hot dog fare and who attract people who like to talk on or text message with cell phones and talk aloud to each other instead of enjoying the film. Btw, we figured out that the new theater's really good food doesn't cost a whole lot more than what we were paying for popcorn, candy and a drink at the standard flicks. P.S. Gay people are allowed at the new theater, married or not. (Didn't want to be accused of straying too far from the thread.)

Jodie- With regard to voting... you are very well-qualified to vote. Most kids at 18 who are interested in politics should vote. In fact anyone of age who is registered and wants to, should vote. I wish everyone in the U.S. who is eligible to vote would register and show up for every election. If we took voting more seriously then we could make a difference and we would exercise some of the powers that the founding fathers gave us. And as for experience... some people never learn from their life experiences and their chonological age doesn't mean a whole lot. They just never will get it. Other people are very wise for their years. So age can be an indicator of maturity, but it sure isn't always an indicator of maturity or wisdom. Anyone who discriminates against you because of your age just may not be all that bright themselves Frankly I'm surprised that you and I are sharing this dialogue. From some of your earlier posts I thought you were being very intolerant of many of the other peoples' posts. I didn't think that you were willing to truly listen to people with differing views from yours. I'm glad we got further along and we had this chance to clear that up.

If that girl comes back into the spotlight with the same flat stomach and firm booty I'm going to PB! At least we all know she sure can't get away with the school girl uniform and lollipop routine anymore. Beeotch.

Jodie we probably just sound harsh to you because we are of the age that we no longer work as hard at not upsetting anyone. We're just finally speaking our minds and not worrying so much about what everyone else thinks. In that regard you're way ahead of the game. You are obviously a thinker and that's a really good thing. People are probably not picking on you at all in a personal way - they're just taking issue with your point of view. A lot of people can't take having someone disagree with them so openly. They are too insecure. They think it is all personal. So you're undoubtedly a sharp kid. Just keep studying and enjoying learning and being proud of who you are and what you believe in. And tonight in the elections, as usual, we win some and we lose some. It will be interesting to see what happens in the next couple of years.

Voting results are pouring in tonight. Perry's a shoo-in. Sure wish so many people hadn't voted for Strayhorn. What a waste. Sigh. On the other hand in the national elections things are looking good for getting a more evenly balanced House and maybe even Senate.

MOM: I'm not keeping track of everyone else, but are you the leader so far in our Christmas challenge?? You're doing great! Keep up the good work...you are an inspiration!

Karey! How frightening!! I am really sorry that you lost some of your worldly goods. That's really a bummer. But I am so glad your son is all right. I have often wondered if I would remember what the police says if you come home and someone is there robbing you, or even if you come home and the house is messed up. You're supposed to back out of there fast and call the cops. I just don't think that I would remember it if I came home and saw everything all messed up. I'd want to investigate. Hang in there with your good choices for eating. We're supposed to learn not to overeat when where stressed. I don't know how to manage that quite yet, but I'm sure trying. Good luck! and I sure hope they catch those crummy thieves and you get your stuff back!

I'll bet some people here think it's just fine if we "choose" to live in a carboard box under a bridge.

Yup that's one thing that 9/11 did - it made everyone feel patriotic. I've never seen so many flags flown at private residences. It was a sight to behold. It made me so proud of my fellow Americans. And that Fourth of July! Man, the fireworks were fantastic! Now we're back to cynicism and distrust of our elected officials. It's a cryin' shame. We all were bound together when the Trade Center and Pentagon were attacked and we all were together when we went into Afghanistan to find and destroy Osama. But when we found Osama, why didn't we capture him? The seeds of doubt were planted. Then a bad, really bad decision was made with regard to Iraq. There has been a lot of "talking head" speculation about just why that decision was made and speculation about why it continues and is sucking the life and national pride right out of Americans. If you're a Republican and you agree with the president's decisions I envy you. I wish to hell that I didn't feel the way I do about his motives. You are able to tell people you're being patriotic by supporting the president. You can say that the war is going to eventually be a good thing for Iraq. You can say that you don't think the president or vice-president or other members of the cabinet are supporting the war for personal gain. You can say that you think that the president may not seem very smart, but that he's smart as a fox. And you can say that gas prices and big business are not formost on the Republican's agenda. You can say that the president and his advisors and his cabinet are loving, caring Christians. And you can BELIEVE it! More power to you. I wish I could tell myself and my friends those things. But to me, none of the evidence supports any of that. I wish so much that it did! Aw shucks, I was hoping to conjur up something humorous. I read some of the most recent posts and just couldn't find anything much to laugh about. Somebody say something funny!!

My advice is count your lucky stars. You're restricted with only a small amount of fill. That gives you lots of room for more fill later if you need it. I have hardly any restriction with my first fill and I'm really disappointed.:tired

I like big butts and I cannot lie! Green sausage and ham. I like them, like them, Sam I am. But I'm dieting, forget the buns.

Theresa: You're late! Do you mean November 16? Congrats on your loss of lbs!!

PALADIN: Glad you found your (and Nora's) sense of humor here. Discussing politics can really grate on some people's nerves. For others of us it is enlightening to read other viewpoints. I am extremely tired of TV election coverage commentators defining things for me. I would much prefer that they just report the news. Like am I the only one who learned about all of the disenfranchised black voters in St. Louis? Well I didn't learn that from the TV news... I learned it from some of the disenfranchised people themselves. And btw, why have exit polls always been a good predictor of election outcomes in the past but not in the last 2 elections? Things that make you go, hmmmm.

Gawd if it isn't depressing enough getting older, now we're faced with these threats to Social Security and our Medicare plan. I just hope something good happens before I reach the age of Social Security and Medicare. Let me ask you a question T_O_M - do you belong to AARP? Do you think that they actually have any effect with their lobbists?

I just read on another post that the 3rd fill is the charm. So far, I have very little restriction. Angel Bear: how many times have you had a fill? Reading that you feel restricted makes me envious.

MOM: I'm down 1 this week. TamifromAL: I also bought the new OZ book. I'm reading it slowly when I get a chance to sit down, but so far it's great! I am learning a whole lot. I've been on so many diets, I thought I understood how all this stuff works (and doesn't work). But this is a different approach and the thing I like the best is that it is very easy to read and includes some humor! Let me know what you think of it.

Jodie I didn't take you to raise and I know this is probably going to be wasted on you, but I'd like to share with you a couple of things about political parties in the U.S. political system. All of what T_O_M says is true. Plus the party you vote for is very important because each party has a "platform" that they adopt at the conventions. These platforms change a little from time to time, but most of the basic items remain fairly similar from convention to convention. In the Republican party, however, the "religious right" has established a strangle-hold on the party and have used that to produce many of the extreme decisions that you see people complaining about today. All of the items that each party adopts in their platform are very important. They address issues that result the passage of laws, how the government spends money, who is appointed to the Supreme Court, etc. Issues like gun control, abortion and many other relevant topics are things that affect you. Now some of these items never come up during a person's term in office, but some do, and if those things are of any interest or importance to you, don't you think it represents you better if the platform of the party you've voted for (when you voted for the man - or not) is compatible with your basic beliefs? Maybe you won't agree completely with any of the platforms adopted by the parties running for office, but if you agree with one platform more than any other, don't you agree that a person from that party with the platform you like will represent you better? It's for those reasons that many people cannot vote for a man who belongs to the party that is in opposition to the one that they basically agree with and trust, even if they think that the man or woman from the opposing party sounds good. A lot of people today seem to think that the smart and right thing to do is vote "for the man" not the party. Then when their man is elected, they are surprised and disappointed when laws are passed according to the party.

I'm voting on Tuesday against the Republicans and I'm not fraid to vote for Chris Bell. I hope I'm not wrong about that, but I don't believe I have a sensible alternative. Anyway T_O_M, here's your first unofficial exit poll.

T_O_M: I read "Hacking Democracy" and I believe the most important observation in the piece was the paragraph noting how shocking it is that the mainstread media and the Democratic party did not rise up en masse to insist that the election be investigated. I have a feeling that too many of us understand that they are indeed the ones with the guns. I have been wondering, like you, what happens if once again the exit polls show that the Democratic party wins while the election results go to the Republicans. If we don't do something, and I mean in important numbers of us, we should all be horse whipped. Who will lead the march?

Whew! Betsyjane, that's some heavy reading. Didn't want to wade through all of it because I didn't NEED to wade through it. Nothing I read was a surprise. I've known about Pat Robertson and others for over 20 years. What I never could have predicted was the way that Americans have embraced his words and how people from the "moral majority" have used Christianity as a tool to convince Americans that they are bad people and unpatriotic if they disagree with the "moral majority". We've seen it happen in Congress during the discussion and appointments to the Surpeme Court during Dubyew's reign of terror. We've seen it happen with regard to the war in Iraq. We've seen it in the past two national elections. We've seen it all around us in every facet of American politics. Americans better be saying, "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore!"

Green I have been enjoying your thread. I have a comment about your colonoscopy. Well not really about YOUR colonoscopy, about my DH's experience. My DH went for one a coupla years ago. I was waiting, and waiting, and waiting. Finally I just knew there was something wrong and sure enough, they had that stern look on their faces when they appeared from the procedure and told me I could go see him. I had been waiting for him to come walking out, all chipper after getting reamed (and drugged). LOL Seems his colon is waaayyy extra long and twisty too. They got to the end of the scope and realized they weren't there yet. So they de-scoped him and re-scoped him with an inflexible relic from past ages, because it was much longer than the scope they use today. (I couldn't help but wonder if the thing had been recently sanitized, but that's another story). Anyhoo, turned out that not only did they find several small polyups that they removed, but they discovered a large evil looking mass which was embedded in the colon wall. He wound up with a colon re-section and now sports a sexy mid-line scar of about 14 inches. His mass and other polyups were not cancerous and he got a clean bill of health after his subsequent follow-up colonoscopy. And btw, he did not have to have the relic scope because his resectioned colon is shorter after removal of the offending tissue and colon. The footnote is that although the mass was not malignant, they determined that it was pre-cancerous and over time would have turned bad if it hadn't been removed. Thank goodness for relics from the past. FYI, I once had a lower GI series of xrays which included lots and lots of barium. It was the most disgusting, uncomfortable and embarrassing event you can ever imagine. Never let them talk you into that procedure! Go for the colonoscopy - at least with that you get some drugs to make you forget.

Atta girl (?) Sunta... lets go in swinging!

Thanks for clearing all this up for us, HoneyBun! For a while there I was worried. Btw, Green, "Soviet Canuckistan" sure sounds like a Pat Robertson quote. He's such a sweet, gentle Christian man, always rooting out injustice and bias in our country. What would we do without him? He's inspired so many of our presidents. Present one included, no doubt.