BJean

Ok, T_O_M, I participated, now show me somethin'.

letheaG: Looks like you all were having a Halloween party? Glad you had a good time with your friends!

Yea Karey!

Terri: I don't believe I was being sarcastic at all. Have you read all of this thread? I was making an observation about my own politics after reading about others' here. Do you have any problem with Rick Perry or Geo. W. and their decisions for the people they govern; less specifically, with the Republican agenda?

#1. Probably, but if I am, it is because I am ignorant. #2. I would certainly hope not.

I feel all warm and fuzzy right now about being a Democrat. This has been good for me to read what other people think who endorse a man like Rick Perry. From time to time I get a little outraged by Republican retoric and commentators and I can't understand how people can be so hard-hearted and self-serving. Reading this thread makes it quite clear.

Carol: you never have answered my question about how you became familiar with the Bible. You don't have to answer, of course, but I would really like to know.

Carol: I'm not sure I understand why you think that just because people are discussing the Bible and they question why one directive in the Bible is more important than another in today's society, that anyone believes the Bible is a bad thing to hold dear to your heart. Don't you think it is healthy to question certain passages in the Bible that are troubling? You are busily defending the Bible as a tool to live by and defending your belief of who actually wrote the Bible. Those are questions of belief like you mentioned earlier in one of your posts. I don't honestly think anyone here is questioning your personal beliefs. It is when someone says that everyone should believe what they believe that it gets dicey. Can you understand why someone would have differing beliefs about who "wrote" the Bible, and which verses are relevant today, and why some parts of the Bible may have been included and others dropped from a printing? I am wondering what led you to believe the way you do? Don't you think it has something to do with your participation in an organized religion at some point in time? Or did you take up the Bible on your own one day and all your beliefs are based on your personal interpretation of the Bible? Your comments have made me very curious.

Bitter: I have the Challenger disaster etched firmly in my memory too. We lived in Orlando and my parents had come for a visit. I was taking my son to meet them for lunch. We were driving in Altamonte Springs on a direct path toward launch. We had a fantastic view and we all still were very excited back then when there was a launch. It was an incredibly clear day. We watched the Challenger rise above the trees and buildings and blow apart. Back then we were still shocked that such a disaster could happen. I didn't think the Challenger would go up that morning. It was too cold. I had driven to Cocoa Beach to watch one previously that had been cancelled because it was too cold. The morning of the Challenger disaster, the temperature was just as cold. I told my parents there was no reason to drive to Cocoa to watch the launch, they would never send it up in freezing weather... When the shuttle blew up over Texas, I called my sister in Florida and observed that wherever I lived, shuttles blew up. How's that for a shocking reaction? And btw, the morning of that launch it had been very cold also. I am not sure we ever heard if the weather was blamed for the tiles coming off. I'll bet T.O.M. knows.

gadgetlady: that's an interesting question. What do you think? Do you think polygamy should be legalized? If it is proven to be a victimless crime, it should probably not be something that the government should be involved in as far as I'm concerned. But I don't have strong feelings about it because I don't know enough about it.

lisalee: Oh boy have I heard my tummy growl! When I went for the fill and the doc was locating the port and pressing on various parts of my tummy, I thought there was something wrong with what he was doing. It growled louder than I thought was possible. It was kinda funny, kinda embarrassing. He seemed so intent on what he was doing, he acted like he didn't hear it. :embarassed:

Wow Jodie you are a very cynical person - or maybe it's just that you have been exposed to more of the seedy side of life. I guess I'm lucky - well actually, I don't really believe in luck. I think we make our own luck. But although my mom worked for the Health Department and much of their work was paid for by tax dollars, I haven't been around many of the folks you're talking about. I've seen it exploited on TV, but haven't seen it in person. I've heard that there are generations of people who have never worked and who live off government programs. I personally haven't witnessed it. I do know that statistically there are more caucasians who use the welfare system, although by the tone and content of your post I have a feeling you think it's another race of people who abuse the system. As for the electric bills, mine was over $500 last month. That's far and above what it has ever been before. By at least $200. And I am very unhappy about it. I don't think I should have to burn candles at night or use a church fan to keep myself cool. I think Gov. Perry should stop allowing TXU to gouge us. I tend to agree about sales tax in a way. It is levied on purchases where there can be some discrimination on our part as to how much we buy. However when I left Florida the sales tax was 6% - quite a discrepancy don't you think?

I have a feeling that only someone who is very well qualified will be able to help the man rid himself of all the anger and pain. If that is even possible. God help him.

T.O.M. I still don't think she gets it. Think she ever will?

T.O.M. once again, yea T.O.M. You said much better and more specifically the thoughts that I tried to convey.

I had a spirited debate with my nephew about homosexual marriages. He believes like many of you that homosexuals cannot be "married" because the word itself is known to represent two people of the opposite sex entering into a civil (and possibly a religious) union. I say that the literal meaning of words changes from generation to generation. If you pick up a dictonary from 1900, I'll bet you won't find a lot of the definitions that are word-for-word the same as in a dictonary printed today. It all varies due to accepted usage. Usage changes. When I was young, my English teachers hated the word "ain't". Teachers enjoyed telling us that "ain't" isn't a word and that we won't find it in the dictonary. Today it is in the dictonary. So that argument against the use of the word "ain't" has become obsolete. If we want "marriage" to mean the union of two people, no matter which sex, why not embrace the usage of the word "marriage" as needed in today's society? Discrimination is an ugly thing; bias and bigotry are too. Using religion and the Bible to legally exclude certain people in our society is deplorable.

T.O.M.- Nov. 22, 1963, I was getting ready to go to my 1 o'clock English Lit class with my little essay on a book I had read about Jacqueline Kennedy. Before I walked out of the dorm past the living room, I noticed a crowd gathered around the TV. You know why. After that, we've all become jaded. We know now that some people will do ANYTHING to further their own political cause. Can anything shock us anymore?

Jodie- Nobody's criticizing you for supporting for Rick Perry. But I think you're way out of line about Bell. If you're for Perry, you don't have to malign the other candidate to convey how great you think Perry is. As for Social Security - it's not the government's money. When they pay it out, it's our money. You talk about how we should have prepared and our parents should have prepared. That's what Social Security is all about. We pay into Social Security so that we WILL BE PREPARED for retirement. That may not be why you pay into it if you do, but whether you need it or not it will be there for you when you retire. That is, of course, unless the politicians in power now change all that. If and when they do change it, many people won't be prepared for retirement. Then we will all have reason to bellyache about the government...BIG TIME!

MOM: I've lost 2 lbs. for the week. I'm at 188 and thankful for every ounce! ItsGottaGo: Congratulations on a great experience with your first fill! I wish my doc has been more aggressive. I hope you continue to feel great! Keep up the good work!

Well said, Carlene.

TrueBlueSue: We probably can't tell each other exactly why we can be so self-destructive. We each have to decide for ourseves that we want to make this "tool" work. I am having a pretty hard time right now too. But I'm hanging in there and fighting it every difficult step of the way. I know my past history with diets and I am telling myself that this is different. The different part being that I have invested BIG money and faced invasive surgery with placement of a "tool" in my abdomen that will work for me if I don't undermine it. One of the things I have learned since being banded, that I never seemed to get in the past, is that I just cannot have the things I used to love (that made me obese) in the house. I'm just not that strong yet. I learned that I have to have the things that are sugar free and fat free handy. I've never before been able to look at sugar free/fat free foods as my friend. I've always hated them with all my heart. Crazy, huh? But now I know that the only way I'm going to look like and feel like a normal person is to utilize the things that are going to get me there, like low or non-fat sugar free healthy food, exercise, and the Lap Band. Slim people do not load up on things that are bad for them. We can tell ourselves as often as we want that some slim people can "eat anything they want and not get fat". But the truth is, they make better food choices and they move more. Slim people care about themselves enough to eat to be healthy instead of having a love affair with foods that taste fabulous and they get up and do something instead of sitting on the couch in front of the TV. I'm rambling here because that's what I do, but this helps me to get re-motivated when I am undermining the band. Because if I eat carbs (sweets and white foods) I'm undermining the band. I know from lifelong experience that carbs make me crave carbs and I get way out of control after one cookie or ice cream binge. It takes me days to get sugar out of my system enough so that I can be satisfied again with a reasonable eating plan. And I'm NOT dieting anymore - I'm adopting a reasonable eating plan. I hope you can back away from whatever is causing things to be difficult for you. I know this... I can't attain a reasonable eating plan for anyone else; only for me. This whole thing is about me and the way I want to feel and look. If I don't give a damn about myself, there's no way in hell that I can make this band work. I will never stick to any reasonable plan for my health and beauty if I I'm simply doing it to make someone else happy with me. I'm the one who has to get happy with me. Good luck on your trip to a better way of life.

Bobby Hamrick: Congratulations for breaking the chain!! Your post sounds very insightful and it's great to read a post from someone who has overcome a bad upbringing and become a good parent. My DH and I believe that looking back and blaming people who surrounded you when you were young and vulnerable is a losing proposition. It doesn't do you one bit of good to whine about what a lousy upbringing you had. Almost everyone can find fault in one way or another with the decisions their parents made and lifestyles they led. The important thing is how you use the experience to become a good person and to be a better parent, aunt, uncle, cousin, brother, sister, mother or father than the ones who made mistakes with you. Hopefully life is a series of learning experiences and as the old cliche goes, when I knew better, I did better.

Jodie Warner: What do you have against Ben Stein? Poodles: I can understand why you would back the teachers' candidate, but I don't understand why you would buy the "slam" TV ads that malign Bell.

bdclark: This is a thread about Gov. Perry. It was started because someone thinks he's a liar. It is cool to get to read what other bandsters think about various topics. When you log on and go to different topics, you'll see that it isn't all just about the Lap Band. And we as individuals aren't all JUST about the Lap Band. So it isn't surprising that we like to discuss or even vent about current events. If you don't find these threads that are unrelated to the L.B. procedure interesting, you might consider just investigating the ones that you find relevant to the Lap Band.

MOM: I had to laugh at your cookie experience. I love home made choco. chip cookies. I would not trust myself if I made those! But your experience of spitting it out was smart. Your menu for today sounds good. If you can keep that up, you'll be doing fine. Sure hope your first fill goes well this week!