Surgery went well and I am home again. Getting used to the routines. Not gonna be easy, but it is something I cannot afford to fail at.

Well, today I did my final pre-operative visit with my surgeon's office and then went over to the hospital and did the pre-operative testing visit there. Didn't really do much at all the whole day, but totally crashed out when we got home. The funny thing is, there wasn't much at all that was asked of me except to sit still while they drew blood and did an EKG and all that medical stuff; but, man, am I tired. Oh yeah, I did answer more questions than a steroidal baseball player in front of Congress...

And we did fill out about 40 million forms and papers...killing only 5 million trees in the process. Oh well...

This time next week, the whole world changes for me. Goodbye cheesecake......goodbye chocolate...farewell biscuits and gravy...waahhhhhhhhh!

Not really...I don't think I will miss them...they are the bad old friends that got me into all kinds of trouble.

I think I'll be happier with my new friends...

Maybe in a year I'll post some before and after pics. But I'll have to go shopping first.

Rachel Maddow lays it out so that it is easy to understand why the "bitter" comment is a red-herring thrown out by Obama's opponents. While on David Gregory's CNN show she explained it in clear, precise terms and still the talking heads like Scarborough and Gregory just haven't got the ability to grasp it.

See the video at Crooks and Liars.

Even when Scarborough finally seems to concede that she is right, he still pursues the "Obama is an Elitist" meme without skipping a beat. They just keep beating that dog to death and it still won't fly.

"My name's Duncan Campbell from the shire of Argyll
I've travelled this country for many's the mile
I've travelled through Ireland, Scotland and a'
And the name I go under's bold Erin-go-bragh

One night in Auld Reekie as I walked down the street
A saucy big polis I chanced for to meet
He glowered in my face and he gi'ed me some jaw
Sayin' "When cam' ye over, bold Erin-go-bragh?"

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!!!

Per the KNS today...NASA is having a contest to name the new GLAST (Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope) telescope. Here's your chance to become part of space exploration history!

Before the latest chapter in the search begins for supermassive black holes, new laws of physics and the mysterious dark matter, you’ll have the historic chance to help name the satellite that makes it all possible. This unique opportunity is open to the public across the globe. Now, YOU may be the one to offer the name which will be given to the Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST) after its launch in 2008. GLAST is NASA’s next generation gamma-ray mission, designed to explore the most extreme phenomena in our Universe and probe energy regimes far beyond anything possible on Earth.

Go here to enter your own suggestion!

I did!...May the best namer win!

GO VOTE. GO VOTE. GO VOTE.

That is all...

This boy done went to Bean's brother's School of Humor!

that our local examples of bad mothers only spend thousands of dollars on a birthday party for their kid.

It is just reprehensible that a person who laid her life on the line in a deployment to a war zone would lose her child. Hopefully some high-powered, high-priced family law attorney will get wind of this and take on her case pro bono.

She had raised her daughter for six years following the divorce, shuttling to soccer practice and cheerleading, making sure schoolwork was done. Then Lt. Eva Crouch was mobilized with the Kentucky National Guard, and Sara went to stay with Dad.

A year and a half later, her assignment up, Crouch pulled into her driveway with one thing in mind — bringing home the little girl who shared her smile and blue eyes. She dialed her ex and said she’d be there the next day to pick Sara up, but his response sent her reeling.

“Not without a court order you won’t.”

Full Article

But, I forget, the Bush Administration is all about supporting the troops! NOT!

Saw this while surfing... Liberal media bias? Not so much.

This project did something that has never been done before: It amassed data on the syndicated columnists published by nearly every daily newspaper in the country. While a few publications, most notably Editor & Publisher, cover the syndicated newspaper industry, no one has attempted to comprehensively assemble this information prior to now. Because the syndicates refuse to reveal to the public exactly where their columnists are published, when Media Matters for America set out to make a systematic assessment of the syndicated columnist landscape, we had no choice but to contact each paper individually and ask which syndicated columnists are published on their op-ed pages.

The results show that in paper after paper, state after state, and region after region, conservative syndicated columnists get more space than their progressive counterparts. As Editor & Publisher paraphrased one syndicate executive noting, "U.S. dailies run more conservative than liberal columns, but some are willing to consider liberal voices."1

Though papers may be "willing to consider" progressive syndicated columnists, this unprecedented study reveals the true extent of the dominance of conservatives:

More here

I do believe this boy is a few bricks shy of a full load. Either that or he's just dumber than a sack of hammers.

PLEASE DO NOT PUBLISH SPOILERS HERE IN THIS THREAD.

Just finished reading HP and the Deathly Hallows last night after receiving it in the mail yesterday morning.

I thought it was an excellent book and enjoyed it throughly. If you have not read it yet, DO! If you have not bought it yet, it is worth the money.

I am asking you all to not put any spoilers on this thread, just tell folks if you liked the book or not. We can always start a different thread to discuss the book if you like, but this is mainly for those who were trying to decide if it was worth the time or money to pick up a copy and read it.

It's Saturday, I stumbled upon this...it's very kewl. Besides, every Saturday deserves a good shred. R. Neal feel free to move off the front page if you like but give it a listen first.

Bush: Maybe U.S. Military 'Just Not Very Good'

June 27, 2007 | Issue 43•26

Bush muses candidly about his new idea with the White House press corps.

WASHINGTON, DC—Departing from his usual hopeful rhetoric during a question-and-answer session with reporters in the White House Rose Garden, President Bush suggested Tuesday that the war in Iraq has not been successful because the nation's armed forces are "just not very good."

Bush muses candidly about his new idea with the White House press corps.

"When the decision was made to liberate Iraq, I was going on what my advisers were telling me and what everyone has said for nearly a century—that the U.S. military is the best in the world," Bush said. "But if that were the case, and we did have the most powerful army, navy, marines, and air force on the globe, we would be winning, right?"

Read all about it here

I received an email that I just had to share with folks. It's an Excerpt from Lee Iacocca's book, "Where Have All The Leaders Gone?"...and if anyone KNOWS what he's talking about when it comes to leadership, Lee Iacocca does.

Goodbye my sweet little girl
I'll meet you at the Rainbow Bridge
We'll run and play and laugh again
And steal cookies from the fridge.

Tweety
1992 - 2007
My friend and companion and protector.
I love you forever.

and get it all over with? Wouldn't it be easier and more efficient?

So much for Save the Manatees...

Not to mention frustrating and maddening.

The Future of Food

Kind of makes me not want to eat...ever again.

Before NBC yanks it...

Jake Gyllenhaal IS Your Dreamgirl!

This headline grabbed my eye...

800,000 Privileged Youths Enlist to Fight In Iraq

WASHINGTON, DC—Citing a desire to finally make a difference in Iraq, in the past two weeks, more than 800,000 young people from upper-middle- and upper-class families have put aside their education, careers, and physical well-being to enlist in the military, new data from the Department Of Defense shows.

"I don't know if it was the safety and comfort of the holidays or what, but I realized that my affluence and ease of living comes at a cost," said Private Jonathan Grace, 18, who was to commence studies at Dartmouth College next fall, but will instead attend 12 weeks of basic training before being deployed to Fallujah with the 1st Army Battalion. "I just looked at my parents in their cashmere sweaters and thought, 'Who am I to go to an elite liberal arts college and spend all my time reading while, in the real world, thousands of kids my age are sacrificing their lives for our country?' It's not right."

Added Grace: "Whether I agree with the war or not, our president needs us, and I'll be damned if I'm going to let our least advantaged citizens bear the brunt of this awesome burden."

More at the link...

My Christmas card to you...well...sort of. (Make sure your speakers are on and turned up a little...)

Now that the election is behind us, and the Democrats control one or possibly both houses of Congress, there's no reason not to admit it: the Right was right about us all along. Here is our 25-point manifesto for the new Congress:
1. Mandatory homosexuality
2. Drug-filled condoms in schools
3. Introduce the new Destruction of Marriage Act
4. Border fence replaced with free shuttle buses
5. Osama Bin Laden to be Secretary of State
6. Withdraw from Iraq, apologize, reinstate Hussein
7. English language banned from all Federal buildings
8. Math classes replaced by encounter groups
9. All taxes to be tripled
10. All fortunes over $250,000 to be confiscated
11. On-demand welfare
12. Tofurkey to be named official Thanksgiving dish
13. Freeways to be removed, replaced with light rail systems
14. Pledge of Allegiance in schools replaced with morning flag-burning
15. Stem cells allowed to be harvested from any child under the age of 8
16. Comatose people to be ground up and fed to poor
17. Quarterly mandatory abortion lottery
18. God to be mocked roundly
19. Dissolve Executive Branch: reassign responsibilities to UN
20. Jane Fonda to be appointed Secretary of Appeasement
21. Outlaw all firearms: previous owners assigned to anger management therapy
22. Texas returned to Mexico
23. Ban Christmas: replace with Celebrate our Monkey Ancestors Day
24. Carter added to Mount Rushmore
25. Modify USA's motto to "Land of the French and the home of the brave"
Please address comments to rightwasright (at) gmail (dot) com

Link...

I know Ava Lowery from correspondence on another political forum site. After the recent story in the KNS about a party for a 15 year-old here in West Knoxville, I thought it would be nice for Knoxville to get a glimpse of a truly good kid and where her priorities are.

This just irks me to no end. It's as if the MSM thinks we are stupid or too ego-centric to care what is happening outside our own neighborhoods.

At least that's what Newsweek magazine thinks, or so it would appear...

Newsweek cover outside the U.S. (including Europe, Asia, and Latin America)

with accompanying articles here 

Newsweek cover for the U.S. only

And our treat...the article here 

And the MSM wonders why some of us snort with laughter when they talk about their high ideals and integrity of the journalistic process???? 

Are you really sure that the local news you are watching is real news?

uh huh, hmmm...uh...not so fast

Federal authorities are actively investigating dozens of American television stations for broadcasting items produced by the Bush administration and major corporations, and passing them off as normal news. Some of the fake news segments talked up success in the war in Iraq, or promoted the companies' products. [MORE>>]

Don't believe everything you read or watch these days...make sure you check different sources...even ones that have a bias you don't agree with...just to get both sides of the story if you can.