Fear based on looking at the facts and other such programs around the world... fear because people are not learning from the past and dooming us all to reapeat it.

National Health care, like Communisim, looks GREAT on paper... but it does not work in reality. Because, on paper, you don't have the human greed factor in there.

And, could you imagine yourself, you children, your loved ones being forced to get health care under such a system?

That's what it would be like for all of us under a national healthcare system.

We have guys that work for us in that live in Canada...they come here to get any serious health care and pay for it out of pocket. One, waited 3 months for chest x-rays!

That's one of the main reasons I'm against Governement based programs... there is TOO much oversight and not enough action.

Myself, I work with my church to gather food for local food banks run by volenteers. No money ever changes hand, no big wigs drawing a huge paycheck off the tax dollars that are supposed to fund the programs....

Not only that, but many of the people that work with these organizations are small business owners that counsel the people that come in for food, help them get jobs... Yeah, some of them are just manual labor jobs (Construction, custodial, landscaping...) but they are JOBS.

And, many more of the people working with these groups are people that were there to GET food only a few months ago... Now, they have jobs, they are feeding their own family and paying it forward.

No government, no tax dollars and no one personally profiting from it.

Ahh, but how is that the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT's responsibilty?

It is not MANDANTORY for an employer to absorb the increased cost of health insurance.

Not only that, but, if you think it's bad that those costs are getting passed on, do you realize the size of the tax cchunk that will be taken from EVERYONE's paychecks to fund a federal healthcare program?

We need reform in that area, that's for sure. But, requiring employers to foot the bill is not the answer.

Riddle me this - you have to have car insurance to drive your car to work. Should your employer be responsible for covering the costs when it goes up?

I think there needs to be price regulation in the health care industry, but having been dealing with medicare/medicare and the Social Security admin for my ill and retired parents... I FEAR the Government taking over my health care and running it like that!

But, taxing everyone to feed a few is not a solution either, it's a band-aid that has been in place too long.

Creating jobs (Tax breaks to companies) so people can go back to work.

Job training so people can get better jobs.

Taxing and government programs are giving the man the fish so he can eat for the day.

We need to teach these people HOW to catch their own fish so they will never go hungry again and not have to DEPEND on tax dollars.

While the current "Stimulas" plan is not going to do a lot, it's going to do more than TAXING the heck out of us.

What was it Churchhill said about a Nation trying to tax it's way to economic growth/prosperity being like standing in a bucket and trying to pick it up by the handles??? (OK, it's been a while - someone go Google it for me, I'm being lazy )

And, Bush made a good point at the press conference this morning when asked about gas possibly hitting $4 a gallon... he said if you think that's hard for people to afford now, Imagine how hard it will be for people when the tax cuts expire and they are paying not only more for gas, more for groceries but getting less in their paychecks every week.

I don't like sticks... but I don't want MORBIDLY OBESE... and that goes for myself.

See, I've always been a "Big Boy" (225 lbs, 6" when I graduated High School and was not considered "Overweight") - I had coaches begging my parents to let me play football.

My ex, she was a CURVY size 18 and looked really, good.

Now, over the years, after we got married, she started gaining weight. Then, we BOTH got lazy, then I got hit by a truck and we both let ourselves go... last summer, I was 408 lbs, she was 290 lbs (that's a lot for someone only 5'5").

Since she left me, I've found I no longer have the desire to sit around the house, I'm back to how I was before marriage. I like being ACTIVE, and doing things and the weight is falling off. (82 lbs lost since August 2007).

That being said, I have nothing against a BEAUTIFUL woman with curves, or a little extra "Cushin' for Pushin" - I just want to make sure that my next will be ACTIVE with me! Not encourage me to sit around on the couch and watch TV with her all the time.

I'm a big boy, I've still got a ways to go on weight loss myself - and I rule NO ONE out on weight.

I don't have to look it up... I work for the man that coined the term "Socionomics" - and if you know stagflation, you know socionomics.... (www..socionomics.net)

A shmoke und a pancake?
A flapjack und a shigarette?
Shigar und a waffle?
Pipe und a crepe?
Bong und a Blitz?
(Goldmember)

- Actually, I used to have to have my Bacon, Egg & Cheese biscuit from a local little cafe... However, since I've been trying to loose weight since August, I've been geeting the Jimmy Dean D'lite's frozen breafast sandwiches... Not the same, but hey, I've dropped 80 lbs so far...

Maybe in a couple of months I'll be able to get my Bacon, Egg, & Cheese biscuit as a Monday or Friday treat...

Well, it's been 2 months to the day since our divorce was finalized.

I sent my ex-wife a card. Nothing mushy... just a cartoon card with "Woodstock" (From Peanuts) on the front with a paintbrush, and on the inside, it looks like splattered paint with the words "Happy Valentines Day" painted on the wall in different colors.

Just wrote a simple "Thinking of you! -- Robby" on the inside and mailed it.

After 18 years of friendship (11.5 of those married), I felt I should send her something. She had the affair, she left... I just want her to know she still has a friend.

Yes and no - I'm ready to start moving on (Divorce has been finalized for a couple of months)

Yet, she has told me she's unhappy, her new friends have abandoned her...things I told her would happen.

I tried to talk her into a 6 month or 1 year trial speration, but she wouldn't have it. Now, she's wishing she had. See, had she tried to save the marriage, and not given up, I might have taken her back.. but, I warned her, once the Judge signed the documents, that bridge was burned FOREVER.

Wrote this about 2 weeks after she "left"...had She moved back in for a few months, staying in the spare bedroom until her apartment was ready.


-----------------------
Is it my Mind, or my heart that won't let me rest?

I'm sitting here, dead tired, yet I can't go to sleep.
The noises are keeping me awake, yet no one is making a peep.
Questions beget more questions, yet no answers can be found,
No matter how deep, how wide, how far my mind pushes it's bounds.
Who? What? Where? When?
Questions that mean more now than they did then.
Who has she become? This woman I love.
Her spirit has fled, as if on wings of a dove.
What did I do to drive her away?
What could I have done to get her to stay?
Where did our relationship turn to such sour grapes?
When did her heart, for me, fill with such hate?
She's here, but she's gone.
Living in this house, but never home.
I'll love her always, but I can like her no more.
My heart jumps, yet my temper flairs when she walks in the door.
This question I've save for last, as I can think of no more,
What worse pain for me can the future have in store?

R. Roberts – 09/17/2007

---------------------------------------------

Lonely Heart

The room, long and wide is filled with light
Yet, my heart sits in darkness, as if night.
Wounded, hurt, abused, burned,
For a tender touch, it yearns.
Scared of letting someone get close to its home,
Yet, full of fear of being, forever, alone.
Quiet, dark, and cold, No one there, to have and hold.
How it longs to be lovingly held,
To find someone with whom to meld.
Yet, at a distance, everyone it must keep,
For when they get close, they just make it weep.
Where once this heart pumped blood, I fear,
That forever more, it will pump only tears.

R. Roberts – 09/19/2007

Too bad, but if I wanted Loud and Crazy... I could just hang out with my sister and her kids!!

Just looking for a place, not to crazy, not to oud, to hang out, meet people...

Gainesville, Athens, Buford, Cumming.... and points North East of there.

Thanks for the advice and the encouragement.

And no, there is no one "Pressuring" me to date right now. It's just, well, I'm tired of having no one but the Dog and Cat's to talk to on a Saturday night, and there is really no place around Jefferson to hang out... Well, the bar at the BOWLING ALLY!!

That, and eventually, I am going to want to date, hopefully find someone else. And, no, not next week, not next month... maybe not even next year... but sometime.

Be myself? I would not want someone else mad at me for trying to be them!

Seriously, I guess being burned like I was (there is more to the divorce/affiar than there is room to post) - but let's just say my self image is in need of repair...

Its not a total loss, it's in the shop being worked on... Too bad they won't issue you a rental for that!

Well, guys & gals, I’m going to lay it on the line, spill my guts and ask for some HONEST advice….

TRUTH – I’m 33 years old, divorced, never been on a “First Date” – never seriously asked a girl out, never really dated… So, how did I wind up in this situation? I’ve been asking myself that for MONTHS!!

Let me make it as short as possible. Nothing “Sweet” about it, but I can make it short. When I was in high school, my dad had some serious health problems. I had to work to support myself and my parents, and pay my own way to do things, like stay in Scouts, go on trips with my church youth group… I didn’t have time to date.

I had a lot of Girls that were friends (My best friend since 7th grade is a girl/woman), but no girlfriends. Every time I went out, it was with a groups of FRIENDS.

Despite working my @$$ off, I was still able to graduate in the top 10% of my high school class (about 350 in our class) and I got a partial scholarship to the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD). I moved to Savannah, worked 2 even 3 jobs until school started. Three weeks in, my dad’s back went out and he had to have surgery. Not only could my parents not help me out, they needed me back home to help them.

So, I dropped out, gave up my scholarship, came home, and worked 2 jobs to help them until Dad got back on his feet.

How did my Ex-Wife and I meet? She was one of those girls that was a friend in high school. We hung out a lot after I moved home from Savannah, and did stuff with groups of friends. One night (October 10th, 1993), we kissed and that was it. We were a couple. Spring of 1996, we married. August of 2007, she had an affair and walked out of my life!

Now you get the screen name, Lonely, Wounded and the WOLF is because WOLFMAN is my nick name (Mainly because the Wolf is my animal spirit per my Cherokee roots).

I’ve never picked up a woman. Never really even flirted, other than with “Friends” – never been on a real first date…

I’m lost. Where do I start? How do I not look like a fool?

Any advice is needed.

*NARF!!*

Jefferson here... (If you don't know where that is, it's between Gainesville and Athens....)