Blondetwit

Oops.

2010-02-25T13:24:00.000-08:00

Observations:

#2: Republicans *appearing* to worship at the feet of the insurance companies.

#5: Your Father and your Mother need more than just catastrophic medical insurance.

#6: You are killing me, and many others with your LIES. And I don't mean figuratively or rhetorically. I mean LITERALLY KILLING ME.

#7: You are fucking all of us, now and continually. You don't even kiss us first, let alone buy us dinner.

#8: You are stealing millions, even billions of dollars from the American Citizens every day by refusing to take care of this issue.

#9: You lie. See #6. You lie all over the damned place.

Give me time on #10. I'm sure there's something in there too.

We CAN Afford This!

2010-02-25T11:23:00.000-08:00

Read: CAN!

I decided I wasn't going to present figures for this argument. Here's my challenge to you - if you disagree in any way, even the slightest little bit, I'm putting it on YOU to prove me wrong. I invite you to provide documentable evidence to contradict me.

Eric Won'tor said we can't afford this health care proposal currently being discussed in the President's Health Care Summit. That's the same as saying, I can't afford to buy my groceries at Safeway. Well, not with the cash in my right pocket. But if I dig into my left pocket, check book or debit card, the money's clearly there. I don't really agree that the proposal on the table is the right one, but it's what we have to work on at the moment.

I use my state to start with. My state spends five-big (read: $5 billion) annually through our state's department of Labor & Industries, in the payment of medical claims and fraud investigations for injuries claimed by employees to have occurred while working for their paychecks. Time loss payments come from a different fund.

Every state has a similar department, with similar numbers, per capita.

This state generally declines most claims (not all states do, granted), forcing workers to hire a lawyer and defend their claims, costing the state even more. Why does this happen? Because if people get hurt playing around on Sunday and they don't have insurance, they commonly don't have any way to pay for their injuries, so they make it to work on Monday, and, oops! fall at work or some darned thing, just to get it covered. The dance between employee and employer with these claims is extraordinary - it's not good.

There's always the argument that it costs more for the state to fight the fraudulent cases than it does to go ahead and cover them. Tripping over a dollar to save a dime is just stupid.

If these people had some sort of automatic universal coverage, there would be no need whatsoever for the state to pay medical claims or to investigate the fraud. This state, or any other.

Same things goes for Veteran's Administration. The medical care component could be assumed under a national plan. After all, if vets have automatic coverage under a national plan, what's the point of keeping the VA's medical component?

With each state contributing the dollars currently spent, the dollar savings, I would bet, would actually be substantial because you'd be eliminating duplication of services, and there would be no necessity for fraud on the individual claims level.

All the myriad of displaced workers working in 50+ state/federal departments could easily find work in the newly robust health care system.

Please read the book, The Healing of America by T.R. Reid. It does a good job of outlining many international health care systems, public and private and variations of both.

Where am I wrong on this? The gauntlet's on the ground. I challenge you - let's hear it!

Cough! CouBULLSHITgh!

2010-02-16T09:49:00.000-08:00

In the early morning hours, as the radio alarm clock was playing, I heard a comment about how members of Congress are becoming frustrated with a "broken system".

"There are many fine people in Congress." I specifically heard that one. Then this person went on to say, "But the system is broken." Really?

So what? The solution is to, you know, leave? Give up?

Can I? Can I call BULLSHIT now?

A "system" does not live and breathe. An elected member of Congress does. A "system" does not make decisions on how it will work. Members of Congress do. A "system" does not take bribes. Or perks. Congressmen...

Fix it you fools.

Or, is the plan that if you can't beat 'em, join 'em? Yeah, the one where you too become a lobbyist and go forth and rape the constituents without worrying about being voted out of office?

All I can hear is George Carlin saying, it's all "high quality bullshit".

Naw, That's Just Silly

2010-02-11T19:46:00.000-08:00

Maybe I just grew up in a simpler time.

I grew up in L.A. The "Wild West" by all accounts. I remember seeing the smoke from the Watts Riots (the first Watts Riots in '65). I've lived in the Pacific Northwest for the last twenty years, and I've noticed a startling occurrence.

The cops in Portland Oregon shoot a lot of people. I mean, A LOT. According to copwatch.org, there's been more than 50 in just the last 10 years. The most recent shooting of a young, unarmed man distraught over his brother's death, has resulted in turmoil for the city of just over a half a million residents. Maybe it's just me, but that just seems like a lot, even to someone who grew up in L.A.

I sometimes make comments, off the cuff, that are relatively silly. I did so around 2006 after another young man, mentally ill, was shot by a Portland Police Officer.

I said, "geez, you'd think they could, like you know, use a lasso or something on these guys - it could prove a lot less lethal."

Four years later, and I've thought about that comment a number of times. Yes. I grew up writing school reports about Will Rogers, and I regularly visited with my family the ranch and inn owned by Roy Rogers and Dale Evans. Perhaps I was predisposed to the whole cowboy thing.

But seriously, I've seen many a cowboy and charro execute phenomenal lassoing techniques. Beyond the obviously silly, maybe it's true that guns shoot to kill, tazers don't work on the people they're needed most on, and bean bag guns...well, those are just stupid.

The hysterical thought comes in thinking about retraining cops to use a lasso - a skill that takes hours (read: years) to master (which is presumably why it's not used). Just think of all the YouTube vids of all the cops getting caught up in their own ropes!

Then again...maybe there would be just one less dead kid out there on the streets. I mean, do we have to shoot them? Really? If you're a cop, and you're that scared of a frightened kid, you should hang it up.

I actually am a fan of law enforcement - they've saved my bacon a few times over the years, and for all those times, I am incredibly grateful to all of you. For all of you who've managed to find solutions to disastrous situations without killing anyone, I forever thank you.

In case you're interested, here's a video of some trick roping I found. It's kind of interesting, and certainly nostalgic.

Lookin' Like a Fool

2010-01-17T09:20:00.000-08:00

I currently count 131 reasons why I love this.

First, quickly, enjoy the author's original version of this song:

Now, enjoy Jimmy Fallon's version, as it would be sung by Neil Young:

Sean, Rush, Glenn - They're all Progressives!

2009-12-20T15:33:00.000-08:00

Another letter to the editor of my local newspaper this morning, tries to associate Hitler banning Christmas in Germany to people's objections in line with separation of church and state today.

"Hitler and his fanatical followers made an intense effort to abolish the traditional Christmas celebration in Germany. He substituted the winter solstice, and Father Winter as gift distributor as a December holiday. The people rejected the attempt. It did not succeed then, and it won't succeed now."

I laughed. Where do these people get this drivel? I suppose, but I cannot confirm (or at least haven't tried), that someone on right-wing-nut-job radio or TV planted these "facts".

But then, a light bulb went off above my head!

Ohmygosh! This whole Rush Nutjob, Faux Noise, et al...is actually a brilliant Progressive conspiracy!

Oh shit! How freakin' dumb have I been?

It's so simple too.

All of this, based on an argument so old as to have been all but forgotten. The argument used to be made that women, black people, etc. (blond people?), were not smart enough to actually vote in our democracy. As time went on and we all evolved and fought for our rights, women and African Americans did win their right to vote. Much has been said over the years since then, about "they live among us, they breed, and they vote!" Usually these statements are contained within a derogatory email containing a picture of some unfortunate fool or as an advertisement for the website, www.peopleofwalmart.com.

That's what the Progressive elite are doing - without any doubt in my mind now - pointing out that there really are people too stupid to vote!

Yes! I am saying that Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Rupert Murdoch, Roger Ailes...they're all Progressives!

By spoon feeding all the ridiculous drivel, convincing these poor fools of "facts" that are stupendously simple to refute - they are proving the notion that there is an entire subset of the population that are too stupid to vote. This portion of the population are so stupid, uneducated or unsophisticated enough to be dangerous in wielding a precious vote that effects the rest of this nation, and may place its very sovereignty in jeopardy.

I couldn't have considered this a viable explanation, if they had merely stuck to opinions. When all these insidious Progressives work tirelessly to convince their sorry followers of facts that don't exist, well, that's where their ploy is exposed. The brilliance comes in when they choose facts and events that took place when many who were there during the events and experienced them, are still alive to refute their claims based on first hand experience. Even in the issues such as the foundation of this country, these followers make such mistakes regarding significantly documented facts and opinions such as those found within the writings of Thomas Jefferson himself, as well as others.

Indeed, the claims being bandied about today are so absurd as to be ignored by any authoratative historians and biographers. Unfortunately, those very historians and biographers who could and would refute the claims have been all but silenced by the mainstream media, with the excuse that such claims are so ignorant, no one is seriously believing them.

Oh! But they are. So much so, those silly claims are getting such common play that they're on the verge of becoming accepted.

Acceptance. Therein lies the fatal flaw of the Progressive Ploy.

Oops.

T'was the Night Before Christmas

2009-12-14T11:25:00.000-08:00

"Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house,

There were empties and butts, left around by some louse.
And the best quart I'd hid by the chimney with care
Had been swiped by some bum, who'd discovered it there.
My guests all had long since been poured in their beds
To wake in the morning with god-awful heads.
My mouth full of cotton, hung down in my lap
Because I was dying for one more nightcap.
When through the north window there came such a smell
I sprang to my feet to see what the hell...

And what to my wondering eyes should show up
But eight bloated reindeer, hitched to a beer truck.
With a little old driver who looked like a hick
But I saw it was Santa, as tight as a tick.
Staggering onward, those eight reindeer came,
While he hiccoughed and belched as he called them by name;

"On Shenley! On Seagram! We ain't got all night,
You too, Haig and Haig, and you too Black and White"
"Scram up on this roof, get the hell off this wall,
Get going you dummies, we've got a long haul."
So up on the roof went the reindeer and truck
But a tree branch hit Santa before he could duck.

And then, in a twinkling I heard from above
A hell of a noise that was no cooing dove.
So I pulled in my head and cocked a sharp ear,
Down the chimney he plunged, landing smack on his rear.
He was dressed up in furs, no cuffs on his pants
And the way the guy squirmed, well I guess he had ants.

He had pints and quarts in the sack on his back
And a breath that'd blow a freight train right off the track.
He was chubby and plump and he tried to stand right
Be he didn't fool me, he was high as a kite.
He spoke not a word, but went straight to work
And missed half the stockings, the plastered old jerk.

Then putting five fingers to the end of his nose,
He gave me the bird...up the chimney he rose.
He sprang for his truck at so hasty a pace
That he tripped on a gable and slid on his face.
But I heard him burp back when he passed out of sight,
"Merry Christmas , you rum-dums, now really get tight!"

This I found in my father's papers. This item is undated, but appears to have been written by him in the late '50's or early '60's. Pops and his bunch were hip, cool and definitely the party crowd. I would guess this was actually a collaboration of a few of them.

EMERGENCY CIRCUMSTANCES: Low Humidity & Your Pets

2009-12-10T15:05:00.000-08:00

A local vet clinic here has seen a dramatic uptick in the number of cases of cats with urinary and kidney problems since Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2009, some requiring surgery. They hadn't seen any cases in 8 months, then suddenly, over the last 3 days, there's apparently been nearly a dozen, one of them being one of our cats, Arlo!

In bringing Arlo home to recuperate last night, getting him to drink is not much problem, but urinating is another thing. You can't pee if you don't have enough to go through your kidneys in the first place.

Where's it all going?

We realized that this problem may correlate to excessive low humidity due to the recent extreme cold temperatures, and dry beautiful skies as we have here. The humidity in my home is 30%, and that's with humidification techniques, best as we can manage. It's just 32% r/h outside right now as well. Everything is still frozen. Even if I boil hot water, it won't vaporize and disperse, it just evaporates, so a humidifier won't work any better for now.

The best way to keep yourselves and your pets hydrated is to simply drink more water. Unfortunately, that's not so easy to get your pets to do. Here's the recommendations from the vet:

Place multiple bowls of fresh water around the house, and keep changing them out a couple of times per day. You'll be surprised at how they'll drink from a new bowl more readily than the same old bowl they usually drink from!

Put the stoppers in your bathtubs and sinks, and fill sinks and tubs with a little water for evaporation. If you can place a tray of water in the sun, or in front of a fan, this will create some evaporation. Evaporation is based on the surface area of the water, so more surface area, more opportunity for evaporation.

Use a syringe if you have one, to gently force a little water into your pets, every hour or so until this weather breaks.

As for Arlo, when I did the syringe, I thought he'd have a cow. He wanted more, and quite happily took three more syringe-fulls right away. The other cats were just as cooperative, once they realized it was just water. And Charley the Wonder Dog too.

Good luck - I know many of you all over the country are dealing with similar weather conditions, I doubt many of us realized that this could be a problem for our pets in this manner.

If you have any questions, leave a comment, I'll try to help in any way I can!

Update on Here We Go Again, posted Nov. 5

2009-11-28T19:18:00.000-08:00

To those that have asked about the status of the 22 year-old who's wife had to have their pre-mature baby daughter delivered early when Mom ran into health problems:

Mom and Baby Daughter are doing remarkably well, thank you for all the good thoughts and prayers! In fact, they are due home very soon, in time for the Holidays.

As I indicated in the original story (you can read that here), Young Father hasn't worked for his company long enough to be covered by their group insurance, nor had he amassed enough vacation or sick time to cover his time loss.

Certainly, it's hard enough what the family was going through, but to have short or no paychecks was simply kicking a guy when he was down.

Thankfully - and this is HUGE - this company has a policy where employees can donate their unused sick time to a general fund for such. Many companies have policies where employees can donate their time directly, as does this company.

So, Young Father is being covered for his time off to be with Mom and Baby Daughter by donation of unused sick time from co-workers directly, as well as from their corporate general fund for sick time.

For everything out there that's negative, there still remains those ever lovely silver linings.

Making 5 Year-Olds Look Bad

2009-11-28T16:49:00.000-08:00

"Waaaaaaaahhhh!" says the five year-old, while kicking and screaming in a classic juvenile temper-tantrum.

Lately, we have to suffer this:

Then there's the increasingly popular Murder-Suicide, where, usually, some dufus decides "If I can't have my wife/girlfriend/children, no one can!"

Each situation bears striking resemblance to the others.

All are done by some poor fool that finally recognizes he's lost his battle, and he lacks the skills to reason the situation to an acceptable conclusion for all parties.

In the Murder-Suicide, it's clear they get the order incorrect. Suicide first, please!

Five year-olds will grow up and learn coping skills and cease temper tantrums as a technique for getting their way.

Conservatives, apparently, not so much.

h/t my Twitter friend, @StopBeck for his insightful tweet!

A Half-Hour Before Sex

2009-11-26T20:25:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving at the Norse Hall. I am Norwegian. No one else in attendance was. They were all Finnish or Swedish, and mostly both.

I was asked what time it was, and I looked up at the clock and noticed the time, marked in Norwegian.

It was half an hour before Seks. And that's what I said.

It upset a couple of people.

I was only trying to be accurate. Really.

Barbarians in the Palace

2009-11-19T21:43:00.000-08:00

And educated people used to believe that the earth was flat and later that a lobotomy would cure mental illness.

History will understand these people for the barbarians they are. I just wish they wouldn't bank on people not figuring them out sooner. MOST of us already have.

Thank you to my Twitter friend, Guillaume, screen name Seriou, a tireless advocate of Progressive Values and formidable #tcot thorn. I am proud to call you my friend.

Scratch that! Open Letter to EVERYONE

2009-11-19T12:58:00.000-08:00

This started out as an open letter to Senator Orrin Hatch. Then the choirs began chiming in this morning.

To declare that a "Holy War" will be waged over the proposed Quality, Affordable Health Care for All Americans, HR 3590 - the Senate Democratic proposal for Health Care Reform - is the most irresponsible, disrespectful, disastrous and despicable thing I think I've ever heard - especially coming from a heretofore respected member of the United States Senate.

I've always respected, and at times wandered or even ran into the melee, over religious "rights". I've worked with Evangelicals and Mormons over the years, with a great degree of success in the end.

Years ago, when embarking on what turned out to be a very successful community project, we were faced with working with the local stake of the Mormon Church. Mr. Blondetwit wasn't at all comfortable with this to begin with, and was beginning to panic.

I commented to him, "What the hell's your problem? You sound like a straight man being pushed into a gay bar!"

Mr. Blondetwit responded, "What if they try and convert us?"

Gee dear, "Just how convertible are you?" The exchange changed his perspective permanently.

People that know who and what they are and believe can't be converted. It's pretty simple. Or so I thought.

I never worried much about it. I have a significant biblical education. I've also studied - at great length - the Koran, The Book of Mormon and the Pearl of Great Price, the Kaballah, and a few other things. I prefer Winnie the Pooh. I'm only partially kidding.

For every person who's ever tried to convert me, and there's been many, it took no time to determine that their understanding of what they were proseletyzing was inferior to my own understanding. When you don't understand it, you look the fool - not just zealous.

I used to be "there" once. That's how I got started learning everything else. A teenage journey gone awry you might call it. I wanted to be able to argue my "beliefs" to anyone who came my way and would challenge me. And I couldn't! I mean, I couldn't even fake it! No matter how I tried to support it, I could not.

All of this is so similar to people who send out the endless email hoaxes...they think they know, it seems to make sense, and someone they got it from said they "checked Snopes, and it's TRUE". Well, no, it's not.

There's a problem that arises when you can't any longer support your argument. You must build a fortress to protect it. A way to keep out dissent. A community to support your common beliefs, no matter how flawed. And the longer it goes on, the deeper the protection must get. The harsher the rhetoric to drown out the dissent. Any dissenters from within are handled within, until they're expelled, and then they're discredited to the outside. For everyone thrown out, more are taken in. It's a net gain.

Why anyone would want to possess a and espouse a philosophy so flawed, I don't quite understand. But then again, Mr. Blondetwit has a worn out old Seattle Mariners t-shirt he won't let go of either. I've never thought it was harmful to me, so I never made a move to eliminate it. Same with people and their religions. Not any more.

Some call me an atheist. I don't. I don't have any need to be called anything at all. I have a quiet understanding of my place in the Universe. You call that "faith". Only I don't have white knuckles to go along with my faith. I've never had the need to defend my lack of "faith". I still don't now, because the laws of this land - currently - protect me from having to defend it.

But you people have crossed the outrage line.

As a person OF religion, you have NEVER been persecuted in this country - it's a primary factor this country is all about. Freedom OF RELIGION guarantees your freedom from persecution.

So, what have you done with that freedom? You've sought to eliminate my freedoms and the freedoms of others in the name of your religions. In regards to health care, you've managed to make health care into a system that is no longer accessible by me. It didn't use to be that way. I used to go to the doctor and pay the bill on my way out the door. In thousands of communities around this country, many don't realize that there are no physicians that are not captive in HMO or like entities. If you don't belong, you can't access. And they do not accept people with pre-existing conditions. For all the people who are struggling with chronic diseases like Lupus, MS, etc., we didn't bring these things on ourselves.

I won't even discuss all the other things you fight in the name of your religions. Perhaps you should sit back, not talk and listen to your friends, but perhaps to your God. You've drowned out the very guidance of your God with the venomous vitriol played on your radios and televisions.

Up to this point, I've been happy to defend your religious views, but now you're dragging me into your religious actions. And I'm not allowing you to do that any more.

From here on, I will require of you my religious friend, to know your leadership resume. The one that chronicles your leadership within your actions. If you're Christian, I want to know what you've done to speak out about those who murder. Those who choose to rape this earth God gave us. And if you're my Muslim friend, I want to know where you've spoken out in leadership against terrorists and the beliefs that lead them to find death more precious than life. You know who you are.

Senator Hatch and all other elected leaders: LEAD! Not by threatening Holy War. If you don't prevail in this health care debate, so what? You've lost other battles, many more disastrous than this could possibly be. But the rest of us are counting on you to do the right thing - and that doesn't involve Holy War. If you're threatening it, it could only be for one reason - you are on the losing end of this, your argument has run out and is in threat of collapse.

You have just tipped the final card that tells the rest of us your intentions. I won't turn my head any more and pass you people off as well-meaning but mis-guided.

You want a Holy War? You're on.

Like a child, throwing a temper tantrum on their bedroom floor, surrounded by the toys they won't pick up - be prepared to lose your toys Bubba. You wrote this script. And you're giving 5 year old's a bad name.

Satanists in the Neighborhood

2009-11-17T12:24:00.000-08:00

They come from near and far. They point. They talk about "those people". "How can they flaunt that right in our faces?" they say.

Oh, it's soooo in their faces too - more so than Macy's Christmas Window.

Stay with this story, as it really illustrates something quite important.

Every year on Thanksgiving, we give thanks for the opportunity to get people all worked up for yet another season of merriment - ours.

It all started about eight or nine years ago, when we decided to do something I'd always wanted to do, but never really had an opportunity, since it takes certain circumstances to pull off. I really wanted to do it because (duh!) we have cats. At that time we had - Norman, The King of the Christmas Tree. He took enormous joy in climbing the trunk and popping out near the top, to my continuous chagrin. I just wanted to best Ol' Norm. That's all -really. At least that's how it started.

The ceiling in our living room peaks at about 12', and with about 30' of windows across the front wall where the peak is, that's a lot of windows. These windows open onto a wide open neighborhood, where we are very visible at night time and have always provided for a beautiful display at Christmastime for the neighborhood.

The beam at the peak of the ceiling provided our opportunity. We concocted an aparatus with chains by which we could hang the Christmas Tree, rather than sitting it on the floor. Upside down.

Because, like, why not?

Here's how it happened: We got the tree up (7.5'), fully lighted, and proceeded to decorate it. The decorations hung out from the tree like dangly earrings. How cool! Every year the decorating has grown - more dangly and interesting ornaments, and, as planned, less cat interference. Another really neat benefit was that it took up NO floor space, giving us a lot more room for the entertaining we like to do.

Well, with the exception of Abby (story here). Abby uses the Christmas tree like Tarzan's jungle vine. But that's another story. Initially Norman (who died at 13 a couple of years after the first upside down tree) was indeed bested by this hanging Christmas Tree. I definitely won that round of the cat wars - and he seemed to enjoy that I had. There are ornaments on the tree that look like him, so we call it Norman's tree.

This gets better, truly.

Here's what's transpired as a result: Some neighbors up the street interpreted this upside down Christmas Tree as a clear sign that we are Satanists. As all rumors do, this spread.

Really.

And people have come as word has spread. It's really beautiful from inside and outside, and it's been amazing to us when we've made the comment of our upside down tree, people remark, "Oh! You're the one's with the Satan Tree?" This has made it back to us numerous times over the years.

Did you know Satan had a tree? I didn't either. If people are really that stupid, we are overjoyed to provide them the fodder for their ignorant selves.

Merry Christmas. Merry Xmas. Happy Hannukah. Happy Kwanza. Happy Solstice. Happy Retailers Bonuses. Happy Cats. All of it.

But be careful! Rumor has it, we MUST be Satanists.

The really frightening part of this story is that it's totally indicative of today's political and social rhetoric - "Facts" based on simple, uneducated assumptions.

X's and O's!!! and How to Deal with Sick People

2009-11-09T10:40:00.000-08:00

A really special friend, known as GottaLaff on Twitter, reminds me today that it's good to let people know how much they mean to you.

I logged on to Twitter this morning, and, better than fishing at a fishing hole teaming with great fish, GottaLaff popped up with a message right away to me:

I've been struggling with a lupus flare for months now, and I've not been on Twitter as much as I would have liked, and frankly, I miss some of my friends in Twitterville, like Laffy.

After a brief exchange, I told her that she gave me hope. I didn't mean it as though, "all hope is lost" and "I'm so depressed", but just a simple point of wow! Someone out there cares! It's not like I'm this lonely waif with no hope, honestly!

Look at her post - look at the x's and o's - look at all those exclamation points!!! How could I not feel better with all that?

Here's what it's about, plain and simple. For all the stupid stuff I'm dealing with (lupus just cycles through, much like a really long rollercoaster with twists and turns, drops and climbs), there is but ONE thing that helps. Just one thing.

Make me smile.

Mr. Blondetwit gets it, and doesn't really ask "How are you doing?". My mother hovers, which is really difficult.

Which reminds me to tell you, for everyone asking "How are you doing?", the inquiry is appreciated, as it's honestly nice to know you care, but it's hard to tell the truth, because when your crappy, I don't like to give it the light of day by voicing it directly. I've learned that it's better to say, "I hope you're feeling better!" I hate being disingenuous by saying, "I'm fine". when clearly I'm not. I don't lie, so my point is don't take me there. Lying is the same as giving it voice in the first place. No one likes to hear someone's crappy - it brings down their day as well.

When you're face to face with someone struggling with disease, whatever it may be, find something to compliment, even if it's only "It's good to see you smile!" And you may want to start out by helping to make them smile in the first place. When you're not face to face and can't see if they're smiling, just tell them you hope they're making progress. It's that simple. Wish us peace. It's always in short supply.

Whatever you do, keep up the x's, o's and those blessed exclamation points! They're awesome!!!!

XOXOXOXO!!!!!

See, you smiled! You had to!

You're all very appreciated, by the way!!!! (Especially GottaLaff!)

By the way, Mr. Blondetwit, may not ask how I'm doing, but he is the King of Cheap Laughs, and that's the finest, most valuable medicine in all the world. I'm flush with that!

For the rest of you who aren't named here as being appreciated - you know who you are - YOU ARE APPRECIATED TOO! Really! It would just get a little, well, you know - maudlin - if I started naming you all here. Thanks!

Here We Go Again

2009-11-05T21:14:00.000-08:00

It doesn't matter where you go or what you do, you can't help but run into all the folks rolling under the bus tires of this debate called Health Care Reform.

A young man, 22, married with a small daughter. This young man, he's a wonderful worker, and a great father I understand. Unfortunately, his pregnant wife was having problems with the latest pregnancy, and the docs had to take the baby early. The baby is about a pound and is not doing well. Neither is Momma.

Mother and baby are out of state at a teaching hospital and medical center for acute care.

While Congresspeople are dilly-dallying around, making inappropriate jokes and references to the Holocaust as they feel it pertains to the current debate, this young family is struggling.

Dad hasn't been employed long enough to have his health benefits yet. This isn't the employer's decision, it's the insurer's decision.

Gee, I wonder what it's going to cost this young family - if Mom and baby survive. And what if they don't?

Are any of those people on Capitol Hill going to come help them?

Amen!

2009-10-28T15:57:00.000-07:00

Most of us are in a position to have to bow to the pressures of people who are responsible for our income, and heaven knows we have others depending on us. Sometimes, all of a sudden we find ourselves doing things that are, well, less than sincere. Or maybe more sincere than we'd originally thought.

One meeting with clients, My dear friend, Missy (short for Ms. Youbetcha) was expecting a nice couple, who she knew were particularly religious, and inclined to pray prior to concluding a business transaction. Not that Missy isn't inclined to pray. I know her pretty well, and I know she prays a lot. Some call it pleading. But I digress...

Last minute before her clients arrived, Missy thought twice about the wine and champagne bottles that regularly stood on the credenza, perhaps these folks wouldn't approve. So she swept them off the credenza and into safekeeping in a nearby cupboard.

Missy was aware that her move to eliminate the wine bottles from her office was a good idea, according to where the conversation had taken them at one point. At the conclusion of the meeting, the couple asked her to join them in prayer, silently. Upon conclusion and the appropriate "amens", the clients asked Missy what she prayed for.

Funny. I don't remember what she told me she actually told them. What I remember is what she told me was going through her head, "THANK YOU God for giving me the foresight to get the wine bottles the hell outta here!"

I hope it wasn't one of those moments, you know the kind, where you find yourself saying under your breath, "did I just say that outloud?"

Exactly the Same, Only Totally Different

2009-10-22T16:43:00.000-07:00

Charged with the challenge of devising a way to keep Mr. Blondetwit's cellphone holster attached to his belt, I went to a local fabric/crafts store today for materials, and of course, inspiration.

See here for the backstory, as to why Mr. Blondetwit was needing such a device: A Good Turn

As I was perusing the elastic, velcro and other assorted notions trying to develop an acceptable solution, another lady had arrived in the same aisle, and as I moved to allow her better access, I realized it was someone I knew, but hadn't seen in a long while. She's a senior member of the local police department.

After saying hello, she asked me what I was working on, so I shared with her Mr. Blondetwit's problem. She then decided to confide in me that she was there for exactly the same project.

Only slightly different.

She was trying to figure a fix for a police officer who's gun keeps falling out of the holster.

Seems our local cop shop hasn't changed much. Sheriff Taylor used to make Barney keep his bullet in his pocket. If that were still the case, this wouldn't be a problem.

Eleven Years & Counting...

2009-10-19T15:52:00.000-07:00

These two ramshackle old men are Dale and Keith. (ah yes. I can say these things. Let them get their own blogs and they can trash me. Don't hold your breath) Blondetwit has been married to Keith (the tall one) for eleven years today. And Keith has been married to Dale for fifty-five years. Since they were five, and Dale threatened to blow up Keith's house because Momma said Dale needed to get his "horse's ass" outta there. Apparently, Keith is drawn to horse's asses. Funny, I've never been entirely sure what that says about me...

When Keith and I got married eleven years ago, in Carson City, Nevada, Dale and his wonderful wife Jean accompanied us as our Best Man and Matron of Honor. Every anniversary since, we've enjoyed a weekend at the beach with them....who needs a trip to (insert exotic location here)?

Keith and Dale have a unique relationship. Bromance, I think is the technical term. Their lives, in interesting ways, have been exactly the same, only really, really different.

The bro's grew up in a little itty bitty burg (by big city standards). One went left and one went right, so to speak. Literally, Dale moved west to the beach, Keith went east - thirty or so minutes in either direction. Keith's a democrat; Dale's a Republican. There are more parallels, you just wouldn't care.

Interestingly, Keith ended up as Mayor of his City. Then, not to be outdone, Dale decided to be Mayor of his City. And that's when the fun began. Both boys have managed to leave really nice legacies in both the cities, and proved to themselves what can be done, regardless of who you think you are.

No matter how nice the weather, there's a dark cloud over all our heads right now. Jean - Dale's wife - our friend, died last month, suddenly.

Hers is a big loss...so this is a kind of bittersweet anniversary this year.

We miss you Jean. Friends like you don't come 'round every day. If ever.

Jean Jacobson & Reese her Wonderdog

I Just Love the Blogosphere!

2009-10-08T20:03:00.000-07:00

...Because you find people doing this:

Ranting Liberally: Stepping on my last nerve

Watch out for the last part. You'll wanna duck as he gets ramped up and starts swingin'.

Not With My Tax Dollars You Don't!

2009-10-07T18:55:00.000-07:00

My Dad made a comment about this some twenty-five years ago. I just blew him off at the time. Interesting to think about this, especially now.

His comment was regarding tax code reform. The talk of the day then was a flat tax. Yep, that was a successful idea. The interesting part was when Pops said, "The tax forms should list what you're willing to have your tax dollars pay for."

No, it wouldn't actually work, oh, for about 13,283 reasons, but the exercise is worth it, nonetheless.

Here's some ideas:

I want my tax dollars to pay for...

1. The war in (insert location here).                                _____%

2. Nationalized Health Care                   _____%

3. Primary Education                          _____%

4. Secondary Education                                                     _____%

5. Post Secondary Education                                       _____%

6. Republican Senator's Mistresses                                _____%

7. Subsidizing Tobacco                                                    _____%

8. Subsidizing Non-producing farms                                   _____%

9. Building a fence on the south side or Aridzona    _____%

10. Shoring up Social Security                                        _____%

11. Stem Cell Research                    _____%

12. Junkets                                      _____%

13. Studies on how much cows fart                            _____%

14. Infrastructure for green transportation                    _____%

15. Job development                                                     _____%

16. Bailing out Wall Street                                         _____%

17. Rebuild regulatory structure of financial markets   _____%

18. Buying out mortgages from predatory lenders       _____%

19. Paying for spay/neuters of domestic pets              _____%

20. Paying for RWNJ lobotomies                                    _____%

21. Subsidize mega churches for political lobbying efforts _____%

Sorry, I should have stopped sooner, but, well, it was just kinda flowing. Stupid and otherwise.

The point it, consider the way you would fill this out. Ask others.

Where do you think the chips would fall?

Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds

2009-09-28T11:31:00.000-07:00

I just read that Lucy Vodden has died. She was 46. She was ill with lupus for many years, and succumbed to it's ravages.

Lucy was the inspiration for John Lennon's classic song, Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. Read about that here.

I am 46. Gulp.

I have lupus. I don't even like to capitalize the name of it, because I don't want to give it the respect it thinks it wants. I also refuse to call it by its common, more proper name, SLE (systemic lupus erythematosus), for similar reasons. I prefer not to give it a voice at all. That said, there comes a sort of tipping-point when it's necessary to exercise the notion that "to define is to limit", and that's where I'm at right now. But I won't give it more than I have to, just to get the upper hand.

I've been struggling with the worst lupus "flare" I've dealt with in about fifteen years, since the first part of April of this year. Meh.

Catch up here for what I've been through in the past - which, by the way, is totally common to anyone with lupus.

Lately, it's like a hellish game of whack-a-mole. For myself, I can out-stand any pain you think you've endured. There are lots of things I just can't do, right now. Physical endurance has to overcome pain, and, well, there's limits to that. That doesn't mean I won't get back to it, when it stops. And it will stop...eventually. Eventually could come tomorrow. I thought it arrived last Saturday, but alas...oh never mind.

Struggling to wrangle it under control is like keeping a beach ball submerged in a pool. It's really exhausting.

My grandmother had lupus and she also lived into her 80's. For Gram, I will endure, and sometimes wish others would have more appreciation for those who've come before us - those who've lived long, and those who haven't. Not all of us will endure to see old age. Lucy didn't, and for that I'm sad.

Lucy had Britain's National Health Service. At least one worry she didn't have: If there were complications, which I have experienced in the past, she had the ability to be taken care of.

I don't. And that should make us all sad.

Or, mad. As hell.

I and others work so hard to fight to be well, and there are scores of people who simply fight to put off health care for us and others. Since we make such efforts to survive lupus (and every other "chronic disease"), why in hell can't our legislators suck it up and get us some damned health care? I'm not sick because of a lack of health care, but I have no where to turn if I experience complications.

Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds will live forever. The pain won't. And neither will the legislators who can't seem to do the right thing. Or those supporting them.

Rest in Peace Lucy. You look beautiful in the Sky with Diamonds.

How One Little Kitty Will Save the World...Or Break It

2009-09-09T12:37:00.000-07:00

I'm often asked what inspires me, so here's the explanation:

Blondetwit. Yeah, well, that's me...sort of...and kinda not. Got that?

The picture you see as Blondetwit is actually Abby. She's a pistol. She's just a year old, and is one half of the pair that's turned this house upside down.

Abby is not only attitude, or "cattitude" as we call it in these parts, but she came equipped with extra devices for which to execute her endeavors. She has 6 toes on each foot. As did Hemingway's cats, but Abby has additional phalanges (bones) on each toe, meaning she also has extra joints...giving her opposable thumbs, and actual fingers, rather than the usual kitty paws. Who needs claws when you have HANDS?

Now, add hands to the cattitude, and you have an entirely new species!

Ab's, as we call her, keeps at whatever she's doing until she conquers it. Then it's done - over - no longer on her mind. And I like that.

Even if it means there's a box in my office labeled, "Broken Shit". Everything in there had made the mistake of being in her way. I'll fix 'em in a couple of years...then they'll seem all new again to me.

(hear a kitty-snort now)

Somewhere along the line, I realized that Abby was really my alter-ego. Remember that old television show, Greatest American Hero? Where Ralph finds the super-hero suit in the desert, but loses the instruction manual for operating it? The running gag was Ralph learning to use the suit (magic jammies) by trial and error, where he'd fly upside down, run splat! into buildings, etc. If you never saw the show, go find it on the internet...it was fun.

Abby is Ralph. And I am Abby. So that means I have "Magic Jammies" somewhere, right?

Yeah, I'll go with that. Magic Jammies good.

Understanding: Health Insurance IS NOT Health Care

2009-09-07T18:52:00.000-07:00

Virtually all problems are the result of poor communication. Whether intentional or unintentional.

Today, we have virtually violent clashes in society. Much of it the result of intentional mis-communication, some of it the result of misplaced trust of poor sources. Some of it simply because the person receiving the information has little capacity to really understand - that's not their shortcoming, but the shortcoming of the rest of us, and clear evidence in many cases of a source seeking to take convenient advantage of the recipient, usually for the source's gain.

Much mis-communication comes from our lack of paying attention to how what we say is actually heard.

Earlier today I had a disgusting and frustrating series of debates with people who are absolutely convinced it's appropriate to compare apples to oranges and arrive at avocados as the end result of the equation. I suppose with the information we provide, that may be the appropriate conclusion.

My bad.

For thirty years I've encouraged others to clearly communicate. So that's what I want to do, right here, right now.

Consider this as your definitive argument regarding health care, health insurance and health insurance reform:

Health Insurance is NOT health care. Health insurance at its core, relies on risk versus reward, which equates to one thing: profit on human suffering.

It was forcefully posed to me that I must also be against car insurance, fire insurance and life insurance. Those who know me would absolutely laugh at this. I come from a long line of life insurance agents, and was one myself. I consider it one of the most important purchases for any family, or any business. Everyone WILL die. Life Insurance allows survivors to carry on without financial tragedy, etc. Car insurance is based upon any individual's ability to maintain their PRIVILEGE to drive a car. Some fail that test, and there are always alternatives to driving, and not having coverage or not being able to drive does not create a moral dilemma. Fire insurance for your home or business, same thing basically as car insurance. No one lives or dies based on an insurance company's decision to cover or not to cover.

Health Insurance, by it's very nature, the same as car insurance or fire insurance, can exist based only upon a healthy and robust business model that can attract investors, or others to be mutually insured (as in mutual insurers, not stock insurers).

By the very nature of the business model, someone, somewhere, will make a decision about a human life. Actually, about millions of human lives.

An insurer will make the decision as to who lives and who dies. That decision is for God, the Universe, or how or whatever you believe - not a pencil pusher in a cubicle.

We must permanently unlink "Health Care" and "Insurance". The two cannot co-exist in a moral model.

To accept otherwise, is simply immoral. I'm sorry if you believe otherwise, because I've just called you immoral. I don't do those things often, in fact I usually refrain from such declarations. It doesn't make you bad, just wrong, and not "there" yet. That's okay, but you need to hurry up.

I'm not certain that what's on the table now is "right". It's probably not - but it's what we've got right now, and we simply MUST move forward and correct the single most immoral issue we could possible deal with as humans.

Health Insurance is NOT Health Care. It is profit taking based on who lives and who dies. That, my friends, is immoral.

There is no other argument here. And your failure to understand that argument is now in your hands. No longer my bad.

Divided & Conquered

2009-09-03T18:54:00.001-07:00

I know this sadly dysfunctional family, long ago broken apart by divorce, precipitated by progressive and unchecked mental illness.

As the three children were growing up, things didn't seem so bad as much as just not "normal". At first, Mom just seemed agitated, and Dad didn't see too much to be alarmed by. All of these things were well hidden. Dad, grandparents, neighbors, friends - none of them could quite see the forest for the trees.

As the years went on, Mom effectively undermined the relationships between each of the kids and between the kids and their Dad. Mom even made sure that it was drilled into the kids that there was no one whom they could ever trust, but her. Mom did this by terrifying the kids in various ways, starting when they were all very young. She divided and conquered. She owned them.

As the two oldest children were now adults, and the youngest still a teenager, Mom had arranged to have all three of the children in the car on the freeway, late at night. It was a simple trip home from a family wedding party.

By now, Mom's mental health had deteriorated to a disastrous point. When one of the older children asked Mom a question, Mom deemed it a challenge and snapped.

Mom put her foot on the accelerator, and began driving all over the freeway - in traffic. All three of the children were scared to death, and the oldest son tried to wrestle control of the car from her from the passenger seat, while they were traveling in excess of 80 to 90 miles per hour. The teenager in the back seat just checked out mentally - he shut down.

Want to know what happened? Everyone is still alive. But they're not without grave scars from this ordeal and others. The children don't even have much to do with each other.

This story is just like what's happening today in our country. Our "mother", our government, our public servants, have gone nuts. They're utterly dysfunctional, and as leaders, they've sought to separate us from each other, and they've been totally successful. The republicans are demonstrating no leadership for their adherents, and the democrats aren't demonstrating any leadership to get things done.

Even if the car doesn't crash, the carnage is already apparent. And it will effect everything we do and everything we are from this point forward.