Lizzie's Blog

HEY! WATCH ME PULL A RABBIT OUT OF MY HAT!

2010-03-03T12:03:00.000-08:00

WHERE, oh where does the Republican Party get its information?

Listening to Senator Barasso of Wyoming (If I misspelled the name, I do not care any longer, as he deserves 0 respect and consideration from any living breathing human being.) blither on while Andrea Mitchell interviewed him, I was reminded of the old ads that stated “9 out of 10 doctors recommend…”. Oh, really? Which doctors? Can you name me some names, please?

This man has the audacity, as does every member of his party, to state unequivocally, “1 in 4 people do not want health care reform. The American Public does not want this!”

Well, Senator Liar, if that is even remotely true, it is because you and your lying, self-serving colleagues have brainwashed the average person (who has an IQ of 100, let’s not forget) into believing that there our president is an illegal alien (Gee, how did he even get to the Senate?), and that health care reform as presented by the Dems, allows for death panels, and federally-funded abortions.

Well, I hate to be the one who just popped all the balloons at your miserable party, but none of this is true. We should all be done with the “death-panel “thing by now. And there is no provision for federally-funded abortions. It does not appear in the bill anywhere. It is not there.

The delusional senator (And I’m being charitable here: I don’t think for one minute that he’s actually delusional. I believe he is a flat-out liar) goes on to state that “We need to make sure people are taking better care of their health. We need to make sure that they are taking steps to stay healthy.”

If I had been within six feet of this man, I would be writing this from jail.

I just got off the phone with my dearest and oldest friend, a woman I have known since we were 8 years old. A woman who is as close to me as my own sister, if not closer. She has had a double-mastectomy, and just had radioactive beads inserted into her liver. It seems that the cancer actually may have started there, and metastasized to her breasts. They are not sure where else it may be. Her hair is ½” long, and she is terribly thin now. I kept her on the phone as long as I could, reminding her of goofy things we have done in the past, making her laugh, doing what little I could to help her outlook.

I am also out of remission from the sarcoidosis. I can not walk around the house with the hand-held phone and talk without gasping for air. I can not walk a city block unless I am going very slowly. There are so many other signs and challenges that I don’t have room to name them all.

How were the two of us ever supposed to “prevent” these occurrences? In what way are my friend and myself, my sister (who also has cancer), my cousin (suffering from MS) even remotely responsible for these diseases? There is NOTHING that any of us could have done to keep these things from happening. To suggest otherwise is to kick a person while she is down.

I cannot have an MRI or a CATSCAN. I have no insurance. Even if I get insurance, none of my care will be covered as this is the infamous “pre-existing condition.”

My friend is having a difficult time getting Blue Cross/Blue Shield to cover her PETSCAN. They told her that she “just had one 7 months ago.”

Well, knock me over with a feather.

I do not care if she had one 7 seconds ago. The woman has cancer. Cancer which is spreading, or has spread from somewhere they have yet to pinpoint.

And this man has the cajones to say what he did. On national television no less.

Then we move on to the idiot from Kentucky who was going to block an extension on unemployment.

He believes that unemployment is a “dis-incentive” to find work. As if anyone can live large, or even just maintain the status quo, on approximately $12,000.00 a year. People whose unemployment benefits were about to run out, and who had still not found work, would have been without so much as the $240.00 or so check a week.

WHERE do these people get their “facts”?

See, the thing is, our president said, “You are entitled to your opinion; you are not entitled to make up your own facts”.

While the Republican Party is busy making up the truth as they go along, and confusing the public with their slight of hand, the public is missing the real truth: the Republican Party does not care about the average person. The Republican Party wants to protect their status at any cost as long as that cost is to the people and not to themselves. They do not care about you. They will never care about you. If you believe them, you are beyond the valley of the naïve. They do not want health-care reform because it affects their pocketbooks directly in as much as they will now not be on the take from the insurance companies. The insurance companies will no longer have the power to decide who gets care and how much. A situation like my friend is experiencing and which, trust and believe, you will eventually experience, will not be allowed to happen.

So ask yourself this question: why would the Republicans lie to everyone?

Then think about it a little longer.

WTF2

2010-01-04T15:10:00.000-08:00

Oh, my. The other day - I believe it was New Year’s Eve – One of the bigger morons in our society, Rush Limbaugh, was admitted to a hospital in Hawaii. Seems the corpulent one was suffering from “chest pains”. This can be a frightening experience for the person being admitted as well as his or her family. I know: all three of my brothers have had heart problems, some requiring operations. It is upsetting, at best. Then there is the recuperation period, and of course, all the expenses involved in the entire process, from emergency room to physical therapy. So, putting aside my feelings for this putrid excuse for a reporter (or whatever he imagines himself to be), I said a prayer for someone I find so repugnant that the mere mention of his name can wreck my day.

Turns out, it was a false alarm. So, doing what he does best – grandstanding - Mr. Limbaugh held a press conference on New Year’s Day.

And why? Because he wanted to let everyone know that there is nothing wrong with the American Health Care System.

WTF???????????

He let us all know that the care he received was no different than the care anyone else would have received, from the 911 call on down. That he was treated very well, indeed. He received very very good care, conscientious care. The system works just fine, according to him.

I reiterate: WTF?????

Oh, Rush, Rush, Rush. Let’s review: you make millions of dollars every year. You do not have one single solitary concern about having your medical needs met, from the eyeglasses that sit on your porcine face, to the dental care and all points in between. You could have a $10,000.00 deductible and it would not faze you one bit.

It’s a shame that eyeglasses cannot sharpen the mind as well as the eyesight. If it could, you would realize what a self-serving idiot you are. You are pompous, arrogant, egotistical, and, in the deadliest combination of all, pitifully stupid. What bothers me is not that you are all these things, but that there are people who listen to you and believe that what you spew forth is truth.

You, sir, should be ashamed. But you haven’t the sense. As long as you are fine, then everyone else is, right? As long as you ha your ratings climb and you make money (which you admitted to in a recent interview), you will say anything.

So I have to ask you now: do you actually believe this, or was it just to push your agenda of padding your wallet even further?

If you had one iota of decency, you would have used the experience to re-assess your life and your priorities, as people with a real medical problem often do. You would have gone home thanking God that there was nothing wrong with you, save the obvious. You would have learned something, sir. But apparently your tiny little brain is incapable of this.

As someone who witnessed the emotional and physical and financial distress caused by being hospitalized and operated on under emergency conditions, as someone who loves her brothers dearly, your “chest pains” and the press conference you called as a result of your false alarm, offend me deeply. Every American who has lived through this, or watched a loved one live through this should be offended. Indeed, we should be outraged.

I honestly cannot decide if you are stupid or merely ignorant. But I am going with stupid and adding “self-serving” to that.

You, sir, and everyone like you, everyone who believes you, make me sick. And I would go to a doctor for a prescription to remedy this if I had health care.

WTF

2010-01-04T10:43:00.000-08:00

Are you kidding me or what? Actual LINES for Sarah Palin and her book? Young girls being interviewed and saying that “She’s a role model for us” as if that were something of which they were proud.

A role model for what? Of what? Delusional thinking that somehow results in your being catapulted into fame, power, and wealth? It’s like the Anti-Secret.

Last year I received an e-mail from an independent cosmetics rep, stating that she was putting together a notebook of accomplished women who use that particular line of makeup. The rep thought it would be a great selling point. Ok, I can see how that might be. But then she went on to say that Palin was a great role model, a woman of accomplishment. She should be on the first page. She is intelligent, successful, blahblahblahblahblah. At this point, my vision blurred.

WTF???

I could not believe what I was reading. We are talking about someone who won the governorship of Alaska on beauty pageant contestant answers.

Pageant answers are ok if one is in a pageant. Never mind the utter irrelevance of such things in this day and age. Whoop and holler all you want about the beauty pageant actually being a “scholarship” of some kind. (Put aside that Carrie Prejean believes that the past-tense of “meet” is “meeted”. Maybe these scholarships are for the sixth grade, where the rest of us learned such things as the grammatical structure of our own language.)

But Sarah Palin as a role model?????

Look, gang, this is the creep who said Obama was in cahoots with terrorists. Who shoots and kills defenseless animals for sport. Who thinks that because Russia is viewable from one of the islands that she is qualified to comment on any foreign policy? She is not pro-choice. She does not understand what Free Speech actually pertains to. She does not understand the separation of church and state. This is the woman who was instrumental in inciting ugliness and potential violence against our president. Who lied about what the Public Option meant. Who simply lies and lies and lies to the point that even her former running mate has come out publically to refute the statements in her book.

And yet people are lining up and spending the night outside of book stores for a chance to meet her.

The dumbing down of America is in full force now. It is alarming. It is frightening.
For years, the best education has gone to the elite. What I learned in high school is the equivalent of what kids are learning in college now. I see high school kids who cannot add without a calculator, who have no knowledge of American history, who don’t even know who John Kennedy was.

Ya’ think that’s an accident?

The wealthiest have enjoyed the best high schools, elementary schools. And that is the way they have wanted it.

Why?

It’s easier to keep the power that way.

As my brother Roger once said, “If you cannot think, you will not question.”

So think about that.

Where’s A Cream Pie When You Need One?

2009-11-05T15:28:00.000-08:00

I have a question for Liebermann, Snowe and Bonehead – I mean, Boehner…Who, exactly, do you people imagine yourselves to be? You are here to serve the people, not your own interests. You stand up and give a monologue about what the people want when you obviously haven’t a clue. People are dying and you have the nerve to hold up reform because it doesn’t serve your interests. You should be ashamed. If you had any sense of decency, if you had any sense at all, you would be. Every time I have to endure one of you holding court, I long for the late Soupy Sales to be alive and well, and in the crowd.

Olympia Snowe was pontificating about what she wanted to see, and all I could think was “Who do you think you are?” Since when do we give a crap what you think? As I just said: you are here to serve the people, not yourself, and this is what the people want. Deal with it.

As for Liebermann, he actually believes that the constituents of Connecticut are better served without a public option. He said that he could help them better without it.

Well, all righty, then, Joe! Here’s what I propose to everyone in that lovely and picturesque state:

Send Joe your medical bills. Send him each and every bill for each and every service. Surgery. Outpatient services. Cat scans. MRI’s. Emergency room. Pre-existing condition. Procedures that are considered to be merely cosmetic, such as repairing the huge scar left by skin cancer surgery. Anything not covered by your sky-high deductible. Send this man every bill you have ever received for medical care for the past year. Every last one of you.

After all, he said he would help, didn’t he?

I, I Who Have Nothing

2009-11-05T13:00:00.000-08:00

An Open Letter to the Republican Party and The Blue Dogs:

If this were a poker game, you guys would have to fold. Seriously. As it is, you are trying to bluff your way through. If it weren’t so infuriating, it would be laughable.

Unfortunately, the poker game is being played with peoples’ lives as the stakes.

But here’s what you’ve got, gang: nothing. You have nothing. Nada. Zip. Zilch. The big fat zero. I reiterate: you have nothing.

When you actually have something, feel free to blither on.

You, who have your health care (including dental care and vision) taken care of for yourselves and your family at zero cost to you, have the nerve to try to block passage of the public health option. And yet, you have nothing else to offer us.

Still, today on MSNBC, an Iowa congressninny looks into the camera and tells the viewers that “85% of the people do not want a public health option”. Which 85% are we talking about? 85% of his Republican friends? 85% of the wealthiest of Americans? It sure ain’t 85% of anyone around here, bub!

This man actually said that everyone needs to show up at the West Wing and let Washington know that “we do not want the government controlling our health care”.

So, ok, goodbye Medicare, then. Because that is what would happen if that sentiment were applied across the board.

I wonder how this dunderhead would feel were one of us to stand in front of him with our arm around his mother’s shoulders and say that we were fighting to repeal Medicare. Good luck, Mom!

The stupidity of anyone confusing socialized medicine with actual socialism is almost understandable from anyone except a senator or congressperson. Didn’t they study civics, government, or anything at all pertaining to that? This is stuff that was basic in high school! Hell, government was taught in my school in the fifth grade! Civics was part of the ninth grade curriculum. U.S. History, in the 11th grade. I did not finish college, yet I remember what I was taught.

As I said before, I have no medical benefits of any sort due to the Cobra debacle. Even if this weren’t the case, and I had merely changed jobs, I would have no way of getting the cat scans, blood-work, and follow-up visits to the specialists that are required every 6 months because of my “pre-existing condition”. And again, as I have said before, there are thousands of people just like me. Thousands of people have conditions that continue to worsen because they cannot afford the tests, the office visits. . Thousands of people who are having trouble paying the electric bill or getting heating oil are being harassed by collection companies acting on behalf of hospitals and doctors’ offices, should those people be fortunate enough to find a doctor or hospital who will take them. Imagine how that feels. These people could lose their homes. And that would be the least of their problems. Thousands of people are dying, as I write this.

Still, the Republicans and the Blue Dogs continue to block the public health option, continue to misinform the public, lie to the public to further their own selfish agenda. If these clowns were in the shoes of anyone who does not have health care and who has a chronic illness, or who discovers during a routine exam that something seems wrong and requires tests, x-rays, biopsies or invasive surgery, and had to also somehow manager their day to day bills, they would run screaming from the room. It is harder to do without if you are accustomed to having than to do without when that has been your daily experience for years.

Yes, we the people do need to make our voices heard. We do need to show up at the West Wing. But we need to do so in order to shout down the bastards who are afraid of losing their self-appointed superior status, and get this bill passed.

Unemployment

2009-11-05T12:57:00.000-08:00

My sister is 72 years old. A very young-looking and acting 72, but never the less, that is her age. She is also being treated for Stage One breast cancer, having survived a mastectomy, and chemo. She is now on five years of medication to deal with this disease, and to, hopefully, arrest it.

She was still working until September of this year. 8 years beyond retirement age. Not because she was so adored being an administrative assistant, but because she felt she had no choice, given economic circumstances. In other words, a 72-year old woman could not retire because she couldn’t afford to do so.

This May, due to the cancer and subsequent surgeries and treatments, she was on a leave of absence from her job. An unpaid leave of absence. This, along with the unpaid family leave, makes no sense to me. Nor should it to anyone who uses their brain. When a person is facing a debilitating illness, either their own or a family member’s, that is the very time that they need the income. What use is a leave of absence in the face of illness that costs thousands to deal with, if there is no money coming in? The stress from that idiocy is enough by itself to kill a person.
Yet, there she was – on an unpaid leave and dealing with surgery, chemo, baldness, nausea, fatigue, fear and depression. And now anxiety from a lack of a paycheck.

After the leave had been “exhausted”, her employer informed her that they “had to let her go”. I have always been amused by this phrase. The bastards make it sound like a good thing, as though they had treated a wounded bird, nursed it to health, and were now releasing it to its ultimate good, its natural habitat. Now it is flying free. “Letting you go”. How kind. How generous.

In other words, these sons of bitches just fired a cancer patient, leaving her with no financial resources to deal with her very brave battle against this hideous disease. Imagine how that feels. Imagine how you would feel if it were you. Or if it were your sister, aunt, mother, or grandmother.

She was informed that she was “entitled” to apply for unemployment. I drove her to the Department of Labor where she filled out form after endless form after waiting in line for over one hour. She was then told that she needed to register at the Department of Vocational Rehabilitation, where she needed to file a resume online in order to conduct a job search. This is a requirement.

Jesus Christ, people. This is a 72 year old cancer patient we are talking about. What job is she supposed to look for? Who is going to hire her?

It’s enough of an insult to require her to look for a job, but to add insult to injury, if she doesn’t fulfill this requirement, she will lose her unemployment rights. They will cut her off, financially.
And yes, if you were guessing the Department of Labor doesn’t care what job you take, as long as you simply take one, you are right. They see nothing wrong with an administrative assistant working at a fast-food or retail job. Never mind that these jobs do not pay enough to support anyone, let alone cover their medical or dental challenges or needs. Never mind that Medicaid, should they make more than $903.00 per month, will not take care of them. These are the rules, and you play by those rules, no matter how ridiculous they seem, or you lose your benefits.

Am I the only one outraged by this?

Why aren’t there some allowances made for this type of situation? Why aren’t their allowances made for the sick, the people past retirement age? Why this “one size fits all” method of dealing with the unemployed?

I don’t know how to get this laws changed, these rules changed. All I can do is write about it and hope that enough people as incensed as I am by this Governmental stupidity (Yes, I realize that’s redundant) start making their voices heard.
What have we got to lose?

Here We Go Again

2009-10-28T03:00:00.000-07:00

I had a follow-up visit with my pulmonary specialist the other day. While it looks like I am in remission, there are still cat-scans that need to be done to make sure that nothing new is growing. At the very least, he needs to check the damage from the sarcoidosis, and see if any scars have disappeared, or it they have remained the same. Without insurance it is impossible for me to have this done. And I must have this done every 6 months.

This is not a disease that should be taken lightly. It requires monitoring. How many other people are out there just like me, who need tests and cannot have them done? And that fat tub of lard Limbaugh actually says that “no one is dying because of lack of insurance”. Guess again, Rush, you self-serving blow-hard.

My doctor does not belong to the AMA. He believes it to be a corrupt organization, in bed with the insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies, and he is right. My doctor also saw me at no charge – twice – due to my lack of insurance. Dean and I were touched by his genuine concern for my health and well-being, and by his dedication to serving and helping others.

Similarly, my plastic surgeon, upon learning that I had no insurance, cut her rate in ½ when she removed the basal cell carcinoma from the end of my nose. She never told me she was doing so – I simply received a bill with a notation on it. This, too, is a caring and dedicated doctor.
I am so very grateful to these two individuals for their help.

But we shouldn’t have to rely on someone actually not being paid for their services. We shouldn’t have to pray and hope that our doctors and hospitals will somehow help us to have the work done that we need in order to stay alive. We shouldn’t have to rely on prayer and hope. There should be affordable insurance for those of us who do not qualify for Medicaid due to ridiculous and antiquated Government guidelines. There should be insurance for those of us who are working for salaries that were barely adequate in 1990. There should be insurance for those of us who are working without any medical benefits being offered.

There should be a public option. Please, if you understand nothing else about it, understand this: we need the public option. Without it, without affordable insurance, people will die. People will go bankrupt. People will be refused care and help and tests that they desperately need because an accountant or a CEO at an insurance company has set the rules.

For those of you fortunate enough to have medical and health care coverage: how is it even remotely ok that you have paid many many dollars to an insurance company and that company gets to decide whether or not it will in turn cover your tests, your surgery?

You know it is not ok. You know it is not right.

Now we’re being told that we may get the public option with states being able to opt out. Why in the name of God would you opt out?

I do not know how this will end. All I know is that I will continue to make my voice heard to affect the end that we all need.

Rush Limbaugh Really IS a Big Fat Idiot

2009-10-10T09:45:00.000-07:00

He is also treasonous. What would have happened to any of us during the Bush/Cheney years had we said even half of the things that this porcine creep spews out on the air? It makes me physically ill to hear, much less look at him. Unfortunately, I can’t always avoid it, try though I may.

He hopes Obama fails. He repeatedly refers to him as Barack HUSSEIN Obama, and emphasizes the middle name, thus revealing his deep-seated prejudice and bigotry. He rejoiced in the United States not getting the Olympics venue. Now he finds fault with our President being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

I have seldom seen such a lack of patriotism in any one. Ever. Yet he and his fellow tea-baggers, deathers and birthers will tell you they are the real patriots. They are not. They are committing treason with every idiotic utterance, with every sign they carry – a patriot does not want to see his country fail, or his president fail. Even with the disgust I felt toward W, I wanted him to succeed, to do well, to prove me wrong. If he did well, my country did well, and that is what a true patriot wants.

I love my country. It is the best on the planet. There are some very real problems that need to be addressed and fixed. And the reason I and my friends and acquaintances want to see this? I refer you back to my first sentence in this paragraph. Because I love my country.

When I first heard Tubbo mocking Obama in a sing-song voice, “Barack HUSSEIN Obama, mmm, mmm, mmm” – it was as though I were listening to a sixth-grade bully taunting someone whom he knows to be somehow better than he is. For that is what all bullies do, how they all operate – out of fear that they are somehow going to be overlooked because they are somehow inferior. That is their own self-esteem issue, and there are psychologists to help with this. Never the less, it still made me sick to hear it. What an immature, vicious, ugly way to be. But this is all he knows. Ugly is as ugly does.

Even the Nobel Peace Prize is fodder for mocking the President. I promise you, if Jesus himself came down from the Heavens and declared on NBC that Obama was his pick for the Nobel Prize, Fatso would find fault with it; Rush would say, “Obama caused Jesus to abandon the recently departed who need his guidance.”

The other day, I caught an interview in which Limbaugh said, basically, that he would say and do anything for ratings, and for money. (Apparently food is also high on the list, although it wasn’t mentioned.) What does this tell you? What do his rabid followers make of this? Did they miss that he is saying that he is a whore? That he is selling out all of his delusional, lemming-like fans? (My apologies to lemmings everywhere). If he truly is saying anything for money and ratings, then he needs to be re-defined as a satirist, although satirists are possessed of a certain intelligence the he seems to lack. The only saving grace I saw and heard was when he said that the Republican Party should not be listening to him, using him as a spokesperson, or authority figure.

Neither should any one else.

The Double Standard Is Alive and Well

2009-10-02T10:54:00.001-07:00

For months now we have had to listen to idiots like Bachman and Grassley making the most outrageous statements in order to put forth their agenda. The list of representatives and senators, to say nothing of talk-show hosts masquerading as journalists is simply too numerous to name names individually. We all know who they are and the list grows daily. It includes the former governor of Alaska, who started the whole “death panel” thing.

Why did no one ever call upon these cretins to retract their statements, let alone demand an apology? They were simply allowed to vomit their lies on the American public without ever being called out for it. The lies ranged from claiming that our president is not an American citizen, to claiming that the sick and disabled and elderly will be put to death, to declaring that we will be forced to give up our current doctors (those of us who are lucky enough to have healthcare, and as you all know, I am not one of those people) for those dictated to us by the government. Not once has a Democrat demanded that they apologize for lying, let alone lying to further their nefarious agenda of bringing down the President, and seeing that he fails, while protecting the big corporations. And make no mistake; it is the corporations who own the Republican Party.

Now we have Rep. Grayson from Florida being told that he was out of line and inappropriate and that he MUST apologize for his statement that the Republican party wants you to die quickly should you get sick. I say we should give this guy a medal for having the guts to tell it like it is. Why does he have to apologize? Why?

The Republicans are equating this with the Wilson embarrassment. It is not the same thing. Wilson showed an utter lack of respect for the President, for the occasion, for the venue. What he did was unquestionably wrong and he should have been made to atone for it. The Republicans are saying that he DID apologize to the President. Well, no, not exactly: he apologized to Emanuel and then only because he was told to. That’s not really apologizing, and he was not actually sorry. The mother of any three year old knows this.

If not one of these morally bankrupt senators or congressmen have ever been called to task for their lies, then Mr. Grayson does not need to. I applaud him for his courage. There is a sizable difference between interrupting the President of the United States during an address to Congress, calling him a liar in the process, and exhibiting over-the-top behavior to make a point during a session of Congress. It is not the same thing.

Close to 45,000 people will die this year because of lack of health insurance. In spite of what Rush Limbaugh says, this is the horrific truth. What is NOT true is all this foaming at the mouth about death panels, being forced to switch doctors and plans, abortion/sex clinics, ad nauseum. These are the real lies. Limbaugh’s drugs are all paid for by his plan. What about my medication, which I actually need in order to maintain a certain already compromised level of health? I am now paying out of pocket for surgery to remove a skin cancer. I have ignored one much needed prescription this month because I simply could not afford to pay my other bills, and pay for this. Again, the “sliding scale” did not make enough of a difference in order to help.
Why Limbaugh and Beck are allowed to remain on the air is beyond me. It is just that so many sponsors pulled out of Beck’s dog and pony show, but it is not enough. These two hate mongers need to go. They can always find a forum at white supremacy meetings. As for the people in office who perpetrate such lies? If they believe what they say, then they are so stupid that they need to be removed from office, or they know they are lying, in which case they should be removed from office.

We Brought You In and We Can Take You Out

2009-09-30T15:56:00.000-07:00

Here’s what I don’t get. If 65 percent of the public want the public health option, then why is anyone in the Senate voting against it?

When I took Civics in the ninth grade, I learned that it was the duty of the elected official to put the interest of the public before his or her own. (In those days it was always and only “his”, but that’s another blog story.)

I was watching MSNBC last night and felt physically sick listening to Baucus and his lies. He is still insisting that people will be forced to give up their employer-sponsored health insurance in favor of the government plan. No. No. No. How many times does this have to be said? Is this man devious, or merely stupid? In any case, he should be voting the way the people want him to vote, not the way he wants. That is not how it is supposed to work.

Yet it does, time and time and time again.

Why?

Lobbying, for one thing. And why does that exist? Why isn’t it illegal? Does it seem even remotely right to you? And why is it that it is illegal for an insurance company to contribute to the campaign of a state’s insurance commissioner, yet the big companies can give money to senators and congressmen? Everyone of us should be outraged that any elected person can take money from the big corporations. Payola is illegal. Prostitution, except in Nevada, is illegal. And this exactly the same thing. Why do we all turn a blind eye to this moral and outrage? I have more respect for prostitutes.

I voted for Tom Carper. Tom has known me and my family for over 25 years. We met when he lived in a small apartment across the hall from one of my brothers. First name basis. When I phoned his office regarding the public option and left a message with a drone, I actually expected a call back. Cobra had cancelled me and I wanted and needed Tom’s help., desperately. He basically turned it over to an office worker, then sent me a form letter saying “sorry it didn’t work for you”. It was terribly disappointing. A few weeks later, I wrote to Tom concerning the public option, and told him about my situation. It was very similar to the letter I wrote for the fbm.com, and I expected not only a response, but a personal one. I received a form letter e-mail, explaining that he was backing Baucus and what a terrific plan it was.

Tom, as most of us saw last night, ended up voting no on the public option. Then he waffled and voted for Sen. Charles Schumer’s plan. It was better than voting for Baucus, but not enough to save his reputation in my eyes. He sold us out. When is the last time Tom Carper had to decide between buying a coat for the winter, paying the electric bill, or going to a sliding-scale clinic? (Since the Medicaid guidelines are so incredibly unrealistic, anyone making over $900.00 a month would be going to a sliding scale type of pay. That means a person making $900.01 a month would be paying $108.00 for a Boniva pill, for example. A pill, by the way, that lasts exactly one month. And this is a type of medication one needs to be on for the rest of one’s life. Do you think Tom’s wife worries about this kind of thing?)

It was enough for me to not vote for him in the next election. Which is what I believe we all should do, regardless of party affiliation, when it comes to all of our senators. If they prove that they do not have our interests at heart, that they put their own concerns above that of the constituents, if they can be bought by big pharma and other large corporations, then they need to go.

We brought them in and we can take them out by not voting for them in the next election.

Maybe after that happens enough times, we can get back to the way it’s supposed to be.

Why Don’t We Just Call A Spade a Spade?

2009-09-14T18:52:00.000-07:00

The other night I was watching CNBC as a reporter interviewed a man from Oklahoma about the 9/12 March. It is bad enough that every one of these people, congressmen and senators included, are committing treason. They are stupidly proud of it. They wash over their hatred, bigotry, and violence with a veneer of “patriot”. One of my great- great - great etc grandfathers was in the Sons of Liberty, so I come by my rebelliousness honestly, and I also know what a real patriot is. It ain’t these guys.

My mouth literally dropped open when I heard this man tell the reporter that “everyone in this country has health insurance”. Oh really? Then why was my brother turned away from a hospital when they found out he was not insured? (This after suffering an electrical shock.) This idiot then went on to say “all you have to do is go to an emergency room and you will see all these people tying things up for hours because they have a stubbed toe.” From there he stated “They all get taken care of, so, see? Everyone has health insurance in this country.” The 9/12-ers actually believe this. That is frightening. It should alarm and anger everyone who hears it.

More people were interviewed. A woman raging about how this country is turning into a socialist and Marxist government. Her equally ill-informed husband spewing vitriol about how the government needs to stay out of our health insurance, how we do not need any government programs of any kind. And for this, they are marching on Washington. That is their right. But it is pathetic, since they do not know what they are talking about. If they had the facts straight, I wouldn’t be so disgusted.

But back to the man from Oklahoma. Maybe because the reporter was African-American, he let this next one drop: “We want the country to go back to the way it was 100 years ago.” Need I remind you that 100 years ago, there was segregation, discrimination of the sort that makes telling someone to sit at the back of the bus look like a child’s tea party by comparison? I remember the Freedom Riders, the killing of Medgar Evers, the classified sections in the paper categorized by sex, age, and race. As I said in a previous writing, going back to the way it was means no vote for women, housing discrimination, job discrimination, no social security, no Medicare. And it means no black president.

Why don’t they at least have the honesty to say what they really mean? The only thing separating these clowns from the KKK are the satin hoods. It makes me feel physically sick to hear them ranting and raving and hiding behind the mask of patriotism, when in fact, they are nothing more than red-neck bigots. How can this be happening in 2009? I thought we were better than that.

The majority of us are. I remember Election Night, and the chills I got watching all those people running through the field, joyously celebrating as history was being made. I get chills as I write this. My fiancé’ and I cried, we were so happy. Earlier that evening, my siblings and I had met at one brother’s house, to be there for each other. And we were not alone. Remember, please, how very many people voted for our President.

The 9/12-ers keep whooping and hollering about wanting “their country” back. Well, Jim-Bob, it’s my country, too! For too many years, those of us who wanted real change, who wanted our voices heard and not stifled, have had to sit on the sidelines. You wanna talk about trampling the Constitution? Let’s talk about George Bush and The Patriot Act. How come that never gets mentioned? How come the Supreme Court was allowed to pick the President when the election was stolen from Al Gore? Why didn’t you care then?

It’s my country, too. And the country of those of us who voted for Barack Obama. There are more of us than there are of you.

Change is inevitable, Jim-Bob. If a black president is too much for you to bear, then grow a pair and say so. Don’t hide behind the Constitution; don’t hide behind words like “patriot”. Admit what you are. And the next time you feel compelled to march on Washington, please get your facts straight. It only makes you look more idiotic and ignorant than you already are.

Liar Liar

2009-09-09T14:39:00.000-07:00

In the past several weeks, I have watched and listened to representatives, congressmen, senators – all of them Republicans – lie to their constituents about Obama’s “secret agenda”. I always wonder how this is allowed to continue.

Shouldn’t the people we elect tell the truth? Shouldn’t we be able to trust them to tell us what is being put on the table so we can decide for ourselves? How is it that the Grassleys, the Malkins, ad nauseum can tell such blatant lies, lies that reveal who among us has the true secret agenda.
They incite the public with stories about death panels, about the government somehow taking over our health care and picking our doctors for us. Of course this is not true. The latest one? That our president is actually “indoctrinating” the school children today. I watched one numbskull being interviewed on the local news who said she was against abortion and against gay marriage and did not want the president forcing his views on her children.

WHAT????????!!!!!????? SINCE WHEN IS THAT GOING TO HAPPEN????

Another lie brought to you by the Republican party.

The president’s agenda is to impress upon our children the importance of studying, doing the best that they can and taking that into the community, into the country. Yet, once again, the Republicans are determined to undermine everything this man is attempting to do for our own good, because they are such sore losers and because the hatred they have for all things Democrat goes so deep that they would see the rest of us in harm’s way rather than allow our president and/or the Democratic party to succeed.

Why more people aren’t outraged is beyond my comprehension. It’s one thing to lie to get yourself elected. It happens all the time. Ideally, these people usually don’t last long in office. It is quite another thing to lie to your constituents about the issues and how they are being handled. It is self-serving. It is wrong. It should be stopped. It must stop. Now.

Will the Real Death Panel Please Stand Up?

2009-09-07T08:15:00.000-07:00

I think it all started with Sarah Palin. She who apparently has only a nodding acquaintance with the facts, told a crowd about “death panels” who would decide the fate of the elderly, the gravely ill, the mentally challenged, the handicapped. Should the Public Option go through, this is what we would all be facing. The “end of life” counseling, in Sarah’s tiny little brain, equates to this: death panels. Never mind that end of life counseling simply means that one has doctors outlining one’s options, which one then chooses (or not) to act upon. Never mind that almost everyone these days knows what a “living will” is and how it works. (If you do not know, then call a lawyer and ask them to explain this to you.) She preyed upon the ignorant, the naïve, and the just plain unintelligent. She worked the mob mentality.

Republicans across the country jumped on the death panel bandwagon. Never mind that they knew full well what the facts are. They lied to the public in order to rally support for their own agenda. What might that agenda be? To screw up the administration and specifically our President at every opportunity. To keep the Democrats from succeeding at passing “their” bill because they are that angry that they did not win. To balk everything and anything this man wants to do, and anything the Democratic party wants to do merely because they are Democrats. They do not give sweet f*** all if people go bankrupt trying to pay medical bills. They don’t care if you die. In fact, thousands if not millions of people will in effect be handed a death sentence if this bill does not pass. Why? Because there is no insurance for them.
There are people who do not meet the guidelines for Medicaid. And these guidelines are so unrealistic as to be laughable, if they weren’t infuriating. Cobra, if one can afford it, only lasts 6 months, and if you miss a payment or a check bounces (which is all too likely when you are unemployed), they will not redeposit the check and you are not reinstated. Private health insurance? You’re joking, right? Call Blue Cross Blue Shield and ask what their private rates are. After you pick yourself up off the floor, tell me what they quoted.

The real “death panel” is the Republican Party. I find it difficult to believe that any of these Representatives or Senators can honestly be so stupid that they believe what they are telling people. The agenda is to stop the Democrats, to oppose them just for the sake of it. If this means that people die because they do not have health coverage, then oh, well…They know that the Government is not going to tell us what doctor to see. This is ironic, as anyone “lucky” enough to have medical benefits will tell you that the insurance companies DO however, dictate who you can and cannot see. These same insurance companies are sending actors and morally bereft goons to town hall meetings to disrupt the proceeding and spread even more fear and hate. They have the blessing of the Republican Party.

Why would anyone oppose a bill that helps everyone? A bill that makes it easier to get quality care, to pay the bills resulting from that care, to stop price-gouging, “pre-existing conditions” clauses? Obviously, you would oppose this is if it meant you were somehow in someway going to feel the end result in your own wallet. That is not you or me I’m talking about: it is the CEO’s of the insurance companies. That is why they send their paid thugs. And since it helps the Republican agenda, the Republicans are only too happy to have them.

Look at how Michael Steele conducted himself recently, telling one woman that her all-too-real story of desperately needing health care “makes great television”, never even acknowledging the woman’s pain. Observe the pig-ignorant cretin at the Elmer, New Jersey meeting, complaining that a woman in a wheelchair “apparently has more rights than me” (by the way, that phrase would be “more rights than I”, moron). This woman was also booed and heckled by the several idiots who apparently buy everything the Republicans spoon feed them, without checking for themselves. Listen to the representative who told Elizabeth Smith that she should “grow up and buy insurance” when Elizabeth just told her that she was a single mother working as a waitress and who needed the public option for herself and her child. It is loathsome behavior. It is also very deeply disturbing.

And there is your death panel: the Republican Party.

A Band-Aid for Medicaid

2009-09-07T08:13:00.000-07:00

In the State of Delaware, one does not qualify for Medicaid if one makes more than $8.00 an hour. That means that anyone making $15,360.00 per year, gross income (not net) gets nothing from the state to help with any medical care.

It is 2009. Perhaps in 1989, this would have been an acceptable amount. The cost of gas, utilities, and groceries have skyrocketed, while the Medicaid guidelines stayed firmly rooted in a decade long past.

I suggest that we get a few senators and congressmen to volunteer to live on $8.10 an hour for one year. They can either take this as their salary, or they can get a job in retail, or fast-food. During this year, all of their assets will be frozen. In other words, they cannot dip into savings, CD’s, IRA’s, trust funds, or any other money that may be put away for security. They must give up their current vehicle, and take instead, a 15 year old car. They are not allowed access to any of their credit cards. They may, however, have a debit card from their new checking account which now has $150.00, and should feel free to apply for a new credit card with their new salary. Also, any previous checking accounts cannot be accessed.

This is the base from which they will conduct their lives for one year. During this year they are not allowed to live in their present homes. They must, somehow, find a place to live, get insurance and repairs for the car, money for food and utilities. (They will get whatever food stamp money they would have received had they been single, if they are married.) Since they will not qualify for Medicaid, they will pay upfront and in full, if they get any require medical services of any kind.

They can similarly try to get any dental work done during this time. Since no dentist will send a bill, and insists upon full payment at the time of service, this should be enlightening to those who have never had to think twice about it. Which brings me to a point about Medicaid that has puzzled me for years: why isn’t dental care offered as part of the deal? If you have ever had a filling fall out, or have had an abscessed tooth, you know the pain involved. It can be excruciating; it can bring you to tears. And any health professional will tell you that it is a dangerous situation when a filling falls out and stays out, or when a decayed tooth gets no attention as bacteria is going into your bloodstream. It can affect your heart. It requires attention.

Should the need arise, they can visit their local drugstore or Wal-Mart to pick out glasses, since Medicaid does not offer vision care. And why doesn’t it? If you have ever witnessed a friend or relative trying to make-do with over-the counter reading glasses when what was needed was an actual prescription for near-sightedness or far-sightedness, you will know how ludicrous this suggestion is. The senator or congressman will finally get to see (no pun intended) first-hand how difficult it is to read a book, a street sign, to drive. They will probably have a headache every day from the eye-strain. That shouldn’t be so bad: generic aspirin doesn’t cost that much. Hope you’re not allergic to aspirin.

This is what I propose for our law-makers, our senators, our congressmen: live for a year in my shoes. Live for a year in the shoes of the people who do not qualify for Medicaid because they are one penny over the guidelines. If indeed you can afford to buy a new pair of shoes on your new salary, then come back and tell me what the new guidelines are for Medicaid. Then tell me that it includes dental and vision care.

The public option and me

2009-09-07T05:42:00.000-07:00

I have both sarcoidosis and a skin cancer that has to be removed. There is no way that I can do my follow up x rays, and no way that I can afford Boniva to offset the effects of the Prednisone, nor can I have the surgery to remove the cancer. The reason? My Cobra coverage through my former employer was cancelled due to a returned check. When I contacted Ceridian/Cobra/BCBS to explain to them what was happening and request that they redeposit the check, they assured me that there would be no problem. One week later, I was cancelled and told that due to a “federal rule”, they could not redeposit my check, nor do they take debit cards or credit cards, but I was “welcome to get my own Blue Cross Blue Shield coverage, privately”. Oh, really? With what? My unemployment check? Because the guidelines for Medicaid are so antiquated and out of step with the times, I do not qualify for that program. I make too much on unemployment.

My doctor says I cannot wait to have the surgery on my nose, to remove the basal cell carcinoma. Due to the sarcoidosis, I require follow up medical treatment in the form of follow up visits, blood-work, x-rays, and medication. I am still on steroids which leave me vulnerable to a host of infections. I cannot afford my medication. Steroids make it necessary for me to take Boniva, to offset osteoporosis, (a side effect of steroids) and that one pill a month costs $60.00 I can afford to pay for none of these things now.

Even when I had coverage, my deductible was $1200.00. And I had to pay a large piece of my salary for this (Several of my former co-workers took no coverage as they could not afford it and pay their mortgages.). As usual, there were the fights over the “pre-existing condition”. And, if I could afford BCBS privately, that would still be the case. They would refuse the removal of the cancerous tissue, as well as the x-rays, blood-work, etc. for the sarcoidosis. I have to ask this question: isn’t EVERYTHING a pre-existing condition, or else you would not be at the doctor’s office in the first place?

We need the public option. I cannot stress this enough. The Republicans who oppose this bill with their lies and fear-mongering ought to be taken out of office, as they do not serve the people, only themselves. They do not have your best interest at heart. They want to keep the power at any cost, even if that cost includes human lives. If by some chance, they aren't lying, then they are simply too stupid to serve. In fact, someone should drive them home, as they probably do not possess the intelligence to operate a motor vehicle.

There are no "death panels". Read the bill. If you are not intelligent enough to understand that you are being offered counseling to help you make a choice should that need arise, then get someone smarter to read it to you and explain it.

The word "option" means "choice". You have a choice to either stay with the insurance you currently have, or choose a new one. The government is not picking it for you.
To those of you who argue, ineffectively, that the government needs to stay out of your life, and should not be involved in your medical program, I have to ask you: what do you think Medicare is? Does this mean you do not want this program for yourselves when the time comes, or that you do not want it for your elderly parents, grandparents?

To the people who want to “go back to the Constitution as it was written by our forefathers, I have to ask: you don’t want Social Security? Women: you don’t want to vote?

To the Republican congressman who suggested that "neighbors will help neighbors", I have to ask: how? In what way? Is my neighbor going to perform the surgery on my nose? Is the guy across the street going to give me an x-ray? Does someone in my neighborhood manufacture Prednisone or Boniva? Will they trade that for tomatoes from my garden? IS THIS MAN COMPLETELY OUT OF TOUCH? Oh, I just answered my own question.

I know that this form of health care is long overdue, having witnessed my dying father in tears over bills that were not being paid, and coverage that was being refused, having had to pay enormous amounts myself because some accountant with no knowledge whatsoever of health care, medicine, or my body decided we had gone over the "usual and customary". HOW DARE YOU! I believe that my doctor knows better than a CEO any day of the week, what kind of care I need. The CEO's of these companies never have to worry about paying medical bills. Neither do the senators and congresspeople opposing this bill – they have the best health care available at an exceedingly affordable rate.

My story is not the only one like this. There are thousands of us struggling to pay rent, mortgage, and medical bills. We are not "living beyond our means". How much further down would you have me go? I live in a mobile home community. Not a townhouse, not a luxury apartment. We are trying to survive. Without a public health care option, it is an impossible situation.

Elizabeth Sutor