Freedom in the Time of Healthcare

The other day I was standing in a long line at the cable company, and listening to the discussion in front of me. I couldn't be accused of eavesdropping, because there was no way I couldn't listen. The discussion was about Obamacare. I could tell as soon as I got in line behind them, because I heard the phrase "shoved down my throat." I'm so sick of that one. "This is the land of the free, why should I have to be forced to buy healthcare? I don't want that shoved down my throat." I guess he meant the medicine. I waited in line, hearing what else he had to say. "Premiums are going up, I don't even know if I can afford them. Do you know how long we'll have to wait under this new system? I don't want to be forced to buy insurance and would rather pay the penalty. They shouldn't make me." I decided I couldn't hold my tongue and jumped in as politely as I could.

"Premiums are going up, you say?" He looked and nodded. "Good thing that hasn't been happening all along, at several percentage points higher until a few years ago. I used to pay for a family plan about ten years ago. It was a good plan. My wife and I have one now, coverage not as good, but we are covered. It's more than twice what I paid ten years ago."

"Wow, that's a lot to pay a month." he said

 "It is. Income hasn't doubled over the same time period. It sucks. My wife spent five days in the hospital last month. The bill is into five figures, but we pay less than $300.00. If we didn't have insurance, we would have been screwed."

"I'm not sure what doctor you are using, but my wife has been having a lot of medical problems lately. I can count on one hand the times I got a same day appointment. I'm not sure what mythical land you live in where there are no wait times, but I'd like to live there. My wife has quite a rash that we showed to the doctor recently. She has an appointment for the dermatologist in November. When she needed a bunch of tests, the doctor sent us to the emergency room so we could do them right away. Normally it would have taken well over a week to get them, as well as the results."

"I get into my doctor pretty fast." he said. "But I live in a really small town."

The conversation ended with him mumbling about losing his freedom. What I wanted to say, but didn't was this: I understand you don't want to have to be forced to buy health insurance, and that's fine and all, but when you end up in the emergency room with a broken leg and can't afford it, it's not free. I pay for your unpaid medical bills. Me, and everyone else with insurance pays for it. No one asked me if I wanted to pay for it, I don't have a choice. It's factored into the rates. One could say that those of us with insurance are getting the uninsured's unpaid bills.  The uninsured, non-paying people are getting a 'free ride' and this just puts that to a stop. It is the rare snowflake indeed who goes their entire life without needing medical care.


I guess the 'freedom' he is losing is the freedom to go to the emergency room on my dime, as well as yours.

Outrageous Indeed

#Outrageous! 7th grader suspended from school for playing with an airsoft gun in his yard http://t.co/LdIkkHecWO

— NRA (@NRA) September 24, 2013

Three days ago I was very upset about the above tweet, and I still am. Why, do you ask? The above Tweet is all the proof you need to know the NRA doesn’t give a fuck about responsible gun use, even if it’s only a “toy” pellet gun.

The above picture is a Crossman Stinger P311 Airsoft pistol you can buy off Amazon for $14.97, and for a similar price at your local WalMart. It may not be the exact gun these kids were “playing with” near a school bus stop, but it’s very similar and there’s nothing about it that makes it a toy if misused.

The Stinger P311 is a pellet gun that uses air to discharge pellets or other projectiles at up to 325 FPS (feet per second), which is powerful enough to break someone’s skin and/or seriously injure them if shot in the eyes. It is designed for target practice and not for use or purchase by children under the age of sixteen.

The fact is, kids barely old enough to be teenagers, shot other kids with an Airsoft gun without a care for basic firearm safety or local firearm laws… and yet the NRA thinks it’s outrageous these kids are paying the price for their stupidity? The NRA, and their members that agree with them, are wrong.

If these punks were arrested and sent to Juvenile Hall rather than suspended from school, do you think the NRA would still be outraged?

Don’t get me wrong. Target shooting is fun when it’s done right. I love my pistol crossbow. It shoots 6 1/4” field point bolts at 165 FPS, and I only use targets designed for its use or homemade ones that will prevent any type of “pass through” through wear and tear.

Even though I cannot kill someone with my pistol crossbow, I treat it as if I can. I never load it unless it’s pointed at the ground. I never put my finger near the trigger unless the safety’s off and I’m already aimed at my target. And I’ll never aim it at a human or animal unless I’m in mortal danger and I intend to kill them.

The fact these kids were never taught basic firearms safety, local laws, or to respect what damage guns can do is what we should be outraged about.

Would You Like Fries With This Rant?

Sometimes perception is everything. At first, I was supportive of the fast food strike. What seems like a lifetime ago, my first “real” job was working at a McDonald’s in high school. I learned how to work a cash register that computed everything for me. I learned how to count inventory and what FIFO means. I learned how to cook a mean Quarter Pounder with Cheese, but I also had timers that told me when I had to do everything.

I also learned it was no way to make a living long term, especially since minimum wage at the time was only $3.35 an hour. I also hated it, and I did whatever it took to get out of there. I worked hard in school to get good grades. I stayed out of trouble. I worked on skills that would make me marketable in other career fields, and found solace in a pizza restaurant that wasn’t nearly as anal as Mickey D’s.

Once I determined managing a pizza restaurant was not my cup of tea upon college graduation, I got the fuck out of there. I started a new career, and I busted my ass to rise to the top of my profession because I did not want to go back to fast food. Ever.

***

Fast forward to 2013… today’s fast food workers want to unionize. I’m okay with that. Today’s fast food workers want to work for higher wages. I’m cool with that too.

Today’s fast food workers want to work for $15 an hour? When nearly everything is automated? When a good portion of them don’t have the decency to wash their hands after using the restroom? (I learned about that fact in management training) When these workers don’t have special skills?

What kind of delusional fucks are they?

I’m sorry, but I’m not on board with this. Want to work for $15 an hour? Learn to do something other than flip a burger, deep frying French fries or count change.

Fast food was never meant to be a career. It is and always has been a way for high school and college kids to dip their toes into the job market and nothing more. End of story.

My Discussion Over EBT

This is what my life has come to. I am in a discussion on Facebook over Electronic Benefits Transfer for the State of South Dakota. EBT is the way that you receive Supplemental Nutritional Assistance (SNAP) in the Mount Rushmore state. The more I think about the stupidity of this debate, the angrier I get. Why? Because those people that live in what would be called a metropolitan area in the state are snobbish over what the program should entail.

Huron is a town of about 13,000 people. It has a Wal-Mart that stays open 24 hours and 1 grocery store that does the same. One of my friends posted online that she waited in line at a convenience store and the person in front of them purchased approximately $20 in candy with her EBT card and was sarcastic in saying that it was nice seeing her tax dollars at work that way. So she gets a couple other people to comment on the post saying that EBT is abused everyday with things like that and that EBT shouldn't be allowed at convenience stores. So being the putz that I am, I post that sometimes the convenience store is all that is open in the early evenings and nights for some places and that EBT should be allowed.

You know when you post something and see it right in front of you and you just know that you are going to somehow regret it? Well, I had that feeling. And boy was I right. I was told that Huron has a Walmart and Coburn's Grocery Store that are open 24 hours a day and that people should go there. I said that if you lived in a smaller community like a Miller, SD or a Redfield, SD that the closest Walmart is 40 miles away and you need something late at night, wouldn't it be better for people if they could run down to the local convenience store, pay a little bit more for what they need and get back home rather than doing the round trip? That was mistake #2 on my part. I got responses about how EBT should only be used for good food like meats, fruits, and vegetables. And the always popular they should plan better. Really? There has never, ever been a time when your plan has fallen apart? So if the county grocery store is 23 miles away and closes at 6 and your work holds you there until 5:45, so you cannot make it to the grocery store, apparently it is too bad for you. Your plan sucked even though you were supposed to be of at 5PM. We all know that every plan works every time. And the best argument was that convenience stores were overpriced and understocked for a family to do good choices about their nutritional needs. Well, duh! We all know that, but they are allowed to use convenience stores when they want to. I do agree with the argument that it sets a bad example for the children of the family.

And never mind the rules and regulations you have to follow to use your EBT card.

You CANNOT Buy:

• Items that carry a supplement facts label,
• beer, wine, liquor, cigarettes or tobacco,
• any nonfood items, such as:
  • pet foods,
  • soaps and paper products,
  • household supplies,
• vitamins and medicines,
• grooming items, toothpaste and cosmetics,
• food that will be eaten in the store, or
• hot foods prepared to eat immediately.

You also get stigmatized as an EBT card carrier. Hell, I was stigmatized as a WIC user for the first 3 years of my son's life. I got the dirty looks, the snarls, the jokes, the pity of people. These people also get the exact same treatment. And that is why I am angry. Instead of looking at the person using WIC or EBT as a person who has the same wants, needs, and emotions as you, most people look down upon them as less than what they are. People who need public assistance to help them out in their time of need. Instead, they go through what I did. Some even get worse treatment. I have seen people be treated with outright contempt because others thought that they were gaming the system.

I am ashamed for my friend who started this post. She is a God fearing lady who has overcame heart problems to find true love and is a great mom to her, I hope to be soon, stepdaughter. However, she has failed what we are told to believe by those who preach the word of the Christian God. That we are all God's children. That we are all in the likeness of the creator. That we should help the poor and meek. That we should give to the less fortunate. That we are all equal in the eyes of the Lord. I cherish her friendship and hope that over time, she becomes less judgmental. After all, that is the way of Christianity, or so I am told. But in the bigger scheme of things, to become more tolerant of those that do not have the same morals as she does. Because in doing so, she will become a better person and that in turn will make this a better world. Even if it is just in a very small way.

There Are Good Things Going On Out There

In most of my blog posts, I am usually railing against things that I dislike. The current GOP, racism, stupidity, hypocrisy, and the Minnesota Vikings immediately pop into my mind. And it is easy to blog about those things that you have a distaste for. Take the government for example. The viper's nest that is congress can be described as the place that is a big sucking black hole that rips Americans of their hopes and dreams. And that is a mild description of that place. Pair that with the sports teams in D.C. and you have one big cluster.

But from that place, there are some things that have actually happened that helps Americans. The Affordable Health Care Act or Obamacare, if you prefer. There are reports of Healthcare companies actually giving rebates to their customers because of the over inflated prices that they have been charging. Healthcare companies have to pay 80% of their premiums that they get from people on actual healthcare for their clients. (I know, what a concept!) So people are actually paying less for their healthcare. The insurance companies that have been raising rates at double digit rates for the past years are now actually having to hold their rates to lower increases or in some instances at the same level or even lower them. This is causing calls of Socialism by the GOP. It is socialism to give subsidies to companies like Exxon-Mobil and BP, so until you want those to end, shut the hell up about any sort of socialism.

The American economy continues to limp along. It is expanding, unlike what it did under our last Republican President. The past 3 years, each and every month we have had private sector jobs increasing. That should show an economy that is real strong and growing by leaps and bounds. So why doesn't it? The public sector cutting jobs right and left. If the public sector (government) would have just kept the jobs that it had in 2010 and not eliminated them, the Unemployment rate would be down to around 5 to 5.5%. The economy would be plugging along at a good clip and we would be hearing that the American economy is looking strong and will get stronger. But the sequester and the cutting of public jobs has kept the economy sputtering along. I list this as a good thing because I still have in my mind the economy losing tens of thousands of jobs each and every month. That was a disaster. Right now, the GOP is choking the economy. That cannot last forever.

The evolution of what is acceptable for a "typical" American family. Gay people can now marry in 13 states and Washington D.C.  As we learn more about human physiology and biology, we are understanding that being gay isn't a choice, it is the way that we are born, whether we are hetero or homosexual. That allows more people to be eliminated from second-class status here and gets us closer in America to becoming a true society without prejudices concerning sexual orientation and the display of our affection to one another.

The discussion of how our government operates in regard to surveillance and the privacy of Americans is also a good thing. Since 9/11, we have went overboard about security. We traded some of our rights in order to feel secure. The government has went way over the line where they should have been stopped. Some of that has been from congress. Some of that has been from the Executive Branch of our government. And the people that we expect to stop those excesses the Judicial Branch, have went right along with the other two. Now since people are finding out what the government has been doing, there is push back on what the government has said is constitutional and they are scrambling to ensure that their programs will hold up to constitutional scrutiny. That is good for those of us who want government to operate out in the open as much as it possibly can.

Let's talk American energy independence. Right now, America is the leading country in Solar power. Of course, that means that the GOP is fighting to cut off any investment in it from our government. Electric car technology is advancing each and every year. More people are conserving more and looking at ways to become less dependent on their local energy companies. They are growing more of their own foods and looking at local ways to solve problems. That is a good thing.

There are other things out there. Look at how California has bounced back utilizing some of the principles that Democrats have spouted over the past decade. We finally have a few Republicans that are standing up to the Tea Party who are hypoctrites, through and through. We are pulling out of Iraq and Afghanistan. There is a major upheaval and exchange of ideas going on internationally. And while that does come with bloodshed and a couple of false starts for democracy being spread, remember, America didn't start out as a Democracy and there was around 90 years of simmering resentment before our Civil War.

Not everything out there is great in America. Racism and profiling is on the rise. You have simmering resentment from each and every racial group. We have screwed up majorly on our foreign policies. What we say are values are in regards to democracy and the capitalist system is not extended to anywhere past our borders. We also will not support people who we say are our friends if we believe that we can get further ahead by backing others. There is way too much stalling and obstruction in Washington. The government doesn't respond to the citizens. It causes problems for individuals and businesses all the time. But until someone can come up with a better way to govern, we need to work within the system and take the positives that we see and try to extend the principles from them into the problems that we have.

Nobody A Winner In The Aftermath Of Zimmerman Verdict

Let me put this out there. I thought that George Zimmerman was guilty of murder. It isn't a popular opinion around my neck of the woods. Why do I think that? Because of his actions, an altercation was inevitable and he killed a minor. There should be no self-defense defense able to get around the fact that his actions led to the altercation. But that wasn't the judgement. The judgement is that he feared for his life after Trayvon Martin proved to be tougher in a fight. But that isn't the major point of this post. The major point of this post is the aftermath of this miscarriage of justice.

Christianity and GOP Rhetoric: An Unholy Union of Hypocrisy About Abortion

I need to rant about this for a minute. This really isn't about the faith of Christians. This is more about the hypocrisy of the Christian sect and the GOP in particular. Over the past couple of weeks, I have seen little blue and pink flags populating yards around town. They are particularly conspicuous on church lawns. Those little flags represent fetuses that have been aborted. GOP leaders here in North Dakota are supportive of this demonstration.

Now I am not going to argue that abortion should be legal or not. And I applaud people and organizations for standing up for what they believe in. However, I will take the Christian church to task for this show of their beliefs. I understand that abortion is not correct in the Christian faith. And they have every right to say that. The one thing that I wonder though, is when they are going to take a stand against the greed that is shown in America. Where is that demonstration going to be shown to the public. When is the stand against the death penalty going to appear on the lawns of churches around the country? Where are the little flags to promote the cause of helping children, for having families adopt those kids in foster care? The banners out in front of the doors asking for fairness and equality for all God's children, not just those that have the right skin or the influence where they live. I am waiting, but I don't think that I will see any of those things. Why? Because the majority of leadership in America's Christian Churches have drank the Republican Kool-Aid and have fallen in line with the ideology.

Besides, it shouldn't matter what the Christian faith says about abortion, just like it shouldn't matter what it says about gay marriage. Here is what the 14th Amendment says about American citizenship:

"All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside."

Here is where the conservative theology runs contrary to their rhetoric. According to their vision of America, we need to follow the constitution. I believe that as well, so the 14th Amendment says that when a baby is born, they become an American citizen when born on American soil. Until that baby, embryo, zygote, or whatever you want to call that thing in a woman's lower torso for 9 months is born, it does not have protection as an American citizen according to the Constitution or current American laws. And for the argument that science has changed and our knowledge of human anatomy and biology has increased dramatically since the 14th Amendment was passed, it does not matter. Just as the 2nd Amendment is ironclad according to conservatives even when science has changed the weapons and kill rates that are inflicted, so it goes towards the embryo that the woman carries. Another GOP do as I want and don't worry about what the law says topic, apparently. Instead of trying to get the constitution changed, they are trying to short-cut the law making process just like gay marriage and not follow what it says in the constitution.

In the end, the GOP is working hard as hell to get abortion outlawed in the states. They are using their allies in Christianity to help them. No matter what the GOP says, they are still using the Culture Wars to try and win elections. They know that is the only thing that they can use to win elections. Because if they try to win on the economy, reason, or jobs, pretty soon they will become an endangered species and then Christian churches will have their influence wane. We can't have that. After all, having Pat Robertson and Ted Haggert out there preaching to us that the conservative way is the right way helps keep the GOP looney and America divided about everything. Nothing like helping our enemies in the world, right GOP?