healthcare

Tuesday, January 07, 2025

January 7, 2025

What Am I Supposed To Do Without You?

After a break that, in some aspects, feels twice as long as it actually was, the kids return to school today. Yes, even in the snow. Their school, as is all of IPS, is on a two-hour delay, but everyone with any sense knows that roads won’t be any different in two hours than they are now. Making matters all the more challenging, temps are only going down. By Thursday morning, temps are expected to be at or below 0 Fahrenheit. Friday, we’ll see another round of fresh snow. Kat is driving the kids to school today, hoping that the continued efforts of DPW’s ‘Snow Force’ will lead to some improvement in roads by this afternoon. The question is whether any true progress can be made with temps staying well below freezing.

By the end of the week, pretty much all of the US, except for some West Coast areas, will be dealing with uncharacteristic snow and cold. Even Florida’s perennial beach playgrounds are likely to see temps drop close to the freezing mark. There will be snow on the ground in DC for President Carter’s funeral on Thursday, and the potential for snow and freezing temperatures are just a few of the security challenges facing the inauguration on the 20th.

Most state legislatures started their work yesterday, making attempts to prove that they still have some relevance in how their states are governed. One rural Indiana lawmaker introduced legislation that could bring about an end to the Indianapolis Public School system as it currently exists. The bill’s author, Republican Rep. Jake Teshka, who represents District 7 in a rural area south of South Bend and Mishawaka in northern Indiana, stated “I authored this legislation to ensure school corporations are giving our children the best education possible and to find solutions in districts where the current governance is failing its students. This bill would only apply to school districts where more than half of the students and families living within the school district’s boundaries are choosing to attend other schools, meaning their property taxes are funding a school system they don’t attend. This is an important conversation to have, and I look forward to hearing from parents, educators, administrators, and other stakeholders on the best path forward to ensure every Hoosier student receives a quality education.”

Yeah, yeah, yeah, is anyone buying this bullshit? House Bill 1136 would re-organize any school district where 50% or more of the students are enrolled in charter schools. All of the public schools in the district would then be converted to charter schools. This amounts to the privatization of public schools. Indianapolis students would be disproportionately affected. 80 percent of students impacted by the bill are Indianapolis students. NONE of the schools in the author’s district would be affected at all.

This pisses me off for more than one reason. First, I have an issue with some hair-brained jackass from a stinking backwater sloop of a district proposing legislation that does not and will not affect the under-educated peabrains whose parents voted for him. Second, I absolutely DESPISE any attempt to take the voice away from thousands of parents who don’t send their children to charter schools. Charter school companies are notoriously bad about swallowing up school funds for administrative costs while spending less on teachers and classrooms. Charter schools are also predominantly (there are some exceptions) closed off to parents seeking any kind of change.

Full disclosure: our kids attend a charter school that is part of the IPS system. They always have. And while we are pleased with the schools they are in now, that has not always been the case. They started kindergarten in a charter school that was horribly mismanaged, underfunded its classrooms, provided no student support, and looked for any reason to expel disruptive students. G was suspended multiple times while in first grade! Kat was quick to change schools, but the fact that this terrible charter is still in operation is highly disturbing.

I know there are a lot of people who feel that government should be completely out of the education business. The problem with that nonsense is that the only way to ensure that all children, regardless of economic status, race, religion, or disability, receive an appropriate education is to maintain a well-funded and PUBLIC education system. While some charter schools are fantastic, others are only in it for the money grab. Over the past ten years, the Indiana Department of Education has had to revoke the charters of multiple schools that were paying teachers below state minimums, hiring uncredited teachers, and mishandling school funds. Charter schools can, in theory, reject any students they want, make unreasonable demands of parents, and avoid equality oversights. This bill is a foolish idea and all Indiana parents do well to oppose it loudly.

In case you were looking for yet another reason to avoid eating at McDonalds, the fast-food chain announced yesterday that it is ending its diversity, equity, and inclusion programs. The decision comes as dozens of other companies have done exactly the same thing, making the world a more difficult and less comfortable place for anyone who is not a privileged white male. I fail to understand why there is not more noise coming in opposition to this kind of move. These are public companies whose stock prices should be hitting rock bottom because of such foolishness. Where are the boycotts? Where are the marches? I know I’ve changed my shopping/buying habits in the past year, but why isn’t everyone? I don’t get it.

One of the few pieces of good news I’m seeing this morning is that the Biden administration banned unpaid medical bills from appearing on credit reports. While this doesn’t come close to addressing the real problems of the American healthcare system, it does provide a small amount of relief for those who are already struggling with insane amounts of medical debt. Something is better than the nothing we’re going to get over the next four years, but again, why are we not bringing the entire country to a screeching halt over healthcare costs?

I thought about discussing the dangers of Getty Images buying Shutterstock or all the cool things that NVIDIA announced at CES yesterday, but Meta, the parent company of Facebook, upstaged everyone this morning by announcing that it’s eliminating fact-checking. In its place will be a program similar to the user-written Community Notes on X, which is a complete disaster. We have plenty of replacements for X. What we need is a replacement for Facebook. Now.

Sigh. I’m beginning to think that I’m too old for this damn world. We’re ignoring everything that is important to human civilization and electing the most ignorant people we can possibly find, not just in the US but around the world. I don’t feel as though I fit in anywhere. Is it too late in the treatment process to just let cancer consume me?

Current Issues / Morning Update / News & Comment / Personal / Social Commentary

Morning Update: 09/01/24

September 1, 2024

Once Upon A Car [2013 original with AI background]

Saturdays that can be chill moments for everyone are good for the soul. No one was rushing around to get out the door early. Everyone was able to move at their own pace. G worked on a sewing project he started earlier this week in the sewing club. Tipper went over to a friend’s house and hung out most of the afternoon/evening. Kat went to work around 11:30 and then to Brandon’s for the weekend. I got to watch football. If every Saturday this fall can be as restful, we’ll all be a lot healthier. The only one who’s being ornery is Frankie, the smashed-face wheezer kitty, who is determined to either sit directly behind me in my office chair, or directly in front of the monitor while I’m typing. Right now, he’s nudging my coffee cup, encouraging me to get a refill so he can take my seat.

Football was exactly what one would expect from the first game of the season. Everyone who was supposed to win, all the top-ranked teams, pretty much blew out their opponents. OU and Oklahoma State both won. IU and Purdue both won. Georgia and Tennessee both won. None of those games were even close past the first quarter. I was a little surprised that UCLA seemed to have a rough time with Hawai’i, winning with one of the lower scores of the day, 16-13. And how the hell did tiny little Abilene Christian manage to stay so close to Texas Tech? Tech won, barely, 52-51. A score like that indicates that neither team had any defense on the field. I kinda felt sorry for Akron’s starting QB. Akron got a 3-0 jump on Ohio State in the first quarter, but then OSU came roaring back and was absolutely pummeling Akron’s QB. After only four plays into the third quarter, the poor dude limped off the field, never to return to the game. I would imagine he’s reconsidering his career choices this morning. Ah, football.

Speaking of football, it’s the first Sunday in September. Why the hell aren’t the pro teams playing today? Oh, I get it, it all has to do with where the season ends and how the playoff games hit the calendar. Still, it seems odd to not have any pro games to watch today. Of course, San Francisco is probably happy about that after rookie Ricky Pearsall was shot during an attempted robbery yesterday afternoon. Pearsall’s in stable condition this morning and the 17-year-old assailant is in jail.

Someone tried calling me at 11:36 last night. I was so dead asleep that I never heard the phone ring, which is saying something since the ringer was set high while Tipper was out. Local number, not in my contacts list. If that is you, please let me know. My guess, however, is that it was a wrong number.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is in the hot seat this morning after the bodies of six hostages were recovered. Evidence shows that the hostages were all killed shortly before they might have been rescued. Israelis are blaming Netanyahu for not having signed an earlier cease-fire that would have returned the hostages while they were still alive. It seems the world has grown tired of this senseless war. It’s time for the whole thing to end.

There’s a deeply disturbing story in the Sunday Times. Acadia Healthcare has been holding people against their will to maximize insurance payout. Acadia operates a chain of psychiatric hospitals. Their patients are essentially held captive until the hospital decides to let them go. Attempting to leave a psych hospital without proper authorization can get a person arrested in most states. This gives Acadia the leverage they need to hold patients longer than legitimate treatment would require. The story leaves me wondering just how many other psych hospitals utilize the same method. I’m thinking a nationwide investigation is necessary to get to the bottom of the issue.

Labor Day weekend is when we allegedly celebrate the working person and the advantages brought to the workforce by organized labor. Our adoption of the 5-day, 40-hour workweek was a fundamental change for workers around the world. We may be losing our edge, though. Japan wants its hardworking citizens to try a 4-day workweek. As hardworking as US people are, Japanese workers break the scale. They even have a phrase (that doesn’t translate well) for working yourself to death. If Japan ends up embracing the 4-day workweek, that will put pressure on all other industrialized nations, including the US, to match the schedule. While a few US companies have tried adding an extra day to the weekend or other variations, no major company has fully adopted the concept and stayed with it. We’ll all be interested to see how this plays out.

You know, I still haven’t found those readers that disappeared yesterday. I did find an old, wire-rimmed pair that sits loosely on my face, so I’m getting by. I’m still baffled by where they could have gone.

I need to get moving, though. There’s some yard work that needs to get done before the temp gets too high. The humidity is suffocating so putting things off works against us.

I think I need another cup of coffee first, though.

Cancer Update / Current Issues / Morning Update / News & Comment / Personal / Politics / Social Commentary

Morning Update: 07/17/24

July 17, 2024

Before You Sleep [2010 original with AI background]

Apologies are necessary if there is some confusion this morning. WordPress, the engine we use for publishing this website, was upgraded this morning. I’m already noticing a number of differences simply in the editing styles. I have no idea yet if anything on the website, such as photos or videos, is broken. Feel free to peruse archives on your own and let me know if you find something out of place or strange.

The rain that lasted well into yesterday morning made the day a good one for sleeping. None of the animals seemed to mind. They cuddled in close and did a good job of keeping me company. A few groceries were delivered (yes, the ice cream was very soft), and a couple of things arrived from Amazon (though, more were delayed which is always disturbing). Nausea ruled the afternoon and into the evening, though. The kids did fine taking care of themselves so I didn’t have to cook. Yet, despite my inclination to not eat anything, my glucose was still over 250. I do not understand how that works and I am disturbed that the gains we thought we were making a couple of weeks ago now seem to be completely lost.

I thought that the kids’ back-to-school stuff was today, but apparently it’s tomorrow. The consequences of that are doing things today, such as mowing, that I had planned to do tomorrow when it’s supposed to be cooler. The humidity was stifling when I took the dogs out this morning, but we both know it’s not going to get any more comfortable as the day goes on. I’ll take my meds and we’ll make the best of it. That’s what we all have to do anyway, isn’t it? Chemo or not, things still have to get done.

Some things are slipping through the media cracks that bother me, though. Like, there was a serious enough threat from Iran on the Orange Felon that the security detail had already been upgraded. A helluva lot of good it did, but the fact that, according to AP, these threats have been pretty damn consistent speaks directly to the extent of foreign involvement in our election. Russia and China tend to keep their involvement quiet, but Iran’s out here like, “Oh hell no, we’re gonna take someone out and we don’t care who knows it.” Am I the only one who thinks this should be a bigger issue than it is?

The continued power outages in the Houston area are causing the insanity to rise to the top. People are doing stupid things such as throwing rocks, drawing guns, and refusing to let linemen onto their property to get the electricity flowing again. Texas’ continued inability to respond to power outages speaks to the ineptness of both their politicians and the state’s electric utilities to address issues that have existed over the entirety of Greg Abbot’s governorship. Here’s the lesson all states need to learn: we’ve created a society 100% dependent on electricity. All our means of communication, our livelihoods, our productivity, and even our meal prep depend on that juice flowing. Electricity is the most critical piece of infrastructure in the country. Even if roads become undrivable, we can stay home and still get shit done as long as there is electricity. Such dependence makes us vulnerable when states and their utilities fail to prioritize an adequate plan for service recovery in the face of inevitable weather-related outages. This also makes us vulnerable to terrorism, which, again, no one seems to want to talk about.

At the same time, somewhere in the neighborhood of 55,000 Catholics are invading Indianapolis for the first National Eucharist Congress since 1941. As if enduring a week of Southern Baptists last month wasn’t enough, these folks are invading downtown and will even snarl traffic with a 1.5-mile walk on Saturday afternoon. While Catholics generally are not the tightwads that Southern Baptists are, their presence, some in full religious regalia, creates an uncomfortable atmosphere as they do a lot of talking and little, if any, actual helping. Anyone who champions women’s rights and autonomy is going to find the presence of so much religion more than a little off-putting. We really wish the city would stop bringing these religious events to town.

Meanwhile, there’s already been another critical shooting in Indy this morning. This is on top of a road rage murder at Thompson and Emerson yesterday afternoon. And a severe lack of affordable childcare continues to slow any economic growth in the city. These are problems that no number of religious conventions are going to solve. The problems in the city are so severe, has anyone even noticed that the Brickyard 400 is this weekend? I haven’t checked to be sure, but I don’t think the East gate to the North 40 is even going to be open, so parking in our neighborhood is pointless (I’ll double-check to make sure that’s accurate).

Where political and religious conventions totally miss the boat is right here, at home, on the streets where all of us non-politicians and real people live. Politicians are surrounded by money, have people like Elon Musk throwing money at them, and want for nothing more than power. The rest of us? We want to live, peacefully, in our homes, next to our neighbors (without giving a shit where they’re from), eating food that isn’t going to kill us, enjoying pastimes that give us joy, and raising vibrant families. We don’t need an Orange Felon telling us lies such as vaccinations ‘radically changing’ our children. We don’t need politicians yanking hardworking people out of their jobs and deporting them when we already have the lowest unemployment rate in decades. We don’t need a VP candidate telling women they need to stay home and have more babies. None of that helps anyone and the fact that all of those issues are part of the GOP platform demonstrates not only how horribly out of touch they are with reality, but how dangerous they are to the American way of life.

Want to make my life safer? Do something about the vulnerability of the nation’s infrastructure. Want to make life more prosperous? Reduce the cost of child care so women can hold the jobs they want to have. Want to make life more enjoyable? Give us easy-to-access healthcare that doesn’t force us into bankruptcy. Want to make life worth living? Get the fuck out of our way and stop trying to control our lives.

That only happens if we upset the political tables and run conservative-leaning politicians out of town.

Sigh. I need to go mow. It’s not going to get any cooler.

I hope these posts are still viewable.

Cancer Update / Current Issues / Morning Update / News & Comment / Personal / Politics / Social Commentary

Morning Update: 06/11/24

June 11, 2024

Let’s Make This Interesting [2021 original with AI swan]

How the hell is it the middle of June and it’s 46 degrees outside this morning? The dogs were snuggled up so tight against me this morning, that for a moment I thought someone liked me (until Ham wagged his tail). This cool front is supposed to leave by tomorrow, but damn, I’m going to have to put on long sleeves to take the dogs out in a bit!

The good news is that I did make it to the doctor yesterday. My glucose is down considerably, so there’s no need for insulin at this time. My blood pressure was still stupidly high, though, so we’re going back on Jardiance to address that and latent heart and stroke issues. We’ll check everything again in three months unless the numbers start getting high again.

Shortly after getting back home, my check hit the bank so I was able to order the groceries that we needed. The biggest challenge was trying to get all the frozen food into one little freezer. Since there’s not a store that carries fresh food within walking distance, we use a lot of frozen veggies to make sure we’re not going to get scurvy or anything like that. You wouldn’t think that would take a lot of space, but it does. Still, it’s a problem I’m glad to deal with. Seeing an empty fridge/freezer is rather frightening.

Another bit of good news came this morning as Hamas says it accepts UN-backed Gaza truce plan. There are still details to work out, and Israel has to stop bombing the living hell out of everything in Gaza, but after eight months of the two sides trading war crimes, I think the rest of the world is ready for them to stop. Since they’ve been behaving like spoiled children, perhaps we put them in separate corners of the region and make them sit facing a wall for a couple of centuries until they learn their lesson. Do you think that might work?

After going all day yesterday saying that his plane was missing, officials now confirm that Malawi vice president Chilima was killed in a plane crash. Malawi isn’t in the news a lot and their politics rarely get lively enough for the rest of the world to notice. However, this is the second high-ranking government official to die in an aircraft “accident” in the past month. You’ll remember that Iran’s president was killed in a helicopter “accident” a couple of weeks ago. I hope this isn’t the start of a trend.

The FBI’s latest data shows a ‘historic’ drop in crime across the US, citing a decrease in violent crime of 15% for the first three months of the year. From a pure numbers perspective, this is great news. However, perception is reality on this issue and what ultimately matters is whether people feel safe. This is still going to be a huge hot-button topic for election campaigns and expect to see some absolutely ridiculous claims from the far right. The national media is partially complicit here, sensationalizing every shooting they can find. The fact that there are fewer of them gets lost in the headlines that are part of making people feel unsafe.

One more thing and I’ll shut up for a few minutes. ABC News is reporting that the Biden administration plans to ban medical debt from credit reports. On one hand, this is good news for millions of Americans. However, it raises a couple of issues. First, why not eliminate medical debt completely with a national healthcare plan that simply covers everything? Wipe money-grubbing insurance companies and greedy hospital executives off the map and the debt goes away. Second, the change doesn’t have the full weight of the law. It exists in a rule change within the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. That means a subsequent president could have the rule overturned, which puts everyone in a precarious position. The economy needs people to have better credit scores, though, so that sales of big-ticket items such as homes and cars can increase. Take the win for now, but be careful that it’s not a real solution to the cost of healthcare in the US.

Oh yeah, I’m looking at my web stats and noticing that no one has looked at the article I posted yesterday afternoon, “Dealing With Adobe’s New ToS.” I thought for sure that my creative friends would be all over this one. I’m a bit disappointed. I included pictures and everything! LOL!

For some reason, today doesn’t feel like a Tuesday. I’m getting more of a Wednesday vibe, except that Kat’s here, which doesn’t happen on Wednesday mornings. The lawn needs to be mowed, but we’ll have to wait until the temperature outside at least hits 60. I’m not sending the kids out in coats!

You and I both need more coffee. Fill your cup and maybe I’ll have a surprise later this morning.

Art / Current Issues / Politics / pop culture / Social Commentary / video

A NSFW VIDEO FOR BIGOTS

May 10, 2024

Whether you like someone or not is irrelevant. Everyone on the planet deserves a safe place to exist, a sufficient amount of food to eat, healthcare without prequalifications, personal dignity (respecting how they identify), and love.

You don’t get to deny them these rights. They don’t get to deny you, either. That’s the way it has to be.

IF YOU DON’T LIKE IT, THAT’S JUST TOUGH. SIT THERE AND BE BITTER BUT STAY THE FUCK OUT OF THE WAY.

FOREVER.

Current Issues / News & Comment

Don’t Get Sick

January 18, 2017

Healthcare confusion is a good excuse to take care of yourself

The Short Version

After a party-line vote during a late-night session of Congress allowed for the complete dismantling of the Affordable Care Act, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, joined by Congress’ Joint Committee on Taxation, released a statement yesterday saying that repealing the healthcare law without a replacement would result in 18 million more uninsured Americans. However, that assessment was made on previous legislation. No new legislation has been submitted yet and the president-elect has promised “universal coverage.” With all the confusion, the best advice, for now, is to take care of yourself and not expect anything from Congress.

A Little More Detail

Congress scared a lot of people last week when it passed a bill changing the rules for repealing the Affordable Care Act. The vote was largely along party lines, 51-48, and came in the wee hours of Thursday morning while most Americans were sound asleep. At first, because a protective clause regarding pre-existing conditions and other coverage was removed from the nonbinding resolution, many people were under the impression that coverage for pre-existing conditions had been removed. It hadn’t. All the resolution did was make it easier for Congress to repeal existing healthcare legislation by allowing the Senate to pass such a bill with a simple majority rather than the 60 votes currently required.

Still, mention healthcare and one suddenly has the attention of millions of Americans who would not have any insurance coverage without the Affordable Care Act. So, the Congressional Budget Office and the Joint Committee on Taxation took a look at the last bill in which Congress attempted to repeal the Affordable Care Act and calculated the cost. Their determination was that should Congress follow a similar pattern and repeal the law without any replacement, insurance costs would soar and 18 million people who currently have coverage would lose it within the first year. Were no replacement offered, the number of uninsured Americans would swell to 56 million by 2026. One has to admit those are pretty scary numbers.

However, there is currently no serious bill before Congress that would gut the Affordable Care Act. At this point, the House of Representatives is still arguing over smaller, more petty details and the Senate is fully consumed in hearings for Cabinet appointees. Any omnibus bill that would completely repeal the Affordable Care Act with any hope of receiving the president’s signature is still several months away.

Add to that the promise of GOP leaders to retain the pre-existing condition coverage and the president-elect’s promise for universal coverage and the waters get even more muddy. If the incoming president is going to hold out for a replacement plan that covers everyone, then Congress has to dramatically alter its approach away from anything they proposed last year. This could potentially set the stage for disagreement between the president and congressional leaders, further delaying any kind of repeal and replace legislation.

At this point, there is absolutely no certainty of any kind as to how Congress might actually handle changes to the healthcare laws. The confusion is frustrating and leaves millions of Americans in limbo regarding long-term healthcare.

Time To Self-Medicate

Given all the confusion and uncertainty regarding the healthcare laws, doctors are taking a more cautious approach and advising patients to maintain current medication and to take more responsibility for their personal health where it is reasonable to do so. Here are some of the recommendations being offered:

See your physician for a regular checkup, making sure prescriptions and treatment plans are up-to-date.
Make sure all scheduled vaccinations are up-to-date.
Maintain a healthy diet that is appropriate to both your age and physical needs. Not everyone should eat the same things.
Stay active with an appropriate exercise plan that does not present a high level of risk.
Avoid high-risk activities where possible. Now is not the time to undertake something that might leave one in need of long-term healthcare.
Stay away from unproven forms of “alternative” medicines that could complicate healthcare.
Those in high-risk categories, such as the very young and very old, should avoid contact with highly infectious environments and limit some public activities during high-risk seasons.

In short: don’t get sick. There is no promise that anyone will be covered for any form of healthcare in the future, regardless of what Congress and the president-elect might say. Taking responsibility for your own healthcare and that of your children is something we all should be doing anyway. It probably doesn’t hurt to start a savings account to use in the event of a medical catastrophe, such as a car accident or a rabid squirrel attack if you can afford to do so.

We’ve not lost everything yet, but to the degree we can prepare for the worst we are better off.

News & Comment

12/14/16: 5 Things You Should Know

December 14, 2016

charles i. letbetter - 12/15/16 5 Things you should know

Dipping The News In 40-Grade Sarcasm

https://youtu.be/va_hRRbJvP8

Welcome to hump day, where the Midwest hopes its collective ass doesn’t freeze off and folks in the Northeast are checking out igloo design plans. It’s cold outside but the news is hot. So hot, in fact, that we’re avoiding talking about Aleppo because the situation there is changing so quickly this morning that anything we say about it is going to be wrong 30 minutes later. Actor Alan Thicke, the dad on Growing Pains died, by the way. And the whole Russian hacking thing is downright spooky.

We’re not talking about those things this morning, though. Why? Because people are stupid and we have to guard against stupid people before they ruin everyone’s lives, especially when the stupidity reaches the higher levels of government. We normally wouldn’t disparage our leaders quite to this degree, but what they’ve done in the past 24 hours is a bit over the top.

We start this morning talking about babies.

1. Country girls need to sober up

Once upon a time, the stereotype of a country girl was that she was sweet, innocent, and hard working. Well, you can just put that characterization on the shelf because it’s much more likely that she’s drugged out of her fucking mind, doesn’t know what she’s doing, and her baby is paying for her choices. Urban women are having much healthier babies and it’s not necessarily because they have access to better healthcare.

What’s going on? Research published Monday shows that the rate of drug-dependent babies has jumped a whopping 80 percent in rural counties since 2004.¹ Increased opioid use, which is an increasing problem nationwide, is largely to blame. Addicted mothers are more likely to spend what little money they have on drugs. They’re less likely to work and less likely to receive a sufficient level of prenatal care because of their drug use.

Pediatricians are talking about something called “Neonatal abstinence syndrome,” which typically occurs while the fetus is still in the uterus. Newborns not only suffer from dangerously low birth weights, but also tend to have seizures, fever, and tremors. Doctors are having to use methadone on babies, tiny little newborn babies, in order to wean them off the fucking drugs!

On what planet is this situation acceptable? Don’t look to the government for help. Congressional Republicans can’t cut funding for health care fast enough. Even if they did keep funding in place, government policies on drug use and abuse have been misplaced for over 30 years. They don’t know what they’re doing. We need a better drug policy quickly before our infant mortality rate starts to resemble that of a third world country.

2. Getting Government Out Of The Womb

I am absolutely shocked at the number of stories popping up this week regarding abortion and a woman’s choice. Just in case you’ve never met me, let me be very clear on where I stand: if you’re not a woman capable of having children, you just need to keep your fucking mouth shut. You don’t get an opinion, you don’t get a voice, because it’s none of your fucking business. Government, especially, has absolutely no business dictating when, where, or under what conditions a woman should or should not have a baby. This is a woman’s choice and any interference with that choice is wrong.

Yet, state legislatures especially just keep tossing abortion laws up there and getting them knocked back down by federal courts. Yesterday, Ohio Governor and former presidential candidate John Kasich had two such bills on his desk. One was the controversial “heartbeat” bill that would have outlawed abortion as soon as a heartbeat was detectable, as early as six weeks. He vetoed that one, which was exactly what he should have done. However, before you go giving the governor a pat on the back, you should know that he signed a 20-week abortion bill, furthering the war on women and their bodies².

In Oklahoma yesterday, the state supreme court tossed a law requiring abortion clinics to have doctors with admitting privileges at nearby hospitals³. This is good news, though I can promise you there aren’t that many abortion clinics in Oklahoma to begin with. Still, a win is a win, right? Hold on. At the exact same time, the state’s Department of Health says it’s considering new regulations that would force hospitals, nursing homes, restaurants and public schools to post signs inside public restrooms with information about abortion alternatives⁴. The signs would read:

There are many public and private agencies willing and able to help you carry your child to term and assist you and your child after your child is born, whether you choose to keep your child or to place him or her for adoption. The State of Oklahoma strongly urges you to contact them if you are pregnant.

We have a six-year-old in our house who is in first grade and catching on to reading rather quickly. She reads everything, especially signs. Do I want her going into the restroom at a pizza place and seeing that sign? Hell no!

Not only that, the agency isn’t providing any funding for the signs. Those hospitals, nursing homes, restaurants, and schools are going to have to pay for those signs out of their own pocket. If the signs aren’t there, it is a health code violation and the facility can be fined or possibly even closed.

I have to stop my rant here because I’m out of time, but this is one of the most stupid things I’ve ever seen Oklahoma do, and trust me, I’ve seen them do some really stupid things in the past few years.

3. The Poor Don’t Get To Retire

One of the things the Department of Labor has been touting over the past year has been the reduction in the unemployment rate since the Obama administration took office in 2009. Statistics for the month of November show unemployment continues to decrease, falling to 4.6 percent⁵. However, what’s buried deep in those statistics is an alarming fact that 18.3 percent of the workforce is part-time. That particular little stat has only dropped less than two percent, from 20.1, since 2010. Sure, people have jobs, but they’re making shit wages and having to run from one job to another just to make ends meet.

There are many downsides to part-time employment, but long-term one of the biggest disadvantages is that these people typically don’t get benefits. They don’t have access to any kind of an employer-sponsored 401K or any other retirement plan. And even if they did have access to those plans, they wouldn’t have enough expendable income to be able to participate. We’re talking about people who already make so little money they have to worry about keeping the lights on, the kids fed, and a roof over their heads.

Sure, they’re paying into Social Security, but Republicans in Congress are doing everything they can to steal that money from us. Just yesterday, the Associated Press reported that Rep. Sam Johnson of Texas, the chairman of the House Ways and Means subcommittee on Social Security, introduced a bill that would raise the retirement age and decrease benefits for a large number of seniors⁶. Congress seems to routinely forget that Social Security is not an entitlement program. Social Security is money we paid into the system with every freakin’ paycheck we’ve ever earned. We deserve every last dime of it, with interest.

This is yet another sign of how completely blind Congress is to the needs of the poor. Why we keep electing the bastards I don’t know.

4. Don’t Light That Candle

Candles are big business this time of year with all the holiday decorations and everything, but if you recently purchased one from the Yankee Candle Company, you might want to take it back before you risk lighting the thing. The candle company has announced a recall of some 31,000 candles due to what it calls a “laceration hazard⁷.” Apparently, when one lights the candle the glass around it breaks.

Now, before you go snatching up every candle in the house, you should know that the recall only applies to a select group of candles sold between September and November of this year. However, you won’t find any mention of the recall on their website. Nowhere. We looked. And while the whole “laceration hazard” thing sounds really dangerous, no one has actually been hurt. The candles don’t shatter, they crack.

While we don’t want to question the authenticity of the recall, the way Yankee Candle is handling it makes it look more like a stunt to get people back into their stores before the holidays. You go to return the candle, and not only do you get a replacement, you’re likely to pick up two or three more while you’re there. Maybe it’s just me, but this has a shady feel to it that dampens my holiday spirit (as if I actually had any).

5. And Finally …

Wonder Woman has gotten the boot from the United Nations⁸. The 75-year-old comic book character was presented back in October as the UN’s honorary ambassador for the empowerment of women and girls. However, there were a lot of people who didn’t exactly agree with that move. On one hand, the UN was giving a dominant voice to a character owned by a for-profit company, as it so happens, has a movie about this very character coming out in the near future. There seemed to be some ethics blurring here. Others, to no one’s surprise, were upset because of how they view Wonder Woman’s costume, which we might kindly refer to as “voluptuous.” Let’s be honest, there have been a lot of adolescent boys over the years who had wet dreams about having a Wonder Woman in their lives. Freud would have a field day.

The problem with the sudden dismissal of Wonder Woman from her honorary position is that it reeks of body shaming. Wonder Woman is too curvy, her outfit is too revealing, and therefore she is unfit to be an example for women and girls.

Bullshit. The real problem people have, and have always had, with Wonder Woman is that she’s a strong, independent female who defies the norms and kicks the boys’ asses on a regular basis. Wonder Woman doesn’t give a shit what you think about her body or how she chooses to dress, and that bothers a lot of people, especially men who happen to dominate the UN. Just how afraid are men at the UN afraid of women? In the recent search for a new Secretary General, the UN bypassed seven, count ’em, seven women, who were fully qualified and settled, once again, on a man.

Maybe pairing with a character from a for-profit company wasn’t the greatest of ideas, but the world needs to get over this fear of strong women, or any woman for that matter. Stop perpetuating the myth that attractive women aren’t as intelligent or as worthy or as strong as anyone else. We have to be better than that.

And with that, we’re out of time for today. There is still so very much more that I could probably continue for another 30 minutes. Be careful where you get your information, though. We’ve seen a lot of fake news in this cycle as well. Watch your sources. Stay warm out there and have a good day.

Current Issues / Social Commentary

5 Questions You Should Be Asking

November 11, 2016

Is unifying behind the president-elect something you can morally and ethically justify? Ask yourself these questions.

I was chided by an acquaintance yesterday, someone who does not know me well at all, because my frequent use of the hashtag #NotMyPresident is not unifying. She is of the opinion that, with the election being over, we should all put aside our differences in the name of unity. She finds my unwillingness to do so to be shameful, despite the fact we agree on the issues over which I find myself unable to support the new administration.

Let me be clear that I do not, at this point, condone the many street protests that are taking place, either. The violence that occurred overnight in Portland, Oregon is especially inappropriate and unhelpful to any meaningful actions that might need to be taken. The president-elect, as unsavory as his election might be to millions of us, has not actually done anything yet that carries any substantial power. One of the reasons mainstream Republicans had difficulty supporting their nominee was because he has a long and well-documented history of saying one thing and doing exactly the opposite. Until he proposes offensive rights-limiting legislation or, after being sworn in, commits acts of hate, street protests are meaningless and lack any authority.

However, that does not mean that unity behind this new administration is an option, either. For those who are considering abandoning their morals and ethics for the sake of unifying behind a president-elect who can’t be trusted, we strongly suggest you ask yourself these five questions.

1. Do you support sexual assault against women, diminishing the severity of rape, and perpetuating a culture of violence against women?

Despite having won the election, the president-elect is still scheduled to go on trial December 16 for the alleged rape of a 13-year-old girl. Let that sink in for a moment. While any rape is horrible, we’re talking about a 13-year-old. This is the shamefulness of the person who was elected president. To support him is to support his actions. Anyone who unifies behind this man is saying to all the little girls in the United States, “Hey, rape isn’t really all that bad.”

In addition to the rape charges, the president-elect is also facing numerous allegations of sexual assault. His response to those allegations was that he would sue the women making such statements once he is sworn in. Do you support victim blaming? You do if you plan on unifying behind this president.

The president-elect has an extremely misogynistic attitude toward women as demonstrated by his conversations not only during the campaign but across most of his public life. When Fox News anchor Megan Kelly questioned the nominee about his behavior, he called Kelly a “bimbo” among other things. His long history of insulting women is well documented and inexcusable.

Apparently, those facts don’t bother some people. If your morality and ethics are such that you can excuse and tolerate someone whose words and actions are actively and consistently anti-women, then you have elected someone who shares those values. For the rest of us, though, this is a disqualifier. We cannot and will not support anyone who does not treat women as equals for any reason. Therefore, we cannot and will not unify behind the president-elect.

2. Do you support the mistreatment, registration, and deportation of people based upon their religious beliefs?

In a November 10, 2015 article, the New York Times reported that the then-candidate for president supported registration for all Muslims who reside in the United States. When asked how that different from Nazi registration of the Jews prior to the Holocaust, the candidate’s reply was, “You tell me.” He has also stated, in multiple interviews, that, “We’re going to have to look at a lot of things very closely. We’re going to have to look at the mosques. We’re going to have to look very, very carefully.” As a candidate, the now president-elect has been extremely harsh in his words about Muslims, including the possibility of an open ban on any Muslims immigrating or even flying into the United States.

This rhetoric and attitude have had a devastating effect since the election. Repeatedly, Muslim women have reported having their hijabs yanked off their heads in public. American Muslims, people who were born and raised here just like the rest of us, no longer feel safe. Some of the most devout have even warned other women to not wear their hijabs for fear of violence against them. The hate perpetuated by the president-elect is very real.

Unifying behind this president-elect is showing support for this kind of hate, disregard for the religious freedoms of the First Amendment, and bigotry toward people simply based on their religion. Can you imagine the backlash that would happen if the same statements were made against Southern Baptists? Muslims have the exact same rights as Baptists, Catholics, Lutherans, and every other religion in the United States. If you can’t deal with that, you need to find somewhere else to live. We’re not going to tolerate such hate toward our Muslim friends.

3. Do you support the denial of basic civil rights, including the right to marry, based on one’s sexual identity?

Blame the vice president-elect for this one. As Governor of Indiana, he attempted to enact one of the most egregious and damaging anti-LGBTQ laws in the country. Hoosiers immediately revolted with industry from all over the world showing support by removing their business and conventions from the state. The then-Governor was forced to back down and amend the law to protect everyone regardless of sexuality. However, as vice president-elect, he has made it very clear that this administration “will be anti-LGBTQ and anti-women.”

Once again, it is the attitude of the incoming administration that is setting off real violence in the streets. Tuesday evening, a Calgary film producer visiting Santa Monica, California, was beaten to a bloody pulp for being gay by supporters of the president-elect. Is this how it is going to be? Does anyone actually think we are making America great with this sort of behavior?

Our LGBTQ friends have made some great strides in terms of establishing their rights as citizens over the past eight years. Now, all those rights appear to be in jeopardy under this new administration with the vice-president leading the attack. There is no way anyone of reasonable mind can unify behind a government that fails to condemn hate and is threatening to remove the rights of people based upon their sexuality. We are morally and ethically required to fight against any such activity.

4.Can you support a president who shows complete disdain and disrespect for people of color?

Someone apparently failed to tell the president-elect that white people no longer make up a majority of the U. S. population. Here are just a sampling of his documented statements about people of color:

“Black guys counting my money! I hate it. The only kind of people I want counting my money are short guys that wear yarmulkes every day.” (source)

“Laziness is a trait in blacks.” (source)

“And if you look at black and African American youth, to a point where they’ve never done more poorly. There’s no spirit.” (source)

“When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending the best. They’re sending people that have lots of problems. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists, and some, I assume, are good people.” (source)

The list could go on and on for days. The fact is that if you’re not as pasty white as he is, the president-elect has no respect for you. None. In fact, one of his primary goals within his first 100 days is to enact legislation that would provide inner-city police more powerful weapons in dealing with alleged crime and violence in urban neighborhoods. If you thought police violence against people of color was bad before, it could get a lot worse under this administration.

“Black Lives Matter” is not an opinion. We cannot unify behind a president who does not protect the best interests of people of color, who does not respect their lives and their contributions to the fabric of our country.

5. Do you support the denial of health and reproductive rights to women?

We’ve already established that this administration is anti-women, but what matters now is that the entire political structure in Washington is ready to wage a full-scale war against women. Over the past six years, the Republican-controlled Congress has tried repeatedly to limit, freeze, or completely destroy funding for women’s healthcare, especially when that healthcare involves a matter of choice. With the election of this new president, all legislative roadblocks that prevented Congress from achieving their evil plans are removed. Women across the United States are in grave danger.

Healthcare is a tremendously serious issue for women, especially when it comes to pregnancy and child care. Thanks to increased insurance coverage and support for non-profits such as Planned Parenthood, the United State’s unreasonable high rate of infant mortality has gone down in recent years. Make no mistake, however, that should the funding for those programs be removed, which would happen if both the president-elect and Republican-controlled Congress get their way, those deadly numbers would once again skyrocket. More women would die in childbirth. More women would have unplanned pregnancies. More babies would die from disease and distress before they are one year old. More women would die of cancer because they wouldn’t have access to early treatment programs. The devastation across our country would be severe.

I understand that not everyone agrees on a woman’s right to choose. Most of those who fail to agree on that topic, however, are men, who have no right to even have a voice in the conversation. Women alone should be in control of their bodies. Government has no business telling them what to do and men, especially, have to business trying to force women to do what they’re told. To remove funding for women’s healthcare is a form of legislative rape. Congress has already proven its willingness to commit, if not outright fondness for rape against women’s rights. Now, they have a president willing to sign that legislation into law.

I cannot fathom how any person with the ability to reason above the level of a six-year-old can support or unify behind such intent. To unify behind the president-elect on this issue is to stand up and tell the world that you hate women. There is no excuse. There can be no tolerance. We cannot unify behind such policies and we must do everything in our power to keep them from becoming law.

I could take this list on and on forever, but I don’t have time to type it all and you probably wouldn’t read the whole thing if I did. Five questions are sufficient enough for anyone to decide whether or not they can morally and ethically justify unifying behind this president-elect. I know I can’t. On each of these issues and more I plan on remaining very diligent, very vocal, and very adamant about stopping any moves on the part of this new administration that in any way threatens my family, my friends, or my freedom of expression. As long as the threat remains, there can be no unity.

Current Issues / PotD / Social Commentary

Love As A Political Platform

October 16, 2016

I think artists are always investigating how to have an economic, political platform. —Jeff Koons

What if we ditched the existing political parties and went with one that has love as its political platform? Consider the potential

Another Sunday morning. I’ve already taken the dog for his morning walk, both of us enjoying the extra light from the full Hunter’s Moon. The second pot of coffee is on. Dishes are washing in the dishwasher. Clothes are drying in the dryer. For the moment, everyone is asleep except me and the black cat, Burberry. She’s taking advantage of the quiet to give herself a thorough cleaning. For however many seconds this lasts, it is calming.

We are so incredibly inundated with politics this season that there seems to be no escape. I don’t mind admitting I’m concerned. I doubt the accuracy of polls in a race where a large number of voters are likely to go with a literal coin toss on election day. With Russia threatening, Yemen simmering, and Syria ready to explode (again), moments like these where my blood pressure is almost back within normal range are few.

At moments like this, I can’t help wondering what might be Poppa’s sermon topic were he preaching this morning. He disliked politics and didn’t think they belonged anywhere near the pulpit. Yet, in an atmosphere as politically charged as this one, even the church isn’t immune.

Perhaps he would artfully dodge the matter by talking about love as a political platform. He would use John 13:34 as his text: A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. He liked that passage. From there, he would develop the political platform based on the qualities of love. Perhaps something like this:

Love As Domestic Policy

When developing any political platform, one has to first consider how they are going to handle matters here at home. Certainly, we can use a lot of love right here, right now, and there are myriad ways love could be applied. One strong move might be to dissolve the two existing major political parties. They have become so incredibly polarized that they are no longer able to function. The hate between the two sides of the aisles in Congress has brought much-needed legislation to a standstill. Dissolving both parties and starting over with a stated intent of working from a basis of respect, loving those of contrary opinion, willing to sacrifice for the sake of consensus, would set a strong example for the people of the United States to follow.

Across the country, applying love through everything the federal government does would have a profound effect. We would end mass incarceration, mandatory sentencing, and find ways to actually help those who are challenged to fit into society. We would take an attitude of moving from community policing to community helping, perhaps putting more social workers on the street who can help people address problems before any law is broken. We would abolish the failed war on drugs, look at the legitimate power of cannabis, and address the basic conditions that lead to severe drug use.

A political platform that uses love for domestic policy invokes radical changes in the way we think, in the way relate to each other. We are not adversaries as many would have us believe. We are brothers and sisters committed to each other in Love, and that is a power that can take communities from the slums to the heights of prosperity, from crime to celebration, and from desperation to hope.

Love As Economic Policy

The economy is a huge and very sensitive issue in any political platform. When President Obama first entered office in 2009, we were in the throws of the worst economy since the Great Depression. Yet, while the numbers say that the economy has improved dramatically, those improvements haven’t been felt on the street where people are still struggling. That we need to apply some love to our economic policies seem obvious, but exactly how would we do that?

Perhaps we need to start by de-incentivizing greed. Love does not hoard, love gives. We have, since the beginning of the stock markets, based our measurements of economic growth based on monetary accumulation. We look at sales growth as a primary indicator of a company’s value with no consideration of whether they bring any actual benefit to the national or global population. If we change our valuation away from one that rewards greed to one that rewards actual benefit, we incentivize growth that is actually felt outside the corporate boardroom.

Love also is found in an economy where no one has too much and no one has too little. Our national wage system is in tatters and reinforces a social caste system that keeps the poor and disadvantaged, especially people of color, from making any personal economic progress. Yes, love rewards those who achieve, but it does not turn its back on those who struggle. Love sets a wage standard that allows everyone to live without need, without fear of being in want, and with an ability to be proud of who they are and what they do.

Love As Foreign Policy

Insomuch as the United States is a global power, we have a lot of influence in what happens around the world. We have the ability to change everything from the spread of deadly disease to the ability to grow crops and make a region self-sustaining. We have, too often, used our influence and power for bad. The world desperately needs for us to turn our foreign policy around and use it to spread love across the globe.

We do that by funding programs and providing assistance to efforts that help people, not those that hurt them. We spread love by helping to stabilize economies so that there is an absence of need. Love comes not when we sell our surplus weapons so that one tribe can have power over another, but when we trade their weapons for food, medicine, and economic support.

To those who insist on war and doing harm to others, we respond first to those they victimize, welcoming refugees, especially those persecuted and in need of medical attention. We keep our offers of love on the table at all times, but we fund no one’s aggression and do not allow our acts of kindness to be manipulated and misused. We defend where we must, but we do not utilize aggression as a means of getting what we want.

Love As Education Policy

Love facilitates learning throughout one’s lifetime. Love looks for ways to remove the barriers to learning whether they be financial, logistical, emotional, or intellectual. Love finds ways to help those for whom learning is a challenge and is not satisfied with any excuse for one not being taught to the full level of their potential. Love rewards those who learn and encourages them to use what they know, along with the skills and talents they possess to make the world a better place.

Love also understands that as much as we are all lifetime learners, we are also teachers. Some may teach in a classroom, others may teach through skill development or helping to advance understanding in critical thinking. Love values teaching because it understands the necessity of teaching to improve the learning that moves the world forward. As a political platform, teaching is critical because we have, for too long, relied on inappropriate standards of measure that punish actual broad instruction. Love gives teachers room to utilize different styles, methods, and pedagogies to meet the instructional needs of their students.

More than anything, Love shares knowledge and wisdom with respect, teaching history with regard to its impact on different cultures, teaching science as the progressive understanding of the earth based on fact rather than mythologies, teaching mathematics in light of its practical applications, and teaching the arts as an open expression of culture and personhood.

Love As Healthcare Policy

There is no political platform that can promise to make everyone well, to increase everyone’s longevity, or prevent new disease. Living and loving involves risks and where there are risks there is inevitably pain and infirmities that love on its own cannot prevent nor take away. How love responds to these critical moments of need starts by, once again, removing the greed incentive that has placed adequate healthcare out of the reach of many. Healthcare as a profit center is not love. Medicine as a source of profit is not love. Instead of rewarding the healthcare system based on the amount of profit it can produce, love dictates that reward instead be based on the amount of good being done.

Love does not deny anyone the best available healthcare, neither does it distribute care based on status or economic or social standing. Love provides to each the treatment they need at the time they need it without any unnecessary delay. Access to medicines is universal and availability of appliances such as artificial limbs are unhindered.

As policy, love takes medical care wherever it is needed, looking for creative and different ways to reach remote rural areas where care has too often been sparse and insufficient. Love leaves no one hurting and seeks to improve the quality of life for all.

Love And The Interior

Responsibilities for the Department of Interior are overly broad and too frequently under-funded. Everything from infrastructure to energy to the environment falls under this enormous umbrella and its myriad subdivisions. Yet, here too, a political platform based on love offers a more balanced and practical way of addressing the many physical needs that occur throughout our country. Love reaches out, looks forward, and protects our resources.

Love develops infrastructure based less on what currently exists and more on what is necessary for the future, looking at new technologies and embracing means of transportation that improve efficiency while reducing environmental impact. Love longs for sustainability in an energy policy that relies less on resources that can not be replaced and emphasizes those that are naturally occurring and provide benefit to the environment.

Love understands that we are firmly connected to this planet and must be good stewards of its use. Protections for waterways and all that exists within them is critical to a loving environment. Reducing our own footprint is a demonstration of love that allows those who come behind us to continue enjoying the natural wonders that fill our lives with beauty and pleasure.

Love As Social Policy

Our society is ill from all the partisan bickering to which we’ve been subjected. This is not a new disease for our country, but one which has reached such a critical point that have lost the use of some through alienation and marginalized many through hate. We need a political platform that brings love back as the dominant force in our society, encouraging and rewarding those who do for others before doing for themselves.

We need a national social policy that is wholly inclusive, so that people of color needn’t cower in fear, so that no one should ever be afraid to express who they are or what their sexuality might be, so that everyone gets an equal voice, even those with little to offer in return. A political platform based on love does not disregard the elderly no matter their age or level of ability. Neither does it leave children abandoned, starving, and without sufficient care.

Love rewards those who give, whether in terms of finances, or skills, or time spent holding the hand of one whose days are nearing their end. Love rewards those who strive for peace, diligently working to end conflicts before they escalate to violence. If the United States is to be the shining beacon of hope we want it to be, we must utilize love more than anything to stamp out all the fears that keep us from trusting, from engaging, and from appreciating those around us.

Starting A Conversation

We are, quite obviously, too late to impact this election cycle with a political platform so radical as that dominated by love. We can, however, begin a conversation that moves us forward toward a future where our political discourse is less dominated by hate. There will always be those who disagree. Vice is as much a part of the human condition as is virtue. Yet, the one we feed, the one we emphasize, the one we practice in our own dealings is the one that will dominate the next election.

All religions, not just Christianity, hold the same mandate given in scripture that we are to love one another. Love is not an option. Even if one holds no belief in a higher power, the universe demands unity, cooperation, respectfulness, and peace. We have seen the depths to which the ravages of hate can take us. Now, let us reverse course and set our sights for the heights possible through love.

Yes, I realize that this all sounds so very Pollyanish. Ideals set goals that are seldom achievable in reality. Still, we get out of our government exactly what we put in . We have endorsed hate for too long. Perhaps it’s time we try the alternative.

Peace be unto you.

Tuesday, January 07, 2025

What Am I Supposed To Do Without You?

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