Free Health Care

Free? Really?

My friend and I were discussing "free health care" tonight on the phone, actually we were sorta yelling back and forth at times, I think someone just saw the movie Sicko or something. Anyway, we both disagree on it. She thinks universal health care could be a good thing, and I think it would most likely prove to be a disaster. And hey, I have $800.00 in medical bills sitting on my kitchen counter waiting to be paid, free health care sounds good right about now, HOWEVER, I know that it really would not be that simple.

For one thing, it most certainly would not be free for my family, we would be paying a lion share of taxes for it. Secondly, I don't want the same people who brought us such great institutions as the DMV in charge of my health care. Third, I've experienced socialized medicine for 10 years of my adult life, and while it's great for immunizations and pap smears and things, when something really goes wrong with your health it is completely hit or miss. I'll take my chances on a good old competitive for profit market any day of the week.

I'm sorry that some people don't have health care, but in reality I don't think it is the poor who are not covered. No, most of them are covered by state run medicaid and such. Every state is different, but I would wager the great majority of states have something to help out the poor. It is the middle class folks who can't afford health care, particularly the lower middle class. Those people who are right on the edge, they can't qualify for any "programs" and they can't actually afford health insurance and keep the lights and heat going.

There is no perfect system available. I hate having to pay so much out of pocket when we already pay $240/month for our insurance premium. That being said, I would much rather have insurance companies compete for business than be at the mercy of some government bureaucrat. It is folly to compare the U.S. to countries like Sweden and their socialized medicine programs, for one we've got about 240 million more people in this country than they do, nevermind the fact that our population is growing everyday as people cross our borders.

Let's say we entertain Michael Moore and the Democrats fantasies about universal socialized medicine, I would really like to know how the hell that's going to be covered financially. I can guarantee you that my family will be paying more than $240/month in taxes to cover the costs of such a system.

People hate the rich, they think they are spoiled and living the decadent life on the backs of the poor. Not everyone got rich that way. Some people used their backs. My husband is working his balls off in the freezing cold under the threat of thousands of pounds of machinery falling on his head, or having the place blow up from one little spark, and he's making good money at it. Good money that some bureaucrat will look at on paper and decide should be given to some fat breeder cow who decided to have 5 illegitimate children on the system, and decide that he should give more of his hard earned dollars to pay other people's way in life.

Not every unsuccessful person is just a hard luck case you know, or unfairly disadvantaged, some are not doing well in life because they spend too much time drinking and drugging to become productive members of society. They could not be sober long enough to pass a drug test to get a better job, and they most certainly would not spend a Wyoming winter working outside in the cold on a dirty old drilling rig. That's the hard facts.

You reap what you sow. Why farmer Bob would think he is entitled to a portion of farmer Jim's crops after Bob spent the whole summer down at the fishing hole drinking whiskey, while Jim was up every day at the crack of dawn shovelling shit, and doing back breaking work is beyond me, but the fact is Bob is only entitled to what he has earned, otherwise, Bob can go eat shit all winter it's as simple as that. Luckily for Bob, there are others around who will come to his defense and tell Jim at the threat of gun point he WILL give Bob some of his crop, or Jim and his family will be put into ruin and have their property taken from them and sold to the highest bidder. Oh but they didn't need to do that, Jim probably would have given some to Bob out of sympathy because he certainly would not want to see his neighbor starve even if he is a lazy fool.

That wasn't enough though, you see, there are many more Bob's around, people that Jim has never even seen, met, or heard of, and some people decided that since Jim worked so hard and had such a bountiful harvest, he should help even more people. They decide that he will give a certain percentage of his harvest to those less fortunate than he was. Of course Jim can't imagine how he came to be considered as so much more fortunate than everyone else, when all he ever did was work hard and ask for little. In fact, all he had when he left home at the age of 18 was youth and a few pairs of underwear, and maybe a couple of outfits. He didn't even have a car, or any household possessions at all. Just the clothes on his back. The rest he made for himself by showing up sober and doing what was asked of him.

Jim really doesn't mind helping people out who are down on their luck. He gives to charity, and does want to help people. He doesn't want them to starve, or go without. He just wants to have something left over to leave for his own children. He has worked hard to see to it that his kids have an inheritance, or at least a little piece of property to live on. Over the years Jim sees more and more people stepping up with a hand out to receive that which they are not entitled to. He is amazed at their sense of entitlement over his wealth. When he protests the increasing demands on the fruits of his labors he is called selfish, and greedy, and accused of making his wealth by standing on the backs of others, when all he wants to do is keep what is rightfully his.

No one remembers the kid he was when he left home with nothing. All they see is what he has now, and they think he is privileged, that he has somehow been given more advantages than others, that he hasn't EARNED what he has. Jim doesn't understand all of this, he is only of average intelligence, he just thought he was doing what a man was supposed to do. He never went to college, he just went to work. It doesn't matter the circumstances though, people only see that he has more than they do, and have decided it's not fair.

That's how it is with socialized medicine, only worse, people's lives are at stake when the government pinches and pinches as much as they can get out of the programs, and the people are left with dilapidated facilities and poorly trained staff. All of the Dr.'s who were making big bucks have left the profession because they found out they can make a lot more as lawyers and ceo's than they can on the government stipend they get for their labors. It only makes sense that most people are not going to want to spend almost 10 years of their lives in school to make socialized medicine wages.

Once we determine free health care is a right, then it is not long before it is decided that anyone demanding high wage to work in the medical profession is just being greedy, why should they ask for so much when it is a right of people to receive their services. If you think the government is going to meet the current pay these people are making now think again. Medicaid pays cents on the dollar what the health insurances pay. That is why it is often difficult to find really good doctors who accept medicaid as payment when they could fill their busy practices with insurance patients.

The government has not proven itself to be a good steward of our tax dollars. I see no reason to think this would change once they are granted the power over our massive healthcare system. We are just numbers to them. Numbers without any meaning or value. Well, we'll see what's presented to us in the future. I think all of the politicians know it won't work, but the Democrats keep offering it knowing it will get them into office, and they can just blame the mean heartless Republicans for the dismal failure at getting these things implemented. Clinton had 8 years, health care for all was something he and his wife touted in the beginning, it never happened.

We'll see what comes.

A Topic I've Been Avoiding

But I Would Rather Do This Than Housework.

I've been sort of avoiding the topic of politics lately because it grows tiresome. I have been paying attention and all, I just haven't been talking about it. I'm still as opinionated as ever, however, I no longer feel the need to engage people of extreme viewpoints anymore. I just nod and half listen anymore when they start on their stuff. It's better that way. I'm not going to change their minds, and I figure if I don't listen too hard I might not lose much more respect for them than I already have.

Something has been nagging at me for years now, I don't talk much about it because it just doesn't make sense. I've never been able to understand this nearly universal and irrational hatred of Pres. Bush. I just don't get it. I happen to like the man enough. I like him much better than I do John McCaine. I just don't understand the Bush derangement syndrome. I don't know who coined that term, but it's about the most accurate description I have heard of this phenomena yet, so I'm going with it.

I think he seems like a stand up guy. In fact, my only complaint about him is that he has not been more verbally forceful against his critics, but given the many people I hear talk about how much they hate him, I guess that would be impossible. I don't like Hillary or Obama's political views at all, but I can't muster the hatred for them that I see and hear people spouting about Bush. These same people when I do ask them why they hate him so much usually say, "He's an idiot!" Really? I don't think so, in fact, some of these same name callers admittedly can't even begin to articulate the difference between a Democrat and a Republican, and yet, they know Bush is an idiot, because, "listen to him talk, he's stupid!" they say.

President Bush is going to go down as the biggest and most convenient scapegoat in history. Everything and anything from Katrina, to nosebleeds is blamed on Bush, and Bush alone, and will be for years to come. When discussions of the economy arise, "it will all be better when Bush leaves office!" is what I hear out of these people. I really don't think it's Bush's fault people are defaulting on their mortgages left and right, but I guess that is a convenient excuse. You know it was Bush's fault those people didn't get the hell out when the massive storm of the century was bearing down on them.

When the economy tanks under our new liberal leaders overreaching regulation, and new social programs, it will be Bush's fault. "We inherited this poor economy from Bush!" they will say. In all fairness, that's what was said about Clinton, that Bush inherited his poor economy. It's a trend, and honestly, I think most people are too stupid to understand how it all works anyway, so it sounds good in a campaign commercial. Hell, I'm too stupid to understand our complex economy, I can't offer any wisdom there. I don't know why the heck things are like they are.

I sometimes wonder given the sheer numbers of people I disagree with on political issues, am I the one that's stupid? Maybe I've got it all wrong. I don't even agree with Republicans on McCain. How did he come to be our nominee he's nothing like what I wanted.

Someone asked me the other day, "Who do you think will win, not who do you plan to vote for, but who do you think will win?" Without hesitation I said, "Obama". But I added the caveat that is if he can overcome this scandal with his extremist pastor who he claimed as his mentor. That situation will not bode well for Obama. His glory days are over, he will have to get his claws out to overcome that. He seemed quite an untouchable candidate up until those clips of his pastor's maniacal ranting and ravings came out. The U.S. of KKK A. is going to stick. People will have lost trust of Obama now. However, his charisma is quite high, and he may be able to just move on right past all of it.

There is something about Obama, he has a very charming factor about him. Even I listen to him and think, wow, he seems like such a nice guy. Of course, I cannot agree with his politics, but I can see the draw. People like him and trust him. Anybody who doesn't see him as a contender is being seriously naive. If Obama wins the nomination, I think he will win the Presidency. Team Clinton thus far has not succeeded in bringing out very much dirt on the guy, if they can't summon the sludge needed to bring him down, nobody can.

Then again, it would not be in the Democrats best interest to throw too much mud against each other, and it is obvious Hillary has had a tight rope to walk with that. At some point they will be facing off with McCain, and it would not pay in the long run to ruin any Dem's chance of winning the ultimate power. I like to watch them slug it out though, it's nice knowing the Republicans are decided, even if I don't agree with the choice.

That's where I'm at with it right now. We'll just see what happens.

Cops Called

Pomeranian Puppy Threatened With Arrest For Crimes Against Old People.

These days you can tell when I've got something to do that I don't really want to do, that's about the time that I will suddenly be overcome with the urge to update the ole bloggymajiggy. My personal motivations are not really important though, what matters is I am here now, and ready to talk bad about my neighbors.

Why just the other day I was telling someone, wow, the mean neighbors have been away since before Christmas, it's so nice not to be constantly under their watchful eye, and scrutiny. I must have spoke too soon because about 20 minutes later, it seemed like, they pulled up in their driveway, and the staring immediately commenced.

It only took a few days for all of the tension to build up again. It's my dogs you see. They HATE my dogs. And my dogs hate just about everyone, unless they come through the front door, then the furry beasts will try to lick them to death, and even have the nerve to jump completely uninvited on every visitor's lap.

So here's what happened, and I'm going to state right up front that I was pretty much at fault here, but I still don't like those people. They are not nice people. In my own defense though, these people have driven me to it. They are obviously retired and have nothing better to do than stare across the street at my dogs all the live long day. We are very aware of this and are constantly on guard whenever we let our dogs outside because one little bark, or series of barks is just TOO much, and our neighbors will view us with scorn.

We have really tried to make sure we don't let the dogs out during prime barking hours such as when thousands of children are walking to and from school. This has cut down the barking. Basically, my dogs don't really bark unless they SEE something to bark at, like people, or other dogs walking by, although I think the little one, the puppy, has a thing for barking at buses and big trucks.

Anyway, I'm very careful during the day as we do get a lot of foot traffic by our fence. It's in and out, in and out all darn day. My back door is wearing out from so much in and out, but I can't just leave them out or Miss Thing will call the authorities on us the second their barking goes unchecked. Fine. As soon as we hear them bark we call them in, even if we are in the middle of something, say sitting on the pot.

At night I have been a lot more relaxed about them going outside because there are not as many things for them to bark at going on. Pumpkin the baby pom pom loves to be out at night. He has that thick coat and being out in the brisk cold seems refreshing for him. I call him and call him, and he just continues to wander around the yard avoiding coming inside. He's generally quiet, so I leave him be, and sometimes I forget he is out there, and when I remember I run to the door, and he comes running all fluffy, frisky and energized from the cold.

Well the other night I forgot Pumpkin was out, I had tried to call him in, but he wasn't ready to come in. Sure, I could have bothered to find socks and shoes and a coat and gone out to get him, but he seemed fine, and I figured he wouldn't make too much noise with the two big dogs inside. I worry sometimes about leaving him out because the little rogue has figured out how to slip out of the fence and has been known to run up the street on at least two occasions. We keep "fixing" the problem, and he hasn't go out for quite a while.

He was so quiet I forgot he was outside. But around 11:30 pm officer friendly showed up at my door. I saw her walk by our front windows, and I thought, "Oh crap, who's in trouble?" because with our families you sometimes just assume they are coming about one of our relatives. I jumped up and went to the door, and she said, "You need to get your little dog he's out and barking and disturbing the neighbors" My first thought was, oh crap, he got out of the yard and is running amok in the neighborhood, so I started to go outside, but she corrected me, and informed me, "He's in the back yard, you need to get him in or I will have to give you a ticket for noise something or other." I said, "yes, I'll get him in."

But then I did something you are never supposed to do with modern law enforcement. I sort of argued with her, I wasn't rude, I just offered my side of the story. I'm lucky I wasn't tased for my insolence. Anyway, she informed me that he's been barking for two hours STRAIGHT, which I immediately gaffed off as ridiculous. He's never barked for two hours straight at anything. Then she said, "well it's late, and he's barking, are you going to get him in or not?" I said, "yes, I'm going to get him in, but I find it funny that I could not hear his barking all this time." She said, "well, I could hear him barking at me when I pulled up to your house."

Wow, a dog barking at a strange car pulling up to it's house, how very strange. Anyway, there really was no sense in arguing it, he was out, someone called the police and that's that. At least she didn't give me a ticket. I tried to explain to her that my neighbors are constantly scrutinizing our dogs every move, but she didn't care. Overall she acted like she was really put out to even be standing on my doorstep. We ended our "conversation" and I went to get the little puff ball inside. End of story.

After I let him in, I noticed that my t.v. was rather loud. Perhaps that is why I did not hear him barking outside, or I might possibly be going hard of hearing. Anyway, it was our mistake, and we won't make it again. It completely slipped my mind how late it was, we now have a strict rule that the dogs can't go out after 10pm. I'm sure the whole thing did nothing but raise the hate directed towards us from the retirees across the street.

There are dogs all around us, I hear them barking all the time. The other day I woke up from a leisurely afternoon nap to dogs barking their heads off. I looked around and saw my fat beasts were all snoring softly beside me. I know it wasn't my dogs, but who is to say they won't get blamed for it. I honestly believe that every time a dog barks in this neighborhood mine get the blame for it because they are the most visible.

My neighbor's behind me have 4 dogs! They bark at my dogs through the fence, although to hear her tell it, it's my dogs that MAKE her dogs bark. Now the neighbors behind us are friendly towards us, and they know what we've been going through with those people across the street, but she blamed my dogs for hers barking...and said, "your dogs bark at mine at the fence, and now I have to leave my dogs inside all day..." Umm, your dogs bark at mine was my response.

Anyway, I hate all this discontent. I really do try to keep the neighbors happy, but there comes a point when you just can't make some people happy. There comes a point when people are just harrassing for the hell of it, because they can.

I did find out that the retiree couple don't own that home, in fact, they only live here during our warmer months for the most part. That explains all the peace we had while they were gone. The good news is, as renters they are likely to move at some point.

Since the "incident" we have really been on our toes even more than we already were, but somehow I don't think anything we ever do will be enough to appease those people. It's a wonder I haven't stopped trying at all. Oh well, just another day in the neighborhood.

The Game Is On

Not actually.

Hrmph, it seems Miss Priss has taken offense to the idea that I might post less than decent pictures of people here at this little whole in the wall! I may be a broad, but I'm not a dumb broad, I know darn good and well that acts such as those CAN be reciprocated, therefore, you all will never be treated to pictures of my little brother wearing his pink footie pajamas on Christmas morning, or him riding his new bike naked.

I know there has got to be a ton of pictures out there that would easily classify as blackmail material, or at the very least be considered totally humiliating. This in itself prevents me from EVER running for public office, not that I would but hey, you never know. Mind you they are nothing provocative, they are just really really dumb.

Let me tell you this sister girl, threatening to bring out the mullet pictures from the 80's is virtually considered an act of aggression, it was NOT called a mullet back then, it was called a "bi-level" haircut, and YOU HAD ONE TOO! We all did.

BTW, ending your post with "sleep well you old farting broad" really cracked me up. Good one.

Bad Mexican Food

All You Get Is Gas.

We went to a Mexican food restaurant tonight. We had heard this place had new owners, and it was supposed to be a lot better than it used to be. We heard wrong. We spent $50.00 on what my friend accurately described as "slop" and the service was awful to boot, our waitress was slightly passive aggressive, and completely unavailable. Anyway, maybe it was just a bad night. The food was absolutely drowned with red sauce though, and it wasn't even good sauce.

My friend, our two daughters, and I left the restaurant and headed to a furniture warehouse to look around, it was only at most a 20 minute drive from the restaurant, and by the time we got there our stomachs were boiling like mad.

We went to the bathroom and each took our own stall, and of course our daughter's had to start making really loud fart noises by blowing on their arms. Which actually got us all laughing because even at our age, fart noises are funny, especially as loud as they echo in a public restroom. Some people never grow up. I admit I did a couple on my arm, but only cause I was trying to hide the real noises I was making. Lovely.

We had a laugh and went to look around, and of course my friend met a salesman and quickly discovered they had a mutual acquaintance that they pretty much both despise. She does that. She's a hairstylist, so 90% of her day is spent gossiping. It's pretty much drama central down there sometimes. Some people just show up and sit and chat for a while. We have affectionately termed them "hanger outers" they are the sort of people who sometimes will come everyday for weeks, they are so comfortable that they answer phones, and know all of the clients by name.

I refuse to be a hanger outer because I have a job, but I do get in on conversations when I get my hair done, other than that, I don't show my face around there, even though I don't actually have an exciting life, and I could if I wanted to.

Anyway, after much debate we decided not to actually buy anything, which is what we usually do when we go to the furniture store. It just seemed easier than the mall, yet gave us something to do on a Tuesday night. My gosh, this is exhilarating isn't it?

After we went there, we went to another furniture store up the road. We got there 5 minutes before they closed. Now most people would just turn around and leave seeing that 5 minutes isn't much time to browse a gigantic furniture store, but no, not us, we just got out of the car and sprinted for the door. We literally saw the whole store in 5 minutes, and it was a huge store, we even took a few moments to lounge on the waterbeds, and discuss the new types of mattresses they have nowadays with a rather cute salesman.

My friend is convinced that everyone thinks we're lesbians. I don't know why she always thinks this, but she always has to say something like, "my HUSBAND and I used to have this exact same model of waterbed when we first got married" as if the guy thinks we're out looking for beds together for US to share. I know this because she outright told me, "he might have thought we were lesbians looking for a new bed". She's been this way ever since she got a complex about Subaru's.

Her man decided when she was shopping for a new car that she should get a nice sturdy Subaru. Somewhere in the course of all of that she realized that Subaru's are just gay ass cars. No offense to subaru owner's, but seriously, they are popular amongst the gays. It really hit home when he gave her an ad about Subaru's on sale, and the ad happened to be printed on the back of the local leftist rag which is such a totally gay paper. Really, it is completely gay, lots of gay advertising and stuff, man seeking man type things.

Anyway, she started getting really worried that he was going to push her to buy a subaru, she had to start re-examining what in her life made her feel gay when she thought about owning one. Thankfully, he did not push the issue, and she ended up not even getting a new car afterall, and truthfully, I think she was relieved, but I think there is still a small part of her that never shook the whole lesbian thing, and now she worries people think we're gay for each other all the time.

After that last place we went on home. She's going to kill me when she reads this post. Not really, I know she's totally going to crack up.

That's good for now I think. Back later. =)

10000 Miles

And I'm Still Alive.

And I'm glad about that. We did the birthday party thing today at the Skating Rink as was requested. I've realized something, there won't be too many more birthdays like this, so I let her have her party pretty much how she wanted it. It was quite a success. The skating rink did all of the work, they had it all planned out, all we did was show up, and have a good time, and the fee was not outrageous at all + she got a brand new pair of skates out of the deal. Not roller blades much to her dismay, but I assured her she could have just as much fun on regular skates.

Gosh I must have skated 10000 miles as a child. We used to put on our skates and go to the school near our house, it had very smooth pavement, and we could get high speed as we skated around and around the building. We went everywhere in skates. We would skate a mile away from home, and skate back when we were done. I used to hate when I was going just fast enough where when I hit a rock of a large enough size it would send me sailing and stumbling to regain my balance. Most of the time I did manage not to fall and get all scraped up, sometimes...I didn't.

We would develop skating routines and perform them in my neighbor's driveway. She was our age, and she skated all the time too. She had really really old skates with metal wheels!! Ours had the rubber wheels. She didn't care that hers were metal at all, she skated just fine on them. We used to skate to Loverboy! and The Cars.

There was a park about a mile away from our house, we would go there in our skates and spend a whole day just skating the many sidewalk pathways, and we would really get to going good on the tennis courts there. I don't think we even carried shoes with us.

It was a big deal to get a new pair of skates, I remember all I wanted was a new pair of skates. They cost about $20 at K-Mart, they had a whole wall at the back of the store by the snack bar that was filled with wonderful skates. Of course, I did get a pair eventually. I don't remember when or how, might have been a birthday present or something.

I remember those times with a sigh. My daughter has never been allowed to run as freely as we did when we were children. It really makes me mad when I hear people complaining about how children are so fat nowadays. They always say it like the children are flawed and lazy because their parents have sat them in front of televisions since the day they were born, and now all these spoiled children do is eat and play video games.

You know what? It's not the kids or the parent's fault.

I'll tell you who I blame for our fat children, it's all of these freaking perverts out there who have had their fill of all of the porn and filth available in the world, and whose minds are so corrupted and distorted that they are always looking for more to satiate themselves. Those who are so mental that they turn their attention to children and all of the stories out there about kids being kidnapped and tortured and murdered by these evil bastards.

There is hardly a parent with any lick of sense who is willing to let their kids out to run and play. I know very few parent's who are willing to gamble with their own children. Hell, I get nervous when my daughter asks if she can walk the dogs around the block, and I usually say no.

Don't tell me that I should not worry about these things, that they are not as common as the media would have us think, one such event is too much for any parent's peace of mind. Just a few years ago some girls my daughter's exact age were yanked in a van and raped by some sicko right here in our neighborhood. They were simply walking home from school.

The only people who complain about children being fat and how they sit in front of the t.v. when they should be outside playing are people who don't have children. I bet you anything. The parents know the risks, we understand them. We won't take them.

Don't tell me that I should then go do all of these things with my daughter. It's not the same. What I'm talking about is a freedom that I knew as a child that children of today have never experienced, and probably won't ever experience. Maybe I'm wrong, that's happened many times, but I just can't see it. Our children know no other way. I skated miles and miles away from home, and back again. Don't even get me started on our 10 mile bike rides we used to take. We were 13 years old, the same age as my daughter now, there is NO way I would allow her to do that.

Realistically most parents can't be available to go on the sorts of adventures we went on as children. They would ruin it for the kids if they even began to try. As kids, we left the house, the screen door slammed behind us and we went where the wind took us. I don't know many adults who could keep up with that pace.

Anyway, that's what I was thinking today when I saw my daughter put on those super cool new skates. We were amazed at how little time the kids even bothered to skate, they were too into the games and the cotton candy. They had games and cotton candy when I was a kid, but we were too busy going around that same circle over and over too notice those much. When we got tired, we would go play PacMan for a few minutes until the pocket change wore out, and then we'd be back on the floor again skating to our favorite songs.

The kids just don't seem to get that joy from it. It was sort of strange. One other thing, when I was a kid the place was full of children, and few adults. Today I could hardly see the kids for all of the adults standing around. Watching close I suppose. I understand.