Cable TV is Good for Your Health

it seems the federal government can help you upgrade your tv from analog to digital but they can't ensure that you have access to affordable health care. apparently, access to worthless commercials and advertising is a more important issue for the american people.

blankety blank bleep bleep bleep!!!

folks, i'm angry. i'm angry that our ability to watch the TV is another "high priority" for those fat ass pigs ( who have excellent medical coverage, btw) in washington but our well-being isn't. i'm angry that i can get a government sponsored coupon for a little box but i can't get a government sponsored coupon for a yearly physical.

my husband waited three months to see a pulmonologist about his respiratory issues only to have the doctor prescribe him medicine that costs more than our combined monthly utility bills. fortunately, we can (i say this with the utmost respect for our current and hopefully not temporary financial situation) afford the medicine he needs to breathe.

but what happens when we cant?

is there anything we, the citizens, can do to change our health care system in the US? do we have any power or is this just another case of big oil/gas/tobacco/insurance/fill in the blank, directing the lives of us lowly plebs and we just have to make do with what we already have.

sigh.

A Christmas Request

I should be happy tonight-it is Christmas eve after all. In a few minutes, I will sit in the living room with my family and we will open one of many Christmas gifts under our tree and later we will drive over to midnight services at Zion Evangelical Lutheran church.

I should also be happy that my cupboards are full enough that I was able rummage through them to gather extra toiletries and food items.

I should be happy that my closet is overflowing with clothes; winter sweaters, jackets, jeans and extra shoes all waiting in a bag for another days use.

I should be happy that my bank account at this time can support our family’s needs and there’s money left over for an emergency.

And I should be happy that this year marked the largest fund drive the Road Home Shelter has ever had. Busting all records by thousands of dollars.

And I am happy for those things and yet, my friends, my heart is heavy this Christmas Eve.

I just returned from dropping off some of the items above. As I walked through the halls of the shelter to make a a cash donation, I passed middle aged men, young women and children. I walked past women who looked like me and children that looked like they could be my own. As I handed over my money, I learned that the amount of new residents is up 118%-many of whom are entire families recently displaced.

This hurts my heart for I know that with the loss of a job or two, our savings and extra food storage will be wiped out and we, familia Franti, could find ourselves residing in a shelter or using the emergency services.

Sound too dramatic?

You say, “c’mon Mel, that would never happen to you-you have family, friends. You have a savings”.

I say, it can happen to anyone.

My husband is not guaranteed to live and secure my future. I am not immune from losing my ability to work and my child is not immune from illness and medical costs exceeding our ability to pay.

Places like the Road Home Shelter cannot survive without our help. If you are in a heated home tonight reading this, I beg you to go through your closets, your food storage and gather unused items. We are LDS folk, we’ve got extra toilet paper, toothpaste, razors, towels, socks, blankets and jackets that are just waiting in a corner to be used with gratitude this season. If you got a little cash left over from Christmas shopping, donate that too. Keep in mind, it only cost $12 dollars to house and feed one person a night. Surely you have and extra $12 dollars?

Please. Make a donation to a local shelter, food bank, charity and help your less fortunate neighbors.

time and space and how much?

what does it say about me that i have no interest in lds blogs and blogging right now? that i have no interest in listening to another "righteous" soul proclaiming that my views and those with views like mine are misguided, ill-informed or ignorant in the ways of the lord.

does it mean anything that i just don't care- that i've got no fight in me? or is this part of the normal up and down cycle of life?

i will write more about this tomorrow after tonight's meeting with the bishop.

Who Knew?

"You cannot live a political life, you can't live a moral life, if you're not willing to open your eyes and see the world more clearly, see some of the injustices going on. Try to make yourself aware of what's happening in the world, and if you are aware, you have a responsibility to act, and when you act, you have a responsibility to doubt. And when you doubt, you can't get paralyzed; you have to use that doubt to act again. And that then becomes the cycle: you open your eyes, you act, you doubt. And without doubt, you become dogmatic and shrill and stupid. And without action, you become cynical and passive and a victim of history. And that should never happen."

– William Ayers, from Fresh Air, National Public Radio, November 18, 2008


Who knew that I could be inspired by an America-hating, commie pinko lefty radical bullshitting terrorist?

Sometimes theTruth Hurts

I read this on the NEWSER blog, Off the Grid, yesterday.

Comment by Terradea in response to Sara Palin is Your Future

Sad commentary on America. We will soon be a third-world laughing stock, not because of our phony elections and silly Republican vice presidential candidate, but because we've lost the values that once made us great. We no longer appreciate the things that make a country strong and it's society, as a whole, successful: education, ethics, experience, decorum, thrift, accountability, fairness and civil rights.

We now embrace notoriety, mediocrity, greed, power, status, extravagance, lies, slander, knee-jerk reactionaries and lack of decorum. We've become a proud, arrogant nation of red-neck hillbillies and fat middle-class losers. We like our beer and our guns and our churches, but don't preach charity to us 'cause we ain't communists. We want our leaders to be just like us: dumb, inelegant and angry. We hate the poor, the weak and the sick. We insist on babies being born but we refuse to feed them. We hate foreigners. We love to hate foreigners. And any other group that is different: gays, blacks, middle easterners, atheists, liberals, intellectuals, city dwellers ... the list is endless. We're proud of our ignorance and our hate. We are the new America. And we support Palin.

To be honest, this comment stung a bit AND I agreed with it. Truth has a funny way of being painful.

*any hateful comments about Obama will be deleted. That doesn't include thoughtful critiques.

The Modern Poll Tax?

I saw this last night and my jaw dropped. How can this be possible in 2008?

Thank you Ms. Maddow.

Fact or Fiction

I read this article yesterday and wondered what you guys thought?

Since, I'm rooting for the winning team, I don't know that I can have a valid opinion.

Do you think the negative press of John McCain is based on fact or fiction?

Please be honest in your answers. And I will not tolerate any hatred on this blog.

Thanks.