Truly Thankful

Ok, another "healthcare" rant...

To: House Minority Leader John Boehner

Quoted as saying:  "I'm still trying to find the first American to talk to who's in favor of the public option, other than a member of Congress or the administration. I've not talked to one."

I want a public healthcare option!  I am a married woman, my husband is blind and we are raising our 2 sons, both under 10, on a fixed income.  I stay at home to care for my family.  I have no medical insurance.

I understand you haven't heard someone like me state a desire for a public option.  So please, listen:

"I WANT A PUBLIC HEALTHCARE OPTION!"

I am praying for all of you who are supposed to represent me because you are all failing in your commitments to the people in the eyes of God and we will ALL suffer because of you!

I emailed this to his office.  Bet you all, dollar to a dime, he STILL won't claim to have heard.

More Upbeat

OK, so a blog by the name of "Truly Thankful" has no business dwelling on the inanities of politicians, health care in the United States, and other perfectly useless things like that.  After all, I'm not looking for readers, I hoping for family and friends to catch these posts and have their days brightened by reading of our events and activities.  So, with that in mind, all you politicians can go to heck in a handbasket! 

NOW then, down to real business.  Homeschool.  This is the greatest thing EVER.  This is what life as a parent really is all about.  There is a basic set of artificial teaching situations that we follow through on a daily basis because at some future point some useless entity representative of the government NON education system will be coming through to verify that we are doing our jobs.  However, it has become abundantly clear to me that education is what goes on when you are not sitting down with the books.  Education is what happens when you have both the time and the energy to walk around and discuss with your kids what to do to make your property produce more food because you are all sick and tired of eating so many peppers!  (We are eating at least a pound a day lately thanks to one overly successful little row.) 

We have been writing letters to family and friends far and near.  Yesterday, two excited little boys placed their very own letters in the mailbox.  Letters that even as we speak are heading across the Atlantic Ocean and across the continental USA.  We have been learning about how labor and quality work in hand to produce income.  Each boy has a jar at his desk.  They collect money in the lid for chores, certain school exercises, and work around the property.  They count the money, accounting for each coin, and deposit it in the jar after recording everything on a ledger. 

We don't have time for video games or computer games because we spend our time with each other.  We have the most marvelous children!  I hear other people speaking of being grateful when they can leave their children at school.  I don't understand that at all. 

For our children and for the time we spend with them, I am TRULY THANKFUL!

Medical Insurance - Is it REALLY necessary?

"The News Hour with Jim Lehrer" has just concluded an interview by Judy Woodruff with Dr. Hershey Garner of Doctors for America and Dr. Donald Palmisano of Coalition to Protect Patient Rights.

I am no fan of medical insurance because they demand money and produce NO USEFUL PRODUCT.  I don't like giving money I have worked for to someone who has not done anything useful at all.

In the interview Dr. Garner put forth the question "What about the 22% to 23% of all medical costs that go to insurance companies who provide nothing to the patients or the doctors for that money?"  In fine executive tradition, Dr. Palmisano never bothered to answer the question.  When it came up again, he hemmed and hawed until Ms. Woodruff had to conclude the interview. 

So, an answer is in order Dr. Palmisano.  I, an American, am waiting to hear your answer.  Please elucidate me because I believe you refused to answer the question because you are ashamed to let it be known that you are receiving a great deal of cash from the insurance industry to deceive the American people.

Let me get this straight Max dear...

you figure that everyone in the nation must pony up a portion of their income to support "The Blob" (read health insurance industry).  The Blob doesn't feed my family, it doesn't put a roof over our heads, and it isn't putting clothes on our backs. 

Additionally, because we eat a healthful diet, abstain from recreational drugs and alcohol use, do not engage in activities that increase the likelihood of requiring health care, we will not likely NEED or RECEIVE much, if indeed ANY benefit from this program.

The Blob will; however, insure that pot smoking, soda swilling, welfare mothers and their foulmouthed, weapon brandishing progeny get attention for sugar induced diabetes, smoke induced cancers of all sorts, fat induced coronary diseases, etc. 

Geez, there is so much more to be said but I need to spend my time taking care of my children rather than ranting at you and the disgusting morass of irresponsible filth that is our government. 

President Obama, I feel you are doing an excellent job given the trash left behind by the previous regime.  May God have mercy on you and your family and protect you from those who would harm you.

South Carolina, it's a shame you allow a slut to govern your state and a shame that Joe Wilson is not removed from office for his shocking lack of self control.  With men like that at the helm, who knows what horrors await you and the rest of the nation.

United States of Irresponsibility

Health Care Reform - it’s all focused on getting everyone “insured”.  Has nothing to do with health.  It has EVERYthing to do with giving thousands of insurance company employees, mangers, and executives a comfortable “All American Living” for doing… ::drum roll please::  NOTHING!  That’s right folks.  Insurance folks spend every working day doing NOTHING.  They don’t dig holes for seeds or trees, they don’t make shoes or clothes, they don’t butcher meat, build homes or offices, they don’t do anything real.  It’s an entire industry based on thin air. 

 

IF you eliminate insurance, you instantly reduce medical costs by something like 40%.  That’s not an exact number, but you can verify it yourselves pretty easily.  If you have the intellect to find my puny webpage, you can conjure a suitable search string.

 

IF you ELIMINATE INSURANCE, you INSTANTLY eliminate untold reams and reams of paper and computer records.  (Do you have any idea how much rent has to be paid JUST to store medical paperwork?  JUST for a single physician?)

 

IF you ELIMINATE INSURANCE and pay the doctor yourself, how much better would your relationship with your practitioner be JUST because he or she could spend the 15 to 30 minutes he now spends on required paper trail talking to you about you?

 

IF you ELIMINATE INSURANCE, how many soda guzzling, cigarette sucking, pot dazed, beer crazed, couch potatoes would live long enough to cause those of us who are not nearly so stupid, not nearly so lazy, and not nearly so desperate to make other people suffer, so much as a headache?  Yea, the insurance companies are enablers.

 

This is the way I see it.  Get rid of insurance all together.  Period, end of sentence.  They can all get REAL jobs like shoe makers.  I want a good pair of hand made shoes and I’m willing to trade hand knitted socks, 2 loaves of fresh baked bread, and a dozen of my famous peanut butter cookies.  I’ll throw in 5 lbs of fresh dug potatoes and a dozen eggs if you tool a design in the leather.

 

Government can cover it or let those of us willing to work pay for it.  Either way, I don’t care.  But I am sick and tired of supporting people who don’t support me.

 

Oh yea, speaking of politicians, American DOES NOT have the best health care delivery system in the world.  “That’s a lie” to quote a shockingly uncouth and plebian man whom I would NEVER admit to having as my representative.  (Poor South Carolina, a slut for a governor and an uncontrolled fool as a federal representative.  There are more than 20 other nations whose health care delivery systems far surpass our own.  They are superior in quality, quantity, AND in customer satisfaction.

 

But hey, time and history proves us all fools.  So, if you like it, keep it.  Just don’t come hollering to me because I’m charging $10 a dozen for eggs.  That’s just YOUR price.  I charge a lot less if….

Did You Read This?

DeMint offers his take on hot issues

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

EDITOR'S NOTE: U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint has raised his national profile by battling President Barack Obama's health care reform plans. He sat down Tuesday with reporter Robert Behre to talk about that and other topics.

Sen. Jim DeMint

P&C: Do people have a right to health care? Describe where the government's obligation to provide a safety net ends and where a person's responsibility should begin.

DeMint: I think health care is a privilege. I wouldn't call it a right. ... I do think in our country and in any civil society there should be a safety net for basic health and food and shelter, but that doesn't mean that the whole system should be designed around the belief that people can't make their own decisions, can't be responsible for themselves. ... What we do need to do is make sure everybody has access to policies they can afford, own and keep. We're not doing that. What we've done is set up the whole system to reward employers for offering health insurance, but we don't support people who don't get their insurance at work, and that's not fair. 

*********************************************

Yes indeed, health care IS a privilege!  Wow, how exciting is that?  Ya know what else should be a privilege, eating.  Yes, eating should be a privilege.  If you are on welfare, a politician, an insurance employee, a banker, or a wall street worker, you should not be allowed to eat.  You have not created any usable product.  You are a parasite to society with absolutely no redeeming virtue.  Feeding you should be considered a criminal offense on the order of rape or murder (since all of you support those crimes or commit them in some manner or another even though you probably don't even realize it).  Punishment should be hanging or starvation in a small cell unobserved by those of us who bend our backs to push seed into the dirt or knead bread dough, or build furniture, knit socks, fix cars, or any one of a million tasks that actually do produce usable, comforting, desirable end results. 

Jim DeMint, you and your cronies, democrat and republican alike, are detestable jetsam on whom God will have no mercy in the end.

The Good Things in Life

Wow.  What a month it has been so far.  First off, I need to tell you that eating sweet corn has totally lost it's appeal.  We've eaten corn from our corn patch morning, noon, and night, for about a month now.  We eat it on the cob boiled and fried, southern fried, in fritters, in soup...  and the "Country Gent" is just now ready to pick?!?!  Maybe Mike won't be so determined to plant 100' rows of corn next year.  Maybe a patch with 9  80' rows will do.  I hope so at least!

Then there was my birthday.  I'm 50 years old now.  How awesome is that?  Half a century of experience and I am at the top of my game.  Life is incredible.

After the birthday was the closing of our refinance on the house.  HA!  Talk about fun and games.  Did you know that this property is actually 2 lots?  Yep, one lot that is 1.39 acres with a well but no house.  That is Lot 2.  Then there is Lot 1 that has the house and the septic tank.  Well, the original loan covered the purchase of both lots.  The new loan covers the purchase of JUST the small lot with the house.  There will be 2 deeds now.  One that is encumbered by the bank for the small lot with the house and a second UNencumbered deed for the larger piece of land.  God is SO good to us!

Now, today is our 10th wedding anniversary.  Yep, 10 years of marital bliss.  The little guys are running around creating paintings of Mike and I holding hands.  I think we will have to make a trip to the framing shop later today.  We also got a decorated flower pot with a note suggesting that we use it to grow flowers.  I think we will take that advice.

There is a bottle of wine that was saved just for this day.  The wine is meade that was made for and served at our wedding.  It's been pulled out of the closet and dusted off in preparation for drinking later today.  I'm going to take a bath and go check the tomatoes that I had to tie up yesterday.  They look like they are going to be fair decent this year.  I'll probably walk the entire property today looking at how trees have grown and how work is coming on the tree house. 

I'll talk a bit with our neighbors.  I'll watch my sons running around, screaming an shouting with childish delight at whatever has caught their fancy for the moment.  I'll talk to my husband about what we'll have for dinner.  I'll spend an hour or 2 knitting a sweater or some socks.

What an absolutely glorious life I am blessed with!  Thank you God.  For all you have put in my life I am TRULY THANKFUL!

Psalm 19

The heavens tell of the glory of God, the skies display His marvelous craftsmanship.
Day after day they continue to speak; night after night they make Him known.
They speak without a sound or a word; their voice is silent in the skies; yet their message has gone out to all the earth, and their words to all the world.

The sun lives in the heavens where God placed it.
It bursts forth like a radiant bridegroom after his wedding.
It rejoices like a great athlete eager to run the race.
The sun rises at one end of the heavens and follows it's course to the other end.
Nothing can hide from it's heat.
The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul.
The decrees of the LORD are trustworthy, making wise the simple.
The commandments of the LORD are right bringing joy to the heart.
The commands of the LORD are clear, giving insight to life.
Reverence for the LORD is pure, lasting forever.
The laws of the LORD are true, each one is fair.
They are more desirable than gold, even the finest gold.
They are sweeter than honey, even honey dripping from the comb.
They are a warning to those who hear them; there is great reward for those who obey them.

How can I know all the sins lurking in my heart?
Cleanse me from these hidden faults.
Keep me from deliberate sins!
Don't let them control me.
Then I will be free of guilt and innocent of great sin.

May the words of my mouth and the thoughts of my heart be pleasing to you, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.

~<*As written in the New Living Translation (NLT)*>~

Today I am 50 years old.  I've lived for half a century and though I am wiser than I was, I am ignorant if I compare myself the the Creator.  I am honored that I am still alive and learning, growing.  I look forward joyously to each day and all that comes with the swift flow of time.  I am, TRULY THANKFUL.

Onslow County Public Non-Schools

The following link will open an Excel file showing data extrapolated from NCReportCards.org. It is JUST the elementary schools in our county and there may be typos. I encourage readers who are truly concerned to verify the information in the file by looking it up for themselves.

Download OVERALLstudentperformancecomparison

A lot of folks wonder why I'm in an uproar about all the fundraisers that go on at Southwest Elementary School where my sons are just completing grades 1 and 2.  The numbers of that file should give you a little understanding.

I'm also up in arms about the fact that the executive board members figure the best way to shrink the budget is to reduce the number of teachers and increase class sizes.

Let me put this as simply as possible because it is possible one of those said persons might actually read this and I would like them to be capable of understanding it.

Student + Teacher = Education

That is it.  Nothing more.  No copy machine using electricity, paper, or ink.  No $50,000 swingset.  No computers.  No Promethean boards.  And certainly no principals and overpaid district superintendents with their entourage of puppets.

Even the dullest of politicians are beginning to own up to the glaring failure of American schools particularly when compared to schools around the world.  Yet, in an economy demanding cuts, the first sacrifice is the most vital, teachers.

So, all you school board folks here in Onslow County, North Carolina, particularly those of you who claim to be Christian, listen up.  God is watching, look into your heart and try to see this as He sees it.  Where is your honor?  Your wisdom?  Because with every teacher lost, with every minute spent with "The Candy Man" fundraiser instead of learning reading, math, or science, you reveal yourselves as fools.

You Doubt God?

I ate the fist culling of Flamingo Pink chard from my garden today.  It had a smell of earth, deep and pungent.  It was green and fresh, tender and delicious.  To those of you who put your faith in Wall Street and it's representatives, you have my deepest sympathies.  How hideous to be so blind and so foolish. 

There is an old saying, "It is easier to live through times of no money than to live through times of no food."  God gives us food and he gives us time.  Satan gives money.  We must all choose.