Why I Blog

Why I blog.

I feel compelled to clear a few things up.

I’m a very emotional person. When I experience any intense emotional feeling (whether it’s happiness, sadness, or even anger), I cry. It’s very frustrating at times when I feel that I can’t get my point across to someone about how I feel, because I’m hysterically sobbing.

I’ve always loved writing. I’ve already filled at least six journals, and I’m only 26 years old (at least my kids will have something to read when I’m gone). :0) When I feel that I need to tell someone exactly how I feel, I will sit down and write them a letter before I talk to them in person. I know it’s a bit more impersonal, but it’s my way of assuring that I get all of my thoughts out, and if I’m very upset, it’s my way of venting my frustrations out on paper, rather than out on another person.

I’m also a very passionate person, and at the same time, a very stubborn redhead. Therefore, if I’m passionate about a topic (say Healthcare), the best way for me to express this, is through writing.

I write the things that I do, because that’s who I am. I guess you could call me an emotional writer. :0) <--- and I also like to overuse smileys and “tehehehehe’s”

When I write, I don’t write to offend or upset people, I write to vent. I write about the things I’m passionate about because the young hopeful girl that I am still thinks that perhaps she can change one person’s mind. I also write, because when I hear things from my loved ones that are clearly blatant lies about those aforementioned things that I’m passionate about, it breaks my heart.

Right now, I’m writing this for me…because it’s easier for me to write.

I love my grandpa, even though he loves Fox News. In fact, I love him BECAUSE of his passion and zeal for those things that are important to him. Just like I love my Papa Sam, even though he thinks I need to watch more Glenn Beck. :0) I love that every time I talk to either of them, we can’t help but start to talk about politics, because it’s something that we are interested in. I love my Chandra, because even though we don’t agree on many political issues, she’ll listen to me vent or see my Obama puzzle, and giggle at my crazy left-wing antics. I love my dad, even though he doesn’t always understand where this intense passion for politics came from. :0) Therefore, just because you like to watch Fox News, doesn’t make you a bad person. I watch Fox News to ensure that I’m getting the arguments on both sides (even if I do feel like throwing the remote at the TV). :0)

What I don’t love is when I hear someone repeat something that they heard on Fox News that holds no truth what-so-ever. What I don’t love is when people take others at their word, and take no initiative to check the facts. What I don’t love, is when people can’t hold a civilized conversation about those things that they are passionate about, but feel that the way to be heard is to attend a town hall meeting and interrupt at every possible moment with rhetoric they’ve heard on Fox News.

I’m very passionate about healthcare because I’m very passionate about human rights issues, and I strongly feel that healthcare is a human right. I think everyone (young, old, rich, poor, healthy, sick, citizen, or illegal alien) should have access to healthcare when they need it. Period.

Clarifications:
When I say that someone is a right wing, it’s not an insult, it’s a political stance people take that tends to be in line with the Republican Party.

Right-wing-crazy: As seen in my blog, this is someone who likes to go to a town hall meeting, hold up signs that make no sense, and interrupt people who are talking with comments that are based off of pure lies.

The sign that said “I’m pro life, Healthcare for All” is aimed at those republicans that say they are pro-life, yet don’t want universal healthcare for everyone, or don’t want to get rid of private health insurance companies that many times, decide who it is that lives and dies.

I love my entire crazy-right-wing family….especially because they love their crazy-left-wing-obnoxious-overly emotional daughter/sister. :0)

Peace out!

Thoughts on Healthcare Reform

Over the last few weeks I’ve gotten many questions and comments from family and friends about the proposed healthcare reform bill that is currently being debated. Not too long ago, I wrote a similar blog that outlined my disgust with the current healthcare system we use in America. This blog will most likely be much harsher, offend more people, and touch on more controversial issues. This is what I think:

Death Panels (a name quickly picked up after the lovely idiot Sara Palin). This is actually a Private-Public Advisory Committee that will talk with the patient about healthcare options that are available to them, like a living will, DNR procedures, hospice, and other details that an individual may want. At no point does the bill state that a patient will be denied healthcare because they are “too old” (another lie being spread). This section of the bill merely states that a doctor will be reimbursed for their time spent discussing these options with the patient. Furthermore, nowhere in the bill does it say that this consultation with your doctor is even mandatory…so if you don’t want to discuss end of life options with your doctor…DON’T!

However, there is some truth to these death panels that Sara Palin likes to talk about. Unfortunately, for her, these death panels are also known as private health insurance companies! Everyday, people are denied of what could be life saving surgeries, because private health insurance companies can refuse to pay for them. On top of this, the insurance companies don’t even have to keep track of who they deny, and for what reasons. It can range anywhere from typos on their paperwork, to so-called preexisting conditions. Ridiculous doesn’t even begin to describe these idiots like Sara Palin who refuse to think before they speak.

Here is an example I found on salon.com of our current death panels.
“-- In June 2008, Robin Beaton, a retired nurse from Waxahachie, Texas, found out she had breast cancer and needed a double mastectomy. Two days before her surgery, her insurance company, Blue Cross, flagged her chart and told the hospital they wouldn't allow the procedure to go forward until they finished an examination of five years of her medical history -- which could take three months. It turned out that a month before the cancer diagnosis, Beaton had gone to a dermatologist for acne treatment, and Blue Cross incorrectly interpreted a word on her chart to mean that the acne was precancerous.
Not long into the investigation, the insurer canceled her policy. Beaton, they said, had listed her weight incorrectly when she bought it, and had also failed to disclose that she'd once taken medicine for a heart condition -- which she hadn't been taking at the time she filled out the application. By October, thanks to an intervention from her member of Congress, Blue Cross reinstated Beaton's insurance coverage. But the tumor she had removed had grown 2 centimeters in the meantime, and she had to have her lymph nodes removed as well as her breasts amputated because of the delay.”

Moving along, I was recently speaking with my parents, and they were expressing concern about the fact that my dad needs a liver transplant. Apparently, some idiot Salt Lake City doctor that has been watching Fox News, scared them into thinking that if this bill passes, only people under the age of 35 will be getting transplants! WHAT?!?! On top of this, there have been rumors spreading very quickly, that if this bill passes, the government is going to “ration” healthcare. Again, why is it so much easier for people to get angry at the government for something that it’s not even doing, rather than get angry at private health insurance companies that are already rationing healthcare so that they can increase their profit margins?!?! Furthermore, after I heard this, I searched the entire bill, and nowhere does it mention anything about rationing organ transplants so that only the young receive them. Sorry. Just another blatant lie being told to spread fear about Universal Healthcare.

Another concern that I hear quite often, is that it’s just going to cost too much. While I agree that health care reform isn’t going to come free or easily (just as everything else), I do not understand how people can so easily put a price tag on the well being of our fellow Americans! It’s going to cost too much? I suppose it’s simply evidence of the selfish people that we have become, when the first thing that we are concerned about is money. My answer is that there is no such thing as costing too much when it comes to people’s health, and that even if our government is already involved in fighting two wars, trying to turn around our economy, or a number of other things, the time for healthcare reform is always NOW! Furthermore, the current bill that is being proposed (which I think won’t even begin to solve our problem, but I’ll get into that later) has what is a called a public option. Where people who aren’t offered insurance through their employers, or can’t afford to purchase it on their own, can buy into this public option. The public option will be entirely funded through premiums received from those people who buy into it. The thought is that the public option will force private insurance companies to quit dropping people’s coverage based on things like pre-existing conditions, and offer enough competition to keep their costs low. This leads me into another topic of debate.

Many people at the town hall meeting I went to were upset that the government was going to be competing with the private health insurance companies, and they felt that this would be unfair to our free market way of doing things. It’s shocking to me that people are making this argument, and actually seem to believe in what they are saying. Why would anyone stand up and defend a private entity whose success is based around the number of people that they can deny coverage to? Also along these lines, I heard another argument. I was talking with someone recently, and he asked where we were going to get all the doctors to cover these 47 million or so people that are currently uninsured, and are going to start going to the hospital now if they get insurance. It took me a few minutes to compose myself, and slow down my ever increasing heart rate. This, along with the concern that there are going to be longer lines for surgeries and Dr.’s visits if we make it so that everyone has access, irritates the hell out of me! Somehow, Americans have convinced themselves that if they have money and can afford health insurance and expensive operations; they are somehow more worthy of these healthcare benefits, than those who cannot afford it. How pathetic and disgusting.
Other people like to complain that we are rushing healthcare reform and that we need to slow down and make sure that we get it right. Obviously, these are the same insured Americans that already have access to all of their healthcare needs, and forget that about 18,000 people die every year because they don’t have health insurance. These are the same people who forget that since the 1940’s Democrats have been fighting private insurance companies and healthcare corporations for a form of Universal Healthcare. More recently, Hillary Clinton attempted in the 1990’s to lead us in reforming our healthcare system, but just as we’re seeing happen today, the private health insurance companies and large healthcare corporations, are throwing millions of dollars into the debate to continue to scare people into thinking that a form of Universal Healthcare would somehow lead us to communism. Again I say, ridiculous.
Americans, whether they accept it or not, are among the luckiest in the world. We live in a country that values an individual’s ability to make their own choices. We believe in freedom of speech. We believe that anyone should be allowed to practice whatever religion they choose. We believe in the freedom of the press. We believe that if someone doesn’t like the way that our current government is being run, they can stand up and say something about it, or even run for office themselves. We believe that everyone, no matter what their income status, their race, or gender, should have the right to an education. We believe that everyone should have the right to feel safe and protected in their own home, and have put police and fire departments in place to ensure that this happens. Along with hundreds of other things, it can easily be argued, that America is the best place in the world to live. However, Americans are still unsatisfied, and although we pay fewer taxes than most democratic countries, we still complain that we pay too many taxes!! I’ll never understand this.
This proposed bill doesn’t even come close to giving us the healthcare reform that we need and deserve. In trying to appease the Republican Party, we have sacrificed far too much in this bill already, and I think we should simply start over. However, I do feel that doing something is much better than doing nothing, and that we need to do something as soon as possible. Nevertheless, if it were my choice, here are a few changes that I would make to the current bill being proposed.
I would get rid of private health insurance companies all together. I do not believe that anyone should be making a profit off of our illnesses, especially the large profits that these companies are making. They had their chance; they did a shitty job, now it’s time to get rid of them.
Since I would get rid of private health insurance companies, this one seems obvious…but just in case taking the private insurance companies out of the picture wasn’t an option, I would take health insurance out of the hands of employers. By doing this, employers would quit discriminating against employees based on their age, sex, or health status. This would also save employers huge sums of money that could go to raises in pay, or hiring more people to work for them.
Through government funded grants, I would force hospitals and dr.’s offices to switch to electronic record keeping. This may sound harsh, but it’s 2009! There is no need for a nurse or medical assistant to spend hours trying to decipher chicken scratch written by their peers. I know that the older people are, the harder this is for them to accept, and they feel that somehow their information is less safe if it’s stored on a computer, rather than in some random filing cabinet. Get over it. The government is not out to get you, gather all of your information, and then use it against you. Your insecurities are costing us far too much time and money, and causing costly mistakes.
I would do away with Big Pharma! I would allow pharmacies to purchase drugs from other countries that are cheaper, if pharmaceutical companies refused to lower their prices. I also wouldn’t allow them to advertise to anyone other than doctors, and get rid of direct consumer advertising. I would also increase government regulation of drug companies, and I would not allow them to patent the drug for 20 years…maybe 3 if they are lucky. I know, I’m harsh.
I would pay for out healthcare through a dedicated Value Added tax, which we currently don’t use in the United States. When people whine about having to pay higher taxes, I would remind them that even though I don’t have children, I still pay my taxes so that other kids can go to school. I would remind them that even though I’ve never had to call 911 or use the fire department, I still pay my taxes just in case one day I may need to. I would also remind them, that even though they are completely healthy today, tomorrow might hold a different story.

Ok, so I think that I’ve hit on the majority of issues that I’ve heard people discussing. I’ll end with a quote from my last blog about healthcare that I feel sums up many of the reasons why something needs to be done!
“In his recent welcoming address to Pope Benedict XVI, our lovely and oh-so-caring (former) president Bush said “Americans believe that the measure of a free society is how we treat the weakest and most vulnerable among us. So each day citizens across America answer the universal call to feed the hungry and comfort the sick and care for the infirm.” Hmmm…perhaps as the said this he had forgotten about the 47 millions Americans that currently don’t have health insurance. Or the 9 millions children that don’t have health insurance. Or the 18,000 deaths that will occur this year due to lack of health insurance. Or the fact that over 50 percent of all bankruptcies occur because of medical bills!!”

Oh…I also heard that people are worried that they are going to be paying for the healthcare of illegal aliens. Again, not true! Under the bill being proposed, a person would have to show proof of citizenship before they could buy into the public option or get a subsidy. Under my plan, they would be taken care of, because they are human beings, and we should not deny healthcare to anyone.

Thanks and have a great day! :0)

My First Town Hall Meeting on Healthcare

Nate and I went to our very first town hall meeting this weekend with Representative Jay Inslee, on healthcare reform. What an experience!! I had an idea of what to expect after seeing highlights for the past several weeks of right-wing crazies yelling lies they’ve heard on Fox News, rather than trying to hold a civil conversation. However, experiencing it first hand exceeded ALL of my expectations!

From the moment that we arrived, my blood immediately began to boil reading the ignorant signs made by people who simply take Fox News at their word, rather than thinking for themselves. One sign actually said “Say No to Socialism”, and I couldn’t help but laugh out loud because she was holding this sign inside a public-school gymnasium (socialism), and she had arrived at the meeting driving on public roads (socialism). I wonder if she thanked the policemen that were present to assure everyone’s safety (socialism). Furthermore, the type of bill being proposed isn't even socialized medicine! Do these people really not do any research on their own?

Another sign was being held up by a woman that read “I Vote the Constitution”, and it was a statement made by another person present at the meeting. This is always humorous to me considering the fact that at the time that the original constitution was written, only wealthy white men who owned property could vote! Luckily under Article 5 of the constitution, it can be altered when needed (amendments), for example women’s suffrage and the abolition of slavery. I’m a firm believer that in an ever changing world, we simply cannot continue to be fully governed by a document that was written in the 1700’s, which is NOT to say that I don't appreciate our founding fathers and the work they did to ensure that I could live in this great country, but if they really thought that this document should never be changed, they wouldn't have implemented Article V in the first place. Ok. Moving on.

Luckily, we must have picked the correct spot to sit, because not long after we arrived, we were surrounded by 5 of the cutest ladies that carried signs saying “Senior Citizens for Healthcare Reform”, “Protect Women’s Healthcare”, and “Healthcare for All”. Eventually another woman joined our increasing group with blank pieces of poster board, and Nate and I helped her in making even more signs that read “Healthcare Reform NOW”, “I’m Pro Life, Healthcare For All”, and a number of other signs that we quickly distributed to those around us.

Once Representative Inslee arrived and began speaking, it didn’t take long before “the crazies” interrupted him with wild bantering that could only be understood by the few people sitting nearby, rather than politely waiting their turn to ask a question. As much as I tried to mentally prepare myself, I was still shocked when I heard what so many people still believe is actually a part of this heath reform bill (i.e. death panels, or rationing care for the elderly…which is why I’m planning on writing another blog that will touch on issues I’ve heard from my own family and friends). Another common theme I heard shouted at random was that the government should not be competing with the private health insurance industries. WHAT?!?! A primary-care physician hit the nail on the head when he stood up to say that these people must own stock in the insurance companies that profit off of our illnesses! When a man interrupted him and stated that the government should not get involved, and the Dr. shot back “You are the government! We the people!” half of the people in the building, Nate and I included, shot to their feet applauding the Dr. for saying what we were all thinking!! For me, that was one of the highlights!

Overall though, I must say that it is so wonderful to see such a large number of people attend a town hall meeting, and stand up for what they believe in (even if some of these beliefs are based off of lies). Hehehehe. It’s clear that this is an issue that many people are passionate about. When Representative Inslee displayed a graph showing that the biggest group of uninsured Americans are young adults between the ages of 19 and 29 I was incredibly disappointed when I looked around and saw that Nate and I were literally only two of about five other people that fell into this age group!! The largest group of uninsured Americans wasn’t even there to represent itself! As young people, who are certainly the future of this country, we need to take a bigger stance to let our voices be heard on issues like these that directly affect us!

As I mentioned before, Nate and I both thoroughly enjoyed ourselves at the meeting. It was so fun for me to watch my husband get just as worked up as I do about the issues, and stand up to cheer when he felt someone said something truthful and worthwhile. We both got a lot of questions answered by Mr. Inslee, and are very excited to spread our wealth of knowledge (hehehe) with our family and friends…which is why I’m going to end this blog and immediately start writing another one to try and answer some questions and sort out fact from fiction!

Sean Hannity - Waterboarding

I'm disgusted as I sit here and watch a video of Sean Hannity trying desperately to rationalize torture, and so many things are running through my head.

First, he keeps on referring to it as "enhanced interrogation", and refuses to call it what it is...TORTURE! The United Nations Convention against torture states that torture is "any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a male or female person for such purposes as obtaining from him, or a third person, information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity. It does not include pain or suffering arising only from, inherent in, or incidental to, lawful sanctions."
Therefore Sean Hannity, lets go ahead and call it what it is, torture. You cannot tell me that being laid on your back 166 times, and almost drowning isn't both physically and mentally painful.

Second: Every time that you try and rationalize the reasons that we torture you mention that they killed 3000 Americans, and that they chopped off Daniel Pearl's head. Now Mr. Hannity, didn't your mother ever teach you that two wrongs don't make a right?! Why would we, the United States of America, a civilized democracy, want to stoop to the levels of so-called terrorists? Doesn't that make us no better than they are?! If we are going to torture innocent people (in the hopes of getting at least one person who knows something), and we are going to hold them without trial, and not give them access to legal counsel, what separates us from the very "terrorists" we are fighting??

Third: In further trying to rationalize torture, you continue to point to the evidence that we got information that allegedly saved hundreds of American lives! This is so naive! To justify breaking the law by saying "well it works!". It's elementary, it's childish, and ignorant! Just because the goal of an action is accomplished, does not give reason to justify that action! If your goal is to rob a bank and give the money to the poor, and you succeed in doing so, that doesn't mean that your reason for robbing the bank justifies robbing a bank!

Fourth: Sean Hannity, you should be ashamed of yourself! You sit there and continually try and justify taking away a persons rights! Rights are just that, rights. To say that you are taking away someone's rights is a contradiction of terms, because if you can take them away at anytime, then they were never truly rights to begin with. In which case, the United States should never have signed the UDHR or the Geneva Convention, or even became a member of the UN. It's repulsive that you would sit there and mock such a tactic as water boarding, and then flippantly say that you would agree to be water boarded for charity...as if it's some sort of game! What disrespect for our soldiers who have been tortured in the past, and for those that will surely be tortured in the future after our actions at Abu Ghraib and Gitmo.

To end, when someone breaks the law, and they are caught breaking the law (as is the case with the Bush administration), then they need to reap the consequences of breaking that law! I'm so sick and tired of conservative Republicans telling us that this is the past, and we need to let it go....ALL CRIMES HAPPEN IN THE PAST! Members of the Bush administration broke the law, and now they should be punished for it.

Torture

I'm writing this quickly from my phone, because it's all anybody has been talking about for the past few days.

Torture is wrong on so many levels. I don't care whether or not it works, I don't care If we get useful information from it, I just don't care. It's illegal.

We currently have soldiers in jail from what happened at abu graib, yet nobody that actually have the demands is being punished for it. This is ridiculous. I think it's refreshing to have a president that respects the military chain of command, and the fact that these soldiers were given orders from Dick Cheney himself! Nobody is above the law, and therfore somebody should be punished for what has happened.

I'm so confused by the number of people that argue that If torture succeeds at making our country safer, then we should continue to do so! If the united states of ameica can't find more effective ways for getting valuable information, then we as a country should be ashamed of ourselves! And for those of you that like to claim that water boarding isn't torture, remember back to WWII when we shot a man for water boarding one of our soldiers! If it's not torture then why did we kill him?? Oh, that's right....it's called a war crime!

Something has to be done here.

Oh. And one more thought. If torture is so effective, then why did we have to water board ONE man 183 times??!? It's insane!

**sorry If this contains a lot of typos, as it's my first "phone blog".

Paul Begala has it right!

I love this article...and since I didn't think that I could say it any better than this...here you go.
Found at cnn.com
By: Paul Begala


(CNN) -- Happy Patriots' Day. April 15 is the one day a year when our country asks something of us -- or at least the vast majority of us.
For those who wear a military uniform, those who serve the rest of us as policemen and firefighters and teachers and other public servants, every day is patriots' day. They work hard for our country; many risk their lives -- and some lose their lives.
But for the rest of us, the civilian majority, our government asks very little. Except for April 15. On this day, our government asks that we pay our fair share of taxes to keep our beloved country strong and safe.
Freedom isn't free. That's what the courageous World War II veterans of the American Legion taught me back in Texas Boys State decades ago. That phrase had special meaning for them. Those guys had seen buddies blown apart at Anzio or Guadalcanal.
I grew up in a different era. There was no draft, and while I have friends and family members who joined the military, most of my peers, like me, opted for the security and prosperity of the private sector.
This country has showered me with the blessings of liberty. So what do I owe my country in return? Paying my fair share of taxes, it seems, is the least I can do. Thanks to President Obama and the Democratic Congress, 95 percent of Americans will get a tax cut this year. No one -- not even the wealthiest 1 percent -- will have to pay higher income taxes until 2011.

So why are a bunch of Fox News clowns and right-wing cranks hosting "tea parties" all over the country? The Boston Tea Party, in case the clods at Fox didn't know it, protested "taxation without representation." Note the second word: without. The goofballs tossing tea bags today have representation. They voted in the election; they lost.
That a bunch of overpaid media millionaires would lead a faux-populist revolt is comical. They somehow held their populist instincts in check as George W. Bush and the Republicans cut taxes on the idle rich and put the screws to the working stiffs.
Bush's tax policies were a godsend to the Paris Hilton class, but they sent the country on the road to bankruptcy and helped ruin the economy. But now that we the people have decided to set things right, now that we've hired Obama to fix the mess conservatives created, now they're protesting?
Give me a break. Instead of tossing tea bags for the cameras, the Fox phonies ought to go to Walter Reed Army Medical Center. There they would find better, braver men who have truly sacrificed for their country. They deserve nothing but the best -- not the shameful and shoddy conditions they endured during the Bush administration. iReport.com: Share your thoughts on taxes and tea parties
You want something to protest? How 'bout protesting how little we give back to our veterans? Or how 'bout protesting that the entire budget of the National Cancer Institute (where government researchers battle a disease that will strike half of all men and a third of all women) is 0.03 percent of what we gave the bandits at American International Group alone? Oh, but veterans benefits and cancer research might cost money. It might require -- dare I say it? -- paying taxes.
If the whiners at Fox News want to advertise their selfishness, they are free to do so. But please don't dress it up as patriotism. Patriotism is putting your country ahead of yourself -- which is the precise opposite of what the tea party plutocrats are doing.

Our Failing Healthcare System

I must say, that with each passing day, I become more and more disgusted with our healthcare system. Yeah yeah yeah…we have the most technologically advanced system in the world…but is it really worth it when not all of our citizens are granted access to it??

It seems that lately I’ve been hit with a barrage of incidents where I hear about people going bankrupt because of medical bills they were unable to pay. That’s disgusting to me…and it SHOULD NOT be happening in America! And as if this isn’t enough, we have these idiots out there demonizing all forms of Universal healthcare. Let me just clear something up for the many of you that try and parallel Universal healthcare and Socialized medicine. Universal healthcare is just a system of providing healthcare for everyone…no matter what their income status, or pre existing conditions, citizenship status…everyone! Socialized medicine would be an aspect of allowing the government to control the healthcare industry. Doctors, nurses, hospitals, etc…would all be owned and run by the government. Since Barack Obama’s election, I’ve heard many of my conservative friends say that they will never become a socialist (or other naïve comments similar to these)…but let me just point out some socialized organizations that you use everyday!

Libraries!!
Fire Department!!
Police Department!!
K-12 Schools!!
And perhaps the one that everyone is using today….OUR MILITARY!!!

Perhaps you should think about these the next time your house is on fire…because if you’re not a socialist…you better have a big hose! I’m not saying that we need to socialize our healthcare system…I’m simply saying that we are the only capitalist democracy that currently denies people the right to healthcare!

In his recent welcoming address to Pope Benedict XVI, our lovely and oh-so-caring president Bush said “Americans believe that the measure of a free society is how we treat the weakest and most vulnerable among us. So each day citizens across America answer the universal call to feed the hungry and comfort the sick and care for the infirm.” Hmmm…perhaps as the said this he had forgotten about the 47 millions Americans that currently don’t have health insurance. Or the 9 millions children that don’t have health insurance. Or the 18,000 deaths that will occur this year due to lack of health insurance. Or the fact that over 50 percent of all bankruptcies occur because of medical bills!!

Another thing. I find it absolutely pathetic that people are actually saying that they don’t want to have to pay higher taxes to help out those that are less fortunate! I mean, I’ve always known that we are a selfish society, but to blatantly discriminate against the poor…wow! Especially when the truth of the matter is that anyone of us could see ourselves in their position at any moment! How do you plan for cancer? Or a car accident? Or the death of a loved one? Has anyone ever felt the pain of being denied a life saving surgery because your health insurance company refused to pay for it?

Here is my view on the longer waits that people allegedly experience in other countries. I would rather wait in line for a surgery, than know that I was getting a needed surgery that many are denied of because they can’t afford it. The thoght that we would not want a Universal healthcare system because we, the ones that are so blessed to be able to afford it, might have to wait a bit longer to get the medical treatments we need...is again...disgusting!

I don’t care how we fix, but it must be fixed! We can no longer sit idly by as our fellow American’s are denied what is rightfully theirs (Article 25 of the declaration of Human Rights).