The Saga Continues

Yesterday I returned from my second root canal on the same tooth. It turns out that the need for a specialist was due to calcium build up in the canal. Now why doesn't that happen in my bones? Like calcium build up on a leaky faucet, age has done its dirty work on me.

Woe is me! I am not through yet. I have to go back next week for the third procedure in the same tooth. The dentist cleaned out two canals but there is one more to go. After that I have to return to my regular dentist for a permanent filling. I am so sick of soup !!!

A friend sent me a link to the following poem. I do hope I am not infringing on copyrighted material because I could not find an e-mail for Pam Ayres to ask her for permission to print this copy. If you don't hear from me for a week, puhleeze come bail me out of the hoosegow.

OH, I WISH I'D LOOKED AFTER MY TEETH by Pam Ayres Oh, I wish I'd looked after me teeth, And spotted the perils beneath, All the toffees I chewed, And the sweet sticky food, Oh, I wish I'd looked after me teeth. I wish I'd been that much more willin' When I had more tooth there than fillin' To pass up gobstoppers, From respect to me choppers And to buy something else with me shillin'. When I think of the lollies I licked, And the liquorice allsorts I picked, Sherbet dabs, big and little, All that hard peanut brittle, My conscience gets horribly pricked. My Mother, she told me no end, "If you got a tooth, you got a friend" I was young then, and careless, My toothbrush was hairless, I never had much time to spend. Oh I showed them the toothpaste all right, I flashed it about late at night, But up-and-down brushin' And pokin' and fussin' Didn't seem worth the time... I could bite! If I'd known I was paving the way, To cavities, caps and decay, The murder of fiIlin's Injections and drillin's I'd have thrown all me sherbet away. So I lay in the old dentist's chair, And I gaze up his nose in despair, And his drill it do whine, In these molars of mine, "Two amalgum," he'll say, "for in there." How I laughed at my Mother's false teeth, As they foamed in the waters beneath, But now comes the reckonin' It's me they are beckonin' Oh, I wish I'd looked after me teeth. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If you would like to read more of Pam Ayres comic poetry please click on the link. She also has books for sale on Amazon.

http://monologues.co.uk/Pam_Ayres/Sexy_at_Sixty.htm

Pam, if you see this please send me permission and don't prosecute me.

As if my dental problems weren't enough to deal with, insult was added to injury last week. I have had an appointment for my annual physical for months. I arranged for a ride to and from the appointment and was so ready to get it all over with. We walked into the doctor's office and there was no one in the waiting room. Red flags went up; something was wrong. You guessed it; the doctor was not in. My physician must not be good at healing himself because he was home sick.

A new girl behind the safety glass said they tried to reach me to tell me that I didn't need to come in. I told her I found that to be odd because I was home all morning. The most charitable thing I can say is that she didn't try very hard. The most uncharitable action I can take is complaining to my doctor. You can bet he is going to hear about it.

Well, we all have our bad days and if I can't rant about politics I need to rant about something. Now that it's out of my system, I feel better. I hope I haven't made you feel worse in the process.

I used to have a quick temper and after I blew up I was fine. I never could understand why everyone else was angry afterwards. ;-) One day my husband, who used to kid me out of my childish displays, was in no mood to tolerate my temper. He fired back, much to my surprise. I decided then and there that I needed to grow up and control my emotions better. I'm still trying.

To be continued:

A Sweet Award and Spring

Joy, who writes the wonderful blog, The Joy of Six , gave me this award. I am so honored by getting an award from Joy because she is the sweetest person. She writes about her wonderful family and often has funny jokes or photos to share. Even when Joy writes about sad times, her natural optimism shines through.

Joy's blog is always inspiring. Thank you so much for the award, Joy.

The simple rules that come with this award are:

1. When you receive this award, you must thank the person that awarded you in a new post.

2. Name 10 things that make you happy.

3. Pass this award on to 10 other bloggers who make you happy.

So many things make me happy so I will just brainstorm and put some of them down as they come to mind.

• Being alive.
• Having good health for a woman my age.
• Modern devices to aid me; a cochlear implant to help me hear and a steel hip to help me walk.
• Watching a good movie.
• Writing and reading blogs.
• Curling up with a good book on a rainy day.
• Going out to lunch with a friend.
• Having a comfortable home that is paid for.
• My family.
• Holding a baby.
• Visiting my daughter and granddaughters.
• My good friends; both in person and in cyberspace.

Okay, that's twelve. I got carried away. So sue me.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As Joy said, here's the hard part. Choosing ten people to pass this award on to. I will have a difficult time with that because I want to send it to all of my blog friends. But here are the ones I have selected.


Evelyn of Cop Car's Beat

Suranga of Gappa

Rain of Rainy Day Thoughts

Mary Ellen of Xtreme English

Sylvia of Sylvia From Over the Hill

Beverly of Beverly, Use Your Words

Anne of 20th Century Woman

Kay of Kay's Thinking Cap

Betty of A Piece of My Mind

Millie of My Mom's Blog

Some of those I selected may not want to participate and that's okay. Just know that I enjoy your blogs and think they are worthy of being noticed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The following photos are of the first sign of Spring in my yard. The vine is on the wall of my kitchen patio. These white flowers appear in the Spring but disappear when the weather turns hot. They don't come back until the next Spring. I don't have a clue as to what they are. Can anyone help me with this?

What am I?

Danger Ahead

Before I rant on the danger our country faces I will give you an update on my dental woes. I can't imagine why this would be of interest to anyone except my family, but I will furnish a quick report to all of those kind friends who sent good wishes. I did have a root canal and, after nearly two hours of working on me, my dentist told me it was not successful due to the shrunken canal. This, he informed me, was due to my advanced years. ( I'm old, is what I am.) Because he was unable to remove the infected tissue I will be seeing a specialist Monday who may do the whole procedure over. The good news is that my dentist did not charge me for his services. He is an angel.

Now on to my rant.

The crazies have been unleashed by the overblown rhetoric of the 'right'. Tucson was among the cities that had a brick thrown through the door of the headquarters of our Senator, Gabrielle Giffords, because she voted 'aye' for the health care reform bill.

The gun nuts are planning a gathering in D. C. next month and have been told to carry loaded pistols and unarmed rifles. Get that? LOADED pistols. The NRA must be so proud. The Militia are a scary bunch of neanderthals and, because they are cowards, they need to have weapons to feel important. All those loaded guns in the hands of the loonies in one place is a disaster waiting to happen.

If this dangerous situation is not defused we are in for a very horrifying and violent time in our country. Who needs foreign enemies when we have our own homegrown ones? The main target of these nut cases is, of course, the President. I hope the Secret Service does a better job of protecting him than they did with JFK and Bobby. I think he should stop going to public rallies until this insane time blows over. Maybe he should have a Pope Mobile to encase him when he is in public.

I just watched the movie Bobby and it was painful to relive that period in our history. I remember the grief when Bobby Kennedy was shot and when the Kent State students were killed. All the other horrors that occurred when the dogs of hate were released are fresh in my memory.

The lies and vicious name calling released the dogs of hate again when we elected a black president, The racism has bubbled up and has been building ever since. Words have consequences.

Sarah Palin was bad enough with her dishonest claim of death panels, but now she has shamefully exceeded herself by putting out a map with the cross hairs of a gun posted in states where the Democrats are up for re-election. If this isn't an invitation to some nut to shoot a Democrat I don't know what is.

The dishonorable taunt "You lie" yelled at the president during the State of the Union speech by South Carolina's, Joe Wilson, followed by the disreputable name 'Baby Killer' hurled at Bart Stupak by Texas Congressman, Randy Neugebaur in the Halls of Congress are all invitations to the insane that it's open season on Democrats and that civility is an anachronism.

After Wilson and Neugebaur disgraced themselves with an extreme lack of decorum, they compounded their crime by posting it on their web sites as a money raising ploy. To the shame of their followers, it is working.

Freedom of Speech allows me to write this rant, but it does not allow me to yell "Fire" in a crowded theater. Nor should it allow politicians to make cheap political points that are incendiary.

Of course, we mustn't forget Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh (Is he still here? I thought he was moving to Costa Rica if the health care reform bill passed.) They are directly responsible for the hate filled words that have incited their listeners to hate and anger.

I just heard on TV that Democrat Congressmen and women are getting death threats. Are you proud of yourselves, you stupid people who swallowed whole all the garbage spewed by Michelle Bachmann, Srah Palin, Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh? And in a lesser way by the Representatives in Congress.

It is very disturbing to me that the Republican party isn't denouncing the dangerous activities of the Tea Party thugs. For awhile it was funny looking at their misspelled signs. Now the yells and signs are no longer funny; they are dangerous. To date the Repubs. have put politics ahead of averting a tragedy.

It's getting very ugly and very very frightening.

Historic Moment

Whoo Hoo !!!! Yes we did !!! This vote was for you, Ted.

Health Care Reform just became a probability instead of the faint possibility of a few weeks ago. I never want to read that President Obama lacks leadership again.

Nancy Pelosi is as disliked by the 'right' as Dick Cheney is by the 'left'. The reason? Because she can deliver and much credit for tonight's historic vote has to go to her.

I will write more on this later, but for now I am going to celebrate all by myself and then hit the hay (also by myself) so I will be rested for my root canal tomorrow.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The morning after

This morning I received the following in my e-mail. I am sure many of you also got this form letter, but I am going to share it with those of you who did not. It is a copy of President Obama's speech after the vote.

Dear Darlene --

For the first time in our nation's history, Congress has passed comprehensive health care reform. America waited a hundred years and fought for decades to reach this moment. Tonight, thanks to you, we are finally here.

Consider the staggering scope of what you have just accomplished:

Because of you, every American will finally be guaranteed high quality, affordable health care coverage.

Every American will be covered under the toughest patient protections in history. Arbitrary premium hikes, insurance cancellations, and discrimination against pre-existing conditions will now be gone forever.

And we'll finally start reducing the cost of care -- creating millions of jobs, preventing families and businesses from plunging into bankruptcy, and removing over a trillion dollars of debt from the backs of our children.

But the victory that matters most tonight goes beyond the laws and far past the numbers.

It is the peace of mind enjoyed by every American, no longer one injury or illness away from catastrophe.

It is the workers and entrepreneurs who are now freed to pursue their slice of the American dream without fear of losing coverage or facing a crippling bill.

And it is the immeasurable joy of families in every part of this great nation, living happier, healthier lives together because they can finally receive the vital care they need.

This is what change looks like.

My gratitude tonight is profound. I am thankful for those in past generations whose heroic efforts brought this great goal within reach for our times. I am thankful for the members of Congress whose months of effort and brave votes made it possible to take this final step. But most of all, I am thankful for you.

This day is not the end of this journey. Much hard work remains, and we have a solemn responsibility to do it right. But we can face that work together with the confidence of those who have moved mountains.

Our journey began three years ago, driven by a shared belief that fundamental change is indeed still possible. We have worked hard together every day since to deliver on that belief.

We have shared moments of tremendous hope, and we've faced setbacks and doubt. We have all been forced to ask if our politics had simply become too polarized and too short-sighted to meet the pressing challenges of our time. This struggle became a test of whether the American people could still rally together when the cause was right -- and actually create the change we believe in.

Tonight, thanks to your mighty efforts, the answer is indisputable: Yes we can.

Thank you,

President Barack Obama

A Pain in the Jaw

I think I have gotten all the mileage I can out of St. Paddy's day. It occurred to me that it is time for a new post.

I have ideas that I want to explore on my blog, but right now I am not up to the task. For over a week I have been suffering with an infection. The whole side of my head aches and thinking has not been an option.

After two trips to the dentist I was given the choice between a root canal or an extraction. I probably made a foolish decision when I decided on the root canal because that tooth is more filling than enamel. I suppose it will have to depart my jaw eventually, but if I can avoid that procedure for another year or two I may not even have to have it done. ;-(

Monday I will have, what I hope to be, my last dental visit and will get this over with. I have another tooth that should have a root canal and a crown, but the expense of the crown is daunting. i may, or may not, have that done next.

In between dental appointments I had an out-of-town visitor this week. She was a former neighbor when I lived in my previous house with a pool (as Hyacinth Bucket would say, although I did not have room for a pony. Ha! You do watch Keeping Up Appearances don't you?).

My former neighbor is a beautiful young woman with the most incredibly gorgeous changeable eyes that anyone would envy. (Well, maybe not Elizabeth Taylor). Although she and her family moved to Long Island, her oldest daughter is now in her last year of residency at the U of A. She is/will be a doctor and I am so impressed with her tenacity and ability. I have known her since she was a small girl and always knew that she was destined for great things. She was a brilliant child and now as an adult she is fulfilling her potential.

Whenever my friend comes to Tucson to see her daughter she always takes time to visit me and get caught up. She took me to lunch and I enjoyed eating something beside the soup and puddings that have been my staples for nearly two weeks.

For most of you a busy week is normal; for me it's a rarity. I have a luncheon date today with my friend who takes me shopping every week. I guess you could call this week one of ups and downs. Today is an 'up' day and I had better post this and go get ready.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY

In the event that you didn't know it, Barack Obama is Irish. Don't believe me? Click on the link and you will see for yourself. Sorry, but this You Tube video cannot be embedded.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HplZ_taHXLM

Traditional Irish Blessing

May the road rise to meet you
May the wind be always at your back
The sun shine warm upon your face
The rains fall soft upon your fields
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the hollow of his hand.

If you're feeling Irish, hoist that Guiness and sit back and watch the River Dance.

Blogging Brings Rewards

Nana Royer

I never dreamed when I started this blog that I would make such wonderful new friends. I encourage any elder who might be lonely or bored to start their own blog. The blessings are many and surprising.

One day I opened my e-mail to find a letter from the lovely lady in the photo above telling me that she would be in Tucson and wondering if she could visit me. I, of course, was delighted. Nana lives in Florida and has a son and a step-son living in Tucson. While visiting them she took the time Friday to come spend some time with me. I enjoyed meeting her and chatting over coffee.

Nana had many interesting things to impart and she graciously let me ramble on. It's always wonderful to find someone who is so easy to talk to; someone who is an excellent conversationalist and a good listener. Nana is both and it made for a very enjoyable morning.

Nana does not write a blog, but she has a web site and her last entry about planting trees in Cuba is fascinating. I'm sure she won't mind if I post the link. http://www.nanadave.com/

This is the second time I met someone in person through my blog. Some of you may recall that Rain and her husband came to see me twice. I also got a telephone call from a fellow blogger, Ugich Konitari, when she was in the U. S. She lives in India. I missed a telephone call from another blogger who was in Tucson for a very short time. A personal contact is quite exciting.

In addition to meeting friends in person, I have made some wonderful friends via e-mail. I can't begin to stress how this has enriched my solitary life. One dear friend sent me a wonderful bottle of wine from a winery in Napa. How lucky can one person get? I will not name her unless she gives me her permission because I don't want to get her in trouble with other bloggers who might be jealous. She knows who she is and I thank her.

When I broke my hip I got a call from Ronni Bennett (as well as a beautiful fruit and flower arrangement) and cards from many blogging friends. Nothing did more to lift my spirits that hearing from all of those wonderful friends.

I am so grateful to all of you who visit my blog and for your comments. I just want you to know how much it means to me. This post will be my heartfelt thanks to you all. It will also serve as a welcome to any of you who find your way to my city. Please know that the welcome mat is always out and the coffee pot is always on.

Myths on Health Care Reform

Paul Krugman has an editorial in this mornings New York Times that exposes the myths being told about reform. The Republicans have no conscience and are so intent on keeping Obama from having a victory that they will lie and distort the facts about reform. I have said it before and will keep on saying it with my last breath. We must have health care reform. Now please read excerpts from Krugman's Op-ed piece.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Reform still has to run a gantlet of misinformation and outright lies. So let me address three big myths about the proposed reform, myths that are believed by many people who consider themselves well-informed, but who have actually fallen for deceptive spin.

The first of these myths, which has been all over the airwaves lately, is the claim that President Obama is proposing a government takeover of one-sixth of the economy, the share of G.D.P. currently spent on health.

Well, if having the government regulate and subsidize health insurance is a “takeover,” that takeover happened long ago. Medicare, Medicaid, and other government programs already pay for almost half of American health care, while private insurance pays for barely more than a third (the rest is mostly out-of-pocket expenses). And the great bulk of that private insurance is provided via employee plans, which are both subsidized with tax exemptions and tightly regulated.

The only part of health care in which there isn’t already a lot of federal intervention is the market in which individuals who can’t get employment-based coverage buy their own insurance. And that market, in case you hadn’t noticed, is a disaster — no coverage for people with pre-existing medical conditions, coverage dropped when you get sick, and huge premium increases in the middle of an economic crisis. It’s this sector, plus the plight of Americans with no insurance at all, that reform aims to fix. What’s wrong with that?

The second myth is that the proposed reform does nothing to control costs. To support this claim, critics point to reports by the Medicare actuary, who predicts that total national health spending would be slightly higher in 2019 with reform than without it.

Even if this prediction were correct, it points to a pretty good bargain. The actuary’s assessment of the Senate bill, for example, finds that it would raise total health care spending by less than 1 percent, while extending coverage to 34 million Americans who would otherwise be uninsured. That’s a large expansion in coverage at an essentially trivial cost.

And it gets better as we go further into the future: the Congressional Budget Office has just concluded, in a new report, that the arithmetic of reform will look better in its second decade than it did in its first.

Furthermore, there’s good reason to believe that all such estimates are too pessimistic. There are many cost-saving efforts in the proposed reform, but nobody knows how well any one of these efforts will work. And as a result, official estimates don’t give the plan much credit for any of them. What the actuary and the budget office do is a bit like looking at an oil company’s prospecting efforts, concluding that any individual test hole it drills will probably come up dry, and predicting as a consequence that the company won’t find any oil at all — when the odds are, in fact, that some of the test holes will pan out, and produce big payoffs. Realistically, health reform is likely to do much better at controlling costs than any of the official projections suggest.

Which brings me to the third myth: that health reform is fiscally irresponsible. How can people say this given Congressional Budget Office predictions — which, as I’ve already argued, are probably too pessimistic — that reform would actually reduce the deficit? Critics argue that we should ignore what’s actually in the legislation; when cost control actually starts to bite on Medicare, they insist, Congress will back down.

But this isn’t an argument against Obamacare, it’s a declaration that we can’t control Medicare costs no matter what. And it also flies in the face of history: contrary to legend, past efforts to limit Medicare spending have in fact “stuck,” rather than being withdrawn in the face of political pressure.

So what’s the reality of the proposed reform? Compared with the Platonic ideal of reform, Obamacare comes up short. If the votes were there, I would much prefer to see Medicare for all.

For a real piece of passable legislation, however, it looks very good. It wouldn’t transform our health care system; in fact, Americans whose jobs come with health coverage would see little effect. But it would make a huge difference to the less fortunate among us, even as it would do more to control costs than anything we’ve done before.

This is a reasonable, responsible plan. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Click on the link to see a protest for health care reform.

http://healthcareforamericanow.org/

Writing Your Representatives

I am always recommending that you write your representatives. It is very important that they hear from you now during this final push for passage of the health care reform bill.

No, this bill isn't what most of us want, but it has enough good things in it to make it worthwhile. It can be the first step in reform and sometimes we have to crawl before we can walk.

Here is a video on how to make your letter stand out, so before you write your representative please watch it. I hope you will then be motivated to write your rep. one last time. (Or more, if you are a passionate about this issue as I am.)



We should stress that this should be enacted speedily so the president can get on to the vital issue of creating jobs.

If any of you are looking for a job, and are low income, you might check with your local employment office to see if your area is beginning to put together the new job assistance program that Obama has initiated. I understand that the government will pay the employer part of the wages of every new person he/she hires. Apparently, they will match the applicant and the employer.

My daughter, who has been hunting for a job for over two years, told me about it. She was quite excited and has hopes that she will find work through this program. The minute she heard about it she rushed right down with an application and a resume. It is just getting underway in her county.

Crunch Time for Health Care Reform

Today I had planned on writing what I hoped would be my last post on the health care reform bill. Instead I am going to link to the great blog "Birds On A Wire" because Paula, who writes this blog, said everything I had intended to say; and she says it more eloquently. I will just make a few additional comments to her post.

The Republicans are furiously trying to stop this bill by any means available to them. They demagogue the bill with lies and distortions and are very successful in spreading their misinformation. People don't like the bill now because the party of NO has convinced them that it will increase the deficit astronomically, is too big and complicated, the government will be taking over your health care, and it has death panels. All of which are blatant lies. Oh yes, don't forget abortion. The Republicans have also misstated the claim that the government will pay for abortions if this bill is enacted. No matter how many times it is refuted many people only hear the negative drum beat.

In spite of polls showing that the Republicans have succeeded in getting people to turn away from supporting the bill, when those same people are asked if they support the things in the bill (like insuring everyone, reducing costs, providing preventative health care, and reigning in the insurance companies) they are overwhelmingly for it.

I don't know how much good it will do, but it can't hurt to start putting the pressure on your representatives to vote for the bill. This is especially important if your representative is a Blue Dog Democrat. So keep on making those telephone calls and writing those letters to them. It's crunch time.

Now please click on the link and get the facts on this piece of legislation.


http://www.birdsonawireblog.com/1/post/2010/03/perhaps-the-last-word-on-health-care-reform.html#comments

A caveat: The bill is large and complicated, but if you read the bill you find that the number of pages are due to the legal explanations ad infinitum. And the complicated issues can be reduced to nine pages.

Busy and Weary

Please bear with me for awhile. I have had many things to do and will continue to be busy for a few days.

I had another computer crash and had to do a reinstall again. For those of you who have endured this frustrating experience you are aware that this means reinstalling all of your programs. It is time consuming and maddening. I have lost track of the number of times this has happened to me. I am grateful that I recently bought the laptop as it had enabled me to keep up with e-mail, but blogging has suffered.

Other things have interfered also, including my not feeling up to par. The need to do many things and not being chipper at the same time is not the best combination.

I will try to get back to a normal routine as soon as possible. Your patience will be appreciated. Meanwhile, shutterbugs, be very careful what your picture will look like before pressing the shutter. Click to enlarge to see the funny results of poor composition.

Kill Bill

As promised, I watched as much of the President's Summit as I was able. It really doesn't take a long time to sum up the Summit. The Republican plan will only insure 3,000 of the 30 million uninsured and will do nothing to reduce the escalating cost of medical care.

Heaven forbid that they would reign in the out-of-control insurance industry. Regulate them under the Fair Trade laws? Perish the thought. The insurance industry is exempt from that law, by the way. Why?

Oh, but the R's have a grand idea. Let people buy their insurance across state lines. Whoopee! As Paul Krugman states in his op-ed piece in the New York Times, that will just make it harder for those with serious medical problems to get insurance. To fully understand the folly of this measure please click on the link below:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/26/opinion/26krugman.html?th&emc=th

With proper regulation of the insurance industry the R's plan to buy coverage across state lines has some merit, but will not reduce premiums by much since the big insurance companies now control most of the policies. (Too big to fail - does that ring a bell? Does Anthem Blue Cross ring a bell?) The key word is 'regulation' and the R's are adamantly opposed to that.

The other pet project of the R.s is tort reform. As one Democrat Senator pointed out, the cost of medical malpractice suits is 1/5 of 1%. So how much do you think it will save? The Senator from Texas proudly proclaimed that tort reform had reduced insurance rates by 4% in his state (this figure is from my sometimes faulty memory so don't hold me to it). No matter what figure he used, the Kaiser Foundation did a study that showed it had not reduced rates at all after three years of being in place. This comes down to 'who do you believe' and 'where is the proof'.

Since the Republicans are not adverse to outright lying with a straight face, I have to take much of their statistics at face value. For example, Lamar Alexander said in his opening statement that the bill would increase premiums for policyholders. The reality is that the CBO (Congressional Budget Office) said it will reduce premiums. How can Lamar make such a bald face statement in the face of those stubborn things, facts? Well, what the CBO actually said is that premiums would rise for a small segment of policy holders because they would buy better coverage, but for the same coverage the premiums would be less.

Another lie repeated by the R side was that the bill included $500 million taken out of Medicare. The amount is not only wrong, but the money saved will be in the form of reform of the Medicare Advantage Plan ( This has been a bonanza for the insurance companies) and cutting out waste and fraud. No elder will see his coverage change, except that it will lower cost of premiums and co-pays and provide better preventative measures such as free cancer screening.

But, all that aside, the Republican plan is a sham anyhow, because their real goal is to KILL the BILL. The mantra repeated by one Republican after another was "Start over." or "take it one step at a time". Of course, we all know what this means. It means 'stall it while we demagogue it some more so the public will believe our lies about a government take over, etc. and oppose it. They have been doing a masterful job of that so far. I will have to give them that.

If I hear one more Republican make the claim (as did Mr.'tanner than thou') that we have the best health care system in the world I will barf. It's true for him, but not for the 30,000 uninsured in our country.

I wrote what the bill WILL do on the previous post so I will not go over that again. As one of my responders noted, it will eventually close the do-nut hole. If you don't know what is in it, please refer back to that post to understand the President's position and the bill as it stands now.

Random facts brought out in the debate: Now it costs every citizen $1,000 for everyone who uses the Emergency Room without insurance . (Another reason to have everyone insured.) Mr. Tanner than thou, Boehner claimed the bill would pay for abortions. Nancy Pelosi set him straight on that. It DOESN'T. Boehner is either a consummate liar or an idiot; or both.

A personal observation on the participants. My two senators, the two Johns, gave a shameful performance. John McCain looked so angry that I wondered if he had a dagger hidden in his suit. Obama reminded him that the campaign was over. That's the only time McCain smiled and it was an embarrassed one. (He's such a sore loser.) John Kyle is a lawyer and very smooth at making his proclamations sound like they are the truth. But he is a liar repeating Lamar Alexander's lie of rising premiums. Thad Cochran was logical and made good points for the R side, but every one of his suggestions were already in the bill. Mitch McConnell whined that the Democrats got more time than the Republicans. (Poor baby) The President pointed out that it was because he was the President and he is the one who took more time. It was, after all, his summit.

After the seven hour summit was over Mitch McConnell and David 'I'm tanner than thou' Boehner proudly proclaimed that they would not support the bill. Is anyone surprised by that?

It is obvious that the bill will not receive one 'aye' vote from the Republican side of the aisle no matter what is in it. I wish the Democrats would put the Public Option back in the bill and pass it as quick as possible under the rule of Reconciliation. Let the Republicans rant that they were excluded and that 'Reconciliation' was a back room deal. (Their claim that it is unconstitutional, et. al, is ridiculous. Reconciliation has been used 21 times by Democrats and Republicans; including the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest 1% of the population.). Then let them explain why not one person on their side of the aisle voted for it.

My final comment on the long day is that our president did a fantastic job of keeping those who wanted to use this format for political posturing from going off on a rant of their talking points. He masterfully brought them back to the subject. He knew his facts and didn't need a teleprompter or cliff notes to reel them off. He was, as usual, articulate and knowledgeable.

Last Gasp for Health Care Reform

I feel great compassion for all of you who are enduring one snow storm after another. I thought I would show you that we desert dwellers are getting some, too. I took this photo late yesterday afternoon. If I hadn't been so lazy I could have gotten an early morning shot when the snow was all the way down to the foothills. By the time I ventured out the snow on the lower elevations had melted.

That's my house in the middle behind the street sign.

It's crunch time on health care reform and this is where we are now. As the current bill stands the following are the important features.

• No company can ever deny you health insurance or drop your coverage for a pre-existing condition or if you get really sick.

• If you get cancer or other serious illness, there is no cap on the amount of needed care that your insurance will cover.
• 
  
• No threat of losing your life savings to pay for care. Insurance companies can’t stop paying your claims and leave you with a lot of medical bills.Recommended preventive care will be covered without deductibles – checkups, colonoscopies, mammograms – no matter if you buy your own policy or get coverage through your job. Preventing illness before it becomes serious is the best way to save money!
• 
  
• Programs to increase the number of primary care doctors, with incentives for them to practice in rural areas, so you get quality care no matter where you live.

It's a far cry from what it should be, but it's better than the current chaotic mess that we have.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Today several groups have organized a real march and a virtual march on Washington telling our representatives to enact real health care reform NOW. You can join the virtual march by clicking on the link. The goal is a million signatures by the end of the day.

http://pol.moveon.org/virtualmarch10/action.html?rc=p_hcan

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tomorrow is the televised face off between the Republicans and the president. It starts at 10 am Eastern Standard time. Please put it on your calendar. It will be an historic event. You can see it on C-Span starting at 10 am Eastern Standard Time.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Robert Reich has written an excellent article on why the Democrats should pass health care reform with the 51 vote majority they have. The Republicans have made it very clear that they will do everything in their power to scuttle this legislation. Here is the link:

http://readersupportednews.org/opinion/39-health-care/1076-time-to-enact-health-care-with-51-votes


Excerpts from an Op-ed piece by Roger Cohen of the New York Times:

When it comes to health, we’re all in this together. Pooling the risk among everybody is the most efficient way to forge a healthier society. That’s what other developed societies do. And they don’t have 30 million plus uninsured.

Now, as I understand it, the Tea Party movement is angry about waste, bail-outs for the rich and spiraling debt. They detest big government. But if waste and debt are really what’s bothering them, how about the waste in the more than 1,800 daily health-care related personal bankruptcies, the 25 to 30 percent of some corporate insurers’ costs going on administration (versus 6 percent for Medicare), the sky-rocketing health premiums that are undermining U.S. corporations (and so taking jobs), the endless paperwork of private reimbursement procedures, and the needless deaths?

Americans don’t want a European nanny state — fine! But, as a lawyer friend, Manuel Wally, put it to me, “When it comes to health it makes sense to involve government, which is accountable to the people, rather than corporations, which are accountable to shareholders.”

All the fear-mongering talk of “nationalizing” 17 percent of the economy is nonsense. Government, through Medicare and Medicaid, is already administering almost half of American health care and doing so with less waste than the private sector. Per capita Medicare costs for common benefits grew 4.9 percent between 1998 and 2008, against 7.1 percent for private insurers. Why not offer Medicare as a choice — a choice — to everyone? Aren’t Republicans about choice?

The public option, not dead, would amount to recognition of shared interest in each other’s health and of the need to use America’s energies and resources better. It would involve 300 million people linking arms.

Door Knobs and Broomsticks

A funny thing happened to me on the way to the bath. To fully understand this embarrassing event I must start at the beginning.

My followers know that Thanksgiving has always been my danger holiday. The last one was no exception. No broken hips or split head this time, but a crisis nonetheless.

Last Thanksgiving I had been invited to a posh home in the Foothills for dinner and wanted to look my best. The bathroom that I use is at the end of my house and is always chilly. I, therefore, have a heater in the room. Before showering, I turned the heater on to warm the room and came in to watch TV while the room reached a comfortable temperature. Imagine my surprise when I went to take my shower to find the room locked. Living alone means I never, never, never lock an inside door. But this sucker was locked. Tight !

I tried poking things in the little slot to no avail. In desperation I called a friend who came with his tool kit to help me reach my goal. He didn't have any better luck than I did and decided the only way to get me in the room was to saw the doorknob off. My nerves matched the grating noises of the hacksaw as he mightily sawed away. Finally, 'Mission accomplished'. The door was open. I thanked him and he left me to my ablution.

Fast forward to Thursday. I had been waiting to replace the door knob until Tuesday Morning had another sale on lever handles. Happy Day! The long awaited day arrived; lever door handles at half price. When I reached the store my disappointment was huge. Half price on designer knobs was way beyond my budget. My good friend who took me to look at them realized how unhappy I was so she took me to Lowe's where I purchased 9 new lever handle knobs. Okay, I get it. I should have done that in the first place and I would have been enjoying my new door hardware for over two months. I am a slow learner.

Twenty five years ago I changed all the door knobs in my house by myself. With the confidence of that experience, I got out my trusty screwdrivers and prepared to take the remains of the old handle off. No problem, thinks I. A piece of cake. Only it wasn't. The existing knobs were not so simple and I didn't know the trick of getting them apart. I unscrewed the two visible screws but didn't know there was another one lurking under the face plate. For two days I kept unscrewing the two screws wondering why they didn't fall out.

My cleaning lady decided she could remove the pesky knob. She took a hammer and, although she gave up, she did manage to remove the face plate and the hidden screw was exposed. Aha! Now I have no problem. As soon as she left I rushed in to finish to job. Hoo boy! That screw was easy to remove and when it fell out everything except the center piece fell off with it. Oops! The bolt was in locked position and I was locked in.

I wiggled, I jiggled, I poked and prodded the blasted thing and it didn't move. Since I was in a room only good for two things, and eating wasn't one of them, I knew I had to get help. So I pressed my trusty medical alert button. The voice from the alert box asked if I was alright. I told her I was fine, but I needed help extricating myself from the bathroom. This is undoubtedly one of the strangest emergencies she ever had to deal with. I asked her to call a neighbor to come over. When the neighbor arrived the 'voice' was still there waiting to see if the problem was resolved.

I asked my neighbor to go get one of the few men in our complex to bring his tools to extricate me. My neighbor is a nice generous lady, but she is the kind of person who knows best. So she and the voice called the fire department. And that is the start of my embarrassing experience.

One of the firemen managed to move the part enough to release the bolt and the door flew open leaving me facing three young firemen. They didn't know when they came that they were not coming for a critical call, but to just do a carpenter job. One of them asked me if that's all I needed. (I'm sure he must have been disappointed to have nothing to do but just stand around.) With a red face I assured him that I was fine. I thanked them and saw them to the door where I saw the great big red fire truck parked outside.

I have created lots of excitement in the neighborhood since I moved here. But it's getting downright tiresome. I have had the firemen and/or the paramedics here 6 times in 10 years. I have broken my ribs in the middle of the night, had a gall stone attack that mimicked a heart attack, broken my hip, fallen in the street on my scooter, fallen by my front door and now the most pitiful one of all; locking myself in the bathroom. I am getting quite a reputation with my neighbors, but I shudder to think what they call me at the firehouse. They certainly know how to find my house now. One more "Help. I've fallen and I can't get up or out" will do it. Do you think I might be on their s---t list?

My neighbor pointed out the fact that I could have just gotten out of the shower and could have been without clothing in there. Now that would definitely have been the most embarrassing experience of my life. I can just see the firemen rolling on the floor with laughter when they saw this old wrinkled lumpy body facing them. This is the vision of nightmares.

My ego is now like a deflated balloon. I was so sure I was still capable of doing the job myself. Sigh!!

My handyman just left.

And I now have 9 of these on my doors.

Alert: This morning's Huffington Post has a good article on the televised program on the 25th between Obama and the Republicans on Health Care Reform. The article includes the topics that will be covered (as released by the White House) as well as commentary on what might happen. I found it worthwhile and hope you will too.

The program will be televised starting at 10 am Eastern Standard Time on C-Span and, perhaps, other channels. I would guess the CNN and, perhaps, MSNBC will air it. Click on the link to read the article.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/linda-bergthold/health-reform-d-day---feb_b_468249.html

Elders Beware

The other day Paul Krugman had an op-ed piece titled Republicans and Medicare in which he proved that the Republicans are the biggest hypocrites on the face of the earth.  Their latest ploy to scare people away from supporting health care reform is seizing on the fact that the bill includes cuts in Medicare.  What the bill really does is cut the waste and fraud now in Medicare.  Newt Gingrich leads the pack (no surprise there) claiming that the Democrat health care reform bill would cut $500 billion out of Medicare.  Are you trembling in your boots?  Newt would like you to think that your benefits are to be cut.  

But wait; if Republican Representative Paul Ryan has his way they will be.   Tea Baggers take note.  Especially you idiots who carried signs reading "Don't Touch My Medicare"  Read on.

Paul Krugman states:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What’s truly mind-boggling is this: Even as Republicans denounce modest proposals to rein in Medicare’s rising costs, they are, themselves, seeking to dismantle the whole program. And the process of dismantling would begin with spending cuts of about $650 billion over the next decade. Math is hard, but I do believe that’s more than the roughly $400 billion (not $500 billion) in Medicare savings projected for the Democratic health bills.

What I’m talking about here is the “Roadmap for America’s Future,” the budget plan recently released by Representative Paul Ryan, the ranking Republican member of the House Budget Committee. Other leading Republicans have been bobbing and weaving on the official status of this proposal, but it’s pretty clear that Mr. Ryan’s vision does, in fact, represent what the G.O.P. would try to do if it returns to power. 

The broad picture that emerges from the “roadmap” is of an economic agenda that hasn’t changed one iota in response to the economic failures of the Bush years. In particular, Mr. Ryan offers a plan for Social Security privatization that is basically identical to the Bush proposals of five years ago.

But what’s really worth noting, given the way the G.O.P. has campaigned against health care reform, is what Mr. Ryan proposes doing with and to Medicare.

In the Ryan proposal, nobody currently under the age of 55 would be covered by Medicare as it now exists. Instead, people would receive vouchers and be told to buy their own insurance. And even this new, privatized version of Medicare would erode over time because the value of these vouchers would almost surely lag ever further behind the actual cost of health insurance. By the time Americans now in their 20s or 30s reached the age of eligibility, there wouldn’t be much of a Medicare program left.

But what about those who already are covered by Medicare, or will enter the program over the next decade? You’re safe, says the roadmap; you’ll still be eligible for traditional Medicare. Except, that is, for the fact that the plan “strengthens the current program with changes such as income-relating drug benefit premiums to ensure long-term sustainability.”

If this sounds like deliberately confusing gobbledygook, that’s because it is. Fortunately, the Congressional Budget Office, which has done an evaluation of the road map, offers a translation: “Some higher-income enrollees would pay higher premiums, and some program payments would be reduced.” In short, there would be Medicare cuts.

And it’s possible to back out the size of those cuts from the budget office analysis, which compares the Ryan proposal with a “baseline” representing current policy. As I’ve already said, the total over the next decade comes to about $650 billion — substantially bigger than the Medicare savings in the Democratic bills.

The bottom line, then, is that the crusade against health reform has relied, crucially, on utter hypocrisy: Republicans who hate Medicare, tried to slash Medicare in the past, and still aim to dismantle the program over time, have been scoring political points by denouncing proposals for modest cost savings — savings that are substantially smaller than the spending cuts buried in their own proposals.

And if Democrats don’t get their act together and push the almost-completed reform across the goal line, this breathtaking act of staggering hypocrisy will succeed. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

I think that Obama is cleverly trying to best the Repubs. at their own game.  His proposal to have a televised summit on the 25th of this month between the Republicans and Democrats would educate the people on several things.  First,  the lies told by the party of NO would be exposed.  Next, a thorough examination of their milk toast proposals would show they have no idea at all on how to reform health care.  And last, it would be an opportunity to tell American what is actually in the bill that would be beneficial.

I'm sure that the Republican leadership is very aware of this.  Don't hold your breath if they don't show up.  They have nothing of substance to propose to solve the health care mess.  Now their mantra is 'start over.'  Yeah right!  It took 50 years of starting over to finally get close to getting the job done.  'Start over' is a euphemism for 'kill it.'  

I have been so discouraged that I have not posted on this subject for some time. but it's nearing 'do or die' and I would hate to have the whole bill die.   I don't want the Republicans to celebrate on the grave of one of the most important bills to come before the House since the Civil Rights Act.

To read more on the Republicans proposals, please click on the link to read the NYT editorial in this morning's paper. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/14/opinion/14sun1.html?th=&emc=th&pagewanted=all