Another day..another hearing..

I got back home this morning from my walk in time for the end of the love fest for Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. I guess it lasted for hours and maybe I should be thankful that I missed most of it. SSDD..same shit, different day. Tea Party/GOP members of the committee went down the yellow brick road with their Kansas references. Sec. Sebelius is the former governor of Kansas, hence the comments. But they weren't in praise of anything. I saw committee members interrupt her, while claiming that she wouldn't answer their questions. I heard nothing but contempt from these people, and it was disgusting.

I would ask the committee if the conservative members really wanted any answers at all today. And when are we going to have a hearing that grills the Tea Party/GOP in the same manner on the effects of the shutdown, and the endless obstruction they've engaged in while President Obama has been in office? Jesus..he won. Get over it.

The American people know who the troublemakers are. And if the guys don't know, women do. Women know who the culprits are. We know which members of Congress are hurting our children, our families, our financial security, our basic safety, and our constitutional protections. We know which lawmakers are more concerned with controlling women's bodies and which lawmakers follow the law and respect our privacy. We know who wants to suppress our vote. We know who kisses the collective asses of the 1% and who couldn't give a damn about the rest of us.

At least Secretary Sebelius is trying to do something positive for the country. Yes, there have been glitches. And all of that should have been fixed before its launch. All the GOP/Tea Pary have done is obstruct and lie. They would do the country a favor by simply staying home and not ruining things anymore. We're moving in a positive direction on health care that we haven't seen in a long time. I would have preferred single payer, but I know that's coming. It will be the next step in the evolution of this process. The GOP/Tea Party need to stop obstructing and be part of the forward momentum.

The Sisterhood is alive and well and we're tired of all this crap. And..we will vote..and you might not like the result. If you don't live in a state with it's own exchange, and you have to go to healthcare.gov, hang in there. This will eventually be a memory and you'll have health insurance. 

And to my Sisters out there..you know what you have to do. At the end of the day, it always comes down to us anyway. We clean up messes and dry tears. And Goddess help anyone who gets in our way.
 

Keep Calm and #GetCovered!

Healthcare.gov is having some glitches. Did anyone think this wouldn't happen? It's software, people. Yes, it would have been better if the glitches didn't happen, but as I said, it's software. When in our lives has this not happened? And of course, the Tea Party and its cohorts are jumping on the "fire her" bandwagon and are going after Kathleen Sebelius. I hope she doesn't get fired because the website will be fixed and people will get health insurance.

And yet the GOP/Tea Party continues to lie about the non-existent death panels, socialized medicine, and the destruction of small business during the process of covering people with health insurance. Glitches aside, these people simply don't want people to have low-cost health insurance. They call themselves Christian, yet they lack the simple compassion that Jesus embodied toward everyone. Giving people access to affordable health insurance is not a socialist concept. It's a Christian concept..at least in the way I understand Christianity. Isn't it time we actually had insurance that covered our health without worrying about whether or not it will continue to cover our ailments as we get older? Why on earth do these people think this is a bad thing?

Look, I know computers can be irritating. Unbeknownst to me, Facebook was down today. I didn't see it, but I understand how easy it is to have terroristic thoughts about computer-related anything. And that's all I'm going to say about that. ;-)

If you've ever been without health insurance, as I have, it's not easy. We had to sell our truck to pay off our youngest because he was our out of pocket C-section baby. The first was too, but we had insurance for him. I made monthly payments after he was born, and when we were down to the last $400 owing on our little darling, we sold the truck. I didn't like the truck anyway, but we have property and we could have used it.

One thing that I haven't seen mentioned is dental insurance. I would hope they included it but I bet they didn't. At some point, we have to understand the connection between our health and our teeth. So if dental insurance isn't covered, it needs to be. We went without dental insurance for so many years, I could only take the boys to the dentist once a year instead of twice for cleanings. The oldest had braces and I paid $90 per month for years to pay that off. I had to change dentists when the dental technician basically called me an unfit mother when she found out that we couldn't afford twice yearly cleanings. I was so glad when we finally got dental insurance. Not every job we had offered it. Eventually the VA offered it and we jumped at it. It's not the best, but it's better than nothing.

So don't listen to the GOP or their insane Tea Party faction. They don't care about you. No clue who or what they care about, but it isn't you. Or me. You don't have to go online to sign up. You can also call and sign up.

We have a chance here to do something great for this country. We have a chance for things to get better from here. We've seen how bad it can get when lunatics are let loose in our government to do as they please. It's hilarious when they say that they need to take back their country. I suggest they go find some other country to take back, because they're not getting this one!

Keep calm and #GetCovered! 
Update: here's the phone number
1-800-318-2596

Does the Tea Party understand what we owe our veterans?

A few days ago I wrote a post about the Republican party not being a friend to veterans. Apologies if I repeat myself, but clearly the GOP and its Tea Party puppet masters don't give a rat's ass about veterans, their families, or, for that matter, active duty personnel and their families. The checks went out on October 1st. If the shutdown goes on much longer, no one eats next month, or pays their rent, or their car payment, or anything else. The surreal nature of this leaves me searching for the right words..you know, words that are calm and not vulgar. Because I really don't understand how a small group of people could do this and not face arrest and imprisonment. The shutdown and the potential default on our debt ceiling (which none of them apparently understands) is not something we should ever face as a country. Too much is riding on things functioning properly. 

Anyway, here's the promise we make to people who defend us. If you defend us, we will take care of you and yours. It's that simple. As I've said before, my husband is a disabled veteran. As this is now our only source of income, it's going to be interesting to see what happens. I've already made minimum payments this month on bills I typically pay more on. We're trying to limit our grocery shopping in the event that this month's money needs to stretch into next month. Both our boys are adults, live elsewhere, and are employed in non-governmental jobs so there's that. We have only the two of us to be concerned about and we'll be okay. We tend to live simply so we're somewhat used to austerity. It just feels better when it's self-imposed instead of nut job-imposed.

But not everyone will be okay. Most people live from paycheck to paycheck and that includes disabled veterans and their families. We cannot allow a small faction of Congress to tie the country up in knots with their insane ideology. And it doesn't really matter if it's veterans were talking about, or if it's WIC moms. People are already being hurt right now by the behavior of these imbeciles. Everything just stops without money to pay for it. If we let the shutdown continue the casualties will be massive.

Here's the thing.. When you make a promise to people who defend us, you have to follow through on that promise. It's been difficult enough for service members returning home to the economy we have, but if they're wounded, the backlog to even get started with the VA is horrible. And when you factor in the notion that we went to war on a lie, then the lives either damaged or lost make it so much more critical to not abandon them this way. 

The Tea Party Republicans must stop this insanity, grow up, and reopen the government. Then they need to resign and go home in disgrace.

Veterans: Republicans are not your friends..

Wouldn't you know that Bachmann and company would take advantage of veterans trying to visit a WWII memorial yesterday. How craven are these people? Well, after shutting down the government, these idiots helped these folks break in to the monument, blaming the President for its closure. They're what I like to call, wrong.

I've been married to a disabled veteran for 34 years. In the early years, the VA couldn't seem to figure out that his wife and children (me and our boys) qualified for health care benefits. It eventually got straightened out, but our first child was paid for with insurance from a job, and our second child was paid for monthly because we had no insurance. We sold our truck to pay the last $400 we owed. Both were c-sections so this was expensive. It's so much easier these days to get somewhere with them, but we're in the system now. For new veterans and their families, this government shutdown only makes new claims take longer and in view of the existing backlog, to affect these folks this way is criminal. To blame the President is ridiculous.

When the Bush administration lied the country into war with Iraq, Rummy said, you go to war with the military you have, not the military you want. It would have been nice to go to war with the administration we elected too..you know the Gore administration. But then I wonder if Al Gore would have ever taken us into war with Iraq. Something tells me had he actually be allowed to serve as President, we'd be in a much different place now. Instead, George Bush sent our troops into harms way without body armor. I even remember reading that parents were being asked to send stuff to their family members serving that the government should have been providing. I had no problem going into Afghanistan, although I think it should have been a Special Forces deal. We never needed to engage in either place the way that we did. Remember who did this. Remember who sent your children to die without protection. 

Remember that it's the Tea Party Republicans along with their actual Republican counterparts who have advanced the war on women, children, seniors, poor people, you name it. Don't cheer when they use you to put the blame for their own shenanigans on the President. Because that's what they're doing..using veterans to promote their lie. Don't allow yourselves to be manipulated by these people. They couldn't care less about you. You were a means to an end for them. They don't understand the sacrifice you made for all of us. If they did, they would have never let this shutdown happen. Even for no other reason, couldn't they have thought about all the new veterans trying to get their disability claims processed? What about all the vets and active military personnel on food stamps? What about all the vets who are homeless? If we had never gone into Iraq, we wouldn't have this backlog, and oh my goodness..maybe family members would be alive and intact instead of what people are coping with now.

And what does the Tea Party do? They say thank you to veterans and active duty military personnel by shutting down the government just so that we don't have the Affordable Care Act. They hold us hostage. They hold you hostage. Of course the ACA went into effect yesterday anyway. All of this is for nothing. But its effect will be long lasting.

When you go to war, you never do this lightly. These wars may make a bunch of Bush's cronies lots of money, but it's destroyed so many lives. And when a small faction of people can destroy the country further because they have no clue how to properly govern, instead punishing the country with their radical ideology, we all need to stand up against them. What we don't do is cheer them on when they act like idiots.

Understand who the enemy is because they are among us.

How about a little Compassion?

Does the GOP care about anyone else besides those people who fill their election coffers? I really have to wonder. The GOP controlled House just passed the Farm Bill without extending food stamps. The Senate had passed their own bill 66-27 which apparently included extending food stamps. Now the House passed its own 216-208, throwing poor people under the proverbial bus, promising to get back to it some other time.

Yeah, like any of us believe that...

Then I read that the legislature in North Carolina attached an anti-abortion amendment to a motorcycle safety bill. Cue the hilarity on Twitter. We need a rule that prohibits amendments unless they actually have something to do with the existing bill. Women had fun with this one. Except it's no laughing matter. Abortion is a constitutionally protected procedure in this country and the GOP needs to stop trying to circumvent that. It's only going to get thrown out in court anyway. The only positive side is women see these people for who they are. Except we already do know and need no further reminder of how little we mean to them.

The GOP used to like the idea of immigration reform. But now that it seems it won't increase their voter rolls, they aren't interested anymore. I guess they only like reform when it serves them. Otherwise...not interested. Until you mention the border fence and a certain Arizona Senator gets the vapors.

It's not about fences. It's about relationships and elevating people out of poverty and the choice to live wherever you want. Immigrants just want a better life. To fail, year after year, to figure out a way to make that happen that isn't burdensome is just shameful. We have a tendency to create us versus them scenarios which only prevents any real solutions from being found. It feels like the GOP is more focused on exclusion rather than on inclusion.

Compassion is what's missing. Apparently they can't see past their own beliefs and consider another view. Just because abortion is law, a woman doesn't have to choose to  have one. It's about choice and understanding that it's a private matter that the government needs to stay out of. It's ridiculous that it ever needed codifying anyway.

Caring that your neighbor has enough to eat should be a given, but evidently the GOP disagrees with that as well. Some lawmakers have taken the food stamp challenge and discovered what it's like to live that way. It's not fun. One went out of his way to say it was easy peasy. What a liar. And then there was the comment that food stamp recipients buy crab legs with their cards. To that I say, so? Maybe they were on sale. Trust me, grocery store checkers are vigilant about what can be paid for with food stamps and what can't. I stood in line so long one day that I had to put back the frozen food I was buying because it was melting.

Millions of undocumented immigrants live and work in our  country. They raise families and live in fear that they'll be found out. Shady employers take advantage and pay them next to nothing. This is an outrage that, by refusing to get serious about immigration reform, the GOP preserves instead of fixes. Not to mention, it's illegal.

The President had to do his own version of the DREAM Act because again, Congress can't do its job. But it's not enough. Kids here because of their parents' choices should be given a path to citizenship if they want one. Their future shouldn't hinge on lawmakers who have too much vested interest in the outcome. 

How cold it must be in their world, caring only about the next election. How about caring about us? Does it always have to be about the 1% getting richer and your re-election? How about that old Love Thy Neighbor idea? It does work, you know...