I’m writing for tomorrow very early in the morning, before leaving for prison volunteer work, so these articles will be ready for me to post some time tomorrow morning.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 4:40 (average 5:15). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From Daily Kos: I went to the doctor for the first time in five years today. Although I’m young, I had neglected a couple of health issues for at least a year. I couldn’t afford care and was left hoping none of them developed into anything more serious. As a small business owner who narrowly missed the threshold for buying on the exchanges, I’m enrolled in Medicaid for this year until I can bump my income up a bit. The day my confirmation of benefits and card came was among the best of my life. I nearly broke down in tears.
But that isn’t what this diary is about. Today, I went to the doctor for the first time in five years and saw first hand why Republicans have fought tooth and nail for a system that was so broken for every single stakeholder – except the insurers and the politicians who enable them.
What I found made my blood boil. Follow below the fold for a living example of what our "health care system" could have done to me and millions of others before the ACA. Let’s just say the cheesy poof holding the fold would have been more than the food in my pantry.
Click through for a most excellent read. Like the author says in the last sentence, lets go to work.
From Alternet: Eight-year-old Sunnie Kahle’s family says that she has never had any disciplinary problems. They say that as a student at Virginia’s Timberlake Christian School she has maintained a 4.0 academic average. School administrators confirm this. But Kahle’s great-grandmother and legal guardian Doris Thompson says that the child was nonetheless recently invited to leave the school anyway. Why? Because she’s not feminine enough.
Sunnie has short hair, a style she first adopted when she turned five and declared she wanted to donate her long locks for kids with cancer. Since then, she’s preferred jeans and t-shirts and has decided, Thompson says, “She didn’t want to wear her frilly dresses anymore.” Today, she likes teddy bears and bracelets — as well as collecting autographed baseballs and playing “rough and tough. And sadly, in a world in which the pressure on little girls and boys to conform to rigid gender roles is more ramped up than ever and eschewing pink is somehow suspect, Sunnie’s style would likely be questioned almost anywhere. (And yes, I am saying this as a parent whose daughters have attended hippy-dippy New York City public schools.) But in a strictly conservative environment, her demeanor could be interpreted as tantamount to revolution. Last month the school sent home a letter, which has been obtained by local news station WDBJ7, reminding Sunnie’s caregivers of its right to decline students who do not follow a “biblical lifestyle.”
When Republicans push for school vouchers, they are demanding that YOU pay for this kind of illegal discrimination with your tax dollars.
From Crooks and Liars:
The GOP says they pride themselves on fiscal responsibility, but they have been exposed as frauds because a Pentagon report said they’ve wasted millions and millions of dollars on the trumped up Benghazi investigations.
If you ever hear Rep. Darrell Issa say he’s a fiscal conservative, just laugh in his face and ask him how can he then explain wasting millions of dollars of taxpayers money on repetitive and wasteful hearings on Benghazi? Not only has he spent millions like a drunken sailor, but they’ve also put a huge strain on our military. [BARF BAG ALERT!]
Issa continues to parrot the same lies that have all been thoroughly proven false. I fully agree with the author. And lets not forget that it was Republicans who slashed the funding for embassy security.
Cartoon:
11 Responses to “Open Thread–3/28/2014”
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Excellent and horrifying Daily Kos article – the author would have had to spend all year working to pay off health insurance bills without Obamacare!
Alternet – the school only want people to live a 'biblical lifestyle'? I take it we are back to the Old Testament version of women, (Jesus talked to women he wasn't married to, and he listened to them too! None of the 'biblical lifestyle' ranters so far seem ever to have even glanced at the Gospels) – if they are following the Old Testament I hope they never eat pork or shellfish or break any of the 613 rules they should be following (and that all the men are circumcised – youch!) – and that they keep slaves and hold years of Jubilee when all debts are cancelled (as if they would!) and sell off their daughters into marriage as soon as they reach puberty (drat – they'd like to do that to the poor girls!). What a shameful excuse for a school.
Excellent cartoon TC – let's all support renewables!
3:31 I put it together brick by brick.
4:10 I kept looking for red bricks but all I found were orange ones.
3:29 At first glace without my glasses, I thought this was a zipper. Good thing I put my glasses on!
The small picture that shows the finished puzzle looked like a zipper to me too.
Daily Kos ~ If I hadn't had Medicare these past 2 years, I would be dead. I could not have afforded the $100,000+ it cost for my surgeries, hospitalizations, lab work, doctors visits and meds. This person was lucky to have qualified for Medicaid. We do need single payer but thank you, Democrats, ofr giving us something.
Alternet ~ Although I don't agree with their actions, Timberlake Christian School is not a public school, it is private. As such they have the right to require a dress code. What they should do is reuire school uniforms then they wouldn't have a problem with how someone is dressed. I went to a Catholic school and we wore uniforms. The poor and rich were all dressed the same. The nuns though we would feel "more equal". Maybe they were right about this. I didn' have to wear hand me downs from my sister and all the neighbors anymore because I was so much smaller.
Crooks & Liars ~ Issa's repetititve questioning of the Military andSstate Dept. officials over Benghazi and the IRS over TeaParty audits confirms his insanity.
Cartoon ~ Shut them all down!
4:45 Nice work (the masons who built it, not me, I mean).
Daily Kos – Saw this too and also horrified. As I suspect Carlene and Pat B also do, I worry about Gloria, who I suspect could get subsidied into no-cost insurance. But none of us can do it for her.
Alternet – Timberlake is a private school, but I would not bet any important body parts (a broken fingernail maybe) that the school is not receiving any tax dollars in the form of voucher credits. Afetr all, this is Virginia. And anywhere int he United States you can bet the school would be tax exempt – it's a RELIGIOUS school. As a Christian, I am sick of it. Tax the churches!!! I did love the open letter, thanks JL for the link.
Crooks and Liars – Republicans all seem to think they are Humpty Dumpty from Alice in Wonderland: "When I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean, neither more nor less…. I pay them extra. You should see them all lined up on Saturday night, waiting for their pay…." (quoting from memory so probably some inaccuracy but at least I admit it.) (Gives new meaning to "egg on his face," though.)
Cartoon – the only "nuke" I am interested in is my microwave, and of course that's not really a nuke.
Daily Kos: It is immoral for basic health care to be this expensive. Hopefully, the ACA will bring down these costs. I took my mother for a test today. The technician kept ranting about how Obama care was going to cost her job. I asked how, she said the hospital will lay off staff rather than lose their profits. I suspect this will happen in a lot of other places.
Alternet: How sad for that little girl to receive such treatment. I certainly would not send her back to that school. You are right, TC, this is why they want those vouchers, so we can all be uniformly like them.
Crooks and Liars: "and let's not forget it was the Republicans who cut funds for Embassy Security". The Republicans conveniently forget to mention this. Didn't watch the video, Issa makes my skin crawl.
Cartoon: So true. Profit is all they are concerned with.
Puzzle — 3:29 At first glace without my glasses, I thought this was a zipper. Good thing I put my glasses on!
Daily Kos — I am so pleased with my Canadian universal health care. It isn't perfect, but it doesn't leave the average citizen dead in the gutter! . . . well at least providing that Stephen Harper does decide to perform surgery on the Canada Health Act.
Alternet — What pure bull puckey! Using a child as fodder in their ideological war is pure BS and totally immoral!
Crooks and Liars — The only terrorists I see are the Republicanus/Teabaggers, and one of the chief terrorists is bin Issa! Isn't it amazing how bin Issa forgets all the Republicanus/Teabagger congressional actions Barf bag indeed!
Cartoon — I think the Republicanus/Teabaggers shit nuclear power and all dirty power! There is nothing more toxic nor putrid!
Thanks all. I'm pooped.
7:20 – Been very ill, so sorry….