Health Care Reform: Glad to Get This Off My Chest

I have very quickly gotten quite ill with the "debate" over health care reform recently. Actually, this is not a debate at all. It is a shouting match. Well, not even a shouting match so much because a match would presume that both sides are shouting. No, truth is that it is "patriotic" Americans from one side of the aisle shouting over the top of anyone who supports the radical notion that all Americans should have access to health care without fear of bankrupting themselves. These loud Americans call what they are doing the democratic process, yet when the other side of the aisle shouted about the lies told that got us into Iraq it was called Un-Democratic , Un-American and downright dangerous to our national security. Clearly Democracy is all about the loudest dissenters drowning out the voice of anyone with whom they disagree, then putting a folksy, flag waving spin on it to keep unthinking Americans uninformed and really only interested in the Jerry Springer entertainment value of the whole thing.

So, in the spirit of "debate", here are my objections to some of the common objections about health care reforms:

1. Whine #1: Death panels
This is completely a falsehood and I am embarrassed for Sarah Palin because she is incapable of being embarrassed for herself. Even Republicans know that this is not part of the bill, but since Sarah's display of ignorance has gotten so much press and generated so much furor among the uninformed, no one is backing down from it. End of life counseling -living wills, medical intervention orders, end of life wishes- is a voluntary choice in the bill. (Now being withdrawn from the bill because of misinterpretation by idiots.) Once every 5 years, a person can voluntarily seek out a doctor to discuss end of life issues and get help drawing up their end of life wishes. The plan would pay for this service every five years. A few years back, my doctor and I sat down and had a frank discussion about my end of life wishes (which, in case you're curious are in a box under the desk in the office). It was an awkward conversation, because these are tough decisions. That said, I want control over who makes my decisions when I am incapacitated (Curt), what level of care will be provided (pull the plug) and how my remains are disposed of (cremation, and I don't care where you put me after that). A panel of doctors didn't decide this for me and they won't decide it for you in any government funded system. Duh.

2. Whine #2: I won't be able to choose the doctor that I want.
Honey, go look at your current health care plan if you are fortunate enough to have one. Do you need to choose a network or primary clinic as a requirement of this plan? Unless you are a senator with about 16 health plan choices, I'm reasonably certain that you can't see just any old doctor you want, without paying out of network fees. Similar concept with health care reform. You will likely have a choice of network or primary clinic. No where does it say that some bureaucrat will be randomly assigning you to a clinic. Think for yourself here.

3. Whine #3: I won't be able to get in to see a doctor when I choose.
Can you now? If you can, you are lucky. I have to wait several days sometimes for an appointment and I've got pretty damn good coverage. In fact, when I was on anti-depressants, I had to schedule appointments with my shrink 4 months in advance because, like most shrinks, they have a single day or two of coverage at each clinic they work from. Also, the current state of not getting to see a doctor when one chooses also contributes to the ridiculous number of emergency room visits for non-emergencies, which drives up health care costs for all of us. Typically these non-emergency visits come from people who don't have any insurance, or from under-employed/under-insured who can't leave work during work hours to see a doctor because their employers are dicks.

4. Whine #4: We will be no better than Canada.
What the f*ck is wrong with Canada? We talk about Canada in many regards like they are a third world pariah. Enough of that. Really listen next time when health care objectors get on Meet the Press or other news programs and mention the state of Canadian health care. All their objections are based on hearsay about what happened to a friend of a friend of a friend who was denied a specific treatment. Anecdote and hearsay do not represent the state of health care in Canada. Which leads to the next whine...

5. Whine #5: I don't want anyone choosing for me which medical procedures I have done.
Wake up, dear. What do you think the insurance companies do for you? Most clinics in this country are set up so that you never have to see the insurance pre-approval process for most procedures. The only time you ever hear about it is if it is not covered and you have to pay out of pocket, or the service is denied. Then we get into situations like all the scary anecdotes coming out of Canada about insurance companies denying needed services. And, don't tell me there aren't a LOT of complaints about our current system for anecdotes just like these. Lots.

6. Whine #6: This is going to cost the country too much money.
Yes. This is going to cost the country a lot of money. Our current health care system and government funded systems (Medicare/Medicaid) already have costs that are spiraling out of control. We taxpayers are already taking it in the ass for Medicare/Medicaid. Why not do something that will help control overall costs AND provide coverage to the under insured and uninsured?

But, let's face it folks. Most people who object to health care reform really just hate the working class and the poor. You just don't want to get everyone on a reasonably level playing feel because that would make you less special, less entitled. Most Americans are so incredibly greedy and selfish that the thought of actually just raising taxes by one iota of one percent so that all Americans can have access to health care makes them cringe. You believe that the poor are not just like you, that their values of faith and family must be flawed, that if they would only pull themselves up by their bootstraps then they would be better people, that they are just fundamentally so different that you couldn't possibly imagine doing anything to help them. Yet, most of you are one paycheck away, one layoff away from being in their ranks. Then who are you going to blame? And when you find yourself in the situation where you have no health care coverage and need assistance, are you going to be angry? Are you going to say that you're a (formerly) hard working American who DESERVES health care? Hmmm. If it takes you blowhards losing your jobs to find yourselves in this situation, then may the misfortune rain down upon you so that you will wake up and realize that everyone, even the poor and different, deserve access to health care.

More Blog Miscellany

1. A few weekends back we had a marvelous crew up to the cabin. Jeff and Aldo came in from San Francisco and Carolyn and Jeff came up from Rochester. Here are some pictures.
Enjoying the pontoon. When the weather is nice, we spend more time on the docked pontoon than just about anywhere else. This particular evening the crew got lucky when a group of deer and wild turkey came down to the lake for drinks.
Our first cabin rainbow. I don't need to explain why we were excited, even if it was just a partial rainbow.

This is what happens when a guest's loon calling more closely represents the call of another of god's creatures. You know who you are. Practice might not make perfect, but it won't call the dolphins.

This is our favorite eatery in Minong- The Longbranch. The long branch is home to Nikki, Nikki and Trixie- our fabulous wait staff. The food is pretty darn good but their great service keeps us coming back.

2. We stayed home this weekend. It was our first weekend home since the beginning of May.

Between thunderstorms, I went to the farmer's market. I love the farmers market this time of year- so many great colors and smells. I have missed it with all our cabin weekends and was thrilled to take it in.

Here I am at the Uptown Art Fair. Okay, you can tell that's not me because I don't have a scorpion tattooed by my navel. Actually, this is a life size "sculpture" but I just call it creepy. I don't know that the artist ever sells anything, but he sure draws a crowd. The artist strikes me as a little off- maybe necrophiliac or something. I didn't want to get too close, though I'm not dead yet so probably needn't worry.

3. I saw a beige squirrel on Saturday. I've seen gray, red, black and white, but never beige. It was pretty, but strange. Today we saw a gray squirrel with a big white, furry tip on its tail. This was our lucky squirrel weekend.

4. There is a great editorial about the "birthers" in the Star Tribune today. Birthers are the whack jobs that, despite all evidence to the contrary, continue to try to prove that President Obama wasn't born in Hawaii. The gist of the opinion piece was that these "birthers" are just masking their racism. I couldn't agree more. We have a president whose skin is darker than yours. Get the f*ck over it.

5. The job is frustrating and I'm thinking of seeing a career counselor. My brother tells me that if my goal is to make a high hourly rate, it would likely involve a hand job. He's terribly supportive.

6. 25 more days and we'll be on our way to our Mediterranean cruise. Doesn't seem real yet, but it will the night before when I've lost my passport and am scrambling and cursing while packing. Perhaps this trip I'll do some thoughtful planning.

7. Physical fitness is a problem. Not for everyone, but it is for me. I've been too mentally wrecked after work to do much of anything but be a lay about. *sigh* Must change.

Cabin Pride

I know there are a lot of uber conservative freaks out there who think they have an idea of what the gays do when they get together- most of which is their fantasy, not ours. So, for my gentle readers, I have documented what utter depravity can happen when about 40 or so gay men and two very patient lesbians get together in the north woods of Wisconsin for Cabin Pride. On with the sickness and depravity:

These two are our friends Peter and Duane, co-hosts of the Cabin Pride festivities. Curt and I have known them for about 10 years. Wonderful guys who love dogs and have a cabin about 25 minutes from our own. Here is how the day went:

10:00 A.M.: Brunch at Peter & Duane's neighbors, Doug and Bill. Of course we had brunch. The gays invented brunch and we are proud of it.

11:00 A.M.: Parade!! Yes, we love a parade. This one was small but had many elements of bigger more populated parades. Here are some highlights.Every gay parade must start with a dyke on bike. This was no exception. This was Nell, of Nell & Laurie who live up the road from Doug & Bill. They are the sweetest things you could ever meet. She and Laurie have had a cabin in the woods for over 20 years. We're going to take them out bar hopping in Minong some evening. We might get in early that night as there are three bars in town, four if you count Grandma Links, which is like Perkins with beer.

Flag corps!! Fabulous! They spent several minutes before the parade started practicing their choreography and it showed. What they lacked in precision, they made up for in enthusiasm.

At the end of the cul de sac, they gave us some thrilling moves set to music. It consisted mostly of one guy barking out commands like "Circle! Flags up! Flags down! Maypole! Maypole!" and the others obeying. It was fun and lovely.

Every gay parade must have royalty. This was Ruby, Queen of the Bogs, from Stone Lake, WI, home of Cranberry Festival. She threw craisins instead of candy.

What Wisconsin event would be complete without a meat raffle? This gentleman was advertising for the event that would happen later in the day.

Here is the one and only float titled "Wisconsin Bait & Ballet." I'm not sure how the two go together, but it was a pretty float. The crowd went wild.

After several years of this, the straight neighbors had to join in. These are the token heterosexuals blowing kisses to the crowd.

12:00: GAMES!!If there are children watching, this would be the point where you might want to turn their little eyes away, because things get really out there and sick at this point. In this game, one partner had to put a plastic cup on his head, while the other partner had to blow a pink marshmallow out a tube with the objective of knocking the glass off the other's head. And they did this right out before God and everyone! Can you imagine?

Next was the water balloon toss. Here is Curt catching a water balloon. I had to use the sports setting on my camera to capture the fast paced action.

Here are more water balloon catchers.

2:00: Floating in the lake. CANCELLED due to crappy, cold weather. Instead, most of the crowd descended on a bar called the Crow Bar that is about 5 miles from anywhere on a highway somewhere in Wisconsin.

I was a little wary about 40 gay men just dropping in to take over their volley ball court and bar. But, you know what? Not one person in that bar deep in rural Wisconsin even flinched when we showed up, even the big guys with their mean looking girlfriends. The bartender even brought out two free rounds of frozen pudding shots for the crowd. And of course, the gays loved the place because mixed drinks were only $2 for regular liquor and $2.50 for top shelf liquor.

The bar even provided us with Polish horseshoes. I like that bar.

4:00: Meat raffle!!

The meat raffle was held back at Peter and Duane's place. It was basically meat bingo, but we let them call it a raffle anyway. Of course, the crowd went wild every single time O-69 was called. It's a tradition I guess.

After the meat raffle, was a fantastic dinner put together by Peter & Duane, followed by karaoke and dancing. Curt and I skipped out after dinner to go take care of the dogs. All in all a very satisfying day with very kind, fun people. How sick and twisted is that?

I Love a Parade

It was a little too chilly to swim at the lake this weekend. So, Curt and I thought we might take in the Spooner Rodeo Days parade. Yee haw! Here are the "highlights." If you find no highlights, well, don't be surprised. Neither did we. But we did get a lot of candy thrown at us after looking sad and holding out our hands. Fun.
The parade started with lots and lots of horses. It was Rodeo Days after all. Lots of poop and a little pee and these dazzling chaps.

A huge military display followed the horses. Family friendly parade my ass!

Amery, WI has the laziest bunch of royalty ever. They couldn't even lift their elbows to wave. They may as well have been passed out in a pile of Schlitz cans and cigarette butts on that float. Boooo. At least they dressed up.

Bad ass with Fez. Apparently Shriners have left behind their little cars for a dancing scooters. They did some nice formations, but it just wasn't as fun as little cars. I'm guessing as the Shriners age it is harder to get in and out of the little cars. Next year, electric wheelchairs.

Did you see the pictures of this guy that I posted at my bird feeders earlier this year. Cool.

Huh. How was this pageant judged? SIZE PERHAPS??? That is wrong. Wrong.

Again, the fat girl got second runner up. Hmpf.

If I have to walk one more step in this god forsaken moose costume, I'll.....

Sadly, only two marching bands showed up for the parade. The hometown band sort of bit the bag. This one was much better. I love percussion sections.

This "royalty" float, celebrating white trash obviously, was a little funny. Why? Because the two crown losers, I mean runners up, at the front were doing this staged "seig heil" sort of wave really fast and the queen at the back of the float was saying "You're waving too fast! Too fast!" The losers laughed and waved faster. They hated their queen.

These sad sacks showed up in the the middle of all the merriment with the downer signs and an even worse singer being pulled on a garden cart singing some maudlin tune. The whole crowd rolled their eyes, dug in their purses, went to get beverages, except for one lady across the street who started clapping loudly. As you know, I'm fine with expressing one's beliefs, but pick the right place and time. Merriment is not the right time for this message. And what does that sign mean anyway? That you were desperate for a rhyme?

This was a pretty cow. I like cows.

We were two blocks in on the parade route and already these kids carried the unmistakable expressions that said "I'm booooooored. I'm hooooooooott. I'm tiiiiiired." Kid, you wanted to be in the damn parade, so shape up. Smile. Get with the program or I'll take the car aerial after you.

FINALLY, the judges got it right. Hefty royalty! HOLLA!!

This large princess was second runner up but looked like more fun than any of them combined. She was having a good old time on the float. Next year. Next year.

And that about sums up the parade. Not really exciting but I'm glad we went.

The Finished Product

Last weekend I posted some befores and almost after pictures of the amazing work done by our friend Mr. MnMom (John) on our cabin. Well, this week, we got to see the finished product and dropped our jaws. It was far, far better than we could have imagined. Here are some after shots:We need to figure out what to do with all the wall we have now. Before we had one or two little pictures on the far wall. Now we need something a bit bigger. Any suggestions?
Our funky little north woods chandelier. No deer died in the making of this fixture.

The living room. Long and narrow is better with a high ceiling.

Another view of the living room with our fabulous new door looking out to the lake.

Because I Won't Scratch Her There...

...she has to do it her self. Here is the closer up pic of Claire in full scoot that is referenced below. It is a little fuzzy, but look at her closed-eye bliss.

You May Know Him as Mr. MNMom (John)...

...but we call him Anne Sullivan because he's a damn MIRACLE WORKER!! Okay, we don't call him that because that would just be annoying, and though he is a friend to the gays, having a girly name just doesn't really suit him.

So, not only does Mr. MNMom take a job 3 1/2 hours from his family for a whole week, he pulls off ridiculous amounts of work in just 5 days. There is still some painting and staining to be done, but you need to see some of these befores (taken at our inspection) and almost afters. I'll post more next weekend when the finishing touches are done. These are not our furnishings, just in case there was any confusion. :o)

BEFORE: Ceiling height at the wall with windows was about 6 feet or so. See the beams? That is painted insulation in between them. Everyone who toured the cabin stuck their fingers in the insulation. Not too pretty.

ALMOST AFTER: Wall height at the lake is around 7+ feet. Door height allows Curt to clear with inches to spare, where before the frame hit him square between the eyes. West wall slopes up to 11 feet. If you look closely you can see Claire just entering a full scoot on her behind. I'll blow it up later because she has a look of sheer bliss on her face, much like I do when I scratch my behind.

BEFORE: Again, low low ceiling height. Ugly light fixture. The wall at right was also painted insulation. Fugly. By the way, these beams on the ceiling were structural for the old roof. A few years back, the former owner had piled insulation on the old roof- held up by these beams- and put a new no maintenance metal roof on the place. John had to demo the entire old roof and remove about 20 inches of insulation. God bless him. That couldn't have been pleasant.

ALMOST AFTER: Amazing. We're replacing the ugly fixture with a north woods chandelier of deer antlers and wood. Fancy. Well, not completely fancy because the deer antlers aren't real. Real deer antler chandeliers cost a frickin' fortune. After two rounds of paint selection this weekend we settled on two colors- Arbitrary and Chic Beige for the accent walls. We had to find something that looked good with the two colors of stain on the pine- a little charming quirk we inherited.

BEFORE: Say hi to our friend Marina. If she is around, I make her model everything. I've got one of her modeling the fridge. She's a good sport. Anyway, a long narrow room with low ceilings made us tall boys feel a little claustrophobic. John also whacked his hand on the ceiling while doing a charade of the pope during a lively round of Celebrity. The low ceilings had to go.

ALMOST AFTER: Low ceiling gone. Built in shelf at the far end of the room- John's genius at work. All weekend, Curt and I just walked around with our jaws dropped at what had been accomplished. And he even did it all around all the wavy surfaces and logs for window frames and hornets nests and me e-mailing every 5 seconds. Incredible.

Mish Mash

I return to blogging with a bunch of disconnected mish mash. Off we go...

1. The 5th floor men's restroom at work continues to horrify me. We've finally gotten rid of the boogers- it took me two maintenance requests. I'm sure by now I'm known to the maintenance staff as Booger Boy. Today, though, we reached a new low. I wandered in to the handicapped stall, which I typically do, because it is a little roomier and the toilet is higher. My worst fear of course would be that one day, I see a pair of impatient wheels roll up outside the stall and... never mind. I digress. So, anyway, I wander in to the stall and go to grab some paper for the seat, when what horror of horrors did I see? I'll tell you. All over the seat and completely covering the floor around the toilet were.... giant flakes of dead skin! Not just 20 or 30 flakes. Oh no. This was about 300-400 flakes. Not just little flakes, but big curled 1/2 inch flakes. *gagging* How does this happen? Does someone with a really dry butt seat on the seat and scratch their thighs while doing their business? I've never seen such a thing. Is there a doctor in the house? Feh. Now go eat some corn flakes.

2. The cabin has been an absolute joy. We've been having great weekends up north with the dogs. We have human visitors too. The MnMoms came for a visit over the Memorial Day weekend. If you're looking for the perfect guests, invite them over. Low maintenance and good food.

Here is MNMom herself and youngest offspring kayaking on the lake.

Here is Claire, Mr. MNMom (John) and the ever lovely Curt enjoying the early evening in front of the cabin.

3. Speaking of the MNMoms.... Mr. MNMom (John) is a craftsman extraordinaire. He just finished 4 projects at our house in Golden Valley and is up at the cabin for the week vaulting the ceilings in the dining room and living room. He has years in the home construction business and is meticulous about his work. I'll give you his number if you're in need of a contractor. Truly outstanding and a really nice guy to boot.

4. Sunday morning I was out kayaking on the lake and was the only person on the water. It was a pretty cool and misty morning so people must have just stayed inside or something. So, I paddled out to the middle of the lake, set down my paddle and sat there with my eyes closed for about 5 minutes. What an incredible sense of peace. Shortly thereafter, a bald eagle flew directly overhead across the lake. So I stood up in the kayak and started singing a rousing chorus of 'Proud to Be An American' and promptly flipped the kayak. Okay, that last part wasn't true, but I did see the bald eagle.

5. Speaking of that dreadful song, our friend M just returned from a quick vacation to Branson, MO where she saw a sextet of singers perform at one of the many theaters. At the end of the show, they made the audience stand while they sang "Proud To Be An American." Does that sound a little funky to you, too? I'm all for standing for the national anthem. I'm not at all about ascribing the same sense of respect to a pop song that capitalized on the war in Afghanistan after 9/11. I'm a little crabby about this. Maybe I should just let it go.

6. Work has been tough. Long days and difficult situations. *sigh* I signed up for this? MNMom agreed that I'm too old to be a hooker any more, or at least there is limited niche market for us chubby middle aged types. So, I guess I'll stick it out. I'm grateful to have a job that pays well and where I'm reasonably well liked. I just need to whine about it now and then.

7. I have been crying at estate sales lately. It just started this year. I see these pieces of people's lives that get left behind and tagged with a sticker for 50 cents and I'm just ruined. I particularly have a hard time with family pictures that get put up for sale, or framed degrees, or anything that I imagine was treasured in the lives of the people who lived there. This obviously has something to do with the difficulty my family has had in wrapping up my dad's estate and the drama over stuff. Sad. I miss my parents every day.

Windy day...

So, have you ever been driving down the street on a really windy day and see that unfortunate person whose loose fitting clothing is blown tight up against every ripple, nipple and curve? And you think to yourself "Wow, that is a really unfortunate look." Yeah. Me too. Well, today 4th Avenue was a damn wind tunnel and I caught a glimpse of myself in a window being that unattractive wind blown person and quickly ducked in to the nearest building and opted for the skyway. Sad.

This just in from... where else? Texas, of course.

Real news story out of Texas today:

A family in Texas is saying... they've found Jesus in a cheese snack.
A Dallas couple, Sarah and Dan Bell, were leaving town and stopped to fill up their tank with gas.
They went inside to grab some snacks, and picked up a bag of Cheetos brand cheese snacks.
Sarah was eating them out of her hand when she noticed one looked like someone in a robe praying...
Moreover, they say it looked like Jesus!
The two have decided to name the snack "Cheesus."
They joked about putting Cheesus on E-bay, but they say they'll probably just eat it anyway.

First Weekend at The Lake

We're back from our first weekend up north as cabin owners. We're tired and very excited. At this moment though, mostly tired.

Friday we had our walk through and closing. We met the former owner, Jack, at the walk through. What a sweet old guy. He's 82. He and his wife retired to the cabin from Florida in 1985- a bit in reverse of most people. She died a few years back and he figured it was time to be closer to town. So, there we were. It felt a little strange and a little sad. In a way it felt like we were taking something away from him- the place where he and his wife spent their last years, where the grandkids came during the summer. He acknowledged at the closing that this was hard for him. We promised to take good care of the place and build lots of memories there. We also told him that if he ever needed to come out to see the place again, he is more than welcome. The whole interaction with Jack, of course, reminded me of how much I miss my dad. *sigh*

We spent the weekend, unpacking, arranging, rearranging, cleaning, shopping, getting to know the area. The weather could have been warmer, but we had a lot of inside work to do. Here are some highlights of the weekend:

1. Wildlife: Bald eagle, coyote, porcupine, muskrat, loons. If roadkill counted in this category, there would have been a few more on the list.

2. Pontoon boat: We are proud owners of the pontoon that came with the cabin. Curt and I took turns driving and landing the pontoon boat. Neither of us has ever driven, much less owned, a boat before. We figured we would practice while no one else was watching.

3. Queen size bed: Learning to sleep with Curt in a queen size bed on weekends is going to be tricky. We've got a king at home. Cozy is nice, but give us some limb room.

4. Gayest thing that came out of my mouth all weekend: "We REALLY need dust ruffles."

5. "Celebrity" encounter: Jeff Passolt from channel 9 news was at the marine store in Minong behind us in line. He owns on the lake next to us. Seems to be a nice guy. Curt and I decided he was pretty hot. He was shorter than expected and has that giant melon that is so typical of news anchors, but hot for a guy who's probably 50 or so.

6. Up North T-Shirts: We couldn't not buy them. They were at the gift shop in Minong. Here is mine:

Here is Curt's:

7. Kayak: I am so glad I bought the kayak. We each took it out for a run this morning. It was about 45 degrees, but I was hell bent on getting in the kayak. I'm going to love this. I picture myself on warmer mornings filling a travel mug with coffee, popping it in the drink holder and taking off across the lake and back. Aaaaaaah. Relaxing. Here is Curt in the kayak

Now all we need up north is you! Come for a visit!