Not One of My Better Entries...

I forgot to mention this yesterday, but WTF on the Pope front. If you haven't heard/read, there is a lot of dissent in the Anglican community over the Anglicans allowing women and openly gay clergy. Soooo the Catholics have decided to allow the Anglicans who don't want gays and women in high places to join Catholic priesthood while keeping some of their Anglican-ness, INCLUDING their ability to be married!! W.T.F. I honestly never thought they'd allow married priests, and certainly not so soon. But way to fuck it up by doing it because they want to welcome (more) sexists and homophobes. Lame lame SUPER lame! Here's an article from the Huffington Post.

ANYWAY, last night I had a LOT of trouble sleeping, which usually isn't the case for me. But it SUPER sucks when it just won't happen and you're calculating the hours of sleep you have left and what you can get out of the next day so you can have a snooze.... fine. In the past. BUUUT in addition to that, I've had two successive dreams about tarantulas.

The first one was that my friend Amanda was coming out of a door to tell me a story and she mentioned that she had a tarantula. I freaked out and told her not to come out, but she did anyway and put the spider in my hand. I freaked out and threw the spider into a room. But before I could close the door, the spider SHOT back and me and was freaking out and crawling frantically all over my body. I screamed at Amanda and kept trying to get the tarantula off, but she smiled and kept telling me the story.

THEN, during my nap today, I dreamt about my "step brothers" and either another sister by my father or Indigo as a baby. Really hard to say. While this dream was pretty complex, at the end of the dream, I went into Cole's bedroom and he had a tarantula loose in there. I freaked out, obviously, but I also remembered my Amanda dream IN this dream. In the dream I wanted to call Amanda to tell her that my Amanda-tarantula dream was a premonition for the current encounter with a tarantula.

I THINK I'm a little stressed... and I THINK I know why....

(L.A. L.A. L.A. L.A. L.A. L.A. L.A. L.A. L.A.)

Yesterday I found an application on my laptop called FRONT ROW, which... may do other things, but what captured me was it's ability to show me movie trailers! Oh HELL yes! I'm not going to list all the movies I want to see because I'm pretty sure I was using this application for like... an hour last night. But ... be prepared for when I can't resist anymore. Also, perhaps you should look into this application. Seriously... I almost died.

Actually, there is one that I must mention. Apparently they've decided to make what seems to be another For Richer or Poorer, but with Hugh Grant and Sarah Jessica Parker as the leads (as opposed to Kirstie Alley and Tim Allen). It's called Did You Hear About the Morgans? and it takes place in Wyoming instead of Amish country. LAME!

PUMPED about Toy Story 3 though...

LASTLY, one of my previous anthro professors comes into the hillel pretty regularly and today I told her that I am officially an anthro minor. COINCIDENTALLY, for the first time, she attempted to give me a tip. Shameless.

Dreams and Reality

The other night I had a VERY brief dream in which I was panicking about whether or not I would get into the L.A. program. So I was freaking out with worry that I wouldn't get in and then I open the email (and I DID reflect on the sadness of opening emails in my dreams) and I DID get in. But the wave of relief never came. I just continued my line of panic in another direction. But... despite the dream, I do feel like I've been getting braver. Sometimes I have waves of optimism. Which leads me to this:

I DID get into the L.A. program! I just found out today. Good lord.

Instead of talking about that, I'd rather mention that I am also INCREDIBLY likely going to graduate with a minor in Anthropology. When I say "incredibly likely" I mean... I'll have to actually die or get amnesia in the process of doing the paper work for it to not happen. So... that's cool, albeit a little useless. But... I also thought taking AP tests was useless when it was actually the opposite. So you never know what good can come from a minor in anthro. At the very least, it tells people that I'm a half-expert on humans.

I didn't watch any late night TV this week because The Daily Show and The Colbert Report were on hiatus for the week (it WAS torture, yes). So... it turns out that if I don't have the impetus of Jon Stewart, I don't need to spend the whole night with Letterman and Conan and Ferguson. Instead, I've essentially watched 3/4 of the entire series of That '70s Show, which is my 15-year-old sister's fave. It is pretty golden, but not enough for me to fall head first into obsession.

Bob Casey, our (PA's) junior senator, wrote me back (/his interns did). He's already for health reform but I did learn some stuff. In my first draft of this blog (yes... I may have drafts...), posted an excerpt from his reply, but then I realized that no one would read it. Basically, he mentioned a HELP committee bill, which I hadn't really heard of, that had a lot of great things INCLUDING a public option, although it said that it will NOT require everyone to have insurance. I thought all public option bills were killed though, so I need to do some research on what he's talking about.

Also, a while ago, I watched Citizen Kane, which I wasn't looking forward to because it seemed really Joni Mitchell. Well... I gotta say it was pretty great! It wasn't a snooze-fest like 2001: Space Odyssey or Lawrence of Arabia, both of which I actually couldn't finish because I was fighting unconsciousness... and lost.

Lastly, Claire frequently writes about a site called etsy.com, which is all handmade stuff. Well, the other night when I was writing faux journal entries in my notebook, I realized I should buy a new diary on that site.

ETSY.COM IS AMAZING!!/ I don't know how I'll ever EVER be able to choose!!!

I shall be frequently updating on this dilemma.

Also, I passed my 300 entries mark on this blog!!! Crazy.

ALSO, I ACCIDENTLY ERASED MY FREE CELL HISTORY!!!! I was REALLY upset before I decided that I was a little TOO attached to it, and erasing it is probably healthier in the long run. PLUS, it'll give me a chance to win more than just 59% percent... after I'd played SOOO much, there was basically no hope in improving my stats. If I go back to 59% though, we'll know that it's a very accurate representation of my free cell skills.

Good Start

Breaking News Alert

The New York Times

Senator Snowe, a Republican, Backs Health Care Bill

Senator Olympia J. Snowe of Maine indicated that she would support the Finance Committee Health care bill, although she withheld support for future versions of the legislation. She is the only Republican senator to have voiced support for the bill.

All Riled Up

Now that the world (U.S.) is inundated with crazies, it's almost difficult to be enraged... because it'd take too long. When Barack Obama makes his joint congress speech correcting the lies that have been getting press despite the originators complete lack of authority on the subject, and then Sarah Palin goes on facebook the next day and writes that she still believes in death panels, how can you get upset? I mean, it's upsetting... but it's SOOO absurd that you can't argue with it. What would you say? "Based on what? BASED ON WHAT do you believe in death panels?!!! Based on nothing at all!! Based on your feelings? Did God tell you, you irresponsible, self-serving fucker!?" I'm just saying that you can't argue with crazies and it only serves to raise your blood pressure if you think about it too much.

But sometimes it all adds up. You hear about Palin. Kirk Cameron is crazily, but charismatically, handing out copies of Darwin's On the Origin of Species with a 50 page forward about how God actually made everything. Obama being pressured and backing down from the health care changes we NEEEEED!! (lest my generation be flooded from global warming, burned from the lack of ozone, dying of teflon cancer and all sleeping together in a huddled mass because we went bankrupt trying to get chemo)!

But, and I don't know why THIS sent me over the edge, but it did... I can't BELIEVE parents took their kids out of school because they didn't want them to hear the President speak. What the FUCK!?! I just want to know why I've been pressured into feeling like IIII have no patriotism because I think some countries have more ideal priorities when THIS bullshit happens! You don't do that! You don't train your children to be stubborn. To not listen to people. To think that the President's ideas are so dangerous that you get taken out of SCHOOL?! Fostering that kind of distrust! If I had kids I wouldn't even THINK of not letting them listen to Bush... especially because it's not like he would tell them to join the army... just like Obama's not going to tell them about health care. Those issues are controversial. He's just telling them to work hard and wash their hands!! I mean, especially when I think of how much those repubs seem to enjoy the idea of social standing and respect (to put them in a box)... you RESPECT your President... the way you respect an adult. We VOTED for him and too bad if you don't like it because maybe next time we'll vote for your guy.

Bill Maher posed what I think is a very interesting question. After we were attacked, democrats and republicans joined together because we were worried for our country together. We accepted, for a while, George Bush's plans. We trusted him. If we got attacked again, would republicans rally around Obama? I think the answer is no.

I HOPE these crazies are just getting disproportionate media coverage because crazy people are interesting. I HOPE that's the case. Although then we'll have to address the extreme irresponsibility of the media.

Damnit!

Conversation with a Republican

MONEY OBTAINED!!!!!!!!!

And HOPEFULLY that's all I say about that for like... the next month at LEAST!

In other news, when I was at work, I had to go to the other SED building for some books. Since I was there, I decided to stop by and visit my old boss. She was lovely of course. Asked how I was doing. I mentioned that I'm taking a heath care sociology class and that I've gotten so nervous about health care that I had a nightmare about it. I also told her that right after the nightmare, I wrote my congressmen to say I wanted health reform (I got a response from Sestak today. That probably inspired this conversation).

WEEEELL... right as it was coming out of my mouth... seriously... the MOMENT I finished saying it, I remembered something unfortunate.

My old boss is a republican.

Shit.

Now, I'm a huge wimp, ESPECIALLY with authority figures, and I'm DEFINITELY not confrontational. What I'm saying is that I didn't tell her a single other opinion. So while she talked to me about the "hoodlums" in the senate for LITERALLY 45 minutes, I listened and nodded until she apparently ACTUALLY forgot why were discussing this in the first place. She attributed the beginning of our conversation to the fact that I was going to graduate this year. I'm THAT good at wimpiness.

Now, I hardly ever encounter republicans. And when I do, it's really a beautiful and enlightening thing because it reminds me about other opinions that can be or are equally valid. It reminds me that to stubbornly defend my opinions is hypocritical and useless. I can learn just as much, if not more, from people with opposite views.

That being said, I must say I was RELIEVED when she stated some clear fallacies (this taking into consideration that you never REALLY know anything...). I WANT to be open-minded... but I REALLY want health care reform and... it would hurt to have everything I know come crashing down (I know that I'm basically saying that I DON'T want to be open-minded... but... well it's a conflict of self interest--that's what I'm trying to admit). Anyway, these were my red flags:

1. She said that they were going to fund universal health care with the money from medicare. Well... Obama SPECIFICALLY said that they would NOT use that money. I mean... medicare doesn't even HAVE money. Plus... if we went into a single payer system or a public option, wouldn't that essentially mean that all health care was the same as medicare? It would mean everyone is covered, not just old people.

2. She said that she didn't want to give up her current doctor and coverage.

Obama, again, SPECIFICALLY stated that if you like your current plan, you will absolutely not have to change it. Although, I can see how there could be some contention. I imagine that the insurance companies will have trouble competing with a public option... assuming the public option will be able to really get young people to join. That being said, a doctor isn't going to stop being a doctor. If you see a general practitioner, a public option would just mean that a different sort of insurance would be paying the doctor.

3. She said that we already cover everyone with the use of hospitals.

Two things are ... narrow-minded about this, according to what I've learned.

A) People with insurance pay for those people. What happens is that when someone comes in to the hospital with a big emergency like a heart attack or they are in labor, the hospital has to take them. However, the hospital can't pay for them and they end up "cost shifting" (sounds illegal to me, but it's true) to everyone else. So everyone with insurance essentially pays part of the poor person's bill. But... it doesn't matter to them because the insurance is paying. But the insurance companies lose more money on that (obvs) and it eventually leads to higher premiums for everyone else.

B) A lot of emergencies can be prevented with regular check ups and that is much less expensive... not to mention much better physically and emotionally for the person. Basically, doctors, I THINK, aren't just there for when you're about to die. That's why we have check ups... catch that cancer.

4. She also said that she's a firm Catholic and she doesn't want abortions to be funded with her money. She said that the senators don't read the 1000 page bill and who knows what's going to be in it. I agree that the senators don't seem to have really read the bill. But I DO know that Obama SPECIFICALLY said that the money will not fund abortions.

5. This part is the part that I can't argue really. She's from Italy and she says that the people from Italy don't think their socialized health care is good. She said that most of their hospitals aren't open at night, so if they have an emergency, they have to travel really far. She also said that the Canadians don't like their system. I can't say anything about that as I am neither Italian nor Canadian. She finished off this thought by saying that our health care is the best there is, even if it has some problems.

I asked her if she watched Obama's joint congress address and she said yes. Although, not to be an ass, don't think she watched it that carefully because a LOT of her contentions were things that Obama addressed specifically as not being true.

So like I said, I really feel like I SHOULD be open-minded. I am 21-years-old and have little to no life experience. I am in a pool of liberals with EXTREME liberal information thrown at me all the time... which I know is propaganda in itself. In fact, even when I'm in my health care class, I look at all the statistics and I think of how easily statistics can be either false or incredibly manipulative. It seems like a lot of the reason that I believe my professor is because I WANT to believe her. That said, after this conversation with a 60-ish year old "independent" (with obvious republican leanings) while at least being AWARE that I should have an open mind and TRYING to see her side of the matter(which seems like the best that I can do), I still fully believe that health reform is absolutely necessary.

New Rules

Some good words from Bill Maher:

And finally, new rule; not everything in America has to make a profit.

You know if conservatives get to call universal health care socialized medicine, I get to call private, for-profit health care soulless vampire bastards making money off human pain. Now I know what you're thinking, "But Bill the profit motive is what sustains capitalism." Yes. And our sex-drive is what sustains the human species but we don't try to fuck everything. It's okay for some things to remain non-profit, just like when it comes to sexual relations, some people are off limits... like your cousin or your sister or if you're a leading republican, your wife.

Now it wasn't that long ago that when a kid in a America broke his leg his parents took him to the local Catholic hospital, the nun stuck a thermometer in his ass, the doctor slapped some plaster on his ankle and you were done. The bill was $1.50, plus you got to keep the thermometer. But like everything else that's good and noble in life, some bean-counter decided that hospitals could also be big business. So now they're not hospitals anymore. They're Jiffy Lubes with bed pans. The more people who get sick and stay sick, the higher they're profit margin is... which is why they're always pushing the jello.

Did you know that the United States is ranked 50th in the world in life expectancy? And the 49 loser countries where they live longer than us, oh it's hardly worth it. They may live longer but they live shackled to the tyranny of non-profit health care. Here in America, you're not coughing up blood, little Bobby, you're coughing up freedom. The problem with President Obama's health care plan isn't socialism. It's capitalism. When did the profit motive become the only reason to do anything? When did that become the new patriotism? Ask not what you can do for your country. Ask what's in it for Blue Cross/ Blue Shield.

It's not just medicine. Prisons also used to be a non-profit thing. And for good reason. Who the hell wants to own a prison? By definition you're going to have trouble with the tenants. It is not a coincidence that we outsourced running prisons to private corporations and then the number of prisoners in America skyrocketed.

There used to be some things we just didn't do for money. Did you know, for example, that there was a time when being called a "war-profiteer" was a bad thing? FDR said he didn't want WWII to create one millionaire. But I'm guessing Iraq has made more than a few executives and Halliburton into millionaires. Halliburton sold soldiers soda for $7.50 a can. They were honoring 9/11 by charging like 7 Eleven. Which is wrong. We're Americans. We do not fight wars for money. We fight them for oil.

And my final example of the profit motives screwing something up that used to be good when it was non-profit: TV news. I heard all the news anchors this week talk about how much better the news coverage was back in Cronkite's day. And I thought, "Gee, if only you were in a position to do something about it." But maybe they aren't. Because this isn't Cronkite's day, when delivering the news was considered a lost leader and a civic duty. Making money was the job of The Beverly Hillbillies. And now that we have reporters moving to Alaska and hanging out with the Palin family, the news is the Beverly Hillbillies

More for Reform

Today I decided to write to my senators and congress guy about health care reform. It was pretty cathartic and of course I urge you to do the same if the mood strikes you. Also, I'm not sure how casual you're supposed to be in your letters to congress, but I figure they MUST get tons of emails from people who sound as stupid or stupider than I.

Here's my letter:

Dear Senator Arlen Spector,

My name is Blythe Wolber and I am twenty-one years old. I am writing to implore you to vote for President Obama’s health reform.

My entire family has always had quality health insurance because my parents are young nurses. Until recently, I never realized our country had a health care crisis. Now that I do, I am frightened by my generation’s future. I am going to graduate college in the spring and I know that I am likely going to have no insurance for several years. I know that if anything terrible happens, my parents may go bankrupt in order to help me. I know that if I develop a condition, I may not know about it for several years, giving it a chance to worsen until it becomes a terrible burden financially and physically.

More importantly, I am a part of a generation of people that assume we will get cancer at some point in our lives, an assumption that I consider reasonable. I feel like I learn about a new cancer-causing agent every few weeks-- teflon, vaseline, nutrasweet, bottled water, deodorant, hormones in milk, most cleaning substances. The list goes on forever. It will take a long time for us to track down everything that gives us cancer, even longer to make everyone know about it, and even longer to actually diminish the use of these things. After all, we’ve known about the effects of cigarettes for decades, yet at this moment we are still imposing new laws to diminish their effects on the public. That’s not even counting the sun, who’s presence every morning is partially beautiful and partially a daily reminder of the gloom it will be imposing on my near future.

The point is that if most of my generation gets cancer in the next twenty years, and nearly 20% of us have no insurance, that will be millions of people who have no way of catching their cancer early. They will go to the hospital when their symptoms are so overt and any doctor they see will know that they have no chance. Nevertheless, they will have to try and save these people using incredibly expensive procedures that won’t even work most of the time. The hospitals will then cost shift all the bills of the deceased to the people in the hospital who do have insurance. The insurance company will pay the bill but raise premiums to make up for their loss. When premiums raise, health care becomes more of a burden to people and almost more importantly, more healthy people refuse to enter the system because they don’t think they can afford it, thus taking money from the system and placing that burden on the sick-- a vicious, terrible cycle. That doesn’t even include the millions of people who’s health insurance won’t cover them when they get sick, an incredible scandal that makes me ashamed of my country.

I know that the death panel rumor was crazy and completely false, but I honestly believe that the reality is even more frightening. I would rather know that as a senior citizen I would have to defend my life in front of a panel, then live through my seemingly doomed near future that I just described. Plus, my generation is already going to have to live through the effects of global warming. Give us a chance.

I am positive that health reform will happen at some point. I see no other way for our nation to go on. Please help make this happen sooner than later. Please brighten my future and allow my nightmares to go back to alligators under my bed instead of my parents losing their health insurance.

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

Blythe Wolber

Also, if you didn't watch Obama's health reform congress speech... it was pretty great. Consider yourself urged.

A Wee Obama Plug

Just THINK about donating to the Obama health care campaign. After all, we'd rather him ask us for the money instead of lobbyists who will ask for their agenda to be put in the bill. And if everyone gives $5...