In the best message that I've seen to-date about the health care reform debate, Will Ferrell, Jon Hamm, Olivia Wilde, Thomas Lennon, Robert Ben Garant, Masi Oka, Jordana Spiro, Linda Cardellini and Donald Faison explain why we must protect insurance companies. :-)
Priceless
In the following video, Bill Moyers sums of the insanity over the health care reform debate.
A little common sense goes a long way.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Just Being Alive Will Soon Be a Pre-Existing Condition
Thanks PunditMom for sharing your story.
It's beyond unbelievable that any insurance company, anywhere would consider "domestic violence" as a pre-existent condition." However as Maria Tchijov reported in the SEIU blog:
"Insurance companies have used the excuse of "pre-existing conditions" to deny coverage to countless Americans. From cancer patients to the elderly suffering from arthritis, these organizations have padded their profit margins by limiting coverage to patients deemed "high risk" because of their medical condition. But, in DC and eight other states, including Idaho, Mississippi, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, and Wyoming, insurance companies have gone too far, claiming that "domestic violence victim" is also a pre-existing condition. "
This has to stop.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost
It's beyond unbelievable that any insurance company, anywhere would consider "domestic violence" as a pre-existent condition." However as Maria Tchijov reported in the SEIU blog:
"Insurance companies have used the excuse of "pre-existing conditions" to deny coverage to countless Americans. From cancer patients to the elderly suffering from arthritis, these organizations have padded their profit margins by limiting coverage to patients deemed "high risk" because of their medical condition. But, in DC and eight other states, including Idaho, Mississippi, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, and Wyoming, insurance companies have gone too far, claiming that "domestic violence victim" is also a pre-existing condition. "
This has to stop.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Robert Greenwald on The Ed Show for Sick For Profit
Robert Greenwald talks about CIGNA and Sick For Profit on The Ed Show. For more information, go to www.sickforprofit.com
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
This Is Our Brain on Fear
If you were raised in the United States, you can probably recall the PSA with the image of an egg frying and the saying, "This is your brain on drugs". Well the current political climate in America indicates that our collective brain is well on its way to being just as fried.
In an article for Alternet, Tammy Ganeva outlined the, "10 of the Most Obscenely Stupid Right-Wing Conspiracy Theories and Attacks Against the President."
Janet Shan of The Hinterland Gazette posted a story, "Capt Connie Rhodes Files Lawsuit to Fight Deployment to Afghanistan, Disputes the Legitimacy of Barack Obama's Presidency."
Stacy Morrow posted a story for MSNBC informing us that the Arlington Independent School District which passed on showing President Obama's address to school children plans to bus (yes, bus) some of those children to Texas Stadium on September 21st to hear former President George W. Bush.
What do these stories have in common?
They are all describing the insanity that has gripped this country. A form of mental illness so severe that it prompted Rep. Congressman Joe Wilson (SC) to shout "You Lie" at President Obama during the latter's address to Congress.
Friends this isn't Sparta, this is madness
Like an addict hooked on crack, it seems that a large portion of American society is hooked on fear. And now that fear is turning to disrespect, race baiting and worst of all, religious zealotry that twists the gospel of Jesus Christ from a message of love into a sermon of hate.
What bible is this man reading? Certainly not the same one that I am because in my bible Matthew 22:36-40 reads:
36"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" 37Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' 38This is the first and greatest commandment. 39And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' 40All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."
Pastor Steven Anderson needs to rethink his religion. A lot of people do.
We also need to rethink our political conversation. Yes, the blogosphere has had a lot of fun pointing out the hypocrisy and absurdities coming from both of the major political camps. In fact, some blogs/bloggers have become famous and infamous for their flaming conversations. But is this really who we want to be as a society?
It would be easy to say that this is all the result of the American public having had their fears manipulated for the past 8 years. I'm sure that eight years of: environmentalists being portrayed as kooks; war veterans being portrayed as cowards; twisted stories about weapons of mass destruction; politically timed and motivated terror alerts; anti-war dissent being labeled as of being un-American; the suspension of habeas corpus; mass wire-tapping by the telecoms; et. al. had their effect. But I suspect that the current outpouring of venom is something that has always been hidden in the dark recesses of our national soul like some dormant parasite just waiting to be fed.
In the months ahead, health care reform may or may not pass. The economy may continue to improve or it may worsen. And political candidates may or may not be re-elected. But many of the words of hate spoken over the past months will be remembered for a very long time.
America, this is our brain on fear. Consider this an intervention. Now get help!
Related links:
Tell Congressman Joe WIlson to apologize for disrsepecting the President during his address to Congress.
Sign the Credo mobile petition urging the FBI and Secret Service to do all that they can to protect the President.
In an article for Alternet, Tammy Ganeva outlined the, "10 of the Most Obscenely Stupid Right-Wing Conspiracy Theories and Attacks Against the President."
Janet Shan of The Hinterland Gazette posted a story, "Capt Connie Rhodes Files Lawsuit to Fight Deployment to Afghanistan, Disputes the Legitimacy of Barack Obama's Presidency."
Stacy Morrow posted a story for MSNBC informing us that the Arlington Independent School District which passed on showing President Obama's address to school children plans to bus (yes, bus) some of those children to Texas Stadium on September 21st to hear former President George W. Bush.
What do these stories have in common?
They are all describing the insanity that has gripped this country. A form of mental illness so severe that it prompted Rep. Congressman Joe Wilson (SC) to shout "You Lie" at President Obama during the latter's address to Congress.
Friends this isn't Sparta, this is madness
Like an addict hooked on crack, it seems that a large portion of American society is hooked on fear. And now that fear is turning to disrespect, race baiting and worst of all, religious zealotry that twists the gospel of Jesus Christ from a message of love into a sermon of hate.
What bible is this man reading? Certainly not the same one that I am because in my bible Matthew 22:36-40 reads:
36"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" 37Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' 38This is the first and greatest commandment. 39And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' 40All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."
Pastor Steven Anderson needs to rethink his religion. A lot of people do.
We also need to rethink our political conversation. Yes, the blogosphere has had a lot of fun pointing out the hypocrisy and absurdities coming from both of the major political camps. In fact, some blogs/bloggers have become famous and infamous for their flaming conversations. But is this really who we want to be as a society?
It would be easy to say that this is all the result of the American public having had their fears manipulated for the past 8 years. I'm sure that eight years of: environmentalists being portrayed as kooks; war veterans being portrayed as cowards; twisted stories about weapons of mass destruction; politically timed and motivated terror alerts; anti-war dissent being labeled as of being un-American; the suspension of habeas corpus; mass wire-tapping by the telecoms; et. al. had their effect. But I suspect that the current outpouring of venom is something that has always been hidden in the dark recesses of our national soul like some dormant parasite just waiting to be fed.
In the months ahead, health care reform may or may not pass. The economy may continue to improve or it may worsen. And political candidates may or may not be re-elected. But many of the words of hate spoken over the past months will be remembered for a very long time.
America, this is our brain on fear. Consider this an intervention. Now get help!
Related links:
Tell Congressman Joe WIlson to apologize for disrsepecting the President during his address to Congress.
Sign the Credo mobile petition urging the FBI and Secret Service to do all that they can to protect the President.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Just One More Reason Why Christians Should Stay Prayed Up
If I've learned anything in almost 50 years of living it's that when you're trying to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ there will be enumerable annoyances that will remind you that you have not yet attained perfection. Most of these annoyances will involve people.
One thing that is guaranteed to try my patience, humble me and bring me to my knees praying that God bridle my tongue is my #1 pet peeve. I simply can't abide customer service people who insult your intelligence by lying rather than simply telling you the truth.
Having worked in customer service for many years, I know all too well how uncomfortable it can be when you find yourself having to explain to a customer why their order isn't ready or a project can't be completed. But I have also learned that while some customers will fly off the handle and spew venom, most will respond calmly and rationally when you apologize for the inconvenience and tell them the simple truth. I like to believe that 99% of the time my behavior as a customer falls into the latter category. However, when I very calmly ask a customer service person to explain why there is a problem with something that I've ordered and they proceed to tell me one lie after another, I must confess that this very easy going, mild mannered Christian has visions of jumping across a counter and re-enacting a scene from the movie 300. This is why people should not carry weapons.
This morning I was tested again. Around 4pm this past Tuesday afternoon I dropped off prescriptions for my mother's respiratory medicine at my friendly neighborhood CVS pharmacy. I handed the prescriptions directly to the person at the drop-off window who confirmed my mother's date of birth. I told her that I would pick them up the next day and said thank you. Now you can call me naive, but I just thought is was reasonable to assume that if I didn't pick up the prescriptions on Wednesday that they would be ready by this morning, Thursday. Well wouldn't you know that when I called the pharmacy at 9:30 this morning to inquire about the prescriptions, the first person who answered the phone told me that she didn't even see the order in their system. When I explained, that I had handed the prescriptions to a person at the pharmacy drop-off window on Tuesday, she placed me on hold. A second person came to the phone and advised me that the medicine had to be ordered and would be available after 2pm today. OK, now I was a little miffed but calm and since I was in a car I said thank you and hung up.
I guess I was just asking for it but I just had to call back and ask why the first person that I had spoken to could not find the order in the system at all. I also was curious as to when the order was actually entered into the system, if it had been at all. As I said, I was just asking for it. I never received an answer regarding when the prescriptions were entered into the system. In fact, I didn't even receive an apology for the inconvenience. Instead I received a song and dance about how the person who was at the window when I dropped off the prescriptions may have been a temp or part-time pharmacy employee, (which I know is not the case). I was also offered another story, which she really shouldn't have uttered, about how they may have just been too busy to enter the prescription into the system on Tuesday afternoon. And finally, the person on the other end of the phone recited this scripted explanation about how they don't keep medicines in the store and have to order them but they do call customers if their prescriptions are not ready on time. At this point, I had a vision of the person on the other end of the phone saying, "talk to the hand, talk to the hand". So I just said thank you and hung up.
At this point, I began reminiscing about their previous excuses when an order had not been ready on time. Once I had been told that I had entered an old RX# in their telephone automated refill system. I had asked myself then, why would their automated system accept and confirm an outdated RX #. On another occasion, the excuse was that the prescription had been entered into their system for another day. I had asked myself then how that had happened since the automated refill system prompts you to select and then confirm the pick-up day and time. So this time I took the prescriptions into the pharmacy, handed them to a person, confirmed the pick-up date, even gave them an extra 1/2 day, and the order was still not ready. Forget "death panels", CVS is trying to kill my mother by denying her respiratory medicine. At this point, I was imagining how nice it would be to be a prophet who could call down fire.
Now I hear some of you saying, "So when were they going to call you, next week?". After all, I did drop the prescription off on Tuesday, for pick-up on Wednesday and this is now Thursday morning. I hear others of you saying, "Didn't they know that the medicines would need to be ordered when you dropped the script off on Tuesday?" Hmmm?
But I caution you, it is dangerous to attempt to apply common sense to these situations.
These situations can only be handled by prayer and strict weapons laws :-) This is why God will never give me the ability to call down fire.
Stay prayed up folks.
Update:
2pm CVS calls and says that the prescription is ready for pickup
3pm I pick up the prescription and lo and behold they forgot to note that there are 5 refills.
4pm After writing the obligatory letter to CVS Corporate Customer Service and notifying the doctors office of the mix-up, I thought about praying that God would consider a request to rain down hail & fire. But the Bible cautions us about praying amiss. :-) I can only take comfort in the words found in Matthew 18:5-7:
"But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. "Matthew 18:5-7
.
One thing that is guaranteed to try my patience, humble me and bring me to my knees praying that God bridle my tongue is my #1 pet peeve. I simply can't abide customer service people who insult your intelligence by lying rather than simply telling you the truth.
Having worked in customer service for many years, I know all too well how uncomfortable it can be when you find yourself having to explain to a customer why their order isn't ready or a project can't be completed. But I have also learned that while some customers will fly off the handle and spew venom, most will respond calmly and rationally when you apologize for the inconvenience and tell them the simple truth. I like to believe that 99% of the time my behavior as a customer falls into the latter category. However, when I very calmly ask a customer service person to explain why there is a problem with something that I've ordered and they proceed to tell me one lie after another, I must confess that this very easy going, mild mannered Christian has visions of jumping across a counter and re-enacting a scene from the movie 300. This is why people should not carry weapons.
This morning I was tested again. Around 4pm this past Tuesday afternoon I dropped off prescriptions for my mother's respiratory medicine at my friendly neighborhood CVS pharmacy. I handed the prescriptions directly to the person at the drop-off window who confirmed my mother's date of birth. I told her that I would pick them up the next day and said thank you. Now you can call me naive, but I just thought is was reasonable to assume that if I didn't pick up the prescriptions on Wednesday that they would be ready by this morning, Thursday. Well wouldn't you know that when I called the pharmacy at 9:30 this morning to inquire about the prescriptions, the first person who answered the phone told me that she didn't even see the order in their system. When I explained, that I had handed the prescriptions to a person at the pharmacy drop-off window on Tuesday, she placed me on hold. A second person came to the phone and advised me that the medicine had to be ordered and would be available after 2pm today. OK, now I was a little miffed but calm and since I was in a car I said thank you and hung up.
I guess I was just asking for it but I just had to call back and ask why the first person that I had spoken to could not find the order in the system at all. I also was curious as to when the order was actually entered into the system, if it had been at all. As I said, I was just asking for it. I never received an answer regarding when the prescriptions were entered into the system. In fact, I didn't even receive an apology for the inconvenience. Instead I received a song and dance about how the person who was at the window when I dropped off the prescriptions may have been a temp or part-time pharmacy employee, (which I know is not the case). I was also offered another story, which she really shouldn't have uttered, about how they may have just been too busy to enter the prescription into the system on Tuesday afternoon. And finally, the person on the other end of the phone recited this scripted explanation about how they don't keep medicines in the store and have to order them but they do call customers if their prescriptions are not ready on time. At this point, I had a vision of the person on the other end of the phone saying, "talk to the hand, talk to the hand". So I just said thank you and hung up.
At this point, I began reminiscing about their previous excuses when an order had not been ready on time. Once I had been told that I had entered an old RX# in their telephone automated refill system. I had asked myself then, why would their automated system accept and confirm an outdated RX #. On another occasion, the excuse was that the prescription had been entered into their system for another day. I had asked myself then how that had happened since the automated refill system prompts you to select and then confirm the pick-up day and time. So this time I took the prescriptions into the pharmacy, handed them to a person, confirmed the pick-up date, even gave them an extra 1/2 day, and the order was still not ready. Forget "death panels", CVS is trying to kill my mother by denying her respiratory medicine. At this point, I was imagining how nice it would be to be a prophet who could call down fire.
Now I hear some of you saying, "So when were they going to call you, next week?". After all, I did drop the prescription off on Tuesday, for pick-up on Wednesday and this is now Thursday morning. I hear others of you saying, "Didn't they know that the medicines would need to be ordered when you dropped the script off on Tuesday?" Hmmm?
But I caution you, it is dangerous to attempt to apply common sense to these situations.
These situations can only be handled by prayer and strict weapons laws :-) This is why God will never give me the ability to call down fire.
Stay prayed up folks.
Update:
2pm CVS calls and says that the prescription is ready for pickup
3pm I pick up the prescription and lo and behold they forgot to note that there are 5 refills.
4pm After writing the obligatory letter to CVS Corporate Customer Service and notifying the doctors office of the mix-up, I thought about praying that God would consider a request to rain down hail & fire. But the Bible cautions us about praying amiss. :-) I can only take comfort in the words found in Matthew 18:5-7:
"But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. "Matthew 18:5-7
.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Before You Eat That Next Soy Burger
Do you eat soy burgers, drink soy milk, use flavored coffee creamers and/or products that contain aspartame? If you do then please watch this video, "The World According to Monsanto" in its entirety. You may just change your mind,
Monsanto, manufacturer of the world's leading weedkiller Round-Up, is also the world leader in supplying soy bean seed for agribusiness. So if you're consuming a mass marketed soy bean product like soy milk or yogurt with aspartame there is a good chance that it was produced from Monsanto seed and treated with Round-up.
I am not against soy products. there is evidence that soy in its natural state is good for you. But there is also good reason to believe that soy that has been genetically modified to resist spraying with a powerful herbicide, may be killing us.
Please watch this video in its entirety, then buy the video and share it with those that you love.
Finally, join others in the move to Stop Monsanto.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)