Healthcare
The Fight between Fit and Fat - The Struggle Continues
- Only consider bariatric surgery when ALL else has failed. It's no joke. Not to be played with. Did I mentioned no joke?
- Your insurance may not cover the surgery. Mine (thanks Aetna) did not. And I had to come out of pocket to the tune of $16,000 + vitamins, supplements, food scale, protein shakes, etc. Cost more than my first car.
- Pick your bariatric surgeon with care. The first guy I went to (Dr. Kim) was a complete jerk who told me to quit eating fried chicken and chocolate cake every day. For that he charged me $250 and said he looked forward to seeing me again. And then he called me Marsha. Yeah no. Do not go to a factory where they don't get to know anything about you and give less than a damn. I ended up going to Dr. Provost and loved everyone there.
- Some people in your life will not understand why you are having the surgery and how it will affect you. But that's a whole other post.
The Got-A-Man/Gained-Some-Weight Struggle
Okay, maybe not. The combination of having someone who already likes what he sees, eating becoming a a romantic ritual and me walking past the treadmill as if it doesn't exist has led directly to this struggle realization moment. And with my metabolism? If I don't nip it in the bud now, those dark wash skinny jeans for fall will be a major health hazard.
Revisiting the Shiggity that is the Tea Bag Movement
I was only 2.6 minutes into watching the footage when the word "socialism" dropped out of someone's mouth. Gritting my teeth, I powered on. When someone spoke of Obama not "adhering to the Constitution written for REAL Americans," I threw up in my mouth a little bit. Determined not to stereotype, I plunked down in front of the computer and started researching what the tea bag movement was all about.
Besides having the poor taste to pick a name for their movement that brings to mind a sexual act of the XXX variety, the Tea Bag Movement is supposedly a non-partisan movement protesting all things Obama, the federal budget and, more specifically, the stimulus package and the universal health care bill, which the protesters perceive as examples of wasteful government spending and unnecessary government growth. Somehow they equate these programs with government intrusion into their private lives. They oppose the increase in the national debt as well. The protesters also objected to possible future tax increases, with taxes on capital gains, estate taxes, federal income taxes, and cigarette taxes.
So reading between the lines, the TBs don't want to pay taxes, think the mortgage crisis was due to low-lifes not managing their money, healthcare is a socialist principal and are positive Obama is a Non-American Fascist (or the Devil Incarnate - they can't decide which)… seriously? Okey-dokey then, let me ask the TBs a few questions from Matt Taibbi's blog:
If you're so horrified by debt and spending, where were your tea parties when George Bush was adding $4 trillion to the federal deficit? If you're so outraged by the bailouts, where were your tea parties when the bailouts were first instituted by Henry Paulson and George Bush last fall? If you're so troubled by pork, where were your tea parties when the number and cost of congressional earmarks rose spectacularly in each year of Republican congressional rule between 1996 and the end of the Republican majority in 2006? Would you be protesting any of this bull**** if this had been George W. Bush's budget?
I call bullshiggity. I call overt racism. I call hateration on all ya Tea Bag hat-wearing, American Flag waving (whole other topic, see commentary here), Fox News-watching, Palin-lovin', evil sign holding, no solution proposing, Rush/Glenn listening finger pointers. Guess what? America is not just for you. You do not get to lead unencumbered lives of entitlement and greed without paying the piper. You sat silently by while the Frat Boy you stuck us with for eight years ran this country straight into the ground, pissed off world leaders by the dozen, sent our boys off to fight a fake war and made mothers have to choose between a gallon of gas and a gallon of milk. Your protests are too late and are based on bitterness that your candidate did not win and hatred of things (people) you can not bend to your will. Get over it and get over yourselves. Do what we did, find a candidate that YOU think can change things, get behind him (or her)and vote. Good luck with that in 2012.
Note to Rick Perry and John Cornyn - Good looking out on turning down the stimulus funds. "Boo, hiss and double boo." Oh, I'm too late, they booed you at your own tea party? 'Nuff said. Good lookin' out trying to appeal health care reform for Texas, that appeal is worth the paper you printed it on... and I have a few idea with what you can do with that paper.
Last week on Twitter, I wondered if we needed a fringe group of crazies repping for the Progressive set? By popular vote, the Twitterati decided that if we do get such a group, it should be called the Coffee Party.
What do you think of these Tea Parties? Is it just out of control? Would you join the Coffee Party if it existed?
Raise ‘em up: Health Care Reform passes
Three simple words from President Barack Obama via Twitter: Yes we can. Prez 44 did something no modern era leader of the United States has been able to do… pass a bill beginning an overhaul of healthcare and allowing millions of uninsured Americans access to medical services that will not bankrupt them. NPR's article says it best: Obama Achieves Health Law Success That Eluded Past.
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President Obama gave a brief conference after the passage. I wanted to see him come out to Big Daddy Kane's "I Get the Job Done" but that wasn't meant to be. He looked tired, worn but victorious. President Obama said that the House's vote on health care "wasn't an easy vote but it was the right vote." Speaking from the East Room of the White House, the president, who made health care reform a priority for his administration, said the vote wasn't a victory for a political party but for the American people. Obama said the reform plan won't fix everything wrong with the nation's health care system, "but it moves us decisively in the right direction." Here are the major points of the bill (from MSNBC):
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And lest they be forgotten, here are the 34 jack-ass Democrats who did not back their President's play. They shall not be forgotten. Umm-hmm. We see ya'll:
John Adler Jason Altmire Michael Arcuri John Barrow Marion Berry Dan Boren Rick Boucher Bobby Bright Ben Chandler Travis Childers Artur Davis Lincoln Davis Chet Edwards Stephanie Herseth Sandlin Tim Holden Larry Kissell Frank Kratovil Jr. Daniel Lipinski Stephen F. Lynch Jim Marshall Jim Matheson Mike McIntyre Michael E. McMahon Charlie Melancon Walt Minnick Glenn Nye Collin C. Peterson Mike Ross Heath Shuler Ike Skelton Zack Space John Tanner Gene Taylor Harry TeagueMore work to be done but for tonight at least, pop a bottle and raise 'em up! My President keeps promises to the American people. How great is that?