You know, health care is something that I used to wonder about - because I did not have any. I have had great health care for the last 16 years because of my employer. I work for a labor union who puts their money where it counts. Unions as employers still understand how valuable and important good affordable health care is. I only pay small co-pays and that's it.I recently had a stent put in and some other 8 blockages cleared. The cost was slightly over $22,000.00 and I did not pay a cent. If I had not had good health insurance, no doubt I would still be walking around with that ticking time-bomb in my chest. Just waiting for the next bag of groceries that I carried in, or laundry basket that I toted up the stairs - the BANG, heart attack, and I would either be drowning in medical costs or dead. Not great choices hey?The republicans are doing their best to block health care reform. The question would be why? What is the true reason they want to block it. Let's take a look at some of those possible reasons.Today I looked up some of the funding resources of the campaign contributions of those who are trying their best to block these reforms. Odd that some are backed by very conservative "right to life" groups. I guess it would be because the government plan would pay for people to use planned parenthood or other organizations like them.Maybe it is because the drug companies who spend a lot of their money backing republicans don't want our government to push down the price of new prescription drugs. We all know that if you buy a drug here in the U.S. it is going to cost you many times more that if you buy the same drug, from the same company in Canada. Gee, why is that? Could be because the Canadian government told them, "look, profit is profit, but then again, gouging is gouging and we will not stand for it." Take a look at the health care page that the AFL-CIO has on their website. There is truth there. When I hear conservative republicans say that this will not help families it makes me so angry. This will help families. Those families who need health care and those who would end up filing for bankruptcy if they did not have health care coverage. Medical bills can pile up fast. In just a few months you can be hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt due to some unexpected illness. No body wants to see you lose everything just because you got sick.Call your representatives now and tell them to get back to work and pass health care reform now because we need it now! Don't know who or how to contact them? Go here and get the info and make the call. You don't have to be concerned about how you tell them - Just tell them to pass health care reform or you will vote for someone who will come election time.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Health Care - Yes We Can
You know, health care is something that I used to wonder about - because I did not have any. I have had great health care for the last 16 years because of my employer. I work for a labor union who puts their money where it counts. Unions as employers still understand how valuable and important good affordable health care is. I only pay small co-pays and that's it.I recently had a stent put in and some other 8 blockages cleared. The cost was slightly over $22,000.00 and I did not pay a cent. If I had not had good health insurance, no doubt I would still be walking around with that ticking time-bomb in my chest. Just waiting for the next bag of groceries that I carried in, or laundry basket that I toted up the stairs - the BANG, heart attack, and I would either be drowning in medical costs or dead. Not great choices hey?The republicans are doing their best to block health care reform. The question would be why? What is the true reason they want to block it. Let's take a look at some of those possible reasons.Today I looked up some of the funding resources of the campaign contributions of those who are trying their best to block these reforms. Odd that some are backed by very conservative "right to life" groups. I guess it would be because the government plan would pay for people to use planned parenthood or other organizations like them.Maybe it is because the drug companies who spend a lot of their money backing republicans don't want our government to push down the price of new prescription drugs. We all know that if you buy a drug here in the U.S. it is going to cost you many times more that if you buy the same drug, from the same company in Canada. Gee, why is that? Could be because the Canadian government told them, "look, profit is profit, but then again, gouging is gouging and we will not stand for it." Take a look at the health care page that the AFL-CIO has on their website. There is truth there. When I hear conservative republicans say that this will not help families it makes me so angry. This will help families. Those families who need health care and those who would end up filing for bankruptcy if they did not have health care coverage. Medical bills can pile up fast. In just a few months you can be hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt due to some unexpected illness. No body wants to see you lose everything just because you got sick.Call your representatives now and tell them to get back to work and pass health care reform now because we need it now! Don't know who or how to contact them? Go here and get the info and make the call. You don't have to be concerned about how you tell them - Just tell them to pass health care reform or you will vote for someone who will come election time.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Mattew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act
Yesterday, the senior Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, Senator John McCain (AZ), protested that the hate crimes amendment would be an inappropriate addition to the Department of Defense authorization bill.
"Speaking on the Senate floor, Senator McCain stated:
"This is a complete abdication of the responsibilities of the Judiciary Committee, but, more importantly, could hang up this bill for a long time while we have young Americans fighting and dying in two wars."
Is it just me, or is he saying it upsets him when "young Americans" die outside the US but he's okay with "young Americans" and other Americans dying within the US? How incredulous! He is blinded like many, with a prejudice that they would say they did not have. Well, guess what Senator, we know. I am sick and tired of people being "expendable" just because they are LGBT. There will be hate crimes law, whether it is now or a little later, but it will happen; just as same sex marriage will happen by the way. (yup, had to toss that at ya too.)
I feel strongly that funding for our military is crucial. I myself am a veteran; my last four years in the Army had been spent in a special forces aviation unit. (To those of you who know, our unit motto was,"Death Waits in the Dark") I am proud of my years serving my country. Make no mistake -- I wore that uniform to protect the rights of all Americans, not just some. So, in the end, at least for today -- Shame on John McCain for thinking less of the lives of victims of hate crimes. People killed or injured by the actions of those committing hate crimes are just as valuable and worthy of our protection, of our prayers and of our humanity as any soldier fighting on our behalf in lands so far from our own shores.
I myself have been a victim of hate crimes before the phrase was even part of the American lexicon. I was fortunate that those same skills I learned as a soldier saved me here at home when people thought that the words "gay man" were interchangeable with "weak and helpless". I fought physically against hate then, and I will continue to fight against it today and in the future in any way I can.
The day will come, it is near at hand -- we will, in a unified vision, see the dawn rise on that amazing day!
"Speaking on the Senate floor, Senator McCain stated:
"This is a complete abdication of the responsibilities of the Judiciary Committee, but, more importantly, could hang up this bill for a long time while we have young Americans fighting and dying in two wars."
Is it just me, or is he saying it upsets him when "young Americans" die outside the US but he's okay with "young Americans" and other Americans dying within the US? How incredulous! He is blinded like many, with a prejudice that they would say they did not have. Well, guess what Senator, we know. I am sick and tired of people being "expendable" just because they are LGBT. There will be hate crimes law, whether it is now or a little later, but it will happen; just as same sex marriage will happen by the way. (yup, had to toss that at ya too.)
I feel strongly that funding for our military is crucial. I myself am a veteran; my last four years in the Army had been spent in a special forces aviation unit. (To those of you who know, our unit motto was,"Death Waits in the Dark") I am proud of my years serving my country. Make no mistake -- I wore that uniform to protect the rights of all Americans, not just some. So, in the end, at least for today -- Shame on John McCain for thinking less of the lives of victims of hate crimes. People killed or injured by the actions of those committing hate crimes are just as valuable and worthy of our protection, of our prayers and of our humanity as any soldier fighting on our behalf in lands so far from our own shores.
I myself have been a victim of hate crimes before the phrase was even part of the American lexicon. I was fortunate that those same skills I learned as a soldier saved me here at home when people thought that the words "gay man" were interchangeable with "weak and helpless". I fought physically against hate then, and I will continue to fight against it today and in the future in any way I can.
The day will come, it is near at hand -- we will, in a unified vision, see the dawn rise on that amazing day!
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Fed Up With Wells Fargo Mortgage
There comes a time when you wonder why you try to be a good and faithful customer to a business. We have been great customers to Wells Fargo anent our home mortgage. In November of last year, my partner was laid off. When January came round and the industry was not picking up, we thought we better contact Wells Fargo and let them know we might be having problems in a few months.We contacted them and they told us to write a "hardship" letter and fax that along with all our financial information. We got it all together complete with a lovely spreadsheet with all our finance info laid out. Little did we know that the process would take over seven months! Then to our dismay and horror, they sent an overnight letter saying, "As we discussed..." Well, first off, "we" did not discuss anything! Their offer was to let us pay half our mortgage for three months then have a balloon payment of almost $8,000.00.I called them and said, "Hey, what's this? We have always been good customers who have been a payment ahead on the mortgage and you offer us this lousy deal?" They guy, "Derrick" went over our info and found that somehow they had lost my income information. How, I'm not sure as over the seven months we faxed all the info at least 3 or 4 times! He said, "Don't worry, we can get the updated info to the "negotiator" and they can re-work this. It is clear you have a surplus at the end of each month." I dutifully faxed my pay stubs to them within the next few days. A few weeks later, they contact me and let me know everything was going fine. HA! What a load of horse pucky! I found out on that call that they set up the lousy deal we told them not to do and would have been expecting $8,000.00 in three months. They did this without a signed document to do so. I told them what had happened on the last call and even though they admit they made a mistake, they told me that since we "declined" their "offer" we had to start from the beginning all over again. After seven freaking months of work! I was so angry I thought my head would explode like a frikin cartoon character! No matter what they would not budge and I would not be allowed to speak to the negotiator who worked on our loan modification request. My solution: I am going to find others like me in the state of Maryland and we will, as a group contact not only our elected Representatives, but the Attorney General's office. If need be, this may turn into a class action law suit. I am so sick and tired of companies like Wells Fargo treating good customers like crap. We have never missed a payment and we were always a payment ahead until they started delaying our process. Stay tuned for more on this. We will become Wells Fargo's nightmare. We are good customers and we deserve to be treated better!If you have a story like mine and you are from Maryland, let me know. They might treat us like crap one by one...but wait till they have to deal with us as a unified and organized group!
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