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Thursday, January 17, 2013

Gun Control is the least of the problems, Mr. President.

In March, 2012 I wrote a post titled, Are You Hungry? Pink Slime, Anyone? (http://sucarichireboot.blogspot.com/2012/03/are-you-hungry-pink-slime-anyone.html) thinking that must be some of the worst we would hear about the food we buy everyday.

Little did I know, there would be even more fun to come!

Our neighbors across the pond in the UK have found they've been eating horsemeat (horsemeat!) in their burgers.  Of course, no one knows how this happened or for how long it's been happening.  No one is going to 'fess up to that one, I'm sure.  It's amazing that they even tested samples to determine this is a problem.  But God bless whoever ok'ed the report!

We can only WISH our FDA or any other government agency would step up and take notice of the additives in our food, in the food we eat and feed our children.  Could politicians be so blind to greed that they eat the lies along with the food?  Or could they be ingesting 'better' food, knowing the truth?  It makes one wonder.

Yes, yes, yes.  Every country has it's picadilloes. 

In some Asian countries, reptiles, bugs, bats and birdnests are eaten.  There are tribes of Africa that drink animal blood for nourishment.  I saw a French restaurant on T.V. specializing in catching field mice to prepare, as a gourmet meal, not to mention the snails (sorry, escargot.).  We all know of Latin and European cultures that eat blood sausage, haggis, and bloodcakes.  Foods in the UK include kidneys (and spotted dick, which I am immature enough to still laugh at!). If the UK wanted horsemeat, that would be another story, but they were never consulted.

No one has the right to say what should or should not, can or cannot be eaten, as part of a continuing culture.  In the US, we eat EVERYTHING.  If it slows down enough to catch it, we eat it.  There are parts of the US where the hunting is good and alligator, squirrel, oppossum, and rabbit, etc. are considered part of a regular diet.  Drop by the Soul Food Culture and you'll find every part of a pig, from snout to tail, being prepared. 

What we eat determines, mostly, from where we originated, and vice-verse. What was available was what families provided and it's been the best we could.  However, food origin has gotten away from us.  Quick!  Name the top 4 providers of chicken in the US.  Didn't think so. WattAgNet is a busy little beaver with its hands in the world's population of poultry, eggs, pigs, AND feed.  (www.WattAgNet.com)

We have the right to know where our food originated.  We have the right to know what is 'in' our food, what it's been sprayed with, grown with, and mixed with as evolved humans with choices.  If we only knew half of what was in processed food, really, we'd all be card-carrying, commune-living vegan hippies. 

Still, we are in denial.  We still give our children milk laced with only God knows what.  We drink and give the kids citrus drinks with BVO (Brominated Vegetable Oil once used as a flame retardant!) to 'restore' electrolytes from the marathons we run daily. We still eat at the local restaurant or fast-food chain with food-amnesia that allows us to eat whatever they put in front of us. We continue to eat ourselves, literally, to death, rather than for life and function. 

In my former profession, I'd watch as the elderly went from strength to a little strong, to weak, to no-speech, to failing to eat, to dying.  We begin life by eating, learning to talk, gaining strength to crawl and walk, to strong adults.  It was a reversal of the beginning of living.  And what was the last pleasure most people had?  Eating. 

Once that was gone, they went away, too. 

So, do we eat to live or for enjoyment?  If it's for enjoyment, we need other hobbies, People.  Don't get me wrong, I love to cook. I love to feed others. I get joy from sharing meals with loved ones.  However, if you come to my house, it will not only taste good, but it will be as good for you as possible.  I won't let you leave drunk and I won't let you leave with some unknown pesticide, fake-food, or GMO in your system from something I made for you.

We need to take just a little closer looks at what we purchase.  That is our weapon, in this case, our money.  We need to educate ourselves of what we need to live and feel well.  We need to make sure our poorer communities have (cheaper) versions of Whole Foods or somewhere with fresh whole food to feed the children.  Don't leave them behind.  Don't make that separation line so thick of sick on one side and bright, rich and healthy on the other.

Question?  Have you noticed the size of our children, lately?  I don't mean in fat/wideness.  I mean in height, in puberty starting earlier and earlier, and in growth, in general.  That's not just evolution.  That's partly hormones given to those yummy fried chicken nuggets they've been fed that was medicated to make bigger breasts and bigger chickens to sell.  They get so heavy they can't stand on their own legs (the chickens, not the kids, thank God!).  "Farmers are paid based on how efficiently they use the feed to deliver fattened birds at slaughter." (www.thepoultrysite.com)

Viruses are becoming harder to fight.  Why?  We ingest the animal that had antibiotics from birth to table.  They give them antibiotics because of the living conditions being so deplorable the animals get ill without them and die.  Some develop cancers anyway, but they just cut that part off and continue with the slaughter.

Not to make anyone paranoid, but we need to look at EVERYthing that goes into our mouths-twice, ask questions, and double-check the truth.  If we were to believe everything we saw on television, the ad with a cute little girl lying on a pig, the beautiful fields of corn on a sunny day, and happy healthy families, that would sway us to believe nothing is wrong.  However, the commercials are paid for by the very companies that are poisoning us.  No, that's not too strong of a word to use here.  Poisoning.

And we are debating gun control right now.  I think that's a joke.  And it's a bad one.

What the ads aren't showing are the chicken farms, the slaughterhouses, Monsanto lawyers in court suing farmers for using their own seeds, and the numbers of ill people that ate the produce and the slow deaths that can result.  They neglect to mention the funds sent overseas to the Caymans to be safe (Switzerland is Old-School). We have to let them know we are not as stupid or lazy or lackadaisical as they believe us to be.

Europe is on top of this.  Bravo!  Again, why doesn't our government care half as much about us?

I smell money and lots of it.  And I feel ill.

Monday, January 14, 2013

Bet There's No App for THAT, Baby!

I just had a blast looking through a maze of applications available for my notebook!  Anyone who has viewed these has HAD to have a good laugh!  I certainly did!

Ok...enough exclamation points.  But I'm still giggling!

For some unknown reason, the ones that caught my eye (in no particular order), included a bedwetting diary and one for tracking your caffeine use daily (I'm SURE that's related, medically.).  There's an app to help you stop gambling (I'll bet 5 bucks it doesn't work-get it? I crack me up!) This was followed by Learning Dentistry and A Yoga Pose for That (which you will definitely need if you didn't learn the dentistry properly.)  However, all that nonsense can be avoided with the app for How to Brush Your Teeth.  There is even an app for How to Breathe and one for ageing (Yes, People, that's how it appeared.  Is there an app for spelling?).  The one that puts a chill down my spine.  The Bipolar Diet.  Sca-ry.

My favorites are...and these are in the correct order:  Your "Ladies Calendar", How to Get Pregnant (really?), Having a Happy Pregnancy, Contraction Counter, Hypnosis for Childbirth, How to Care for Your Baby (Why is there no Living With A Teenager?), How to Breastfeed, A Mother's Milk TRACKER, Making Baby Food, Teaching Your Baby to Sign (I've always wanted to know what babies are thinking, maybe, PUT THE PHONE DOWN AND CHANGE MY DIAPER!), and finally, a Pregnancy Calculator (Can't I knock out a whole family with quadruplets? Counting to four is so hard! I need a CALCULATOR!)

Right.  I said no more exclamation points. Sorry.

I once had a beautiful diamond ring given to me by the best mother-in-law-EVER as a Christmas present.  It was a gift from her father to her mother over 40 years ago.  Stay with me.  It had been cut from her finger after she passed away which led to me take it to a jewelry store for fitting and repairing.  I received a call on a Tuesday that the ring was ready for pick-up.  I decided to pick it up on Wednesday.  That night, Spiderman and Friends, or someone like that, decided to come in through the roof  of the store and steal EVERYTHING, including that ring.  I was, obviously, inconsolable, but cried enough genuine tears to bully the man into a store credit.  It worked out well because my mother-in-law was with me to choose a new ring.  I'm still heartbroken at the loss of that ring that wasn't considered priceless to anyone but my husband's grandmother and me.  For my own thought to 'wait', I lost it forever.  Is there an app to Stop Procrastinating?

Procrastination has caused me many losses and problems, the same as acting rashly and spontaneously.  Is there an app for THAT?  Didn't think so.  Just good old-fashioned Common Sense is going to help us through this world and what it throws at us.  And I KNOW there's no application that can be created for that one.  If there is, I want royalties!

Now, I'm off to use my Nap app. Yes, there is such a thing.
 

Sunday, January 6, 2013

Healthcare, Schmealthcare!!

I almost couldn't make it through the doctor's appointment without laughing. 

I did so much shaking of my head, I became a little dizzy. 

The Specialist entered third, after the nurse and his 'fellow', to reiterate what was, no doubt, the most preposterous statements I'd heard in a while.  And I hear some pretty kooky stuff, friends.

The Specialist's shtick began with why I would have to receive two prescriptions for drugs we've already determined won't help, and a third prescription for Physical Therapy, which they know won't help, at this point, either.  I'm supposed to 'make an appearance', get a home program then, and only then, can we discuss scheduling the surgery that should make me better.  Notice, I never say healed or cured.  That is not the "busy-ness" of doctors, these days.  They only treat symptoms, despite their origin as healers, once upon a time.  (I wonder if my insurance covers leeches.)

"It's all Medicare's fault."  He told us with some pretty funny gestures, shrugs and facial expressions as if to indicate, "Everybody has to go through this now...!"  I almost felt sorry for him.

Apparently, in the State in which I reside, Medicare is 'cracking down' on unnecessary surgeries by demanding proof that other (read: cheaper) means of treatment are documented, first.  Other States are falling into line right behind it, as well.  My understanding is that the treatments and prescriptions must be documented not necessarily done or taken, but ordered, and purchased and paid for.

Get this! They have a 2-year period in which they can go back and CHECK and if rules were not met, Medicare can demand their money BACK from everyone involved, and the doctors, et al, can, legally, go after the patients for their fees. 

Let's play the naive game, shall we? We can view this as Medicare just being frugal, or looking out for us, or being a pain in the neck to all those poor doctors and hospitals out there.  It's hard to say, isn't it?  It really depends on your perspective and on which side your bread is buttered.

Here's the kicker.  I am not on Medicare.  First question out of the mouth of the nurse was regarding my insurance carrier.  Being thoroughly cynical these days, I heard the KA-CHING of the cash drawer. I happen to have what's considered 'good' insurance. Lucky me?

Maybe.  The suspicion amidst medical professionals is that, as past behavior has proven, private insurance companies will follow Medicare's examples and rules in the future.  "Soooo....just to cover our asses....".
I nodded, sympathetically.

What, pray tell, do people who are uninsured or underinsured do? (Not you, Senator, we know you're covered for life.)

If I had no insurance, just one of my medications would be approximately $1200 USD per MONTH. 

If I had no insurance, I could not receive MRI's to track if that very medication is actually slowing down my disease or if we are all wasting our time and money.

If I had no insurance, I'd be like a departed friend, calling from a hospital bed (assuming they'd admit me) trying to figure out how everyone would be paid or if bankruptcy was imminent.  She was scrambling and digging for State coverage with a terminal disease, for Pete's sake!  NO ONE SHOULD HAVE TO DO THAT.

If I had no insurance, I'd be afraid to even go to a doctor for fear of what they'd find.  In all fairness, people with insurance do that, too.  Personally, I'd rather know and deal with it, than not.  But, that's where they've got us, between a rock and a hard place, as the old folks say.

Speaking of which, what if I received a diagnosis and THEN the insurance became effective?  As things stand, that's called a 'pre-existing condition'.  If you so much as took an aspirin for a diagnosis before you got the insurance, it has been treated and they don't have to pay for that diagnosis' treatment for as long as the policy dictates...90 days without treatment, a year, or forever!

I happen to have working knowledge of the spiderweb of denials stemming from THAT phrase, pre-existing.

What if I DID have Medicare and was an elderly person without knowledge of the inner workings of this craptastic mountain of information, red tape, and hoops to jump through to receive adequate healthcare?  After all the confusion, and the dust settles, and assuming the doc didn't cover his junk, some little old lady receives a bill a year later for surgery, radiology, hospital, anesthesia, and on and on.

No wonder more and more people are depressed, anxious, and remain untreated for physical and mental illnesses, now, more than ever, in the history of the United States!

So, here we are in a still-wealthy country with people who barely finished high school, following the 'policies' given to them, telling our physicians when or if they are 'allowed' to perform their jobs.  The doctor is, of course, able to take the risk, if he or she has it in them.  Good luck finding one of those. 

Doctors, insurance companies, government agencies/politicians, and pharmaceutical companies eat up ALL the money and defecate healthcare. There's no other way to view it from what I'm observing.

And, guess what?

We have to accept it. 

For now.