A video you cannot forget - especially on November 6, 2012

Few messages I’ve seen and heard have been as compelling as this one is to me:

STUNNING - 'I REMEMBER, SO I'M VOTING, AND NOT REPUBLICAN'

Please remember on November 6, 2012. Do not forget!

Friday Peace Vigil, Casa Grande, AZ, and surrounding area:

PEACE VIGIL
CASA GRANDE, AZ
Friday, December 30, 2011
4:15 p.m. to 5:15 p.m.
N. Pinal Ave. & W. Florence Blvd.

Tony Fasline (520-426-0070) will hold his weekly Peace Vigil this Friday, December 30, from 4:15 p.m. to 5:15 p.m., at the corner of N. Pinal Ave. & W. Florence Blvd. in Casa Grande, AZ. Tony invites anyone who is interested in showing their support for ending conflict in the world to join him. Hold out positive thoughts for that!

This week:

Video editing update: We finally think (hope!) we’ve got the right cable we think we need to load--up or down? I don’t have a clue!--videos from camcorder to computer. We’ll try it out this evening and see if we’re in the ballpark. Hold onto great thoughts for this to work. If it does, then we’re going to start doing videos in which I discuss many of the topics I also write about. Great hopes for future progress, everyone!

Meanwhile, send out your positive thoughts and, for those who are believers, prayers for all the suffering souls all around the world!

Friday Peace Vigil, Casa Grande, AZ, and surrounding area:

PEACE VIGIL
CASA GRANDE, AZ
Friday, December 23, 2011
4:15 p.m. to 5:15 p.m.
N. Pinal Ave. and W. McMurray Blvd.

Tony Fasline (520-426-0070) will hold his weekly Peace Vigil this Friday, December 23, from 4:15 p.m. to 5:15 p.m., at the corner of N. Pinal Ave. and W. McMurray Blvd. in Casa Grande, AZ. Tony invites anyone who is interested in showing their support for ending conflict in the world to join him. Hold out positive thoughts for that!

This week:

I can hardly believe how many things keep popping up on our agenda to keep us busy now that Jim’s based at home every day. One thing is certain: Neither of us is bored. Ot our age, we can only do so much before we need to take it easy for a while. Still, it’s nice to be able to rest whenever we need to. It’s a much different lifestyle than the way things were when we were younger. Still, we both hope to have a more time after the first of the year to enjoy our favorite activities: Jim’s painting and my writing. Hold out great hopes for that eventuality!

Meanwhile, send out your positive thoughts and, for those who are believers, prayers for all the suffering souls all around the world!

Update on my Open Letter to Romney and Gay Marriage Opponents

I just emailed a copy of my recent “Open Letter to Mitt Romney and other Gay Marriage Opponents” to campaign websites of the following Republican presidential candidates:

Michele Bachmann
Newt Gingrich
Jon Huntsman Jr.
Ron Paul
Buddy Roemer
Mitt Romney
Rick Santorum

I also wanted to email the Open Letter to Rick Perry’s campaign website, but there is no email address listed where someone can send a statement that he and his staff haven’t pre-approved. Obviously, he doesn’t want to be told anything that contradicts his almighty positions.

Friday Peace Vigil, Casa Grande, AZ, and surrounding area:

PEACE VIGIL
CASA GRANDE, AZ
Friday, December 16, 2011
4:15 p.m. to 5:15 p.m.
N. Pinal Ave. & W. Cottonwood Ln.

Tony Fasline (520-426-0070) will hold his weekly Peace Vigil this Friday, December 16, from 4:15 p.m. to 5:15 p.m., at the corner of N. Pinal Ave. & W. Cottonwood Ln. in Casa Grande, AZ. Tony invites anyone who is interested in showing their support for ending conflict in the world to join him. Hold out positive thoughts for that!

This week:

Now that Jim’s retired, we’re making progress in several areas, mostly setting things up so we can enjoy the time ahead and use our talents and skills to make a difference in this world. Besides everything else, we’re both concentrating a bit more on our passions, my writing and Jim’s painting. That’ll get better as we move more things off our preliminary agenda. So stay tuned for more exciting things to come. Who knows? I could actually finish the book I’ve been working at off and on for the past couple of years. Maybe even more than that. Hold out great hopes for real progress in 2012!

Meanwhile, send out your positive thoughts and, for those who are believers, prayers for all the suffering souls all around the world!

Open Letter to Mitt Romney and other gay-marriage opponents

To give credit where it’s due, I’ll admit you’ve got nerve telling a gay Vietnam veteran that you don’t believe his spouse deserves the same rights that people like me, as the wife of a straight Nam vet, enjoy. Not for a minute do I believe you didn’t suspect that man’s sexual orientation. In fact, you admitted you knew where he stood when you said, “So we apparently disagree on that.”

The real problem is the reason you gave for being on that side of the issue. You said, “At the time the Constitution was written, it was pretty clear that marriage was between a man and a woman, and I don’t believe the Supreme Court has changed that.”

Does that mean you’d consider slavery to be just fine until Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation? Or would you have waited for the Supreme Court to declare its support of that courageous presidential action before you freed any of the slaves you’d insist upon keeping hostage?

Would you have campaigned against suffragists like my grandmother until the highest court in the land finally did the right thing and acknowledged the right to vote for my grandmother and her sisters, daughter, and granddaughters--and I must add, your wife?

Doing the right thing shouldn’t depend upon immoral and unfair laws. Granted, the First Amendment of that Constitution you mentioned states: “Congress shall make no law . . . prohibiting the free exercise [of religion] . . . ” That means you have the right to belong to a religion that bans same-sex marriage, and even relationships, within its membership.

On the other hand, the first provision of the religious freedom clause bans you and your religious organization from imposing those rules on others: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, . . . “

A little historical perspective is needed here: For years before the writing of the U.S. Constitution, the Church of England was not only ascendant but the law of the land, including all the British colonies. At times, all tax-paying British citizens and colonists were forced to pay tax monies that went directly into Church coffers, whether or not they were members of that religion.

Most of the Founding Fathers were active members of some Christian religion, but not all of them belonged to the Church of England. Many of the early opponents of Anglicanism had emigrated from Europe to the American colonies seeking freedom to worship as they chose.

Unfortunately, too many of those same freedom-seeking pilgrims eventually imposed their own beliefs on everyone who lived in or near the communities they established. The wise men who wrote and signed the Constitution that defined their new country acknowledged those early colonial mistakes by forbidding any religious institution from forcing rules on people who chose not be members of their organization.

Sadly, it’s taken over 200 years for most people to understand these simple principles. Too many people, like you, still don’t get that. Imposing rules allows powerful people to control others. If we truly love freedom, then religious freedom must include respecting the basic human rights of members of the LGBT community, as well as those of members of every other minority.

Acknowledging the rights of every human being means giving up a little bit of power, but it would offer more freedom to everyone. Being a bully wastes a lot of energy. I urge you to stop bullying people by using bad laws to impose your rules on other people and you will see this nation thrive in ways you never imagined.

I realize you’re campaigning to become the candidate of a political party that’s taken a clear stand against acknowledging the rights of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender citizens. Therefore, I have no doubt who I’ll be voting for in November 2012.

On the other hand, it would be a welcome miracle if, should you win the keys to the White House next year, you followed the example of the first Republican president and declared your support for an issue that is even more popular today than ending slavery was in 1862.

Presidents don’t have to wait for the Supreme Court. They can use the power of their office by supporting the legal right of same-sex couples to marry and receive full federal spousal benefits. That is the right thing to do.

Managing the Medicare Maze (Part IV)

Now that I’ve detailed our experiences arranging the various pieces of our retirement insurance coverage, it’s time for me to wrap up this series with a few comments about the situation.

THE GOOD

On the positive side is the fact that Medicare exists at all. Too many conservative politicians want to abolish it completely so they can toss senior citizens and people with disabilities back into that shark tank infested with insurance companies that care more about amassing profits than providing access to affordable medical care. Details in this article apply to the current situation, not the right-wing “wet dream” that, should it ever come true, would be a hideous nightmare for the neediest people in the country.

Currently, Medicare Part A, which covers a large percentage of the cost of hospital care, is available at no charge to qualified U.S. residents when they turn 65 and younger people who’ve received Social Security Disability insurance for two years. The program is supported by payroll taxes from people who are currently employed. A qualified person just has to notify Social Security within two months of the date eligibility begins. Part B covers a percentage of doctors’ visits and outpatient tests and treatments, but the insured person must pay a premium for this part of the coverage.

Many people purchase a Supplemental policy to cover medical costs not paid by Parts A and B, or an Advantage plan, or Part C, which is a comprehensive package that covers Parts A and B as well as co-pays. Most Advantage plans also include drug coverage, which is called Part D when purchased separately with Parts A and B.

Part D is the newest piece of the puzzle and it has numerous flaws, especially the cost to people who need the more expensive drugs. Many of these costs will go down as the government plan, commonly called “Obamacare” by critics, comes into effect in stages over the next few years. That fact should be viewed as an argument to support the new health care law. But to conservatives, whose empty claims to compassion disappeared as soon as they took power in 2001, it’s a reason to attack the program.

One way to lower drug costs even more is to use mail order to purchase drugs taken regularly over an extended period of time. In spite of the fact that many drug providers have featured this service for many years, some people are still reluctant to depend on mail for their medications.

Having used mail order through several different insurers over the last couple of decades, I can say that overall, the service is no better or worse than using a local pharmacy. It’s up to the consumer--that’s you and me--to keep good records and alert the provider when there is a problem. Some companies are harder to deal with than others, but that can also be true with many local stores.

One last positive thing I can say about dealing with Medicare is the fact that the website is extremely helpful and the customer service staff are both friendly and supportive. There are some excellent online charts to help users choose Supplemental and Part D plans, but it did take me several tries over a few days to figure everything out. I finally called and a really nice lady patiently talked me through the necessary steps. Besides that, I signed up for regular email updates from Medicare.

THE BAD

As useful as Medicare, with all its parts, is proving to us, especially with our complicated medical issues, we still don’t like the way it’s designed. First, it took a lot of work, especially on my part since I’m the family “office manager,” to research and set up all the pieces of the puzzle. That’s a lot of time and energy that I could have focused toward other pursuits. In addition, this task is generally being performed by people in physically and/or mentally weakened conditions, so it takes more energy from us than it would from young healthy people who are generally more tech savvy.

In addition, there is the fact that plans differ according to services offered by different providers. We had to choose from a range of Supplemental plans and drug providers based on our current medical needs. Since Jim and I both have complicated medical conditions, albeit somewhat different from each other, we ended up with the same Supplemental plan through the same insurance company. But because we each take a completely different number and range of medications, we each had to sign with a different Part D provider.

The problem with this is we’re stuck with these plans for a full year, until the end of 2012. If either of our medical situations changes and our current plans don’t fit our needs, that’s just tough cookies. We can’t make changes until the next annual enrollment period, which begins on October 15 and ends on December 7, and those changes won’t go into effect until January 1, 2013.

There is a provision for people with certain qualifications to switch to certain Advantage plans, and another situation in which a person must be disenrolled from their previous plan. But this is all just a testament to the fact that when government services are controlled by politicians and for-profit companies, the rules are even more complicated than when the government is the only service provider.

THE REALLY UGLY

As I explained in the first article in this series, as much as Advantage providers tempt people with low overall prices, the hidden costs are a time bomb just waiting to explode in the faces of clients who live far away from in-network providers. And drug co-pays which are low for insured working people skyrocket for retired people who live on a fixed income. All in all, these are just more ways that the for-profit medical industry squeezes every last penny they can out of the most vulnerable people in the country.

Then there’s the insidious “credible coverage” requirement for previous insurance. This one makes perfect sense to the profiteers, but it amounts to financial punishment imposed on sick and disabled people. Here’s how the plan works:

Many younger people with medical problems are being denied coverage by insurance companies because of their conditions. Then when they finally qualify for Medicare, they’re charged a penalty on top of premiums specifically because of the fact that they weren’t able to obtain insurance before that. These extra costs are just one more way that the for-profit medical system in this country torments people who commit the “mortal sin” of being imperfect.

AND IN CONCLUSION

Lest anyone think any of these issues are an argument against government managed health care, I vehemently disagree. The complications arise from the involvement of for-profit companies and the meddling of lobby-supported politicians.

If health care were supplied to everyone in a straightforward manner according to each person’s need, with no costs added to boost corporate profits and executive compensation, the service would be much cheaper and far more successful than it is now. And I’m not opposed to charging penalties to people who want coverage or care when they’ve previously refused to participate in a universal system.

We just need to actually have such a system that doesn’t discriminate against sick and disabled people, as the current for-profit system does. The only way to care for everyone who needs it in an efficient manner would be establish a truly universal health care system which requires everyone to pay what they can afford for coverage.

And now that I’ve come this far down that circuitous path to Medicare, I’d like to say I’ve earned a black belt. But since politicians are always tinkering with the system, I’ll just claim a brown belt now and steel myself for the battles that I know must surely be lurking farther down the road.


Managing the Medicare Maze (Part I)
Managing the Medicare Maze (Part II)
Managing the Medicare Maze (Part III)