RevCyn

What I'm hearing from people against healthcare reform is as follows: They don't want death panels. They don't want rationing of healthcare. They don't want government-funded abortions. They don't want government-funded healthcare for illegal immigrants. They don't want socialism. They want to be able to keep their existing insurance. There are lots of people debunking this, but here are my thoughts: "No Death Panels": There are no death panels being proposed. But if you're against death panels, you should be against private insurance, because that's essentially what they offer now. The insurance company's job is to find ways to not cover people who need medical care, in order to maximize their profits. This is done through several means: denying coverage to people with pre-existing conditions or health risks; denying a claim; and cancelling insurance when somebody falls into a risky category. "No rationing": Nobody wants this.

I'm still irate about Jackson County Commissioner Phil Duckham's carrying of a swastika sign to the healthcare rally/protest last week, and his comments to the press comparing Obama to Hitler. Because I am still irate, I am going to choose his latest remarks for my next rant. Reader beware. Since the statements Duckham made, there has been a press conference about the issue that I attended, and a County Commissioners' meeting that I did not. In the write-up of those two events, the Jackson Citizen Patriot writes : Reached by phone after the press conference, Duckham said he does not believe an apology is in order. Although his actions at the rally might not have been the best choice, Duckham said, he still stands by his comparisons between Nazi politics and Obama's plans for restructuring America. "Was it my best choice to carry the sign — no. In hindsight, I wouldn't have done it," Duckham said. "But I will stick to my point that I was trying to

My blog posts aren't usually so personal about my life as this one is going to be. I have two main stories about my struggles with and without healthcare insurance that illustrate problems in the system. The first is when I had a major injury--a broken vertebra--when I was not insured. The second is trying to move jobs and switch insurances when pregnant. The first situation, the broken back, occurred when I was fresh out of college. I graduated and stayed in the Detroit area doing temp work. I quickly found a job through a temporary employment agency, where they placed me in a "permanent temp" position working for Blue Care Network , an HMO of Blue Cross Blue Shield. Now, I don't know about you, but I think one reason companies hire "permanent temps" is so that they don't have to pay benefits, but ironic as it is that a health insurance agency doesn't want to have to provide all their employees with health insurance, that's aside from the p

Jackson County Commissioner Phil Duckham carried a sign with a swastika (with a circle and slash "no symbol around it) on it to the recent healthcare rally in Jackson, and the Jackson Citizen Patriot says in an article about the rally : "This is how Hitler started out," Duckham said. "First, Obama took over the auto industry, then the banking industry. We don't need him to take over the health-care industry." What follows is my letter to the "Voice of the People" (letters to the editor) of the Jackson Citizen Patriot: As a person of faith and as a citizen, I am appalled at County Commissioner Phil Duckham’s public actions and statements comparing Obama to Hitler. They were callous and insensitive comparisons. Comparing Obama to Hitler shows ignorance of Hitler’s motivations and actions, and insensitivity to the Holocaust survivors in our own community. I invite any making such comparisons to do more to inform themselves. Actions I have taken to in

Today we had a rally for Healthcare reform in Jackson, MI. Somehow, people had gotten word that there was a rally scheduled at 4:30 to protest against healthcare reform, so various local groups got together to state a counter-demonstration in favor of healthcare reform starting at 3:30. I got notified of the event from several different agencies-- Organizing for America , the Jackson Democrats, the Michigan UU Social Justice Network , MichUHCAN , and Planned Parenthood , as well as some church members. After four e-mails in a row popping into my inbox about it, it was clear this was a big deal in Jackson. My husband and I got there a little after three, and things were already well underway. There was a table registering people, handing out signs for those without (we came prepared), and handing out buttons to locals only and stickers to all. It was being run by Organizing for America personnel. This event was happening at Rep. Mark Schauer 's Jackson office, and congressional s

I just received an interesting article from the University of Michigan about a study on the changes in religiosity of students by major. Humanities majors, it seems, are likely to become less religious than they were before the entered college. Science majors remain about the same. Education majors become more religious. The article states: “Our results suggest that it is postmodernism, not science, that is the bête noir of religiosity. One reason may be that the key ideas of postmodernism are newer than the key scientific ideas that challenge religion. For example, religions have had 150 years to develop resistance or tolerance for the late 19th century idea of evolution, but much less time to develop resistance or tolerance for the key ideas of postmodernism, which gained great strength over the course of the 20th century.” For some reason, this idea just tickles me. All that work that the religious right is putting in on combating ideas of science, primarily evolution, and their r