Sunday, January 31, 2010
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
The Catholic Church - The Ultimate Intrinsic Evil
Is securing a safe environment and enjoying the freedoms that are shared by most Americans an “intrinsic evil”? Is sharing your life with the person you love an “intrinsic evil”? Is having hospital visitation rights with the person you spent your entire life an “intrinsic evil”? Is providing financial security for a surviving life partner an “intrinsic evil”? Is being who God created you to be and “intrinsic evil”?
Or would abusing one’s authority by cajoling children to have sexual relationships be more likely defined as intrinsically evil? Would covering up those intrinsic evils also constitute an intrinsic evil? Would shipping off the one who did the covering up to a foreign land to avoid prosecution, and honoring them with a plum position, be considered an intrinsic evil as well?
It seems as though the term “intrinsic evil” flows easily from the tongue of those who accuse the innocent and thus encourage violence and degradation toward those who are innocent. This they do while participating in the most evil practices that are a true threat to the public good and human decency and their targets are the children.
Of course there really is nothing written in the Bible about sexually abusing children. Oh it talks about their monetary value and how many goats or sheep a daughter is worth but nothing about protecting them from Priests. Hence, sexually abusing them and the cover up are probably not seen as “intrinsically evil” by the Catholic Church. Indeed, the protection of children from these kinds of criminals is civil law, not a religious law.
The Catholic Church is raising the stakes to defeat the Gay Marriage initiative that was passed in Maine and the efforts to secure equal rights in New Jersey. They will join together with other fundamentalist, so called Christians, to actively work in denying American citizens the opportunity to secure the rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution of Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.
This once more proves that the wealthy, elites of this Country can get away with criminal behavior with a simple slap on the wrist and still have a powerful and influential voice in denying the rights and freedoms of minorities.
It never ceases to amaze me that there are still gay men and women who attend Catholic services and place money into Catholic collection baskets knowing that their money will be used to deny them of their rights, that my dear friends is indeed an intrinsic evil.
Or would abusing one’s authority by cajoling children to have sexual relationships be more likely defined as intrinsically evil? Would covering up those intrinsic evils also constitute an intrinsic evil? Would shipping off the one who did the covering up to a foreign land to avoid prosecution, and honoring them with a plum position, be considered an intrinsic evil as well?
It seems as though the term “intrinsic evil” flows easily from the tongue of those who accuse the innocent and thus encourage violence and degradation toward those who are innocent. This they do while participating in the most evil practices that are a true threat to the public good and human decency and their targets are the children.
Of course there really is nothing written in the Bible about sexually abusing children. Oh it talks about their monetary value and how many goats or sheep a daughter is worth but nothing about protecting them from Priests. Hence, sexually abusing them and the cover up are probably not seen as “intrinsically evil” by the Catholic Church. Indeed, the protection of children from these kinds of criminals is civil law, not a religious law.
The Catholic Church is raising the stakes to defeat the Gay Marriage initiative that was passed in Maine and the efforts to secure equal rights in New Jersey. They will join together with other fundamentalist, so called Christians, to actively work in denying American citizens the opportunity to secure the rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution of Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.
This once more proves that the wealthy, elites of this Country can get away with criminal behavior with a simple slap on the wrist and still have a powerful and influential voice in denying the rights and freedoms of minorities.
It never ceases to amaze me that there are still gay men and women who attend Catholic services and place money into Catholic collection baskets knowing that their money will be used to deny them of their rights, that my dear friends is indeed an intrinsic evil.
Monday, August 24, 2009
Health Care for Profit is Immoral
I decided to clean out our file drawers and review what was left of the Health Insurance nightmare that we experienced when we moved to Florida. Make no mistake; Florida is a Southern State, South Carolina and Georgia, Mississippi, and Alabama where the Civil War is still being fought.
Apparently Florida, like these other Southern States, takes pride in keeping it citizens ignorant since it ranks close to last, along with these other Southern States in education performance. That, of course, serves the State’s ruling Republican Party well, ignorance and misinformation is a keystone to Republican thought, a thought process that has seen political victories because of this program of ignorance along with intolerance.
This ignorance and misinformation is not only for the young and undereducated children of Florida, it is a scare tactic that Republicans use on the most fragile Americans, our elderly. And who gains from ignorance and intolerance? The answer is simple, unscrupulous Corporate America.
So I cleaned out the drawers and found the reasons for being denied Individual Health Insurance by those companies who now claim they want to insure the once “uninsurable” those folks 50 plus not yet on Medicare, Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Florida is my primary target. They refused, or should I say denied, health insurance to my partner because he was truthful on his application and told them he was treated for a fever blister, he also told them that he asked for a prescription of Viagra and thus the suggestion that he had some type of malfunction “in that area” and the fever blister thingy, he was denied.
For me, I never wanted to move to Florida and came here with controlled Blood Pressure, but the move here and the stress of leaving friends and family apparently took that body function over. So I was initially denied by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida as well.
So there we were both generally healthy citizens left without healthcare insurance yet both having their employers and ourselves paying thousands, no, hundreds of thousands, of dollars to Health Insurance companies over the years only to be tossed away to fend for ourselves.
I did finally get a Health Insurance policy from Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Florida and at first the premiums and deductibles were reasonable but then they escalated out of sight.
There are two truths that I will take to my death bed that I will never be able to prove, the first is that Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Florida profiled my partner and me as “gay” presumed us to be an HIV/AIDS risk thus came up with the scam “herpes/fever blister” denial for my partner. The second is the next time I applied to Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Florida and was accepted I was covered by the Veteran’s Administration and they continued to increase my premiums and my deductibles. In other words, Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Florida knew that the VA would be the first payer and they could just continue to increase the premiums and deductibles and while I paid their premiums neither I nor the VA got anything from them, nothing.
Health Insurance for profit is immoral, pure and simple, it is the snake in the Garden of Eden, and it’s the modern day sword that hangs over the Damocles of our Democracy. Health Insurance reform is the Pandora’s Box that has been opened and the Republican Party and their Health Insurance Company “providers” are doing everything they can do to deny the health and welfare of American lives.
Apparently Florida, like these other Southern States, takes pride in keeping it citizens ignorant since it ranks close to last, along with these other Southern States in education performance. That, of course, serves the State’s ruling Republican Party well, ignorance and misinformation is a keystone to Republican thought, a thought process that has seen political victories because of this program of ignorance along with intolerance.
This ignorance and misinformation is not only for the young and undereducated children of Florida, it is a scare tactic that Republicans use on the most fragile Americans, our elderly. And who gains from ignorance and intolerance? The answer is simple, unscrupulous Corporate America.
So I cleaned out the drawers and found the reasons for being denied Individual Health Insurance by those companies who now claim they want to insure the once “uninsurable” those folks 50 plus not yet on Medicare, Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Florida is my primary target. They refused, or should I say denied, health insurance to my partner because he was truthful on his application and told them he was treated for a fever blister, he also told them that he asked for a prescription of Viagra and thus the suggestion that he had some type of malfunction “in that area” and the fever blister thingy, he was denied.
For me, I never wanted to move to Florida and came here with controlled Blood Pressure, but the move here and the stress of leaving friends and family apparently took that body function over. So I was initially denied by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida as well.
So there we were both generally healthy citizens left without healthcare insurance yet both having their employers and ourselves paying thousands, no, hundreds of thousands, of dollars to Health Insurance companies over the years only to be tossed away to fend for ourselves.
I did finally get a Health Insurance policy from Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Florida and at first the premiums and deductibles were reasonable but then they escalated out of sight.
There are two truths that I will take to my death bed that I will never be able to prove, the first is that Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Florida profiled my partner and me as “gay” presumed us to be an HIV/AIDS risk thus came up with the scam “herpes/fever blister” denial for my partner. The second is the next time I applied to Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Florida and was accepted I was covered by the Veteran’s Administration and they continued to increase my premiums and my deductibles. In other words, Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Florida knew that the VA would be the first payer and they could just continue to increase the premiums and deductibles and while I paid their premiums neither I nor the VA got anything from them, nothing.
Health Insurance for profit is immoral, pure and simple, it is the snake in the Garden of Eden, and it’s the modern day sword that hangs over the Damocles of our Democracy. Health Insurance reform is the Pandora’s Box that has been opened and the Republican Party and their Health Insurance Company “providers” are doing everything they can do to deny the health and welfare of American lives.
Monday, August 17, 2009
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Spitting on the Dead – A New Republican Strategy
I was a Michael Jackson fan but not necessarily an avid fan. I was a fan of Frank Sinatra, never really liked Elvis, loved the Beatles and for some unknown reason I am currently a big fan of Lady GaGa and always a fan of Madonna. All of these folks are or were great talents of their time. I can remember seeing the Ed Sullivan Show when they refused to show Elvis gyrating his hips. There were rumors that Frank Sinatra was involved in Organized Crime, ok guys, I said rumors, and I don’t know anything. The Beatles led a cultural revolution, throughout the world, not to mention that they produced some interesting music that seemed to reinforce the use of illegal drugs. No matter, these men and women are great artists but it appears that some people in our society have no clue about what artistic expression is all about or for that matter the hard work that goes into creating these great art works.
Enter United States Representative Peter King, Republican from New York. Now I have to admit I was annoyed that every time I turned on the news since he died it was all about Michael Jackson, however, it was news and apparently important to millions of people. But, Peter King was upset, apparently he is running for a US Senate seat in New York and decided to pull out the obnoxious Republican spin and take it over the top and diminish Michael Jackson, his fans and for that matter all compassionate humankind.
If I were inclined to ever vote for a shamed, diminished and obnoxious Republican it would be the cheating Sanford from South Carolina or the “shoe tapping in the men’s room” Larry Craig or the Baby Diaper Senator Vitter from Louisiana, but I would never, ever, vote for a man, Republican or Democrat, who smears the legacy of a great artist. Perhaps King does not understand that this artist has a family who loves him, perhaps this King person has no idea what it means to Mr. Jackson’s fans that he is now gone, perhaps this King person is the typical idiot that Republicans have been offering to American society for far too long and I think the majority of America has said, enough.
Mr. King, promoting your candidacy for the US States Senate on the back of the death of Michael Jackson and introducing your obnoxious YouTube Video while his family and fans are in mourning has come to be what most Americans understand the Republican Party to be, scum.
Mr. King, Michael Jackson has done more to make the world a better place than you, so shut up, get back to your job and maybe, maybe someday when you do something really good for the people and not the lobbyist, the press will speak well of you.
Enter United States Representative Peter King, Republican from New York. Now I have to admit I was annoyed that every time I turned on the news since he died it was all about Michael Jackson, however, it was news and apparently important to millions of people. But, Peter King was upset, apparently he is running for a US Senate seat in New York and decided to pull out the obnoxious Republican spin and take it over the top and diminish Michael Jackson, his fans and for that matter all compassionate humankind.
If I were inclined to ever vote for a shamed, diminished and obnoxious Republican it would be the cheating Sanford from South Carolina or the “shoe tapping in the men’s room” Larry Craig or the Baby Diaper Senator Vitter from Louisiana, but I would never, ever, vote for a man, Republican or Democrat, who smears the legacy of a great artist. Perhaps King does not understand that this artist has a family who loves him, perhaps this King person has no idea what it means to Mr. Jackson’s fans that he is now gone, perhaps this King person is the typical idiot that Republicans have been offering to American society for far too long and I think the majority of America has said, enough.
Mr. King, promoting your candidacy for the US States Senate on the back of the death of Michael Jackson and introducing your obnoxious YouTube Video while his family and fans are in mourning has come to be what most Americans understand the Republican Party to be, scum.
Mr. King, Michael Jackson has done more to make the world a better place than you, so shut up, get back to your job and maybe, maybe someday when you do something really good for the people and not the lobbyist, the press will speak well of you.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Health Insurance
All my life I worked for companies that offered excellent health insurance. When I left the last major employer I worked for I was able to use “COBRA” and when the eighteen months was over I was able to convert to an Individual Policy, which was fine until I moved to Florida. My insurer, US Healthcare, did not offer individual policies in the State of Florida so I had a choice, I could continue to maintain a permanent address in Pennsylvania or seek health insurance in Florida. Of course, maintaining an address in Pennsylvania would have been tantamount to Insurance Fraud and being a law abiding citizen that was not an option.
To complicate things my life partner was also on my Health Insurance policy so when we moved to Florida we were both in jeopardy of losing our health insurance. So we did what most people would do, we applied for health insurance first with Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Florida. We were both denied, me because of high blood pressure which was being treated, and my partner because he had once indicated that he had a “fever blister”. While I would never ever be able to prove it, in my heart I am certain that we were profiled as being gay, since we applied together, and in the eyes of Blue Cross/Blue Shield a certain indicator of a potential risk that they were not willing to take.
Then we took another route and applied with “Golden Rule”, separately and were accepted. At the outset the premiums were reasonable but accelerated faster than the Space Shuttle. I then reapplied to Blue Cross/Blue Shield, separately, and somehow slithered into their program which again was reasonable initially but like “Golden Rule” they accelerated the premium as well as the deductible, so I eventually had to join the other forty million Americans and just do without health insurance.
I guess the reason I felt compelled to write this is because there was a Blue Cross/Blue Shield advertisement on DIGG. I went to the advertisement to check it out and they were offering pretty much the same rates that they offered me a few years ago, the same rates that after six months went up, up, up and up and the deductible also went up, up and up until I could no longer afford them.
When I was in my late twenties, thirty plus years ago, the Vice President of Human Resources for the company that I worked for, SUN Oil Company, gave a talk about the issue of health care. He was not much older than me at the time but when I look back I think that this was a man of vision, unlike many of the men and women who today, occupy the Halls of the United States Congress.
Once and for all, with the Republicans or not, we need a “ONE PAYER” system in the United States that in time will take the profit out of life and death.
Bart
To complicate things my life partner was also on my Health Insurance policy so when we moved to Florida we were both in jeopardy of losing our health insurance. So we did what most people would do, we applied for health insurance first with Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Florida. We were both denied, me because of high blood pressure which was being treated, and my partner because he had once indicated that he had a “fever blister”. While I would never ever be able to prove it, in my heart I am certain that we were profiled as being gay, since we applied together, and in the eyes of Blue Cross/Blue Shield a certain indicator of a potential risk that they were not willing to take.
Then we took another route and applied with “Golden Rule”, separately and were accepted. At the outset the premiums were reasonable but accelerated faster than the Space Shuttle. I then reapplied to Blue Cross/Blue Shield, separately, and somehow slithered into their program which again was reasonable initially but like “Golden Rule” they accelerated the premium as well as the deductible, so I eventually had to join the other forty million Americans and just do without health insurance.
I guess the reason I felt compelled to write this is because there was a Blue Cross/Blue Shield advertisement on DIGG. I went to the advertisement to check it out and they were offering pretty much the same rates that they offered me a few years ago, the same rates that after six months went up, up, up and up and the deductible also went up, up and up until I could no longer afford them.
When I was in my late twenties, thirty plus years ago, the Vice President of Human Resources for the company that I worked for, SUN Oil Company, gave a talk about the issue of health care. He was not much older than me at the time but when I look back I think that this was a man of vision, unlike many of the men and women who today, occupy the Halls of the United States Congress.
Once and for all, with the Republicans or not, we need a “ONE PAYER” system in the United States that in time will take the profit out of life and death.
Bart
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