Mitt’s Disasterous Choice

Democrats must be high-fiving around America today over the disastrous choice of Mitt Romney for his Vice President. Mitt has clearly chosen wealth over humanity today in his choice for the VP.  We already knew that was the direction he was headed but the choice of Paul Ryan leaves us no doubt.

The Romney/Ryan plan is nothing more than a return to “Trickle Down Economics” on steroids or the Bush Economics moved to an increased sucking sound out of the pocket of Seniors,the working poor, and the middle class. I will present proof of those facts further down in this post, but first I want all of us to remember those days when American workers were being laid off at the rate of 750,000 workers per month as our jobs were being shipped overseas.

The Ryan plan takes wealth for the wealthy even further by doing away with taxes on all the investment income made by people like Mitt Romney, which will take the taxes that many Billionaires pay down to zero; but then again,we have not seen Mitt’s tax returns for the last 6 years, while he lived on that same kind of income, so which of us even knows if that is not what Mitt and his cronies pay with all their loopholes, already?

I urge Catholics not to be swayed by Paul Ryan’s claims of being Catholic as he may be in good standing with his Church but even Jesuits and Priests will claim privately that his own interpretation of Catholic doctrine are self-arrived and he arrives to those conclusions on his own, without benefit of Church views. The nuns are clearly out in protests as to what the Paul Ryan plan does against the poor and humanity in general.

In 2010 the Tea Party swept into our Government by pulling the wool over our eyes.  Too few people understood that they are even more extreme than the far right is because they believe that Our Constitution neither called for America to be a Democracy or for the formation of a middle class.  The Conservatives do not know yet that the Tea Party is not on their side.  The Tea Party does not believe in a government of the people, for the people, and by the people but instead they believe in self-rule by the political elitists and in promoting wealth.

Without government,police and our fire departments or public schools the poor would be protected and taught by them in,” for profit schools,”  and there would be no middle class in America. In this extreme direction there would be no elected officials  by “We the People” but instead they would be chosen  by the affiliation of Churches and the wealthy. To a great extent that direction has already been attempted by the far-right extremists that are following the Grover Norquist’s direction in the Republican Party. The Tea Party takes it another step further into self-rule by the elitists. This is the bold new plan of the Tea Party that they like to  talk about while holding the whole truth from the American People.  The John Birch Society of the 1960′s tried and failed the same attempt through the election of Barry Goldwater.

I offer you the following fact checks that show that Paul Ryan’s plan takes from the middle class and working poor and instead distributes it to the already,’ wealthy”

False claim:  Paul Ryan claims his recovery plan will improve the economy,keep promises for the retired,close tax loopholes, and even that it preserves current Medicare.

fact check;  In realty the Republican budget would do none of that. Ryan’s budget plan would end the Medicare guarantee and shift costs to Seniors according to the Independent Congressional Budget Office,while protecting tax breaks for the ultra wealthy and Big oil Companies.  The plan also threatens to destroy millions of jobs, while increasing the deficit.

False claim: Ryan writes, “The plan to Prosperity” which builds on reforms and bi-partisan solutions offered over the last year, provides a future of economic prosperity and opportunity….”

Fact check:  Ryan’s Plan threatens the economy and will cost  American’s jobs.

the Ryan plan will  cost the American people 1.3 million jobs in 2013.  The Ryan plan does not just slow job growth ,it aggressively slows growth.  Against the current policy baseline, the budget cuts discretionary programs by about $120 billion over the next two years and mandatory programs by 284 billion over the next two years sucking demand out of the economy when it is most needed and leads to job lost. In would lead to approximately 1.3 million jobs lost in 2013 and 2.8 millions jobs lost in 2014 or 4.2 million jobs lost through 2014.   This is according to the Economic Policy institute that is independent of Washington.

False claim:  Ryan’s plan ,”delivers on the promise to the American people”……and strengthens health and retirement security….

Fact check: Ryan’s plan ends Medicare and would force Seniors to pay more coverage out of their pockets.

According to the Congressional Budget Office:  Ryan’s plan would likely shrink medicare benefits and increase the numbers of the uninsured.  “Medicaid benefits under Ryan’s plan will fail to exist . The number of people uninsured  could be much higher because it would repeal President Obama’s affordable care program.  Ryan’s plan would switch some of the healthcare of those who are uninsured to government subsidies to private insurance companies. What Seniors cannot pay would be granted under subsidies to private insurance Companies.

(please note as this is my study and comments through the rest of this post)  What Seniors cannot pay would be shifted to the costs of the working poor and middle class in both insurance policies being increased with even higher deductibles as well as tax increases, while adding to the increase wealth of the Insurance companies and increase taxes to both the working poor and middle class workers.  Medicare under the current program keeps costs down because the Government Insurance Company is currently 6 times larger than all the Insurance companies combined and as such it can and does buy healthcare in a larger package while keeping cost down to Seniors and the tax payers.

Long term care patients from the brain-damaged,to Parkinson’s to Alzheimer will not have medical coverage,nor will our children who have already been dealt an unfair blow from diseases like autism,cerebral palsy,juvenile diabetes,rheumatoid arthritis,juvenile arthritis,and many brain injuries or diseases etc. will not be provided for in the Ryan plan, since it will do away with Medicaid and they plan on repealing Obama care on the first day they foolishly think they will be elected by those of us who share their greed over humanity.

I personally feel that the greater number of American voters will not watch our parents or children suffer endlessly or needlessly without medical care or by passing it on at even a larger cost to the next generations, so that the Republicans can increase Defense spending even further on weaponry without removing the obsolete weapons and technology that President Obama is requesting, while we become a Country without a conscious.  Our Defense spending  on weaponry doubled under the Bush Administration and Congress along with the Tea Party plan to increase it even further, even though we are no longer in Iraq and our troops are coming home from Afghanistan.  Is that the priority of “We the People”over the health needs of our loved ones and do any of us even think they care?

Even some Republicans have said the Ryan plan could spell disaster to their  political futures if the American Public ever truly understands to what a degree it does do away with healthcare to Seniors,the working poor and the middle class.  In my opinion along with many much brighter economists than I, the Ryan plan spells disaster to humanity while increasing the wealth of the ultra-wealthy. Currently this sector of the 1% already own 46% of the wealth in America and the Romney/Ryan plan backed by the Tea Party members and Conservatives will insure them another very large piece of that pie.

In my opinion Mitt Romney just committed political suicide knowing he did not have a prayer of winning so decided to further support the Tea Party Newcomer. A great deal of us do not know Paul Ryan who is a career politician in Washington going back through all of the Bush years, but what is familiar to all of us is the Ryan Plan that will mark both him and Mitt Romney as people who do not understand that 49% of all retirees do not have a supplemental program to Medicare and depend on their Social Security check that they paid for, some for as long as 50 years.  Seniors now feel that they are receiving  what they feel is truly no different from if their money was being taken from  a savings account that they paid into..

The Republicans sadly do see Social Security and Medicare as nothing different from just another entitlement the same as welfare and the Ryan Plan does throw that into the face of Seniors whether that is their intention or not.  The Romney/Ryan team can ill afford to offend Seniors in an election year as they are the generation that is most likely to smell Bull when they hear it and many have a long memory of when Roosevelt fought for their right to have the same.  When we realize that the money these same Seniors paid the government had been protected and did pay for our care through 2072 and the Bush Administration could not wait to get their hands on it and deplete it in its entirety and the current Congress continues to take from it, the Ryan Plan has more than just a sieve with holes in it to the Senior population whose livelihood depends on Social Security and medicare.

I repeat; the Tea Party are actually against Democracy along with government giving any American a helping hand or job, while they are strongly and closely allied to the NRA who promotes bigotry and hate groups in America against all equality for women, liberals,minorities,gays and transgender Americans and instead promotes the Superiority of the White heterosexual male. The Tea Party initiated “the right to work laws that decreases the pay of the middle class by 36%.  The Tea Party claims to be defenders of decreasing the budget but the Ryan Plan that is being adopted by Mitt Romney, if he wins, actually adds to the deficit another 4.6 trillion in costs to the poor and middle class while cutting the taxes paid by that amount to billionaires.  This has been fact checked and found to be true.

I can go much further on the way the American Public along with the Conservatives people have been deceived by the Tea Party both with lies and false claims but I am sure that the Obama Campaign along with the Democrats in our States will spell that out plainly in the near future. Never has it ever been made clearer in an election that this election is IF we believe in humanity in America or in Wealth.

There are many different ways that the deficit can be paid down in a Country where trade both speculative and real along with currency and retail averages 3 trillion dollars per day (Forex Index).  In comparison to what America trades even a 1.6% to a 2.3% growth that we currently have is the envy of Europe and speaks trillions for America.  This election is about preserving us, along with the humanity that makes America number one in a Democracy of the people, for the people, and by the people.

I urge you to listen carefully,check voting records. and then vote the Republicans out of office until their greed is corrected and they return back to ,”We The People”. The gap between the Republican Party and the Democratic Party is widening to the point that it should be a clear vote for those of us who do want to see Americans prosper and not just the rich.

If “We The People” do not stop the greed in the Republican Party it will continue to threaten the mere existence of the middle class until it does die of extinction. We the middle class and working poor must show them that “We The People” are not too stupid to understand that they will not win in their efforts to eliminate us, nor will we any longer buy into their lies.

It’s never been more important to Vote in November.  We all must make sure we have all the voting requirements necessary to vote, since it is “We the People,”who the Republicans are trying to block voting on in our States with the help of the lead of Tea Party elected Governors. Early voting in the Democrat Counties of Ohio has been cut by the Republicans of your State while leaving it open in the Republican Counties.  Pennsylvania and Michigan voters be aware of the cut in voting days in your States.The days following Church services in Michigan, when the African-American majority typically votes, have been cut in the State of Michigan, as well.  All others check out if the law has changed in your States on early voting by contacting your city or county legislature or the Democrat campaign headquarters closest to you.  Check also with the Motors Vehicle Dept. to see if your picture ID is current to meet the requirements of voting rammed through by the Republicans in you State. Vote!

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The Truth On Affordable Healthcare

If the Democrats had not behaved, as the cowards they were in the 2010 elections when it came to supporting Obama Affordable  health Care, we would not see the Republican lies making so much headway still, today.  Now that the Supreme Court has ruled Obama care is Constitutional, it is time for both parties to drop the politics and to be honest about just how the working poor and middle class as well as small businesses have gained an important step towards healthcare, especially, by todays’ Supreme Court decisions. ALL Americans in general have won, by today’s Supreme court decision!

In the past and currently, we all pay Insurance Companies higher premiums and larger deductibles because of the fact that Insurance Companies continue to drop all children and adults who suffer from anything from autism to diabetes to arthritis,MS., Parkinson’s and any other genetic disorder that is chronic.  By not insuring 30 million Americans ”We the People” have had to pay higher Insurance costs.  In cases where these families are dropped, their premiums if they do exist, is so cost prohibitive to companies that these people are often  fired from their jobs instead of the businesses or Corporations keeping them on.  This drives up unemployment since no other company will hire them either.  In the last 10 years we have seen a huge increase in people who reach medical care cost around the age of 45, receiving their pink slips.  This will all stop under the Obama health care since these Companies can return to affordable healthcare under the Obama Plan.  Regardless of health problems in either the worker or their children their costs will be the same to both them and the companies who hire them as it is for all Americans

What we as the Individual businesses as well as citizens have seen and paid out to the Insurance Companies has been the increased hospital charges of the chronically ill that has been charged to us through the Insurance Companies by jumping our premium  costs and raising our deductibles. Both the lack of care as well as the emergency services received by the above people not being able to get or buy healthcare  is charged to the Insurance Companies and medicare by the Hospitals across America.  The Insurance Companies have then been reimbursed through Corporate welfare  or subsidies, but we the policy holder as well as the tax payer have been paying double costs for the uninsured. This  will be lessened through government costs or in fewer costs increases that have not been kept in check by the Insurance Companies or the Medical supply companies who have been able to name their own prices while the costs have been passed on to us the consumer.

The government insurance Agency or better known as Medicare and Medicaid is 6 times larger than all of the Insurance companies combined in America.  They are able to buy healthcare costs in blocks much larger than the largest private Insurance Companies combined and therefore they keep down the costs across the board for any one who wishes to join the government incentive programs offered through private insurance instead of paying for the raising costs of premiums with higher deductibles that are offered through  private Insurance Companies currently. Affordable healthcare is a restructuring  of healthcare services and insurance companies and  will in the long run gain control over the exorbitant costs and the donut holes, that we are now seeing in healthcare, so both works more efficiently for those of us who have been paying for the sick who can not get insurance as well as the  free-loaders in America.

This is the exact reason that the Republicans are saying that the middle class and working poor will be denied their choice on Insurance Companies.  Insurance Companies will have to become competitive with the government programs in order to “stop the waste and costs in healthcare”, initially, but since the chronically ill will more than likely opt for the government programs instead of losing all they have worked for, eventually the Insurance companies will see their subsidies diminished at the same time their costs come down as well, and will be able to be more competitive.  “We the People” will all benefit through affordable health care over time, but not immediately unless we are under the age of 26, then we will be carried on our parent’s plan.

Although we can keep our own Insurance Companies as is as can Corporations, we would all be foolish to with Insurance Companies no longer being able to charge the healthy people for the cost of the chronically ill and  those who refuse to buy insurance when they can afford to. Our current Insurance companies will only increase their premiums now that they can no longer place a cap on the amount the chronically ill or those who suffer from cancer have been and are being charged and paid for in exuberant premium costs.

Since we have already seen the amount of money paid into the Mitt Romney campaign by Wall Street and billionaires, we then all know why so many lies have been told about Obama care and seen the spineless Democrats who have steered away from supporting the same, as about 20 to thirty of them are also supported by lobbyists for the Medical profession and supply companies who are amongst those whose real goal is to get rich through patient care, along with the Insurance companies.  They are all-powerful lobbyists.  Their claims that Doctors and hospitals have been absorbing the costs of the uninsured over, “ We the People”, simply rings false.

For all the unemployed and uninsured in 14 months time you will gain insurance through Medicaid and no one will fine you for not having healthcare as it will be provided for you according to need at 1% of your income.  Those who fall between Medicaid and affordable care will get tax subsidies that will place you on an Insurance program offered at cut rates through more competitive private insurance agencies. The fines do not go into effect before these programs are set up, guaranteeing you insurance coverage. the Republican lie that government is denying us our liberty or that IRS squads will be out making arrests is as stupid as it sounds.

The only people who will be fined will be those who can afford to get healthcare and refuse to. These are the people who show up in emergency wards instead of Doctors offices and raise the costs for everyone else in premiums and deductibles, currently. Preventive care such as mammograms and other screenings for prevention,and birth control will be free to everyone.

We currently pay taxes on all of our benefits received through our jobs, including insurance that is provided for us by our employers.  Instead of that income tax being distributed to the States it is going back to the Corporations and businesses that agree to keep us employed for a year.

By going on the affordable care insurance, both we and the companies that hire us, will save and the taxes currently going to Corporate will go back to the States as it was designed to do.  These Billions of dollars, that the Republicans and a few Democrats are forecasting  we will be paying out in taxes can be saved through Corporation reform by denying welfare to both the Oil Companies and Wall Street but the Republicans refuse to do so, while blaming the Democrats for not taking it on.

We will hear many more of their lies through “Prosperity for Americans”, ” Citizens United”  as well as any number of organizations sponsored by the Churches through the Billions of dollars being pumped into the Republican Party to make sure affordable healthcare is defeated, and in an effort to protect the lobbyists who own them.

Our taxes will be compensated for in the lost of cost that is currently being written off by hospitals and doctors as well as companies who have picked up the differences for those who do not have Insurance and often travel to America from Europe. and Asia or cross the border from Canada or Mexico to get the best healthcare , that “We the People” are already paying for. It will also be offset by all AMERICANS who can pay, paying for their own healthcare through reduced costs.

No doubt the Obama affordable  care program will come before the  Supreme Court again, filed by lawyers in our States and  by a number of cases that claim Obama care is”Unconstitutional.”  With today’s ruling these cases will be thrown out or sent back to the States.

Since the Catholic Church is claiming Religious Freedom to deny women health care coverages and approximately 20% of Americans believe they do not need healthcare because,” God will heal them when they get sick,” this will continue being a political battle for years to come. Many of these same people are  the people who we pay for through exorbitant healthcare costs when they are involved in accidents,pre-mature births, or become chronically ill due to complications of both child-birth and chronic health problems, as well as cancer.

In America we cannot deny health care to the suffering  by the claim  of” Religious Freedom.”The Church sponsored schools and hospitals cannot lure us into their employ by  selling us or giving us their own Insurance policies and then deny us coverage by declaring Religious Freedom.  Our Supreme Court has ruled a number of times, according to  our Constitution on the need to provide for health care to ALL Americans for all of their needs without moral objection.(this includes women and children as well)

It is only because of a Conservative majority in the Supreme Court that this outrage has reared its ugly head again.  The Conservatives feel that the Conservative judges will vote according to Party lines so are claiming the same argument that they have lost on in the past. The care of the sick in America cannot be denied on Religious grounds. This battle has been fought by the Churches in America many times,and each time the Churches have lost due to the way our Constitution was written and intended to be upheld by our Founding Fathers.  No one entity was given power of law over the Supreme Court Justices.

We can count on both the Conservatives and Tea Party to inflame this argument even though religious rights have never been granted power in our Constitution over government decisions when it pertains to the best welfare of “We the People.”(women included)  This was specifically spelled out in a letter to the Baptist Church by Thomas Jefferson and made official in the Constitution by our Founding Fathers.

Any Republican vote in November is a vote against affordable healthcare  for all of us regardless of where we work or who we work for. President Obama risked his political future for us by taking on healthcare when no President before him since Roosevelt and Harry Truman other than the Clintons did, because we the American people told him in 2008 that healthcare was our number 1 concern. The only people who stand to win with a vote against Obama care is Wall Street, Insurance Companies,Healthcare suppliers and providers,  and the Republican Party who will be awarded handsomely by their Billionaire friends and lobbyists who finance the Tea Party movement and their elections.

Obama care like Social Security is the basics just like Social Security was in its infancy.  It is going to take both parties working together to refine it for both the Insurance Companies to become competitive on an even playing field with government prices and for  ”We the People,” to have security in our lives and the lives of the next generations.  The only changes being made in Medicare by the Democratic Majority pertains to the obsolete and the waste that is currently happening across America. The Ryan Plan that the Republicans plan to substitute Obama care, Medicare, and Medicaid with takes away healthcare from the bottom up and rewards Insurance Companies by driving up the costs to the working poor, middle class and the elderly, while increasing our deficit through government subsidizing the Insurance Companies even further.

As long as the current Republican greed is to bankrupt government in order to take over The largest Insurance Company in America(Medicaid and Medicare) through greed and over charges and by filibustering every attempt made to work together for the middle class and working poor, then we need to replace those who do not work for us but instead works for the Billionaires in November.  Vote Democrat, with an eye on the person speaking and their voting record, and then re-elect President Obama who has risked it all for “We the People”.

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Once More: The Truth On The Keystone Pipeline

At a time when gas prices are rising around the World because of the saber rattling going on between Israel and Iran and the Republican candidates tough talk against Iran, we find gas prices rising.This is not because of a lack of drilling nor is it because of the hold up with the Keystone Pipeline which the Republicans are advocating along with Exon Oil. This is a political year and since the Republicans cannot deny an improvement in our economy, they have latched onto the high gas prices at the pump.

Despite which candidate or Exon’s new ad on the Keystone Pipeline, no President in America, regardless of party affiliations,no Prime Minister in the Uk, no Chancellor in Germany, or no head in the global region has control over the prices we and they are seeing at the gas pumps. These prices are set by OPEC and speculators on Wall Street. The same rises we are feeling are being felt elsewhere in the World.

Much has been made about the Keystone Pipeline from Canada lowering the prices we Americans pay for gasoline at the pumps.  I tried to explain the truth on this and sort out all the lies, previously, but will give more detailed information, this time.

The Keystone Pipeline is totally Canadian owned.  It is cheaper for them to build a pipeline across the heartland of America to send their crude oil to our refineries in Texas than to continue having it transported by truck or rail across the Continent of America. More Americans will lose jobs than gain jobs as a result of the Keystone Pipeline.

There is absolutely no gain what-so-ever to anyone, other than Canada, the 200 part time workers they will hire, the 50 full time workers they will keep on, and the Oil Refinery Companies who will aid the Republicans in their re-election bids. The oil Companies’ claim along with the Republicans’ claim that it will provide 200,000 new jobs is simply a falsehood and has been called the same by management at Keystone,itself.

The American oil refineries, Canadian oil, China and Japan will all gain as a result of the Keystone Pipeline; not a single drop of this oil is destined for consumption in the United States.

America is running out of water and especially clean drinking water. Our water shortage in America is far greater than any other resources that have been available to us in the past. For more than a decade a couple of companies have been working on taking salt water out of the ocean and trying to refine both the taste, as well as the safety level for human consumption, with mixed results. 

No State in the Nation has more underground water than the State of Nebraska. Not only is the State dependent on this clean water so are the many States in which this water drains or who get their water driven energy from the State of Nebraska. Any lack of attention to the pipeline as has been reported elsewhere, once it is established(if it is) will desimate the last bastion of clean underground water in our Nation. It is of utmost importance that this water not be defiled by the Keystone Pipeline.  Since the Keystone’s plans are to go through the aquifer region of the State, the decision to admit the pipeline that both Exon Oil and the Republicans are trying to rush, is being held up by the State of Nebraska and the OBama Administration along with the Democrats in Washington until they are certain of the safety to both the region as well as the environment and what could be a major source of drinking water for our Nation, in the future. 

Nebraska taxpayers are spending 2 million dollars on the study that will ultimately determine the future of the Keystone Pipeline’s effects on what has been established as the greatest remaining wealth of clean water in the Nation.

Despite knowing the risk that could be involved to the drinking water in the State as well as the environment, the Republicans and Exon Oil are both trying to convince the American voters that they are paying a higher price at the gas pumps because the OBama Administration is standing in their way to lower gas prices at the pump by demanding the construction of the pipeline without further study. 

Let me repeat:The truth is the Democrats and the State of Nebraska do not want to further jeopardize the drinking water of future generations nor be responsible for erosion in the Sandhills of the State that could lead to a return to the “Great American Desert.”. When we know the truth and that a drop of this oil will not go to American citizens, then we know the extent of the lies that we are being told. 

It is time to eliminate those who protect the 1% and their profits over the safety and well being of the American people in November at the election polls. VOTE for those who most represent our needs as well as the future needs of our children and grandchildren.

In 17 States photo ID is now the law as established by the Republican majority. If you need to ask for help in order to establish this ID do not let your pride,fear, or the manipulation taking place at the election place prevent you from asking for help or stop you from voting. Every vote matters as our own future along with the future of America is riding on this election year. It has never been more important that we all exercise our right to vote and to stop the lies along with the efforts being made to prevent equality for all Americans, by the Republican Conservatives and Tea Party sponsored members seeking election or re-election this year.

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Getting Practical About Politics

Just reporting on the facts of the Republican Primary run has left me feeling like Rush Limbaugh, but instead of the liberal hate campaign, I have reported on the Republican hate campaign that actually is going on.

Today I want to get back on a more practical message of a more positive note and that is whether we are Republican,Independent or Democrat we all can look at this as an election year that offers hope for all of us.

It has been many years since the libertarian Party has been able to offer the hope that it does to those who support Rod Paul. The Republicans are convinced that they can win against OBama and the Democrats are convinced OBama can beat either Romney or Gingrich.

For a while anyway, as Americans, we are all hopeful that our candidate can and will win.That is the kind of Democracy that makes America great. It refreshes the ideology of those who call themselves grassroots, although they are battling which candidate if any they can support, it does bring hope to all of us who either want to believe as we always have, or that God expects us to bring morality to law, or those of us who want to remain the same as we believe that given another four years, we will see a robust economy with cuts made to balance the budget and bring down the deficit, as the facts show it is currently in the plans. Whatever argument or persuasion we are this year, it appears to be offering hope to all of us.

That sadly will fade when we get back to the problem once the elections are decided, and find a Congress that refuses to budge off of the same old same old of business as usual. Too often in our desire to vote in or re-elect the President, we have over looked the fact or mistaken the idea that if we vote in a Democrat President then we will need a Republican Senate or Congress or vise versa. It is when we realistically look at the candidate that represents us the most and the party that will work with the President we choose,”We the People” can break the dead lock in both Congress and the Senate.

We too often think that the system in Washington is broken instead of looking at ourselves as to why it isn’t working. When the Republican Party is made up of moderates, conservatives, and Tea Party sponsored members, who all have different ideologies and refuse to budge on their own personal beliefs, and then the Republican Party blames Democrat leadership for not supporting them, how in the World can anyone realistically think a Democrat of any kind can solve the problem and the lack of cohesiveness that the Republican Party itself cannot mend or fix?

If the Republican people, themselves, do not agree to either elect a moderate,or a conservative, or a Tea Party sponsored majority so that the dead lock in their own Party stops, instead of concentrating only on getting rid of OBama, who quite frankly is not the problem with the Republican Party today, then Congress or the Senate, who do not have a majority group, will remain as dead locked as usual in the Republican Party, itself.

The same nastiness and negativity that we see going on amongst the candidates in the Florida race. is identical to what is going on in the Republican Party today, and yet both the media and the Republicans, themselves, are saying it is good that they are discussing this early and getting it out-of-the-way before the Democrats pounce on it, or we have 10 long months left before the election. No one seems to want to acknowledge that this behavior is normal in the Republican Party today or have any desire to stop it or at least try to mend it or fix it in their own party. As long as they deny it, the attitude of blocking all decisions made will continue amongst them, and they will continue stalemating the Congress and Senate regardless who is elected.

Obviously, if we are Republican,Independent,or Democrat and dealing with reality, over hate and denial, we almost have to be able to understand that with Mitt Romney trying to be a conservative because apparently being a moderate seems to be related too much to George Bush but a Conservative is related to Ronald Reagan, the discord will continue in the Republican Party.

Right now, if any of us have ever tried to put three little girls together for a play time and watched how two side against the other, then we have a pretty good idea of why the Republican Party cannot agree within its own membership.

By viewing the larger picture, If President OBama is finally going to have a Congress and Senate who will respect his leadership then we must elect people who will work with him instead of against him.

Until we all acknowledge, the media included, that currently the Republican Party cannot get along within its own Party, the only way that the deadlock in Congress and the Senate will be broken, is when the Republican Party figures out for itself if the GOP will become Tea Party sponsored ideology, Conservative in their ideology, or remain in the moderate ideology, no one will be able to lead, because no one in their Party is willing to compromise. Not even Ronald Reagan, whose name they like to invoke and who did raise taxes, would be able to break this divide.

It is time to get practical and to accept the reality of why the system does appear to be broken and why, instead of getting off on the ridiculous. The truth is, until the Republican Party can and does repair its own broken membership, deadlock will remain.

The only Party that can agree and get things done currently, is the Democrats. The liberals and centrist in the Party may not always agree but at least they can compromise without the third member of the Tea Party freezing off every decision they try to make,or the conservatives refusing to raise taxes while the moderates think they are the spokes people for the Party, and are too arrogant to listen.

While they demand that all members must agree on no more taxes, no more payments on birth control or on abortion to the poor, even in cases of unreported incest,rape, or sex slavery,if they really do want to cut the deficit or balance a budget, or if all Republicans must support the Ryan plan to eliminate Social Security and Medicare, as we know it, and no one wants to hear what “We the People” want, they must decide for themselves if they are with the middle class or against the middle class. Its time to get practical and to elect members who will compromise, while the Republicans try to decide just what it is the GOP does want their own Party to represent.Hopefully they will decide that at their own convention later this year.

When they do then we will all be able to hope again in the Democracy that has always made us and kept us strong. Its time to get both realistic and practical with our votes so that we get something done in Washington again, by voting for Barack Obama, who understands us and is working for us. “We the People” need to take back our rights to have the President we elect be respected by those, who we also elect, and will work with him instead of against him.

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America Without Government

As the Republicans,Tea Party, and right-wing conservatives and many of their followers are recommending eliminating government or bankrupting it entirely lets take a view of what life without government would entail;

For those who advocate eliminating the Post Office entirely and turning it over to free enterprise, rest assured that just as health care escalated when the County Hospitals were eliminated and bought out by private interests and made the Indiana Frist families Billionaires,(for those who do not remember; the younger Frist was elected, by the right-wing Conservatives, to the Senate in 1994 at the time they were buying out the hospitals across America) so would the cost escalate to both private citizens as well as small businesses whose business does rely on the mail if the Post offices were eliminated. I just spent $15.00 to mail a 3 pound pkg. to my daughter by UPS by the time I paid postage and handling. This same pkg. would have cost me $2.38 and arrived a day earlier if I had shipped it through the Post Office. I used UPS as I wanted to be able to make certain it arrived the day my daughter works at home. Both would have been and was shipped regular mail.

Without government there would not be any hot lunches for school children, Veteran hospitals, or State own mental Institutions that are reasonably priced because of food subsidies provided by government,The schools,hospitals and institutions themselves would risk being shut down or closed in many areas where they may be considered too cost prohibitive, there would be no Food or Drug Agencies making sure that the food we imported or produced locally, was safe, or drug companies were not putting unsafe drugs on the market. The cost of both would sky-rocket even further without any government controls over them. Only the wealthy could afford birth control as was true before the middle class was established.

No one would oversee air safety,traffic control,piracy, Nuclear plants,mines, drilling, pipelines,factories or any facilities that would lead to the destruction of both our environment and then humanity. There would be no crime labs to check on the guilt or innocence of our citizenry to make certain even more innocent people would not be rounded up and corralled as guilty or the guilty went free with the right lawyer since all labs would be private and only available to the wealthy, due to the high cost to the middle class and poor. There would not be any one to oversee the weapons on the street and we would return to a lawless society. There would be no FBI to look for and to try to find our lost children, no CIA to protect us against terrorism. No one to guarantee our right of freedom of speech,free assembly or our right to protest injustice. There would be no free press.

All workers unions would be eliminated as is going on presently with the Republicans and the Tea Party. The song “Big John” that went like the following was not just a song but the reality of life before unions and the establishment of the middle class:”I loaded 16 ton and what did I get? Another day older and deeper in debt.” I owe my soul to the Company store.” They could only buy from the stores owned by the wealthy who charged exorbitant prices and made it impossible for them to ever get out of debt to the employer. There was no minimum wage,benefits or pensions rest assured 401K’s would not exist. It was reality folks and would be again without government and Unions.

There would be no Feds to make certain banks were not lending money at such high costs as to be usury. There would be no Pell grants for the children who would be tomorrow leaders to be able to afford The best of Colleges. There would be no protection for children and women against abusers and batters. Only those who could afford to would be able to prevent having their homes burn to the ground as firemen would be volunteer or paid for by free enterprise. Only the wealthy would have protection against crime. People would be killing each other at even greater numbers as they drove drunk or texted. Infancy death rates would escalate even higher as only the wealthy could pay for premature birth care.

I could continue this all day and not come up with all the ways that both the poor and middle class would go unprotected and our well-being jeopardized much worse without government than what it is with it, but instead I challenge you to ask yourself,”why it is that the Republicans who do protect the 1% are trying so hard to eliminate government entirely even if it means bankrupting it with a flat tax of 15% across the board that would add another trillion dollars to the deficit at the same time they are adding Keystone Pipeline rights to the payroll tax cut and screaming that we need to pay for it?” Why did the Republicans add another 6 to 7 trillion dollars to the deficit while they had control and did not balance the budget once while they had control but now that we are in a situation where unemployment is high and Corporations are raping the workers they now insist that the money that would help the middle class be paid for?

Really think about it and use both your intelligence and common sense:what kind of future do you,your children,your parents, and your grand parents really have without government? When we eliminate government we eliminate,”We the People.”I believe that whether we voters are Democrat,Independent,or Republican, we can all agree that if we elect anymore Republicans, right-wing conservatives, or Tea Party candidates or keep the current ones who are in the Senate, that the Senate and President elect will return to business as usual during the Bush years to finish what they started, if we really look at the facts.

Re-elect the Democrats, who did not crawl in bed with the Republicans, and Barack OBama along with those who have worked tirelessly for Democracy and the middle class majority in 2012. Even a Tea Party, Conservative and Republican, when given a mandate and made to fear losing their election in 2014, will start co-operating with “We the People” and the man we elected to the Presidency, if we give them a strong idea of just what we think of them in 2012.

They will only quit saying”NO”if we show them how fed up we really are with our vote,despite their pure hatred for Barack OBama because he put restrictions back on Wall Street and stopped what the Republicans had pushed aggressively under the Bush Administration: (See”Who Are The 1%?”, written earlier by me.) They also hate him because he refuses to give in to the wealthy at an expense to the middle class but if he doesn’t give them at least a part of what they want then he gains nothing for the poor and middle class, at all. It is time to throw all the bums out. Do not believe the press who would have us believe that the Democrats are no different from the Republicans because the Democrats have been fighting for the unemployed as well as the employed poor and middle class;In other words for us.

Don’t be one of the idiots who blame OBama for the war in Iraq but instead the man who brought the troops home over open objection from Cheney and McCain and the man smart enough to marry the woman who has worked tirelessly for the families of our wounded and displaced war heroes.It was OBama who fulfilled the promise to the American people and brought down Osama Ben Ladin as well. It’s time we stop the Republican lies and work with those who will continue to work with us in 2012.

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Iiving A Contented Life

Contentment is the epitome of life itself, in my opinion. I have had people tell me that they need more thrill in life or need to keep things stirred up more in order to enjoy themselves. I understand that a contented life probably isn’t for everyone but, in my book, it can’t be beat.

What ever kind of life we choose to live, the facts are, the important thing to remember is to not delay making the decisions or make the decisions in too much haste. Life was intended to be lived on balance in all things, and sadly, the great majority of all of us do tend to go from one extreme to the other. We must have a plan as those who do just let life happen are the same who often end up bitter thinking that they got screwed while such and such just set back and watched it fall in their lap. It never happens that way, folks, to anyone, other than possibly the fraudulent who ultimately pay a larger price when they get caught and the lottery winners, who many times regret that they won, as it often costs very important relationships in the process.

Opportunity ventures its face in the life of all of us and as the saying goes”he who hesitates is lost” but on the other hand the opposite applies as well that”good things comes to those who wait”.It is a matter of knowing the difference when it happens because we either planned for it or was in a position to make the decisions necessary when it arrived.

To contradict that statement on very rare and I do mean rare occasions people do seem to have a luck that does out surpass most. Although I’m not a big fan of the idea that success has much of anything to do with luck, I do know that sometimes even the unconscious will stumble onto something and come out smelling like roses as a result of it.Anyone who counts on luck though is usually going to be sadly disappointed.

It does none of us any good to blame anyone else for the life we are living because we always have options to make choices that will reflect our own lifestyle. We cannot predict the market anymore than we can predict a slot machine. Con men and women will always take us for a ride. Credit cards all need to be paid for as do the bills. Not sooner or later but on time. Checkbooks need to be kept balanced, just as, we need to live according to what we make and not according to how someone else lives. It is our responsibility to know and understand the difference, and at the same time understand that if we fail today then there is another day to try again. The important thing is with practice we eliminate failure and not increase it. Most especially we do need to understand,that our adult children need to make their own decisions as well and live according to their own earned means and not according to our means.If we do not raise them to be responsible,self-sufficient, and kind we have only ourselves to blame.

It is true that, “bad things do happen to good people,” and my experience is that the great majority of people who do have the worse of tragedy in their lives are often the ones that set the best example for the rest of us to follow. They seem much wiser in their knowledge of the value of forgiveness and giving up on hate than many of us whose lives have simply followed the pattern of what life is intended to follow. Health problems can and will destroy the life that many of us had planned on living as does crime. I give you all exemption from the rule of thumb,”that we make our own decisions”,however at the same time, we all will need to decide how we are going to make the best out of what we have left with life, so it does get back to the decisions we make for ourselves.

Whatever life we choose for ourselves we all need to understand it takes planning and sitting around waiting to hit it big with the lottery is not going to cut it. We also have all different kinds of ways at looking at just what contentment means to each of us. I knew if I married someone just like myself that life would probably get quite boring if not downright dragging in a short time. What has made my marriage interesting has been our differences. Believe me, my husband and I are totally polar opposites. Our main and abiding sameness is our morality. Our sense of right and wrong, if not identical, is as close to it as any two people can get. Others will bully in order to get their mates to be identical to them in their thinking, or go out looking for a mini-me. Not me boy. I will always want to know what the other side of life looks like.

Money is the sign of contentment for some, to others having the luxury of good health , being able to travel for another,the time to read for those who never had time before is contentment, and spending time with grandchildren for others. My idea of contentment is living life with a clear conscience, owing no person anything, and having given better than I took from life, while hoping my husband and I live long enough that our grandchildren remember who we were and what we stood for, and their evaluation comes out on a positive note over a negative. I also hope I leave behind a few that can think of me and smile. The beauty of living a content life is that it can and is as variable as there are people. For some it is what they feel or look like, to others what they do or own, and to many others who they have become. That is why we need to seek for ourselves what mysteries life holds for each of us.

I’ve had enough money to know that the more that we have the more responsibility we owe and the more expectation people have in us. I have traveled well enough to know after two weeks I want to be home on my own mattress and cooking home cooked meals.As much as I love my grandchildren I owe it to their Mom and Dad to stay out of their way as much as I can. It doesn’t stop me from wanting to keep doing as much of it as I can and gaining even more from the adventure.

Contentment to all of us, in my estimation, should mean taking care of ourselves and our own problems for as long as is humanly possible and then asking for help when we need it. Often times when parents have been overly generous and bailed out their adult children they are owed definite financial help when the adult children can help out financially and the parents have met with hardship.If bailing them out consists of more than once or twice or became a frequent occurrence it is unrealistic to think that they or us, either one, will have income for our old age.

In other cases adult children have taken responsibility for themselves from the minute they turned 18 and owe us nothing more than they choose to give. Our children are our responsibility up to the age of 18 and they are not responsible for what we choose to give them anymore than they are for what we fail to give them, prior to their becoming an adult. All the money we spend on spoiling them that does not go into an education or teaching responsibility is spent more for our own purposes to make ourselves look and feel good than it is spent towards making our own children more responsible or self-sufficient. Too many people when they get older either think their kids owe them and move in to aggravate their lives when they still have the capacity to look out after themselves or are so stubborn they force their children into making the tough decisions that the elderly should had made before they got so old they became incapacitated.

It is possible when my husband and I both get to that point that we will be the biggest pains of all, but I hope not. We have made plans to do a little of what he wants to do and a little of what I want to do at the same time we both understand that”life is what we are busy planning for when the uncontrollable happens.” If we don’t at least plan and accumulate savings, one thing we all know for certain, when we cannot afford to retire is we will have no plans or choices to make, beyond being a Wal-Mart greeter or something comparable or living a life we never planned on living.

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Accepting Disability

Congratulations! By now you and your loved ones as well as the medical profession, are all on the same page. I would not interfere with or suggest that I know how or why you reached this mile stone in your life, but I understand as you must have, that we each have our own path to take when reaching this point.

If you have followed my posts, then you understand as I do, that I cannot write about the disabled through mental illness, severely brain-damaged, catatonic, or severely paralyzed as, I, just like you, have never experienced this type of disability. Just as there are stages in cancer or heart disease there are also stages in disability. Sometimes, especially with injury, it is a very slow progression, if it progresses at all, and with others, that include disease, it can be fairly rapid. I do believe it is safe to say though that regardless of the disability, unless we have reached the mental state of acceptance, none of us do totally understand how we will react or respond a year from now.

I hope that by talking about my own experience then, I can help you discover,as I have, that the mind needs to be in the place of acceptance in order for the body to respond accordingly. When I reached the point that I understood any further testing would simply update medical records and bring no further relief or change of treatment to me and that.” it was what it was,” then I understood,I was left with nothing further than accepting what I could do and what would be very painful to do.

I began my introduction to the idea that things would never be normal in my life, as I had planned it, when my body was sending out all kinds of warning signals that seemed to be untreatable but at the same time was raising my blood pressure. Along with the disabling disease that caused a great deal of pain, I was reacting to the treatment. Our children were still quite young as I was only 28 years of age, and initially I could not distinguish between symptoms of what ailed me, versus symptoms of drug reactions. It is extremely difficult to do, especially when the diagnosis is inaccurate or someone has deemed themselves God in our lives, and decided to withhold the truth from us, by playing down our symptoms when we ourselves already are experiencing debilitating pain.

I went through all the emotional upset and trauma that we all go through as I had always had the attitude that it would be easier for me to die than to be disabled. I, like everyone else, had heard of,” all the miracles of modern medicine” so it came as a shock to me that medicine could not cure everything much less not be able to treat everything. Just like you, I asked the question, “why me” until I was able to answer it with “why not me?” All kinds of mistakes were made by me and those around me, and I definitely suffered dark periods in my life. Whenever they attempted to treat one area of my body then it would throw off another system of my body. This is quite common in treating the central nervous system.

Many times I had to complain for several years before I was taken seriously about my complaint once the Dr.s did get the diagnosis correct. There was a real sense of, “we can’t do anything about her complaint so lets find something wrong elsewhere and get her to concentrate on that.” I would advise everyone prior to having surgery of any type to ask if it is elective or mandatory for the condition in which you need relief. It took me much too long to see past this ploy, I’m afraid.

In short it was a helluva place for me to be as I tried to protect my loved ones from it and never spent a day in bed outside of when I was hospitalized. I went ahead and took care of my own responsibilities along with most everyone elses, other than my immediate family who understood as they lived with me, until I reached the point that to push myself any harder was very destructive to both myself as well as my longevity.

Still today I will go ahead and do something that causes a great deal of pain like refinish a piece of furnish just in order for me to understand that if I had effective pain treatment I would not be physically disabled. Effective pain treatment at this point would definitely put me into an almost catatonic state due to the increase of the necessary amount of drugs it would take to allow me to operate pain-free and under normal ability. Sadly, I am allergic to the standard form of treatment for my particular disease.

At the very least, abusing or increasing substantially, the only drugs available to my treatment themselves, would lead to mental confusion,anxiety and depression, if not cause early death, so I gladly live with the pain treatment that dulls pain if I do little to nothing. I can still determine to what length of time and rest I can take and still feel well enough to enjoy my life. I plan on staying in charge of my brain since I do have less and less to say about my physical abilities and must use the necessary aids available to me.

With all diseases, there are good days and bad days. My best days will always be the days that I can accomplish doing some of what I want to do. Many times because I have developed interests in oil painting,collecting,reading,genealogy,research and writing I can have a terrific day doing very little according to Society’s point of view, and still be relatively pain-free, as well. I can do most hobbies upwards of an hour a day. Most of us will learn that we have never really done what it is that we truly love doing, prior to our injury. At this point it is all about keeping my mind healthy to both concentrate, learn, and to becomes less dependent on the pain treatment.

I understand that on days that I want to do something I will pay the price in pain but I prefer doing it, to being waited on by a caregiver and being bed or chair bound permanently, due to the fact that my mind has been lessened as a result of pain treatment. Since pain is no longer relieved by rest my tolerance to pain has built naturally over the years. There is a real danger with Doctors either under-treating or over-treating with pain medication so make sure, you yourself, knows the difference.

Long story short, it is my hope that all of you can and do reach the point that you have cried your last tear, yelled out of anger and frustration, for the last time, and found genuine peace in the things that you can do. I hope you find real joy of waking up each day knowing that you and only you are still in charge of the areas in your life that matter the most.

I hope you never question or listen to what people who have never experienced your level of disability have to say on the subject.(unless they are medically or spiritually trained to offer relief or peace of mind or are kind enough to act as your caregiver and to listen to you) I hope you have found a Dr. that will be honest with you and help when you do ask for help. I hope you know to celebrate and rejoice in what you can do and no longer grieve what you can not do.

I hope you have learned the value of this moment,hour, day and see the beauty in each day. I hope if you require a caregiver and still have responsibilities that you do not ask others to do what you can still do ,yourself. I hope you have a good imagination that allows you to figure out a different way of doing the same thing that you use to do and have learned patience in doing so.

I hope you get a genuine”kick” or “hoot” out of life and count your Blessings for being a part of the human race, regardless of what the ignorant or ill-informed seem to think or believe to the contrary. I hope you despise sympathy and understand and empathize with others who have less than you do. But most importantly of all, I hope you do know your own strengths as well as your own limitations, and have a support system that applauds you for knowing the difference. If that includes no one more than yourself and a good book and you still know the joy of waking up each day, then you have made it, my friend. I do know it is all possible with the right attitude, just as you have already learned, yourself. Congratulations! I’m proud of you!

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Disability Before Acceptance

The in-between stage, from the shock to acceptance of disability, can be and often is a time of turmoil. Even if family is slow to accept or the medical profession itself is not responding to our symptoms, most of us find that we can not deny those strange things that are happening to us, in our own bodies. The next big step is in the frustration of getting family to accept it. In some cases where it is disease over injury, just getting the medical profession, itself, to understand can be an equal frustration.

I recommend family get all the necessary help and opinions that are available to them, as well as research on their own, so that they can understand the disease as well as ask questions based on the same. This is not a time to hide behind denial, manipulation, or intimidation, as the sooner we react the better the results will become, in many cases. Doctors,as a rule, will be slow to volunteer any information unless we do ask the questions.

Once we do get over the shock of understanding that so little is still known or understood about the central nervous system (the system most effected by disease or injury that leads to disability) then we understand a bit better why the answers are not coming. Any of us that do deal with chronic disease or injury get a quick lesson in,” the lesson of cause and effect”, because the medical profession is still leap years away from understanding or knowing what does cause most diseases.

I have had Doctors who leave the room and send in the nurse without answering my questions when I do ask questions and have been yelled at for asking them,told there was something going on in my own environment causing it, treated like it was hopeless so why bother, lied to, and heard a lot of, “we simply do not know the answers.” If your Doctor is not forth coming with answers or explanations, then get another opinon. Doctors, themselves, many times get frustrated and their behavior or bedside manner can add to the already difficult position that many of us face. People react differently to stimulus or answers and because Doctors treat on averages instead of individuals, many times the treatments themselves are either ineffective or can jeopardize our health further.

We all reach our level of acceptance with trial and error and many times feel very lonely in the process. People as a general rule can be insensitive, rude or very unkind as well as reverse and become terribly understanding. Do not give up on them, but if it is necessary to put distance in between, then do so. It is a time to surround ourselves with a strong support system or to accept that we are in it for the duration.

Just a note, to the people who will set themselves up to be caregivers or inherit the job. The more you accept the fact that the disabled person needs to test and find out their own abilities and or limitations the easier it will be for both of you. Many times caregivers will baby or accuse the disabled person out of their own frustrations and this only adds to an already difficult time. For the most part the more normal we make life the better the results. If it is a child that needs to be taught right from wrong then teach them the same as you would the rest of the children in the household. Even if it requires repeating and repeating it is important, regardless of the disease or injury, they learn to behave. It clearly will add to the difficulty, but disabled children that grow up to not understand their own responsibilities to society, often times become a further statistic.

With time and a lot of communication and many wonderful people to compensate for the jerks that exist in all “walks of life” when it comes to disability,everything is possible. Hope for the best while preparing for the worse and the results can often times be amazing. We must base that on the accomplishment of the disabled and the functional ability of the same.

Do not get caught up on who can do what or think age matters as many times it does not. Nothing will teach gratitude, acceptance of the unknown, release of fear and knowing and understanding our own priorities in life, more than what the lessons that currently lie ahead of you will teach. Good luck and do not misplace your direction, but expect to fall off the path a time or two, as it is expected and normal to do so.

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Emotional Beginnings To Disability

So often people are injured or diseased and do not have a chance to even contemplate their life, prior to needing physical aides, in order to maintain independence in their lives. As a rule family members are so grateful, many times, that they still have their husband,son,daughter,wife or loved ones alive, that they dismiss the emotions of the victim.

All of medicine is notorious towards the lack of compassion shown the emotional pain of a disabled person, unless they are injured doing a heroic deed, in comparison to families who have lost a loved one. The research that goes into crippling disease along side of life threatening disease is a disgrace around the world. The religious tell us to pray, ask for mercy or to give thanks for being alive at a time we aren’t sure ourselves, we are better off being alive.

When Dr. Kervorkian seemed to be the only Doctor that understood and listened on this issue, he was eventually sent to prison to serve out a jail term because he, and he alone, heard people when they said, “it would be better for them to die than to suffer the disabling disease”, that would cause them to suffer but allow them to live. When a patient becomes terminally ill most compassionate Doctors will allow a patient to end their suffering by prescribing a morphine patch that will kill them, if and when they are ready.

Many religious beliefs, from the mystics to the common person on the street, hold that pain is as a result of Satan and we must have done something bad to deserve living in pain. So common is the belief that disabled people do it to themselves, that some people hold genuine hate for the disabled. Is it any wonder then, when people left on their own to work through their own pain often choose suicide? After all, we have the majority of doctors saying, “the only reason that Dr. Kervorkian’s patients chose death over life was because they were depressed.”

Never do we hear, unless it is terminal or caused as a result of a heroic act, that the pain was more than anyone could bear and unfortunately medicine still has a long way to go when treating pain, or finding Dr.s willing to treat it effectively. Our loved ones may hear it, after we are gone, but we will never hear it ourselves.

Who in their right mind would not be depressed when people that we should be able to count on from Church,to medicine,to friends, to family would rather blame, undertreat, pretend to understand, or act indifferent to it all, over trying to listen and understand? Throwing a pill at everything is not always the answer either, sometimes surgery or acknowledging ignorance or fault of your own will go a long way.

Regardless of the truth of disability, mankind has built within them, the unique Blessing and gift to survive. It is true that both depression as well as anger do follow through with pain. We do feel we are being rejected by people we should be able to count on. Many times it does become our responsibility to tell Doctors how to treat us, convince our loved ones we are fine when we are not sure we can go on another minute. Many times in their excitement to have us alive or for having saved our life, they will totally dismiss we are grieving our loss of limb or normal pain-free body. Many times we do not know it ourselves.

I don’t care if those of us that are disabled are over-weight, smoke, drove too fast, inherited a familial disorder that went misdiagnosed, or worked at a high risk job. The exact same way a family does not get up in the morning and thinks today their loved one will die, neither does the victim of disability believe that it can happen to them.

Somewhere, along the line, we have become such a physical fit, fear filled, or diet conscious society that we have lost all compassion or empathy for those that do suffer. If you are relating to this as you read it, let me assure you that with time and healing and placing one foot in front of another we who do become disabled, often are the lucky ones.

Unlike, all the others that probably are telling you how to better deal with your disability, I will leave it up to you, to discover how and why disabled people could possibly be the lucky ones. The Blessings are many as are the numbers that do understand and do think you will make it to where we are so that you too do know and understand. Good luck and make each day count more, when you are up to it!

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Power Chair Versus Electric Scooter

When the time came that I was no longer willing to depend on being pushed in a regular wheel chair in order to maintain a length with normalcy, I was sent to the physical therapist by my Doctor to be measured for a power chair. Naive as I was, I did not know or understand the options available to me so I will try to educate those of you that are in the position I was in.

My particular disease will allow for sporadic walking, currently. This means I can walk to a table and be seated or go through a small antique store or do limited walking and standing with a cane, and with the knowledge that I have to be willing to suffer pain and discomfort in doing so. Due to injury to my arms as well as my legs as a result of both lower and upper spine deterioration, I am not able to use the large wheeled hand-operated wheelchair that I can empower myself. I would definitely encourage this mode of transportation for those that still have upper body strength as muscles that are not used are lost.

I have since learned more about the availability of what I like to refer to as toys available to the disabled and will give you my take on both. Unless you get a foldable power chair that will break down or fold up and be placed into a trunk of a car you will need both a van and a lift of some type to put the chair into the van. In my case since I and my husband both are taller than normal, it required a custom van that would allow for standing. Regardless of the type of lift you do get, they have not yet perfected them to run consistently with the doors opening effectively each time. If you go this route, you soon learn to only enter or exit on a flat service, for more operable use of both.

Although I have never had the foldable or take apart power chair, I have checked into them and tried them out but found, in my opinion, for them to be fairly cheaply made and the price difference reflects that. Power chairs when recommended by Dr.s are paid for by the Insurance Companies. Medicare rarely if ever pays for them. The other large difference between the foldable light weight power chair and the regular power chair, is the lack of speed and power to both climb and dislodge from ruts, since in order for the light weight chair to be loaded by hand. it takes considerably smaller batteries to run.

A typical power chair that needs a lift weighs in at approximately 250 pounds due to larger and heavier duty batteries, whereas a portable or foldable one can weigh as little as 40 pounds. I applaud the power chair business that works with the medical field in developing the power chair as I have had little to no problems with the standard chair that requires a lift.

Scooter companies, I also own a scooter, works as a retail outlet and it becomes important that we understand like all retail companies there are good and not so good ones. Check out a consumers report site or magazine on the ones ranked the best before buying. Although there are also foldable and breakdown (can be taken apart without tools) in the scooters they also have the same power deficiencies as the power chair when it comes to both power and speed, when they are of the light weight variety. Scooters with three wheels will turn in a smaller circle than with the 4 wheels but they also are more susceptible to upsetting if turned too sharply.

If we want to use our chairs and scooters outdoors on more rugged terrain or on a beach the standard size chair and scooter are going to be a must. If you only need a scooter or chair to shop or enter casinos,businesses or Church then the foldable or break-apart will perhaps suffice, but I repeat that they do not have the power to pull or become dislodged from what sometimes is nothing more than a small rut and they can not be pushed beyond the power of the battery to pull itself out of the hole.

The standard power chair will meet all requirements for any need for the disabled but the aggravation of trying to get a lift and automatic doors to respond can be and is a consistent problem when using them. We have had to remove both bolts and carry a rope in order to tie doors shut or to crank in the lift. This is simply something that most disabled people are not capable of doing since most of us cannot bend sufficiently,get up and down off of a floor, or are paralyzed. I would also warn that all power chairs have hollow tires with tubes much as a bicycle and they can be or are punctured by nails,Texas sand burrs, glass etc. The scooters are solid rubber tires and do not ever go flat.

I much prefer the power chair to the scooter as they do turn on a dime and can get in and out of places a scooter will never be able to get in and out of. I was fortunate that I was steered to go that direction first. The custom van (some people may be able to make a standard van work) will run between $55,000 to $60,000 and this is money a great many people simply do not have. There is State aid of some type, I did not look into it, for the lifts but we are all on our own to raise the money for our vans.

All scooters, even when they are not advertised to be, are able to be taken apart, as a rule. They are idea to do outdoor activities as they can be both hand loaded when taken apart in 4 easy pieces, and have both fairly good power and speed if they are of the more heavy-duty type. Since the tires are made of solid hard rubber they never go flat. They are not covered by health insurance, as a rule, and need to be paid for out of our own pockets.

They are much less expensive and need a wide berth to turn, especially when using the four wheel. If we try to shop with a scooter we will need to be prepared to back up when there is traffic in the aisle as versus turning around as we can with the chair. The scooters however, are able to get in and out of a single door easier that the power chair. For the most part, the scooter is more of a transportation need and requires far less dollar output but is not to be mistaken for use where medical requirements are needed for the use of a chair.

Since it does not require the same level place to both load and unload due to the fact that there is no lift required, I much prefer taking the scooter on vacation with me, and using the power chair for shopping. It is a personal choice on my part.

I still use strictly a cane or canes while in and around my home, with the advantage of carrying a lightweight stool, and recommend that everyone that can, devise a system for themselves, that will give them better ability to develop over-all muscle strength, when possible. Any time spent out of both the scooter or chair will prolong our own ability to perform for ourselves as well as others, when possible, as well as maintain our own independence. Although both the electric scooter and powerchair will give us much more freedom outside of our homes and enable us to live more independently from requiring help from others. I hope I have offered you some help here, as I found very little to none, when I needed to know the difference.

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