Just one word:

CRAZY!!

Doubtless, a difficult constitutional issue, but equally doubtless is that these people are in the 7th circle of CRAZY.

Actually, my partner contends "They're not mad, they're bad". 

Yes, these protesters are odious.  I submit that they are both MAD and BAD.

Huckabee: Your Pre-existing Condition is Barbarity

Yesterday, at a so-called "Value Voters Summit" a bunch of people like Sarah Palin (who seem to think that they uphold some sort of values) met to openly display thier mean spirits, tiny hearts, microbial brains, and greedy grubby little hands.

Here's what 2012 Republican presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee had to say regarding health insurance:

"It sounds so good, and it's such a warm message to say we're not gonna deny anyone [health insurance] for a pre-existing condition. Look, I think that sounds terrific, but I want to ask you something from a common sense perspective.

Suppose we applied that principle [to] our property insurance. And you call your insurance agent and say, "I'd like to buy some insurance for my house."  

He'd say, "Tell me about your house." "Well sir, it burned down yesterday, but I'd like to insure it today." And he'll say "I'm sorry, but we can't insure it after it's already burned. No pre-existing conditions."

(You can listen to the audio here.)

And all the other "value voters" applauded. 

That is simply disgraceful. These people are a disgrace. They are morally corrupt, self-interested miscreants. 

I hope it stays fine for them. (ironic)

As my mother would say: It makes me so angry I could spit!

These people should be deeply ashamed of themselves. Their mean-spiritedness and lack of humanity are appalling. They are nothing but barbarians...such are their "values".

Honestly.

And, on top of that, this Huckabee guy calls himself a Christian. How insulting!

I don't think Christ would go around comparing people to objects or property. What's a sick person's life worth? 

Nothing. 

According to Huckabee: "It isn't worth any more than a burnt down house."

What if someone is born with a health condition?  If Huckabee and these "value voters" had their way, they'd be shit out of luck from the get-go.

"Oh well, better luck in your next life."

What if I lose my job or I can't work because I'm sick? What if I'm one of the over 40 million people who don't get health care coverage from their employers? Sorry. You're out of luck in this country.

“Be sure not to get sick now, y’all take care.”  

The health care system in this country is an illogical mess, set up with the interests of big business and big money in mind, rather than the well-being of the citizens. Precisely when a person needs health care is precisely when they can’t get it.

Obama is trying to change some of this, but it's not nearly enough. And, I'm sure Huckabee's words yesterday were in direct response to the fact that one measure of the recenlty passed health care bill went into effect. 

As of September 23, 2010:

Health insurance companies can no longer deny children (anyone under 19) coverage if they have a pre-existing condition.

What a shame, that's sorely disappointing isn't it Huckabee? You total Ass!

All I can say is that anyone who would vote for people who talk like that would get what they deserve: a big pile of warm, steaming shit.

Twitters

I am curious about this thing called "twittering"; everyone is doing this, it seems. I don't do it myself, as I think you need a mobile phone for it, and I don't own one. It is an interesting phenomenon nonetheless.

As I understand it, people sign up for this service from which they can send text-based messages that are then published in real time onto web sites and mobile devices. These small messages are limited in length, I assume due to some set of  technological or practical limitations, or both.


I went to the farmers market with a friend recently, where he tweeted that he was buying some mustard greens. I thought that was an odd thing to announce, but my friend calls himself a "foodist" and enjoys talking with other "foodists". At any rate,  it sparked a fascinating if short-lived conversation amongst his fellow twitterers that went something like this:

Foodist Friend: "I'm buying mustard greens."
Some foodist twitterer No 1: "I've never tried mustard greens, do they taste like mustard?"
Some foodist twitterer No2: " I've got a pot of gumbo on the stove."
Some foodist twitterer No 3: " 3 weeks and counting 'till my vay-cay."
Twitterer No 1: "Oh that's so cool. I want to go to Morocco so bad."
Twitterer No2: "Moroccan food kicks ass. My sister-in-law is from there."

I had no idea that mustard greens could spark such myraid topics, insipid as they may be. Clearly, the Moroccan vacation overshadowed my friend's mustard greens.

I can't help but turn to the adorable analogy employed by this service: namely the twittering and tweeting of birds on a wire. Birds sing for a variety of reasons and in order to communicate with their fellows, as do human "twitterers". Sometimes birds call out sheerly in the hopes of finding some friends to sit on the wire with. Twittering seems to be much the same...the birds probably make more sense though.

Along with the nutritious mustard greens and some other stellar veggies, we got a wonderful bottle of wine from upstate NY too. Tweet that!

Made in the USA... Where?

I do my best to shop at local businesses and buy locally produced goods as much as possible. If not local, then at least domestic, i.e., made in the USA.

Now, let me preface this by saying that I'm not a xenophobe or a patriotic conservative, but I believe that no matter what country a person lives in, the goal of that nation/region should be to produce as many goods and services domestically as possible. Sort of national/regional self-sufficency for all nations/regions. This is the only sustainable, humane, and intelligent way forward.

Predatory capitalism and unbridled expansionism are destroying the earth and its inhabitants, and worse, they destroy our sense of community and integrity as humans in a social/moral sphere. The greed of a few is destroying the framework of human decency. All is *not* fair just because it's called "business".

This weekend, I was shopping around for some clothes. No matter where I went, I could not find a single item made in the USA. I was looking at rain coats/outerwear, there were some very nice ones with the price tag of 299$ and upward. If I'm going to pay that much money, I would like to see some of it come back into my own local community, rather than a few pennies of it going overseas somewhere to pay slave labor, while the greedy execs that run the company get filthier and richer.

I went online, and found this website, which compiles lists of companies that produce their goods in the USA. I was surprised at how little there was in the way of clothing...but at least it was a start. A quote from that site states:
 
“Statistics indicate if every American cared enough to buy just one USA Made garment per year, the impact would be nearly $9 billion. That creates an amazing amount of jobs for just one article of clothing per American!” 

I'll also continue to shop at local thrift and charity shops...even if the clothes I buy there weren't originally made domestically, at least the resale of it is going back into my local community.

Growing up, my mother sewed most of our clothes...I think I'm going to have to return to that tradition, provided I can find the fabric.

Where does it end, or even begin?

How can we live ethically in a world that isn't?

On Commence

Hi, my name is Jessica. Friends call me Jessy. I'm writing this from Queens, NY, but I'm originally from Massachusetts. I live with my boyfriend, his sister and their family dog, Ravvy.

I've always wondered why the world is the way it is, and why humans are the way we are. Why do we have to mess things up so much? I don't think anyone will ever really know, but we can guess. This blog is about some of mine.

People sometimes ask why I spell my name with 'y'. I like 'y's (aka Greek 'i'). They are sometimes vowels and a very popular interrogative.