Guns, Cuts, Tax Credits And War Crimes

Okay, I'm breaking down and buying myself a pistol.  Three of them to be exact, all strategically placed within the house.  And unlike the people from the right wing fringe who strut around using their Second Amendment "right" to intimidate people into not using their First Amendment right to free speech to express an opposing viewpoint (Arthur Frommer is trying to decide if he should recommend a travel boycott of Arizona but he personally has canceled all his trips), I'm going to be using mine to try and stop Shadow from barking at everything that happens outside in the parking lot.  Of course I will be using water instead of bullets and neither the President nor innocent bystanders can be affected by my actions.

And so it begins.  The closing of for profit nursing homes due to budget cuts.  88 elderly people, many who don't have families and all who are on Medi-Cal,  are being forced from their nursing facility into whatever dump can be found for them.  And the seniors have to hope that their new home doesn't end up closing due to the asinine budget cuts the Governator has determined must be done in his ongoing effort to balance the budget on the backs of the poor and the elderly.  While the rest of the country worries about end-of-life counseling nonexistent death panels, these defenseless members of society have become pawns in the California budget power game.  Isn't that just great?  The generation that lived through the Great Depression and the Second World War get to end their lives in urine scented dormitories with the same sad eyed compatriots.  Until they are moved to different facilities that can warehouse them for ten cents less a person.

The 47 million uninsured and the 30 million underinsured in this country don't need and can't use tax credits.  When making rent is an issue, when feeding the kids and keeping the lights on consumes your budget then money later on is not going to help.  Simply put, what people need is to be able to access medical, dental and eye care when they need them, not when their budget says they can afford to.  If you don't have $50 for a doctor's visit you either hope the problem goes away on its own, that you don't have to go to the emergency room or that you learn to live with the issue.  None of those are optimal health care options and not only do they directly affect the quality of life, they also affect the quantity of life.  Maybe if we were a healthier country we wouldn't be so angry.

I almost feel sorry for him but then I remember I have two Article 15s for disobeying a lawful order and know he had a choice and he took the coward's way out.  And now, many more years later than it should have taken, he's sorry about it.  Interesting how he served three years under house arrest for the deaths of 500 people and Charles Graner got ten years in Leavenworth for abuse, conspiracy and assault.  From a government that condoned torture.

BBB