Creativity, Hobby Lobby Style

What a double edged debate Hobby Lobby has provided for the nation! Two things retailers almost never cared to provide for their employees, back in the day, were insurance and lenience in when families required lots of an employee's time. Health insurance has been a highly debated issue for at least two years, and Obamacare has become law. Private insurance companies are running amok with ideas of their own on how to do business, and Hobby Lobby is apparently a Christian corporation. Not that corporations can be Christian, as if they were human, but it has been said that corporations are people, too. 

Because Hobby Lobby is Christian, it's love for it's imaginary icon is expressed by opposing abortion. Not that the bible addresses abortion specifically, among all the instructions to go ahead and kill, bully, and traffic humans, (yeah, slavery is human trafficking and America's economy got strong because of it) but because political lobbies (not to be confused with Hobby Lobby) such as the Moral Majority purport that contraception and birth control are the same as abortion, and as such, are murder. One must wonder what all the good christian corporations and people were doing before Buck v. Bell was abandoned, but NOT overturned, in the United States. One must also wonder why the Catholic Church did not excommunicate Adolf Hitler, who strongly supported abortion, eugenics, and murder.

Back to insurance and leniency in balancing children and work schedules: Hobby Lobby has refused to allow their employee health insurance providers to cover any type of contraceptives. This seems unusual, since most employers would rather not work with pregnant employees or the needs of pregnant employees. Indeed, a birth is a lot more expensive than contraceptives. So is a maternity leave. In fact, it was not until 1993 that an American woman had any guarantee of returning to her job, through the Family Medical Leave Act, after giving birth. Thankyou, Bill Clinton. 

And now, after a woman's maternity leave is over, what is Hobby Lobby going to do about her need for childcare when she returns to work? Retailers traditionally do not care much about the children of their employees, and will often pressure employees not only to neglect their own health needs, but to neglect their children. Sometimes, a retailer will even threaten to fire the employee who refuses to leave his or her children home alone when a choice has to be made. After saying "no" to birth control, will Hobby Lobby be the "creative center" it calls itself in the above picture and provide daycare for all those employees to whom contraceptives were not readily available? At the end of the day, it seems as if it might be more cost effective and simple to just enlist health insurance policies that provide contraceptives.

Judge Straightens Out Teen Who Sues Parents

In a completely unmerited and absurd case, a New Jersey young adult has moved away from home and taken her parents to court in a silly-assed attempt to sue for tuition for private school, car insurance, and....of all things.....allowance. Where is the eye-rolley when I need it? This young woman reached the age of eighteen in October, yet is still in high school. Because her parents impose a curfew and insist that she do chores, she moved away. Not wanting to play games with their daughter, the parents decided that since the car is not garaged at their home (sound familiar, Laura?) and since their daughter is not living with them, her car insurance and tuition are her responsibility; and they have duly stopped paying. They also stopped giving her an allowance.

Bravo to the judge for taking a common sense stand on this nonsense! Laura McNish, county attorney of Marshall County, Kansas should really pay attention here. Insistence upon respect from one's children for laws and policies concerning automobile insurance is not child abuse, and neither is the imposition of curfews and the requirement of chores. Parents also do not owe their children cell phones and Ipads, McNish. Restricting the use of such devices may make human trafficking more difficult for predators, but it is not child abuse. Conversely, unrestricted use of motor vehicles granted by negligent parents to unlicensed drivers does not, in any way, equal love.....Laura!

At least in Kansas, there is a case in Marshall County, styled State of Kansas v. Keith Lynn Henry, setting a precedent in cases involving these elements. Anyone in Kansas who is accused of child abuse for not giving a child a cell phone or an allowance, or for establishing curfews and rules; should refer to this case.

How did this case even moot court? Has the entire nation gone completely insane?

Update On The Morals Taught By Frankfort Kansas School

Not too long ago, I mentioned the spouse of a teacher at the small public school in Frankfort Kansas, because she embezzled a bunch on money from her employer, an insurance company, and from her clients. About half a million dollars. On Monday, January 13, Monica Smart was sentenced in federal court to twenty-one months in prison. Her mother tried to buy home confinement and an ankle bracelet by paying $50,000 toward restitution, and there were some greatly exaggerated claims about an illness on the part of a family member who supposedly needs Monica's care, (ha! that's simply not true) but the judge gave her prison time, anyway. Sometime within the next month or so, Mrs. Smart will get notified that there is space at one of the womens' prisons in the country, and she will be chained up and flown to it, unless it happens to be within driving distance. That's simply not supposed to happen to frankfurters! Especially Christian frankfurters.......Jesus is supposed to protect them from getting caught when they commit crimes!

There are several reasons why this bothers me. First of all, not only Monica Smart, but her husband, Larry Smart, a public school teacher, was found to be compromised in the investigation. At this writing, he does not appear to have any charges lodged against him, but he is the subject of civil complaints connected to his wife's conduct. While she is serving time in a federal prison, he will obviously maintain sympathies toward someone who held others in contempt by stealing half a million dollars from them. If she escapes or fails to report to federal marshals, and becomes a fugitive, federal marshals will rip through everywhere to which she has a connection, in desperate and feverish pursuit. The first places they normally check, in those situations, are the family residences of fugitives. If her big poofy blond head is not found at home, they will probably try to find her husband. They may or may not care about the fact that Larry is employed at a school. I, personally, would not want a teacher to put some fugitive's interests and well being ahead of any child's, but Larry Smart is married to a convicted felon.

The moral message passed along to students is disturbing, as well. Frankfort School has had run-ins with the ACLU and federal agencies in the past concerning the disturbing habit of interfering with the cultures and religions of others; only to try, unsuccessfully, to argue that forcing religious activities is "teaching morals". Is the Smarts' complicity in embezzling, and the act of welcoming the Smarts and their crime, with open arms and no caution, an example of "teaching morals"? They used their stolen money to pay for expensive school trips and other frills that I could not afford for my children. My daughter, unaware of the embezzling, truly thought that she was not loved by her family because we do not embezzle or steal to gain such an advantage. Why would the school even play along? Why did teachers and school administration tell my children that if I loved them, I would have enough money to pay for vehicles for all of them and for trips, just as the Smarts and other teachers? (yes, the Smarts' ample provision for their childrens' luxuries was thrown in my face by angry children more than once.....only my angry children didn't realize how deeply criminal their community can be, at times) Some of the teachers at Frankfort, as well as the principal, have gone out of their way to make sure that all of my childrens' classmates knew that while others can occasionally work freely and happily from home at freelance projects, it was morally wrong for yours truly to do so. For me to take advantage of such an option made me lazy, and put my life in the category of welfare fraud, (even though I have never been on welfare) according to the frankfurter folks, and that's exactly what the sixth grade teacher told my children! It seems that being a stay at home mom is something that is afforded to those sweet Christian women who usually have open legs to go along with their open bibles; but not to me. It's not okay with Frankfort Kansas if I stay home and take care of my children. But it is okay with Frankfort Kansas if an insurance agent steals half a million dollars. She is, after all, doing something to benefit her family!

On Monday, a relative of Alice Jones, the library director who lets children bring booze and illegal drugs into the library, was still defending the Smarts. I can only guess that this woman was not a victim of the fraud and embezzling; however, speaking of Alice Jones, perhaps Monica's motive was to keep up with the Jones's. But to keep up with these particular Jones's, stealing half a million dollars needn't have been Monica's special crime: she could have just hired some high school students via Heartland Works and let them come to work drunk, straight from school, and bring some recreational prescription pills with them, right Alice Jones? Safety in the school is compromised by the husband of a convicted felon on the premises, and teaching the whole disgusting lesson that violating federal law is acceptable, as long as one gets away with it, is simply wrong. This is not the kind of example teachers should set.

In a rather glaring example of dereliction of duty, Laura Johnson-McNish attended the sentencing hearing, rather than attending to the duties of the office of Marshall County Prosecutor. She did not prosecute this case, and lost the only case she ever tried, all by herself, before a jury. Had the citizens of Kansas actually been forced to rely upon the legal expertise of Johnson-McNish, Smart would still be robbing insurance customers blind. Johnson-McNish is only effective when a defendant who has been caught red handed is willing to cop a plea, and even then, she is only marginally effective. Why did I, as a taxpayer, have to pay her salary for a day's galavanting as a spectator in proceedings to which she had no viable contribution? Taxpayers should not have to pay for Laura Johnson-McNish to satisfy her curiosity any more than they should have to pay for her to go to the movies. And why did Laura Johnson-McNish address the press on this matter?

"I would like to thank Chief Todd Ackerman, the Marysville Police Department, FBI agent Scott Gentine, and Christine Kenney, attorney with the U.S. attorney general's office, for their efforts in securing justice in this case."

Not only did she have the gall to thank those who actually are qualified to practice law and dispense justice as if they had actually done her a personal favor; she does not, and has never, cared about securing justice. No one should be fooled by McNish's pandering. Her position, as county attorney, is elected.

Wrong Place At Wrong Time In Colorado

Clair Davis was in the "wrong place at the wrong time", according to Greyson Robinson, of the Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office in Colorado. Yet, the public school she attends is in the same district as her home, and the day she was shot by her fellow student, Karl Halverson Pierson, she was exactly where she was supposed to be....in school. Why would going to school involve the need to worry about escaping a deranged shooter? Why can't her parents correctly assume that their daughter is safe when she is where she is supposed to be during the day....in school?

Karl Halverson Pierson was where he was supposed to be, too. The item that was not where it was supposed to be was the shotgun he took to school with him. Oh; the Molotov cocktails in his backpack didn't belong in school either, but at least Pierson didn't blow anything up. Why do some Americans have so much trouble recognizing who was in the right place or in the wrong place at any time? Clair Davis has every right to be in school, where she was; and she has every right to expect to be in the right place, school, at the right time, without  getting shot. Especially by an adult classmate who had a right to buy a shotgun. Is it really too hard to ask that guns not be brought to school?

The 2013-2014 school began on an awkward note in Kansas because no one seems to know where to draw the line concerning guns and schools. In July of this year, Kansas decided that teachers and other school employees could take concealed weapons with them to work. The insurance company that underwrites policies for about ninety percent of the public schools in Kansas decided against that type of risk. If no one else wants to look at the possibilities of a random adult working inside of a school not being a perfect marksman, or lacking the training to determine when to use deadly force against your children and mine, at least the insurance company does! And well they might; they are deeply vested in the bottom line, not the popularity contest we call "small town atmosphere". Pierson was an adult, as was Adam Lanza, the shooter at Sandy Hook, in Connecticut last year. Adults with deadly weapons may actually be a bigger problem, from an insurer's standpoint, than children with deadly weapons.

It's a sobering reality when a school, of all places, becomes the "wrong place at the wrong time" to the extent that the school cannot even purchase liability or other types of insurance. We can't protect our children from everything, but don't they deserve to be in school, and in the right place at the right time, safely?

 

No Amber Alert If A Frankfort Kansas Child Disappears

Kansas public schools, particularly the one in Frankfort, have yet another serious safety issue, in addition to the lack of insurance on their buildings and activities, thanks to the legalization of guns carried by teachers in Kansas schools as of July of this year. Because of the government shutdown, the Amber Alert website is offline. Apparently, notifying the public when a child has been wrongfully taken via automobile is not considered essential by our elected, trusted servants in Congress and the Senate!

It is hard to imagine what this means in Frankfort, Kansas, where it is considered business as usual for teachers to abandon students on the highway and refuse to report them missing when they get lost and disappear. This means that at the end of the school day, when the child does not come home, alerts will not be shared with motorists, or even on the news, to help the public recognize any vehicle that may have been involved; when a child is lost, sometimes he or she will accept a ride from a stranger, hoping to get found again. This was actually done to female freshman in recent years, and she was very lucky to make it home. What about the Frankfort student who is not so lucky?

Kansas public schools take too many chances with the safety of children already. In Frankfort, where the teacher who "lost" the student still works, an Amber Alert could mean the difference between coming home safely if lost, or having a permanently open missing persons case. Perhaps it would be wise, if the teacher who abandons children on the highway seriously cannot be fired for his crimes, to at least furlough him along with other casualties of the government shutdown, until the Amber Alert website is back online.
 

Stuff The Marysville Advocate Didn't Mention

The Marysville Advocate, the major publication of Marshall County Kansas, the virtual definition of the statement, "nice is different than good", occasionally leaves it's readers in the dark about the more important items that either happen in Marshall County Kansas, or directly affect Marshall County. This week, since most of the public schools in Marshall County started again for the fall so recently, the fact that many Northeast Kansas schools, Marshall County's schools included, started without insurance due to the change in Kansas law in July of this year, allowing teachers to take guns to school, should have been of great interest to parents. If nothing else, a notification, or a complete article about this, should be enough to start a conversation in Marshall County about how to make public schools safer, and insurable! A lot of Marshall County teachers don't even know that their workplaces are not properly insured anymore. It seems that underwriters would prefer prying pencils from warm live hands, rather than guns from cold dead hands! Go figure!

The discussion of the uninsurable state of Kansas public schools, of course, would lead to the mention of alternatives, of which there are quite a few. Private schools and homeschooling are usually among a parent's first choices, but there is also the online option, with better textbooks, lower cost, (almost free) and more updated curriculums. The Marysville Advocate was extremely quiet about that, as well. Many parents in Kansas have opted to enroll their children in virtual schools this year. It makes sense, as it is a lot safer than sending a child to a school where guns are permitted. One Marshall County parent was threatened with arrest for choosing not to enroll her children in public school, but the principal of Frankfort School, who made this threat, was encouraged to sit down, shut up, and leave everyone alone. No arrests have been made as of yet over the choices of different schools!

One more interesting piece of news that suspiciously did not get much attention in the Marysville Advocate is that our very own Laura McNish, the county prosecutor, tried a case before a jury last week, something that rarely happens in Marshall County, and something she rarely does by herself. She usually has to have help from someone with actual trial experience! She lost, and the defendant won, after an entire day of deliberations, posturing, namecalling, (on McNish's part) and powerpoint charts consisting of none other than the same words McNish said verbally! She used a pointer to point to the words as she talked. How this swallowed nine hours of time, for a misdemeanor, is anyone's guess, but the outcome of a jury trial, tried solo by Laura McNish, should interest Marshall County. Her constituents may enjoy knowing more about her abilities and her understanding of the law and of our Constitution. At this point, your writer tries very hard to keep a straight face, nonetheless; it was unusual enough to merit mention in the headlines.

"Nice", innocuous news is nice, but not terribly informative. Why can't the Marysville Advocate take a chance with real news and actual headlines? Advertisers might be pleasantly surprised by the volume of attention this would bring to their advertised products.

 

 

Has Your School's Insurance Been Canceled?

Has your local public school's insurance been canceled? If you live in Kansas, the answer might be "yes". EMC Insurance Companies, the Iowa based backer for most of the insurance companies used by public schools in Kansas, has refused, this year, to underwrite a policy for any public school that allows guns on school premises, except in certain instances, such as when police officers happen to visit a school for some reason, in the line of duty. In July of this year, Kansas lawmakers decided not only to extend de facto permission to allow guns at school to  students who hunt in the morning, before school starts; but to also allow teachers to carry concealed weapons to school!

In the tiny public school that is closest to my home, all six of my children have been bullied by oversized, pink, blond children, and when that has not been enough to satisfy the lust for violence among the inbred population that was waiting for us when we moved here, teachers began to bully me and send nasty emails to me, for such infractions as failing to support their favored candidates during elections and failing to attend their churches! The ACLU was forced to step in on my behalf! No loving parent sends a child to Frankfort School in Kansas if another choice is available. Should any of the teachers who stoop to bullying tactics experience a momentary lapse of reason while carrying a gun, the closest child would probably be the first to take a bullet, and the child with the darkest hair and skin would probably be the first at whom the bullet is deliberately aimed.

In response to the new law, allowing teachers of all levels of sanity and intelligence, or lack thereof, to carry weapons to school, EMC has decided that the risk is unworthy, and about ninety percent of Kansas public schools did not have insurance when school started. Because public schools in Kansas are not consolidated, but run by small, "unified" districts and ridicules local school boards, school boards are scrambling to appease insurance companies with newfangled "policies" about guns in schools, in an ongoing effort to convince underwriters that their buildings will be safe. If schools were consolidated and all under the control of the state of Kansas, one decision could be made for all Kansas public schools, and the insurance companies would not have to deal individually with many different school districts. In the mean time, school has started with no insurance for most public schools in Kansas. Failing to carry insurance is against the law in most states for drivers, and most businesses must carry insurance, so I can only wonder how public schools in Kansas get away with this. Also, why has this been largely ignored by Kansas media? Are parents seriously not concerned about children attending uninsurable schools?

It should also come as no surprise when the unified districts that do manage to procure insurance find themselves doing so at a higher rate than they formerly paid. The climate of Kansas schools has already been shown to be unsafe. Shouldn't the local school boards on the unified districts have seen this coming, and begged their representatives to vote otherwise on this law? Now there will be even less money for actual education, such as it is in Kansas.

Some time ago, the local school board thought I was jesting when I explained to them that allowing guns at school in the hands of students is foolish, and that if they did nothing about the guns that were taken to school by certain students, I would make their oversights public. I called the school's insurance company, and was told that under no circumstances should a weapon be taken to a school by a student or a teacher, and that the information I had just given them would be shared with their investors. I suppose those who provide the school's insurance had hoped that the school board folks would wake up and smell the coffee before a tragedy forces their eyes open, but Kansas, instead, has compounded the issue.

In other news, Iowa has begun to grant permits to carry concealed weapons to blind applicants.

Medical Information And Privacy

Have you ever wondered exactly what constitutes a beach in medical information covered by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, or "HIPAA"? Or, have you ever felt certain that your rights to privacy concerning your medical information had been violated, but not known how to file a complaint, or with whom to file a complaint? As it happens, if your privacy has accidently or deliberately been breached in some way...say....the emergency department at your local hospital accidently sent your bill to another person, business, or government agency, instead of to you; and your injury, hospital visit, and insurance information are now common knowledge among people of whom you have never seen or heard, there is information provided by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services about exactly what is lawful and what is not lawful concerning the sharing of medical information. In a case such as the one above, the hospital would have sixty days to notify you that the breach had occurred, and would also be required to notify DHHS of the breach. DHHS even offers the convenience of an online link for the filing of a complaint and reminds everyone of the fact that it is against the law for any healthcare provider to retaliate in any way against a person who has filed a complaint.


 

Wrong Diagnosis

I noticed this item on Yahoo News today about Herlinda Garcia, from Texas, who was diagnosed with stage four breast cancer. After going through seven or eight rounds of chemo, it was discovered that her illness was benign, not malignant, and she never actually had cancer at all! She sued, and a jury awarded her 367,000. After her ordeal with pain and suffering and side effects from the chemo, that does not sound like anywhere near enough.

A few years ago, I lost quite a bit of weight in a short time, lost almost all the color in my complexion, (I looked like a wannabe Goth!...dark hair, very pale) and developed horrible stomach problems. Horrible. Nothing I ate agreed with me. Also, I could eat and eat and eat and eat and never feel as if I had eaten anything, and never gain a pound. In fact, I lost so much weight, while inhaling somewhere between twelve and fifteen thousand calories a day, that I became dangerously underweight. I finally went to a doctor, and after hearing about my stomach problems, he decided that it MUST be colon cancer. The fact that I was also severely anemic (hemoglobin down to 6.5) seemed to be all the proof he needed. I argued that the problem with anemia had been with me for my entire life, although not always as severe, and that cancer usually kills it's victims in a much shorter span of time than I had tolerated these symptoms. Even the stomach problems were not new; albeit they were progressive: they had gotten worse over time, especially after pregnancy.

Three colonoscopies later, no one had been able to find any type of colon cancer or stomach cancer in any part of my soma; not even an ulcer. So what did the clinic recommend? That I undergo chemo, even though I did not have cancer! Outrageous! I said no. I was told I was going to die. I still said no. I researched stomach problems and found something called celiac disease, which is an autoimmune disease caused by intolerance to gluten; and is also hereditary. I was told that before insurance would approve the tests for celiac, which are almost prohibitively expensive, I would have to prove that it ran in my family! Unfortunately, most of my Dad's family had been deceased for quite some time, and no one had been diagnosed with celiac disease. There had been a "mystery stomach problem" that affected many of them, but without the diagnosis of a first degree relative, insurance would not cover the labwork. It would, however; cover chemo.

Eventually, the director of the clinic got tired of watching me suffer, and we did some genealogical research (a hobby of his) on some family members and ancestors of mine whose obituaries were either online or otherwise available to me. From those, he extracted and constructed enough of a family history consisting of a likelihood of gluten intolerance caused by celiac disease to convince insurance to cover the labwork. The results came back positive, and we also discovered that the type of anemia I have is hereditary as well, and is not the result of iron deficiency. Chemo and massive doses of iron would never have helped.

The moral of this story is that one should always question authority. Had I failed to question authority, I would have had chemo, stayed anemic, lost my hair for nothing, and still have been sick when it was all over, had I been lucky enough to survive. Because I questioned authority, the appropriate diagnosis was made, and I eventually recovered, much to chagrin of my ex husband! As an added bonus, my children are aware of hereditary autoimmune diseases, and of celiac disease, and if they, or any of their children ever develop symptoms, they will not have to suffer. Of course, pharmaceutical companies do not make money through celiac disease, as there are no medications or cures for it, other than carefully avoiding any food containing gluten. Health food stores, garden supply stores, and manufacturers of cookware are the businesses that make money because of it. That, I believe, is the real reason that insurance companies almost always refuse to cover the tests for celiac disease.

Hopefully, Herlinda Garcia can recover. Even winning a lawsuit is no substitute for simply being told from the very beginning that she did not have cancer.

 

More About Joaquin Rams And His Arrest

Here is more about Joaquin Rams, of Virginia, who was recently arrested for the murder of his infant son, Prince. It seems, that while Judge Michael Algeo, of Montgomery County, Maryland, was mocking Prince's mother, Hera Mcleod, for wanting more caution and fewer risks with her son's safety, Joaquin Rams was out buying insurance policies on his son.....giving the false information that his son's mother was dead! She looks very much alive to me in this video. So much for Judge Algeo's notion that Rams's dishonestly was overstated by Mcleod....
 

View more videos at: http://nbcwashington.com.

Do All Republicans Cry?

"i personally think your article is worthless fecal matter. maybe you should fact check obamas terrible record and how he will bankrupt this country completely. republicans just dont want to give the money they make away to worthless unemployed welfare recipients.maybe you should move to a communist country if you really believe the liberal garbage you just spewed!"

This comment was sent to me, not only on this blog, but in a couple of different places on the internet. Apparently, we have a sore loser on our hands. Obama's record does not bother me. Obama reformed healthcare and dealt with Bin Laden. Obama also didn't let the auto industry disappear, and has refused to sell out to the Koch Brothers. He also stopped campaigning after Hurricane Sandy and did his job, while Romney collected goods that the Red Cross told him they could not transport or use, and threw them away after posing beside them for the camaras. By the way, the people who were affected by Hurricane Sandy are some of the people who will benefit from the money you don't want to give. They are from all walks of life, not just stereotypical "welfare recipients".

Programs for relief for those living in poverty do not take more than five to six percent of taxes paid by everyone, and if you are bellyaching about "food stamps" in particular, that's between three and four percent. Most of the beneficiaries of those programs are children, and I would certainly never vote for a lawmaker who wanted children to quit school and go to work. So the single digit percent you do not want to pay is probably going to stay in place. By and large, the rest of those "unemployed welfare recipients" are pretty much employed, since there are time limits to what they can receive in benefits. As long as they can work, they are required to work. If it's healthcare you are running your sillyassed yap about to me, I think everyone is entitled to medical care, whether they can afford insurance or not. Once again, most of the people whose insurance is bought with your tax dollars and mine are children, so shut up! And when adults become ill and cannot work, they shouldn't be bankrupted or turned away by doctors and hospitals. Other than that, schools, libraries, and city infrastructures are also things that are paid for by Republicans and Democrats alike, and we should be budgeting MORE money for schools, not LESS.

As for "giving away the money you make", my self righteous complainer, there was once a day in my past, when I was at work, assisting my employer in his quest to make money, when the hospital emergency room telephoned me to let me know that my infant son had been taken there by ambulance with a fever of one hundred and six. My employer complained that without me, he could not make as much money, and threatened me with disciplinary action if I left early to care for my son. The truth here is, the money made by that company was made, not only by the company owners, but by all the employees, as well. Thereby, the money made was not only the company's, but mine, as well. My employer attempted to step on me, but I took care of my family anyway. Since he was unable to replace me at the drop of a hat, he was stuck with a mom who loves her children on his payroll. You see, there are too many people in this country, and on this planet, for things to run in as uncomplicated of a fashion as you seem to think they should run. The person who fought in the wars in which your country engaged, but is unemployed now, still made money along with you. The person with a disability is also not "worthless", as you stated. As long as you travel on OUR roads to reach your place of employment and make YOUR money, and as long as you send your children to OUR schools, and use the services of OUR police force, and a myriad of other commonly shared ammenities, you cannot really claim that you are "giving the money you make away". Obama is not bankrupting this country....businesses like Walmart are, if you really think that welfare is the biggest problem. Many of Walmart's employees are not paid a wage that enables them to live without using some of those services you decry. Yet you do want someone to ring up your purchases promptly when you shop at Walmart, don't you? Why is your money more special than that person's money? Why is your time at work more special than that person's time at work?

The "fecal matter" here was written by you......with little to no punctuation and absolutely no fact checks. And you are pathetic enough to withhold your signature or your name. I do not have to move to a Communist country. I am American, and I get to stay here. Obama won the election, you are just going to have to get used to it.

Phone Call To Northeast Kansas School's Insurance Company

At a meeting at my childrens' school yesterday, I was told by the secretary that while the superintendent had, indeed, told everyone concerned that all adults not employed by the school should, upon entrance to the building, sign in at the office, he was not serious and that it was not actually required. The principal backed her up, stating the the school's lawyer had told him that accounting for adult presences in the building in such a manner was unnecessary. So we are back to everyone from the local Avon lady pimping last year's lipstick shade in the hallway to the local sex offender registrants dropping in to use the restrooms. A "visaul" sign-in, wherein the secretary personally knows everyone who might pop in for some reason, and remembers each and every person who passes through the office will be just fine, no need to take the same precautions the rest of the nation's schools take in protecting children. And, oh.....the secretary absolutely knows everyone who might enter the school, too. And she is clairvoyant enough to know exactly which people present danger or have ulterior and unlawful motives and which people are innocent parents. Without a doubt. She will also psychically know if someone has gotton into the building, completely escaping her notice, and is hiding out in the janitor's closet, at which time she will call the principal and the football coach, who, in turn, can handle any emergency. This makes me uncomfortable, as my children are entitled to a safer school experience than that. It also is not compliant with the requirements of public schools in the rest of Kansas, or America, for that matter. It also is not only a tragedy waiting to happen, but a liability waiting to happen, so I decided to skip the normal channels I usually use when providing government employees with new anal passages and called Insurance Services of Seneca, who covers the school's insurance needs, and spoke with a young man named Matt Bachman about the liability and risk with which his company is involved. He listened, and was a bit surprised that the school board was unconcerned about students and their safety. It was also a bit of a surprise to hear that the superintendent would promise a parent one thing, and immediately negate that promise without telling the parent. What stunned him the most, though, is the statement I made about missing children, evidence, and law enforcement. If a child were ever to disappear from that particular school, law enforcement and the FBI would need a written list of every, single adult to enter the building on the day said child went missing. "Visual" sign-ins and the wiles of an inexperienced secretary DO NOT count. Without that information, a crime such as a kidnapping could take years to solve, if it was ever solved. As a taxpayor, I certainly have a right to higher standards than that for my children. Another thing about which I made him aware is this: if anything unsavory happens to any of my children at this school, and investigations reveal that it could have been prevented with simple accountability that was not implemented, I WILL take action. It will be an open and shut case, because children do have rights to appropriate protection, and after my lawyer is paid, someone WILL be making a hefty donation to the National Center For Missing And Exploited Children. If not the school district itself, the insurance company who covers the school district would probably have to pay. Insurance companies will not cover drivers who consistantly get pulled over for DWI, and they quibble about pre-existing conditions; well how is allowing the public at large access to a school for a pre-existing condition?

Thankyou so much, Matt Bachman, for listening to me, and thankyou for caring enough to try to stop a tragedy before it happens.

Mitt Romney Lies About Healthcare

I was going to write a post on this subject, but I came across this picture on Facebook, and I don't think I could describe the problems with Romney's rhetoric any better! Not only did he attempt to run healthcare in his own state exactly the same way Obama wants to run it, except with fewer choices for individuals, he did a complete 180 on the issue in order to pander to pharmaceutical companies, insurance companies, and the rest of the medical "industry"so he could still rake in big donations to his campaign and run for president. What a lying hypocrite.

Petition To State Farm For Ayla Reynolds

As many have already heard, Justin Dipietro, the father of Ayla Reynolds, bought an insurance policy against Ayla from a friend who works for State Farm Insurance. Within Two weeks of that day, Ayla disappeared. She has not been seen since Decenber 16, 2011. A very good petition has been put together, to request that State Farm do a very thorough investigation before they pay Justin Dipietro anything at all for his missing daughter. Hopefully, everyone who reads this will look at the petition and sign it. Here is the link: https://www.change.org/petitions/state-farm-life-insurance-company-investigate-the-disappearance-of-ayla-bell-reynolds

Josh Powell's Crimes Might Pay His Family

What an outrage. First, Josh Powell's wife, Susan Cox Powell, disappears in December of 2009, and Josh declines to cooperate with law enforcement's efforts to find her. Then, a series of a series of custody battles ensued with his inlaws, over his two sons. Then Josh Powell's sperm donor goes to jail on unrelated charges, having something or other to do with child pornography, (sounds like a lovely, enabling family) and it also came out that Josh Powell's sperm donor had the hots for Susan!

As if all of this is not enough dysfunctionality, Joshy-boy loses custody of his two sons, but then gets supervised visitation at his house, (since when does supervised visitation take place at a murder suspect's house, or anyone's house, for that matter?) pushes the social worker away after gaining physical access to his sons, and blows the house, himself, and his children up. All done with the enabling and support of his family. That should really be enough.....those of us who do not set houses on fire and blow people up are still reeling from reports and pictures of all this, but here's something new: Josh's brother and sister want the life insurance to pay them! That's right; about two or three months before Josh carried out his murder-suicide, he changed his life insurance, making his brother, Michael Powell, the main beneficiary, and granting smaller payouts to his sperm donor and his sister. Of course, getting help for Josh would have been much less attractive in the face of a huge paycheck for simply waiting for his mental illness to run it's course, and going to authorities with any information they had concerning their brother's premeditiation of murder would not have been as lucrative, either. So there you have it; one family's reason for enabling mental illness and crime. Who says crime doesn't pay?

Josh, Susan, Braden, and Charlie Powell

Kansas Insurance And Abortion

One more event to take place in Kansas on September 16, besides Kansans United in Voice and Spirit meeting at the state capital in Topeka.....the court will hear arguements about abortion, and about whether Governer Browncrack can tell insurance companies that they cannot cover abortion in Kansas, while they do in other states. This is really nonsense. Really.......it is. First Trimester abortions have been legal in the United States since 1972. The procedure, known as a dialation and cutterage, or D & C, is not only used for first trimester abortions, but other health problems. Browncrack wants to tell women that in order to have this procedure, they must have separate insurance. Insurance companies are saying that they cover this procedure everywhere else, refusing to cover it in one state would be complicated. So....if I am pregnant, and the baby dies in the first trimester, but I fail to miscarry (this actually happens; it's called a "missed abortion") I have to pay out of my pocket in order to avoid the ensuing life-threatening infection that could result from not having a D & C, or go to another state? Also, what's to stop women from having abortions in other states? Oh........that's right! Browncrack wants to make sure we don't have policies that cover it. Maybe we can all buy insurance in other states to begin with. Maybe I will just keep the insurance I have always had in Maryland. There are, and will always be, ways around this. And.....what if a woman is raped? Or is pregnant with a child who, for medical reasons, will not survive after birth? Is Browncrack forcing that woman to remain pregnant? Why? Is there something more sinister to this than meets the eye? Human trafficking, maybe?

It was just a thought. Here's the article.

Time For Earthquake Insurance?

Things ya never think of. Or the time-honored "those things NEVER happen here". And lets not forget the classic line, "that will never happen to me". Oh yeah. I'll bet that's what almost everyone on the East Coast, where I used to live, thought about measureable tremors and earthquakes, too. Until today. From the looks of things, I would say everyone is pretty lucky, too. Here's a pic of some damage to a building in Pennsylvania.........it's bad enough to worry about future earthquakes and start building with earthquakes in mind, but no mass destruction.

                            
                                                      Glass cracked by the earthquake

A 5.9 quake, which is what this was, would not be expected to topple a building, but it can damage your house. Most people who live on the east coast do not purchase earthquake insurance, and quite a few of them will probably have to pay out of pocket for whatever happened to their homes during the earthquake. I am guilty, myself. I have owned several homes in that part of the country, and I never even thought about earthquake insurance.

Why wasn't anyone prepared for this? Hmmm.......looking at demographics a little, I can only guess it has something to do with families either not having been in this country for over 150 years, or families not communicating, generation to generation, about things that have happened in the past. History has practically disappeared from our minds, because we have no place for extended family, and nuclear family alone cannot give us a complete picture of our familys' pasts, or of the geographical pasts of the parts of the Earth we tend. From the dust bowl to the rain forests, it seems like we never learn.

So now, there are new reasons to purchase earthquake insurance right here on this map!
According to Businessweek.com:

A policy from Chubb for earthquake insurance in New York is 50 cents per $1,000 of homeowners coverage, or about $250 a year on a home valued at $500,000. ..........Aug. 23, 2011

That will never take the place of  being prepared for a disaster, or of having a way to contact family members already in place in case a disaster occurs, but I'll bet more people are looking into buying insurance in case of an earthquake, after today.