unicorn hat

More Untallied Costs

2008-03-25T09:13:00.001-05:00

This is from an article written by friend of Marla, Catherine Philp of the London Times. Go read the whole thing.

Trauma, Kidnap and death: all in a day's work for journalists

Five years after the invasion, the former Times Baghdad correspondent reports on the war's uniquely grim toll on colleagues she worked with, and explains why they still take such enormous risks

It is a quarter to one in the morning around the al-Hamra pool and the evening's bacchanalia is just unfolding. Another bottle of Lebanese red is popped open as a notorious Italian photographer tests out his charms on a bikini-clad reporter in the pool. At a rickety plastic table, another reporter is spinning a hair-raising tale of his journey across the Western desert into Baghdad, pursued by armed bandits. By the end of the evening, four of the party will end up fully clothed in the pool.

Five years since that riotous early summer of 2003, less than a handful of that evening's revellers remain in Baghdad. At least six have been kidnapped and held hostage by insurgents. Several have been wounded; several have retired from covering conflict zones, at least for now, too troubled by what they saw there. More than half have sought professional psychological help, or been compelled to by family or employers. Some have gone on to great professional success, or just gone on. At least two never got out alive, swelling the death toll that has made Iraq the deadliest war for journalists in history.

"I don't know anyone who came out unscathed," Caroline Hawley, the BBC's one-time woman in Baghdad reflects.

The psychological toll among journalists remains unknown; many who need help have not sought it and few will discuss it openly. The average time lapse for PTSD onset - seven years - harbingers troubles yet to come.

Shame and a sense of inadequacy have stopped many journalists talking publicly of their inner battles. After all, when you have witnessed such suffering, your own anguish seems woefully small. "I feel embarrassed to be talking about this when you set it against the monumental collective suffering of Iraqis," Hawley says. "I do feel guilty."

PTSD II

2008-02-15T12:16:00.001-05:00

This echoes my past post on PTSD. I'm no expert, but this guy is. From the NYTimes:

What others view as a mental disorder — post-traumatic stress disorder, that is — Dr. Shay prefers to see as a psychological injury of war. Initially, when a service member returns from war, he or she often retain the behaviors that they adopted for their own survival while in a combat zone, he says.

"Most of it really boils down to the valid adaptations in the mind and body to the real situation of other people trying to kill you,'' he said.

Doh!

2008-02-01T11:36:00.001-05:00

My whole family currently has a cold. First it hit my partner, two days later me, two days later my stepdaughter. So this past Friday evening as we are all sitting around feeling miserable my stepdaughter has this to say:

I need to go to the ER

For anyone who knows me at all, you can understand the sinking feeling in my heart when I heard that statement. One third of my own household doesn't know that ERs aren't for colds. Especially not on Friday evenings in one of the lowest-income neighborhoods in the city.

Update

2008-01-24T16:09:00.000-05:00

The last post that I put up was written a number of months ago, and I simply forgot to put it up. So there it is now. And for the 3 readers out there, I'm not dead. I've just been a little out of it. I will be back.

I just found this today. Loves it!

You Look Great!

2007-09-05T08:14:00.000-05:00

"You look great!"

This phrase has come to surpass "How are you?" as my least favorite statement. That might seem odd, both phrases seeming innocuous, pleasant, even something you would want to hear. But for those of us living with an Invisible Chronic Illness, it becomes nails on a chalkboard. The implications of that phrase run deep. Much deeper than the giver of the compliment could comprehend.

Now, before you write me off as an overreacting bitch, let me say that I fully understand that people saying those painful words say them to make me feel better, not to make me cringe. But the effect on me is this: wanting to lunge at them, tell them to shut the #@% up, and/or to crawl into a hole and never come out. It makes me feel lonely, misunderstood, and like a failure. Let me explain.

First off, the times that I get told "You look great" are usually the times that I feel the crappiest. For example, when I'm having a Crohn's flare, I loose weight, falling into that extremely messed up beauty standard of skinnier is better, no matter what. The internal fevers and chills give my cheeks a rosy glow that signifies health to most people. To me it means uncontrollable sweating, and my body going haywire internally.

But I don't let my illnesses and disabilities stop me from having a positive attitude, from going to work, from interacting when I can with the outside world. So how do I respond when I'm feeling like a pile of steaming dung, and every where I turn I am faced with those nails on a chalk board: "You look GREAT"? I usually say: "thanks" and leave it at that. But implicit in that loathed statement is that if I look great, I must feel great. I don't mind most people thinking that. I don't need everyone to know how I suffer, I don't need to define myself by my disabilities alone (though there is no denying they have helped shape who I am, and what I do, and I am not ashamed of that, or I try to not be ashamed of that because I shouldn't be ashamed of it).

The problem comes when it becomes difficult to get people to respect the limits I must set if they think that I'm feeling great. Plus, many people who know that I haven't been doing great (for example, I just had brain surgery, and the honkin' scar that goes from mid skull to the base of my neck, along with the walker I'm using so that I don't fall over when I loose my balance) makes it hard to pretend that everything is OK. So people expect an explanation. Why are you relying on these things that you obviously don't need, why can't you hang out all night long partying, why can't you come back to work, why can't you just push yourself like we need you to when you look great?

It's not just me. From an article from the St. Louis Dispatch on Debi Stanley, a woman living with chronic pain:

Stanley felt isolated, angry and stigmatized, Rengo-Kocher says.

"She needed someone to listen to her, believe her, follow her through the process of controlling her pain instead of letting the pain control her," Rengo-Kocher said.

Stanley's frustration was not unusual, says Penney Cowan, founder and head of the American Chronic Pain Association.

Much of the frustration, Cowan says, stems from the inability of others — including family, friends and co-workers — to see the source of the pain.

One day you're nearly fine, and the next day you can't move. "That sends mixed messages to people when they watch," Cowan said, speaking from her office in Sacramento, Calif. "You could do it today, so why not yesterday?

"It sends a confusing message to the person with the pain, too."

Living with pain sucks, but what sucks even more is when the people who love you and see you every day don't really and fully believe you. It gets you doubting yourself: these people know me, there must be some truth to their disbelief. Maybe I really am causing myself this pain, maybe I really do need to just buck up, maybe I'm not trying hard enough and that is bringing on the pain, maybe I really do just need to get out of the house and that will make me better. Being in pain and thinking that you have control over it, and are just not exercising that control.... ouch. I go through cycles of acceptance, where I realize that I don't have control over the pain, but that doesn't mean that I don't have control over my happiness, my life, my loves and passions, my attitude. But it's amazing how quickly I can be knocked out of that acceptance by one statement or implied statement from someone else, from strangers, acquaintances, but especially from someone I care about.

It has taken me a long time to come to the realization that people can't read minds, and that like everyone else in the world, I sometimes need help. I can't do it all myself. No one can. In order to get the help I need, I sometimes need to ask for it, specifically. That is when I am often faced with those doubting Thomases: "Oh, you can do it. Just try harder. I don't want to coddle you, that's just doing you a disservice. You shouldn't coddle yourself." and so on. That's when the desire to crawl into a hole starts kicking in.

I'm a pretty tough chick. I've traveled the world, pushed through extreme fear, emotions, pain, depression, extreme work conditions, trauma (both physical and mental), being a caregiver for loved ones, and more. And I would like to think I've done these things without whining, without complaining, I've pushed on, without letting on that all I've wanted to do was give up. So when I do finally ask for that help, because I really really can't do X on my own, and am met with such reactions.... I feel misunderstood and terribly terribly lonely.

I may feel lonely, but I've come to understand that I'm not alone.

September 10-17 is National Invisible Chronic Illness Week. There are loads of great resources out there for folks living with hidden disabilities, and those that love and want to support and understand them. Some of my favorite websites that fall into that category are the following: 10 things NOT to say to a chronically ill person (scroll down the page to get to the list); ChronicBabe.com; Beyond Chronic Pain; and the American Pain Foundation.

In honor of this week, and in honor of those who are in your life, or who will be, whether you know it or not, (remember, they aren't called invisible for nothing) who power through life regardless of what holds them back, put your doubts aside and take a looksie. You might learn a thing or two. And for those of you who live with an invisible illness, do the same, in honor of yourself, the person in our lives we are most often the hardest on, and who we need to care for and understand before we can be the great friends, spouses, parents, and family members that we long to be.

Braille Graffiti

2007-08-31T09:42:00.000-05:00

Thanks to the AWESOME Wooster Collective for sharing this.

My Inner Life

2007-08-21T07:51:00.000-05:00

I have a hard time understanding people's lack of spirituality. I fully understand people's lack of religiosity, especially their disdain for the historical implications of most organized religion, and of any dogma in general. But at the same time, spirituality, my "faith" informs everything I do. That's not to say that I do things because I'm "supposed" to, because it was written down by man, but rather, because it comes from a place deep inside. A place which is both me, and is beyond me, that says: this is the right way; or: this is the wrong way. Something that is beyond self-interest alone (though I'm sure that is a part of it, evolutionarily speaking).

I've never been good at explaining this, and while some of the good people that I surround myself with are spiritual or religious, many, if not most, are not. They find it quaint or slightly amusing that someone like myself has so deeply and completely rooted myself, my life, my actions, in faith. (Personally I don't know how one could know even the basics of the workings of the universe and not live in a mind-blowing state of awe beyond ones self. We are the universe reflecting back on itself and I just don't see that as an accident. If it were an accident, that in and of itself would be miraculous.) At any rate, as I said, I have a hard time explaining what I mean when I say I am spiritual, and that I have faith. So this quote from the Dalai Lama hit a chord with me, it is a good way to explain what I mean when I say that I'm a very spiritual person.

Spirituality I take to be concerned with those qualities of the human spirit -such as love and compassion, patience, a sense of responsibility, a sense of harmony, which bring happiness to both self and others.
-His Holiness the Dalai Lama

Oh Those Frivolous Lawsuits

2007-07-26T12:54:00.001-05:00

From the Cincinnati Post/Dayton Daily News

Monday, July 23, 2007

Docs don't have to be insured

By Anthony Gottschlich

FAILURE TO DISCLOSE BRINGS PENALTY

Failure to disclose a lack of malpractice insurance isn't a crime in Ohio, but it's subject to disciplinary action by the State Medical Board of Ohio.

Penalties include a reprimand up to a permanent revocation of the physician's medical license.

DAYTON - Driving a car is enough of a risk that Ohio requires its motorists to carry liability insurance.
But that same reasoning doesn't apply to another life-and-death endeavor: the practice of medicine. There's no law requiring physicians to carry professional liability insurance.

Patrick Wilson found that out after his 44-year-old wife died following her second weight loss surgery in 2003 at Sycamore Hospital in Miamisburg.

Wilson tried to sue the surgeon who performed the operation, Dr. David J. Fallang of the Surgical Weight Loss Center in Dayton, but his lawyer gave up when he discovered Fallang didn't have malpractice insurance and had shielded his assets from civil judgments.

"Dr. Fallang has succeeded in making himself judgment-proof," attorney J. Pierre Tismo of Dyer, Garofalo, Mann & Schultz wrote to Wilson.

While malpractice insurance isn't required, Ohio law mandates that physicians who lack the insurance inform patients in writing and obtain a signed consent form prior to treatment in non-emergency cases.

Fallang, who's been sued 22 times in Butler and Montgomery counties for malpractice since 1991, didn't do that.

"I never knew such a statute existed," Fallang, 57, said from his office at Elizabeth Place, the former St. Elizabeth's Hospital.

This brilliant surgeon's excuse?

The Middletown resident admits "I'm not perfect," but he doesn't believe any of the cases against him involved malpractice. He said the suits were largely manufactured by the "medical malpractice lawsuit industry."

Those damn lawyers, killing patients, just so that the family can become wealthy.

"To be perfectly blunt, I don't believe that it's my responsibility to make my patients rich if there should be an adverse occurrence," Fallang said. "My responsibility is to take the best medical care of them that I know how."

Now, just about anything can go wrong in any kind of procedure. You know that as a patient going into whatever you are going into. For example, I'm about to have major surgery. I'm not planning on suing my surgeon. I have the utmost faith in him as an upstanding guy who would in fact take the best medical care of me that he knows how. That's cool. And it doesn't mean that something couldn't go wrong, I know that. But unfortunately, not all surgeons are like him. And at the expense of the patients, those few surgeons really fuck it up for the rest of them, making it sound like anything that is actual malpractice, gross negligence, whatever is just some greedy ass person who was willing to die or be deformed or maimed or disabled for life to line their pockets with some doctor's duckets. I know surgeons are among the top 25 paid professions in the country, they are not stupid, so why do they buy into the insurance industry racket and place the patient at the heart of the problem?

Happy Birthday ADA!

2007-07-26T12:53:00.001-05:00

Today marks the 17 year anniversary of the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Almost two decades later and still so far to go.

I Don't Think I Want to Know the Answer

2007-07-24T11:17:00.001-05:00

From The Washington Post

In Over Your Head? Ask Your Body

By January W. Payne

Tuesday, July 24, 2007; Page HE01

"The issue of feeling out of control is probably the single most important universal stressor," said David Baron, chairman of the department of psychiatry at the Temple University School of Medicine.

So, I have little control over many things, which is apparently important. OK, I know it is important because I struggle with it every moment of every day. It is part and parcel of having any kind of disability. Damn it, how do you let go of control when you have no option? While simultaneously not freaking out? You have to grab tight to whatever you can muster control over, but damn it takes alot of getting used to. Advice?

Rolling On

2007-07-18T18:04:00.001-05:00

I am reading Martha Stewart bridal magazine. Yes you read that right. I am sitting in an airport, listening to announcements of flights to Paris, Madrid, anywhere. I watch people go by with what is obviously many of their worldly possessions on their backs and dragging along behind them. And I can't take it. I can't be in this airport, watching this life go by, and know that my life isn't about to change. I'm not about to meet a group of people my age, who share my passion and faith and bleeding heart and DRIVE and lack of doubt and hope. No possible new best friends waiting across the concourse. No life changing experiences waiting half way across the world. Isn't that what travel is for? Aren't airports just conduits for life altering experiences? If not, I'm not sure what to do in one.

So I buy Martha Stewart Bride. To my defense, I am getting married and it has been a 7 year courtship and to date 13 month engagement with one month of ring to show for it, and that's IT. But that's because I so don't care. "Eh" has always been my general feeling about marriage. Growing up I just figured that I wouldn't have a husband (what would have happened to him was fuzzy, just that he wasn't there anymore and it was me and my kids). I thought if I did get married it would be just like one of the dozens of weddings I went to as the kid of a Eastern European folk music group (a must at most Orthodox weddings). I saw myself in each bride, and man did I love to dance with her. But still.... I never really saw it for me.

Then my brother got married. He had the wedding I had always imagined (though a tad short of the traditional 3 day Serbian gala). Married at our church, reception in our backyard where my mom and us kids grew up in. Lamb roast, lots of slivovitza, and lots of music and dancing (again the traditional kind). So, that happened and I didn't need that anymore. So that left me with nothing. I searched: what would be perfect for us? Most weddings I attended I wanted to run out of the room screaming. And if I had been the bride, I guarantee I would have run down the aisle. I would have waited until that moment and I would have bolted. But I have been to a couple that were so them, so the bride and groom, so non-traditional and fun that I thought: why the hell not? I can do whatever I want. Ooooooooo, what a dangerous thought process. It tends to turn into paralization. I came up with some ideas, mainly a destination wedding to Costa Rica to keep down the cost, to show my love a place that I loved, be able to invite some Central American friends who I haven't seen forever, and could you beat the price? I mean, who would go to that wedding? Short guest list anyone? And for those who did go, it would be the closest family members and friends and it would be fairly easy for them to get around (in comparison to the other beautiful destinations I had in mind). But that plan turned out to be too popular. And the reality set in that his parents probably wouldn't leave the state, let alone the country for a wedding, and this isn't all about me, it's about us.

So I put if off, put it off. Then my dad died. Now I see. Now I see the importance of it all. Having something to celebrate in life. Coming together with those you love in a way that is beautiful. Being happy. Celebrate. That word has taken on a whole different meaning in the past few weeks. I didn't think that I would be able to crack a smile for.... I have no idea how long. Then my Godmother forced us to buy a ring. And there we were, celebrating together already. Celebrating our love for each other, all around. Something positive amongst such negativity. So maybe that's why I bought the magazine. I've railed against such things for so long, that now, now that what is normal....isn't. Well, maybe its time to turn the tables. Might as well give it a try. Of course I haven't been able to enjoy it, and I feel very ill looking at it, holding it, thinking that any stranger might think its mine (though the clerk who sold it to me complimented me on my ring), but I think that will pass and I will be able to indulge in fantasy for a while. When we first bought the ring (the diamond ring, oh my god the diamond ring (its vintage but still)) I almost threw up multiple times in the first few hours. I would look at it and couldn't believe the amount of money I was carrying on my finger. How many children could be immunized with that dough? How many wells built? How many microloans given? How many retired underground gun running revolutionaries from developing countries could buy a slice of peace with those $400? I've obviously have not been very good at wishing for things for myself over the years.

So here's the bright side (and trust me, with how much I've walked through concourses feeling less and less like a real person, today, this is a wonderfully bright side), unlike other airport experiences in the recent past, I don't have a gimpy, though less gimpy than me, 70 something year old 4' 11" woman pushing me in a wheelchair because I can't stand. No extremely uncomfortable woman has to pat me down with plastic gloves as I sit in the chair, holding up the rest of the busy busy busy world in their bare socks.
And now its time to board the plane. Back to my home, my routine, my lackluster existence that I wish no one else had to be subjected to. I could handle it, but I don't want to force others to handle me. I know this is an ablist thought, this feeling of being a burden to all who surround me, but there it is. At least I'm not ready for that plane to crash yet.

Post Script

2007-06-25T15:54:00.001-05:00

For those of you finding yourselves all of a sudden the caregiver for your parent, here is a recent USA Today article which has some links to resources that might help. I know for myself it wasn't something I was prepared for in any way. We think about the future, but this part of the future seems to be a blind spot. No one wants to think about it happening, and then all of a sudden, one evening, there you are. The tables have turned, and there is no turning them back. As the first article in the USA Today series says:

"Starting to take over for your parents can be one of the most distressing experiences of a lifetime."

Its not something anyone whats to think about, but its something that you need to know about because its a time you need support, and trust me, social workers, discharge planners, admissions directors, doctors, nurses, aides, hospice teams; they are all great, but not one of them will help you to navigate the choppy waters of long term care and its financing on a personal level.

I think what happens to so many is that their kids can't deal, and the parent gets neglected. The staff at the nursing home were amazed and so happy that Dad had people to care for him. So many family members simply admit their loved one and tell the staff "call me when its over." Understandable to a degree because the difficulty of being a caregiver for a parent is inconceivable. But our parents deserve more. So take a moment, and begin to think about it. Begin to prepare yourself. You may think you have time, but you may not. My dad had just turned 62.

I Want to be Empowered

2007-06-25T15:26:00.000-05:00

A little over a year ago I saw a documentary on PBS that scared me to the core. It was all about MRSA, basically a super staph infection that is drug resistant. Yikes! The rates of MRSA were frightening, but even more concerning was what was being done to minimize MRSA and its impacts on patients, which, with the exception of the VA and the Pittsburgh hospital systems, is next to nothing. And its not like the steps to be taken to control it are overwhelming. We are talking handwashing between patients, doing a test of incoming patients and isolating those who tested positive for the bug. Both the VA and Pgh have had great luck by instituting these small steps in a real systematic way. Great for them, but I'm not a vet, and I don't live in Pittsburgh. But I also wasn't planning on going into the hospital any time soon so I didn't loose any sleep over it.

Fast forward to today and the fear and sense of helplessness in me is growing. I spent the last 6 weeks in hospitals and nursing homes, caring for my father who passed away last week. During that time he acquired a staph infection, which I think is what ultimately meant: time's up. The day after he died, I came down with pneumonia. Bound to happen. 8-12 hours a day in a sick care institution, no pneumonia shot, lots of interactions with fluid from Dad. Add to that the fact that in the next month or two I will become the patient myself as I go in for brain surgery. Surgery that will leave my spinal chord fluid draining out of a shunt in my spine for 48 hours. Surgery on someone with not the best immune system to say the least. The good news is that I'm not on steroids or immunosuppresants anymore.

So my question is: what can I do to protect myself? I have no control over what health care providers do or don't do. I could remind them every time they enter my room to use the hand sanitizer next to the door, which I'm sure they would just love, but outside my room, I can't know what their hygiene is like, and I certainly couldn't control it even if I did know. So what can I do as a patient? I'm scared silly.

Maybe I wouldn't be so frightened if I wasn't in the midst of a bout of magical thinking brought on by current circumstances. Considering the past 2 months, its no surprise, a quick timeline: 1. I find out about having to have brain surgery 2. my dad goes into the hospital for congestive heart failure 3. my dad was denied care by the insurance company, forcing a fight, and hours upon hours spent dealing with bureaucracies (thank GOODNESS I do what I do for a living, but still it was unbelievable) 4. my father in law has a massive stroke 5. my dad's kidneys fail 6. my dad gets into a nursing home, then goes back to the hospital, then back to the nursing home, then back to the hospital, then into hospice 7. my dad dies 8. I get pneumonia 9. I go to clean out my dad's apartment and discover he was a compulsive hoarder (who knows what kind of bug I might have in my system after cleaning it out) So as you can see, things seem to be going really wrong, and what else but MRSA could fit into this timeline? I shouldn't even ask that question. But still, when you look at the statistics of a newly released report on the problem, I can't help but shudder.

If anyone knows of tips for a gal in my position, feel free. Please.

Disgusting

2007-06-21T07:46:00.000-05:00

From today's Washington Post.

As the nation struggles to improve medical and mental health care for military personnel returning from Afghanistan and Iraq, about 1.8 million U.S. veterans under age 65 lack even basic health insurance or access to care at Veterans Affairs hospitals, a new study has found.

The ranks of uninsured veterans have increased by 290,000 since 2000, said Stephanie J. Woolhandler, the Harvard Medical School professor who presented her findings yesterday before the House Committee on Veterans Affairs.

"The data is showing that many veterans have no coverage and they're sick and need care and can't get it," Woolhandler said.

Rep. Bob Filner (D-Calif.), the committee's chairman, said taking care of veterans is a continuing cost of war. "All veterans should have access to 'their' health-care system," he said. "This is rationing health care to veterans, those who have served our nation. And I think it's unacceptable for a nation of our wealth and our ability."

The Air We Breathe

2007-05-03T15:08:00.000-05:00

This is frightening (what in the world these days isn't). The American Lung Association has a map reflecting the "State of the Air: 2007" report, which allows you to see what the air quality in your area is, right down to the county level. It tells you how many "High Ozone Days" you've had, particle pollution (aka soot) levels, and who is at risk (well, all of us are at risk as we all breathe, but there are some that are at higher risk than others). Franklin County, where Columbus is located, got a big old F in all areas, putting over 420,000 central Ohioans at increased risk, solely counting those with diabetes, and lung and cardiovascular diseases. Check out how your state and county compare. Then take action and tell the EPA to grow a pair, and tighten ozone pollution standards.

The Difference?

2007-04-26T17:38:00.001-05:00

I've been having a hard time getting my mind around what happened at Virginia Tech, how our Country has been collectively grieving, and how this all relates to what is happening, and what we have ignited in Iraq. On the one hand, my heart aches deeply for the families of the victims of this utterly disturbing individual. I know the pain of senselessly losing someone you love to an act of purposeless hatred and violence. I know that we all are in pain from what happened in that quiet town in Virginia. We feel deeply for what happened and collectively ask ourselves: "Why?"

But how do I link the outpouring of humanity and love and solidarity with the victims and their families, with the (for the most part) lack of that same thing for innocent lives lost en masse, daily, hourly, in Iraq? It could be said that we know Virginia, or places just like it. We could see that being ourselves, or our loved ones. That is not so easy to imagine when its people who live half way across the world. Someplace whose streets we have never roamed, whose universities we have never studied in, whose cafes and record stores we haven't perused. We tell ourselves: it is different. "I can't understand that, because it is so different from me. Everything about it is different. I don't know what its like to live in a war zone, I don't know what its like to lose 17 members of my family and be left orphaned. Therefore, it is different. The pain must be different, the feelings inside of the people experiencing this must be different."

But it is not.

I think many of us have imagined over the past few weeks what it must have been like for those terrified students in Virginia. Going about their daily grind, wiping sleep from their eyes, downing that first cup of coffee and settling in for another lecture, then........... I think we've imagined the fear, the panic, the confusion, the "Oh my God, this is happening" feeling that students must have been feeling. But how many of us have thought of those in Iraq, that same day, getting up, eating breakfast, getting that first cup of coffee, jumping on the bus to get to work, or to the store, or to hang out with friends, or to go to school and then...........

It is not because we don't care. It is not because we just don't like brown people, or A-rabs. It's because we think it is different. How could we go on if we thought of it any other way? How could we function, and live our lives if we realized, fully and truly in our hearts, that what happens every day, and has been happening for years now, is the same. This pain, is the pain we would feel. No different. Just more tragic perhaps because the world isn't holding candle light vigils for the innocent civilians, just like you and me, who are caught in this awful, incomprehensible cross fire. What if no one mourned with us after 9/11? What if the world turned its back in indifference and numbness? But they didn't. So why should we? Can we do differently? I honestly don't know. I know that it is hard for me to function on a daily basis thinking about what is happening. If I truly let it in, I would be paralyzed. Then what? I'm still at a loss for what to say, how to react, how to make a difference. But all I know, is that a family's pain half way across the world, is no different from mine.

Buzzzz...First Ever US Malaria Day

2007-04-25T16:49:00.001-05:00

Marking Malaria Awareness Day

Did you know . . .

In a phenomenon known as "airport malaria," infected mosquitoes can be transported to the U.S. by aircraft coming from malaria-endemic countries?
Malaria is the single most infectious disease threat to U.S. troops worldwide?
Malaria is the biggest killer of children under the age of five in Africa?

Wednesday, April 25th, is the first ever U.S. Malaria Awareness Day. Health leaders around the country and the world are recognizing this day in conjunction with Africa Malaria Day .

To learn more about the lesser-known aspects of malaria, see 26 Things You Probably Don't Know About Malaria and the Families USA press release on Malaria Day.

Families USA has also just completed its Investing in Global Health Research publication series, including a fact sheet on malaria. The publications cover some of the major diseases affecting millions world-wide, and talk about why government investment in global health is crucial for humanitarian, diplomatic, economic, and military reasons.

Families USA's work on malaria is part of its Global Health Initiative (http://www.familiesusa.org/globalhealth ).

Visit the web address below to tell your friends about this.
Tell-a-friend!

If you received this message from a friend, you can sign up for Families USA.

--------
Families USA | 1201 New York Ave., NW, Suite 1100, Washington, DC 20005
www.familiesusa.org | info@familiesusa.org

Don't Mourn- Organize!

2007-04-16T18:44:00.000-05:00

Today marks the two year anniversary of our loss of the Marla. Below are remarks I made a number of months ago at the book release of Jennifer Abrahamson's biography of Marla.

*************************************************************************************
The publication of a biography of slain aid-worker and civilian casualty campaigner Marla Ruzicka is a good occasion to reflect on her life, brutally cut short April last year by a suicide car-bomber on the Baghdad Airport road.

Marla and I went to college together. We lived together and studied human rights and social change in New York, Central America, East Africa, the Middle East – and spent some down time in Europe. Our senior year we spent our first semester in Jerusalem. After nearly 4 years of witnessing to the world’s pain, I was feeling hopeless, weary. Marla and I fought hard about this, with her constantly trying to pull me back from that place, that hopelessness. Jerusalem is where she infected me with the swimming bug. Every morning, laps for an hour -- ignoring the lascivious, attentive gaze of octogenarian Israeli men, if she didn't care, why should I? Besides, it always included a wonderful gossip fest in the sauna afterwards, and how can you turn that down?

After Jerusalem we went our separate ways: her to finish up her fieldwork in Southern Africa, me to finish up my fieldwork in Guatemala. My feelings of hopelessness grew during that time, while Marla continued to push forward, and eventually we met back up at college for our senior year presentations.

I wasn't prepared. I had no idea what I was going to say -- no notes, no outline and after about 30 minutes or so of haltingly talking about the history of land rights in Guatemala and the situation on the ground at that time, I finally sputtered to a stop.

Marla's hand immediately shot up "What can we do about this? Like, what can we, sitting here in this auditorium right here, today, do to make things different for Guatemalans?" she asked.

That was Marla: cut to the chase. What could we, personally, do RIGHT NOW.

I was dumbfounded by her question because I simply did not know. I couldn't see a way, a path, right then, and I was immobilized by it.

After graduation, I went back to Ohio to do odd jobs, she to San Francisco to hit the activist circuit and eventually I became unemployed and once again, depressed.

Marla offered to fly me out to San Francisco for my birthday: we would eat burritos in the Mission, go thrifting (a shared passion), have long night chats in the hot tub while drinking red wine, (talking about boys and how the pretty girls got everything handed to them), go salsa dancing with Philip at the clubs. In need of some serious girlfriend time, I took her up on her offer. And we did every single one of those things she promised.

But, I was with Marla -- which meant I also ended up at 3 protests, got arrested, made the local news, volunteered at the office of the non-profit Global Exchange, attended impromptu fundraisers and a million other things. And Marla did even more -- being on east coast time, I would awake at 5 am, and she would have already slipped out to do whatever else she did. I remember her being very excited about finding a gym open 24 hours a day.

During one of those late night chats in the hot tub she gave me some career advice: "just go down to your local peace and justice center and get work."

"Marla," I replied. "It's Ohio, we don't have a peace and justice center to just go down to."

Her response? "Great! You can start one!"

I rolled my eyes, "Marla, this is Ohio. Get real." But I can see now, I was the one who needed to get real. If she had not been Marla, if she had not been so sweet, she would have simply said: "Get over yourself -- all hands to task!"

It wasn't long afterwards that she departed to Afghanistan with a sleeping bag, a few hundred dollars, and a mandate from Global Exchange to survey the impact of the U.S. war to topple the Taliban on the country's long-suffering civilians.

She ended up making history by successfully lobbying for compensation for the innocent victims of U.S. military action -- first in Afghanistan and later in Iraq.

It was a path that became her life's work and which also led her to its bitter, premature end.

When we were in El Salvador, Dean Brackley, a Jesuit priest we met with told us: "You must open your heart to the pain of the world and let that pain break your heart. It may feel as if you are losing your grip on the world, but in reality the world is losing its grip on you. When you can let go and lose control of your world, then you begin to fall in love, then you can truly begin to heal."

I know that Marla and I both felt that way -- we had those kinds of hearts.

But we went different ways with it. Like many people, I fell into a selfish, defensive shell of cynicism. You try to protect your heart. You try to keep the pain out by convincing yourself that there's nothing you can do. I was indulging in that cynicism. Marla saw that, and fought me on it, but she never indulged in it herself. She battled cynicism in herself as well as others, but never indulged it.

She battled fear, loneliness, pain, depression, doubt, herself. But she never let it stop her. She never stopped going. Because she had this underlying motivation: see suffering, do what you can to make it stop -- whether it was her family, her friends, or anyone else in the world -- that is what drove her.

Even if you can't see a way right then, it does not matter: if you keep going, the way will show itself.

Even now, more than a year after she died, I still meet people whose lives Marla changed.

I feel blessed to be able to have witnessed her transformation from a bubbly revolutionary teenager, tripping over her own words so you could barely understand her, into an effective woman who was eventually able to channel all of that revolutionary love and personal love and pain into truly changing the world --

Please visit the website of the Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict (CIVIC), the organization that Marla founded, to learn more about the important work that the organization is carrying on. www.civicworldwide.org

A biography of Marla's life "Sweet Relief: The Marla Ruzicka story" written by Jennifer Abrahamson was published by Simon Spotlight Entertainment, an imprint of Simon and Schuster. A movie about her life is being produced by Paramount Pictures, with Kirsten Dunst slated to play the lead.

US Government Releases Documents on Civilian Casualties

2007-04-15T10:08:00.000-05:00

Important Announcement From CIVIC:

The US government released the first ever documents on civilian casualties through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request made in June 2006 by the ACLU. CIVIC has also requested this information but until now the government had denied its release. After years of being kept in the dark about civilian casualties caused by US forces, we now have two thousand documents detailing the human cost of war and a snapshot of what the United States does – and still fails to do – after bullets and bombs harm Iraqi and Afghan civilians.

Through a special arrangement with the ACLU, CIVIC was able to preview the documents before their release this morning. We noted that there are several serious problems with the US military's handling of the claims, including inconsistent administration of condolence payments to innocent civilians and poor record keeping of injuries and deaths. Click here to visit the homepage where you can read our press release, the NY Times article published this morning and visit the ACLU's searchable document database to take a look for yourself.

Sincerely,

Sarah & Marla B

Here it Comes

2007-04-11T14:35:00.001-05:00

I was just introduced to the best site ever. EVER. oooooooo. If you are a cat person, just click here. Don't sue me if your head explodes or anything.

Pain Part V

2007-03-31T10:50:00.000-05:00

If you have pain, if a loved one of yours has pain, if you care about justice, please take a moment to read this Action Alert from the American Pain Foundation regarding clemency for Richard Paey (see Pain Part II for a background article from the NY Times, or here for background from the Huffington Post. It will only take a couple of clicks to send a message to Florida Governor Charlie Christ.

Do the Right Thing

2007-03-30T09:08:00.001-05:00

New York City to Reward Poor for Doing Right Thing

By DIANE CARDWELL

March 30, 2007

Seeking new solutions to New York's vexingly high poverty rates, the city is moving ahead with an ambitious experiment that will pay poor families up to $5,000 a year to meet goals like attending parent-teacher conferences, going for a medical checkup or holding down a full-time job, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said yesterday

I will be really interested to hear what you all think of this initiative. I have mixed emotions. My first reaction was: the underlying theory of this "experiment" to get poor people to do what is "good for them," is that people simply aren't doing these things because they just don't want to, they are lazy and greedy, and if we give them money, then they will stop being the irresponsible people we all know they are, because why else would they be poor? But take a look at who were are talking about.

To be eligible, families must have at least one child entering fourth, seventh or ninth grade and a household income of 130 percent or less of the federal poverty level, which equals roughly $20,000 for a single parent with two children.

To be eligible, you have to make no more than $20,000 for a family of three. And that's $20,000 in NEW YORK CITY, not rural Ohio, where it would still be hard to make ends meet and do everything that you need to do on 20K a year. Once again, do you think the reason people aren't making routine medical checkups, or parent teacher conferences are because they don't want to? I am all for innovative, out of the box, new ideas that could rev things up, and address what is an ever increasing income gap, with the numbers of people living in extreme poverty growing faster than any other sector of the population, but.... is this the way? Hmmmm.

How Many Days Left?

2007-03-30T08:40:00.001-05:00

And how much more can we fuck up our world and damage all people, but mostly women and children, during these remaining days of the Bush Administration? Well, we kind of sort of maybe partially dodged this bullet:

WASHINGTON (AP) — The head of the federal office responsible for providing women with access to contraceptives and counseling to prevent pregnancy resigned unexpectedly Thursday after Medicaid officials took action against him in Massachusetts.

This individual, Dr. Eric Keroack, before being appointed by Bush to head Health and Human Services' Office of Population Affairs, had apparently been known, and worked for an organization that doesn't believe in contraception. That's right, doesn't believe in contraception. Who knows what he has been able to fuck up in the five months that he was in this position, but at least he's out.

Rich Bastards Suffer Too

2007-03-29T17:11:00.000-05:00

Immigration : The Human Cost

Interesting Influences

2007-03-26T16:46:00.000-05:00

The Washington Post did an article this weekend linking together the backgrounds of Obama and Clinton through one man: Saul Alinsky. For those of you unfamiliar with the guy, there is a brief narrative of his life included in the article. I never realized that both had this connection, and how deeply his influence continues to run through our society even today.

I fell into Alinsky style organizing after coming back from tramping around the world in college. My heart had been broken as I saw the extreme change that needs to happen at every turn, and was at a loss on how to make those changes happen, and even unsure if they could happen at all. I had packed my idealism away in the back of some closet of my heart, and tried to make it day by day. Marla was always there, poking and prodding: What are you working on? Why don't you start some radical organization? Organize a protest and just...just...I didn't have the energy to argue with her much about it, but to sum it up, I didn't do those things because I didn't think it would work. I lived in Ohio, she in San Fransisco. Ohio would never get it. So I took various jobs as temps, answering phones, doing data entry, feeling less and less like my dreams had led me to believe I would always feel. Then it happened.

I had finally packed up my dreams, and put them away for a career as an interpreter. At least I would be facilitating communication between people, bringing folks together to understand each other, even if it didn't mean changing much. I accepted my space in the interpreter program at a local community college, and resigned myself. A couple of weeks before classes were to start, I got a random email from an organization that trained organizers in congregation based settings. "Huh" I thought, "this might be interesting, I'll go ahead and drop my hat in the ring." By the end of that week, I had gone through multiple interviews, and bam, I was in training to organize. First book on our reading list: Rules for Radicals by Saul Alinsky.

Ah ha! I thought (and apparently so did Clinton and Obama) here is a way to be idealistic, but realistic at the same time! Ohioans could be moved by their self-interests, not slogans, empathy, or street theater. My pragmatism felt validated. As Clinton noted:

Much of Alinsky's agenda, she wrote after interviewing him three times, "does not sound 'radical.' " Even his tactics, she concluded, were often "non-radical, even 'anti-radical.' His are the words used in our schools and churches, by our parents and their friends, by our peers. The difference is that Alinsky really believes in them and recognizes the necessity of changing the present structures of our lives in order to realize them."

I tried to explain this to Marla, involve her in serious and lengthy debates over ideas. She never really responded to my arguments, just let me know, as always, that she supported me and was so glad that I was finally happy. Well, I wasn't happy, but I was moving forward and after having been so stuck for what felt like forever, that felt almost as good, if not better. Of course in the mean time, Marla was out with her own brand of organizing, "the Marla Model" of organizing, and we all know how amazing that turned out to be. I don't know why I ever tried to push her in any other direction, she was not made for the Alinksy mold. Hind-sight.

Last week I was giving a "community organizing" training to some staff at my place of employment. These are all organizers, but none had been trained in community organizing per se. They were surprised by the ideas of self-interest, one to ones, power, and the like. I was amazed at how helpful they felt it was to have a basic understanding of these things in order to get people to act (their goal, and the reason I was asked to perform the training).

Then today I went to lunch with someone from my job who I have not had the chance to really get to know. I sneakily thought: I need to do a 1-1 with her, and see what makes her tick. We asked each other the normal softening up questions. She asked the same questions I asked. It turns out that even though we are about 20 years apart in age, we both started out being trained in the "Alinksy Style" of organizing. And like Obama and Clinton, we both ended up working the system a bit differently than we maybe had initially imagined.

I could fill up a whole blog with what' s wrong with Alinksy, with community organizing, with organizing in general. But in the end, I couldn't imagine a better foundation of skills on which to build in order to change the world.

Is this guy so prevalent in your lives too?

I Second This Emotion

2007-03-14T13:10:00.000-05:00

You are not alone in your sanity and anger. Outtakes from from an article posted on TomPaine.com:

Damn Right, We're Angry
Paul Waldman
March 14, 2007

Yes, we’re angry at George W. Bush. We’re not angry at him because of who he sleeps with, and we’re not angry at him because we think he represents some socio-cultural movement we didn’t like 40 years ago, or because he hung out with a different crowd than we did in high school. We’re angry at him because of what he’s done.

Yes, we’re angry about Iraq, and we may be for the rest of our lives.

We’re angry that America may now be the only country in the world in which torture is an officially sanctioned policy, proclaimed proudly in public.

We’re angry that they tell us we have to shred our freedoms in order to be safe, and that so many of our fellow citizens shrug their shoulders and think it’s no big deal.

And we’re angry that Bush has made our nation so hated around the world.

We’re angry that the federal government is brimming with people fundamentally opposed to the mission of the agencies over which they preside, the anti-environmentalists who run the Interior department, the mining company lobbyists in charge of mine safety and the union busters in charge of worker safety.

We’re still angry about Hurricane Katrina, that our government left thousands of its citizens stranded to suffer and die, while the president thought that the guy presiding over the disastrous failure was doing a heckuva job.

We’re angry that our government sends religious fundamentalists around the world to discourage condom use, thus condemning untold numbers of people to unwanted pregnancy, disease and death.

We’re angry that forty years after the Voting Rights Act, the Republican Party continues to exploit racism and do everything in its power to stop black people from voting in each and every election.

Those are a few of the things we’re angry about, and yes, that’s a lot of anger. But you know what? There’s nothing wrong with being angry. Anger is the appropriate reaction to moral outrages, to crimes against our common humanity, to the actions of those who would turn our country into something twisted and ugly.

Good for Washington

2007-03-07T12:35:00.001-05:00

According to Kaiser Daily Health Policy Reports, Washington State is suing HHS over the citizenship verification law. Hells yeah! Governor Gregoire argues that it discriminates against children born to low-income undocumented women. Heck, it discriminates against infants born to low-income women in general. Another argument on the side of common sense is that "the regulation is illogical because the state already pays the costs of delivering the newborn and, by doing so, validates citizenship." Regular readers will know that this is something that I've been following for a while, and I feel this is a perfect example of our special brand of knee jerk reactionary xenophobic legislative action at its worst.

Search Engine Fun (Part III)

2007-02-28T19:29:00.000-05:00

Maybe this is only amusing to me, but it really trips me out how people find my blog through search engines. Here are the highlights for this week:

if struck by lightening what damage can it do to hear and air unit?
'orthotic device for goats'
flatbush diabetes kool aid
killing the unicorn is wrong
take care of your unicorn

These last two make me wonder if people still believe in unicorns? As for the others (who will probably never come back here), I do apologize that I don't know about damage by lightening, or even that goats needed orthotic devices. Hope you found what you were looking for.

Standing up For Rights, and Its Consequences

2007-02-28T16:03:00.000-05:00

From the Columbus Dispatch:

Priest who lobbied Ohio lawmakers on abuse says he was forced to retire

By Laurie Goodstein

The New York Times

Friday, January 26, 2007

DETROIT -- In his last Mass as pastor at the inner-city parish in Detroit where he had served for 23 years, Auxiliary Bishop Thomas J. Gumbleton told parishioners that he was forced to step down as pastor because of his lobbying on behalf of the victims of sexual abuse by members of the clergy, a stance that put him in opposition to his fellow bishops.

Photo by Adam Cairns | the Dispatch

The news of this story came through a friend of Marla, who spoke to Bishop Gumbleton who in turn spoke to him about Marla, which is how I was connected with this. In other words, #1 those who speak out for justice are still being persecuted, and not just in other countries, but here as well, and #2 Marla still has that amazing knack of bringing people together. This is what the new friend had to say:

Here is Detroit, peace activists are organizing. My guess is that most of the nation's peace activists know him, but may not know of what the church is trying to do to him right now and the local organizing efforts. Bishop Gumbleton was not allowed to speak recently in Arizona because the local archdiocese would not approve.

And some background on Bishop Gumbleton from Wikipedia:

"In the past the bishop has caught attention due to his public protesting towards violent actions. In 1999 he was arrested outside The White House along with eleven other anti war protesters for disturbing the peace [4] Bishop Gumbleton has more recently been a very vocal opponent of the war in Iraq , being arrested once again outside The White House for engaging in civil disobedience, he was arrested along with United Methodist Bishop C. Joseph Sprague, Rabbi Arthur Waskow, Nobel Peace Prize laureates Mairead Corrigan Maguire and Jody Williams and members of pacifist organisations. [5] Gumbleton has distinguished himself as being the only Roman Catholic bishop in America to have taken such action in protest of the war."

You all know how we do here at unicornhat. We let those doing the wrong know that we are watching them do the wrong, and won't get away with it. Below is a list of folks who might need to hear from you.

His Eminence, Adam Cardinal Maida

1234 Washington Blvd.

CH -7^th Floor

Detroit, MI 48226

Phone: 313-237-5816

Fax: 313-237-4642

infodesk@aod.org

His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI

Apostolic Palace

Vatican City State, 00120

Italy

(Postage required - $0.84 = 84 cents)

benedictxvi@vatican.va

And some more news stories for background:

http://www.cta-usa.org/justchurch/detroit/index.html

http://ncrcafe.org/blog/34

http://ncrcafe.org/node/880

http://ncrcafe.org/node/898

From A Girl Who Wants it ALL

2007-02-28T14:13:00.001-05:00

Since I've been kicking around this planet, there has always been the healthy discussion in society about women's roles in it, and how they have changed and can and should (or shouldn't) change. The question for today's modern woman (yes I know I called myself a girl in the title of this post, shame on me) has always been: Can We Have it All? Can we be effective wives and mothers, as well as succeed to our utmost at our career. Does one have to suffer because of the other? Do we consciously make these choices, or were we brought up to believe that we can have it all, its just a matter of social policy, and therefore we just keep pushing?

I was thinking about these issues last night as I was drifting off to sleep. This was around 7:30 PM mind you. I had seen my love for about 20 minutes total between when he got home from a 12 hour, physically demanding day, and before I snuck into bed as he went out to get food for us. I was very upset, thinking: DAMN! I have NOTHING to give to my family. Nothing. They have to do it all for ME. And its not like their days are easy. Then I thought back over my day. I gave a lot yesterday. Quite a lot. I didn't spend the day in bed, staring at a wall, giving nothing to anyone. I gimped myself to meeting after meeting, did research, tried to think big thoughts, did what others asked of me. I realized that consciously or not, I had made that choice of, if one or the other has to suffer (family or career), I had clearly made my choice, just subconsciously. I will work until I drop, and beyond. Then I will go to bed at 7:30. Damn. I had never framed it in this light: that I had made a choice to put my career first. Is that what I wanted to do?

Then it really hit me. There is a third party in all of this. It's not just about making the choice between work and family, and coming up short somewhere. There is the whole chronic health issue. So the question stopped being: Can we women have it all? but rather, can we ChronicBabes, have it all? We are needed at work, we are needed at home, and by golly our bodies need us to STOP every once in a while.

There has got to be a way, I obviously haven't found it since this just dawned on me. And it doesn't help to have a workaholic personality that will take nothing less than perfection for myself (gawd, how self centered is that?) But an article in today's TomPaine.com entitled Back On the Chain Gang helped shed some light on the subject of working my ass off. It's not just me, it's us. One of the lines in the article states:

It's hard to believe, but at one time people gave their lives for the eight-hour day.

8 hour day, HA! Even 9 hours makes me feel like I'm cheating my employer. So I guess this issue encompasses women, people with disabilities, labor, and politics in this country. Like I said, I sure don't have the answers but would love to hear what others think.

Escalation

2007-02-13T15:47:00.000-05:00

A 1968 short film by Ward Kimball. Just visualize LBJ as W.

Even Dramatized Torture is Bad for Morale, Image

2007-02-13T15:08:00.000-05:00

From the Independent Online, about the TV show "24" and its regular use of torture as "the patriotic thing to do."

US military tells Jack Bauer: Cut out the torture scenes ... or else! By Andrew Buncombe in Washington
Published: 13 February 2007

In the hugely popular television series 24, federal agent Jack Bauer always gets his man, even if he has to play a little rough. Suffocating, electrocuting or drugging a suspect are all in a day's work. As Bauer - played by the Emmy Award winner Kiefer Sutherland - tells one baddie: "You are going to tell me what I want to know - it's just a matter of how much you want it to hurt."

But while 24 draws millions of viewers, it appears some people are becoming a little squeamish. The US military has appealed to the producers of 24 to tone down the torture scenes because of the impact they are having both on troops in the field and America's reputation abroad. Forget about Abu Ghraib, forget about Guantanamo Bay, forget even that the White House has authorised
interrogation techniques that some classify as torture, that damned Jack Bauer is giving us a bad name.

The United States Military Academy at West Point yesterday confirmed that Brigadier General Patrick Finnegan recently travelled to California to meet producers of the show, broadcast on the Fox channel. He told them that promoting illegal behaviour in the series - apparently hugely popular among the US military - was having a damaging effect on young troops.

According to the New Yorker magazine, Gen Finnegan, who teaches a course on the laws of war, said of the producers: "I'd like them to stop. They should do a show where torture backfires... The kids see it and say, 'If torture is wrong, what about 24'?

"The disturbing thing is that although torture may cause Jack Bauer some angst, it is always the patriotic thing to do."

According to Human Rights First

The group's David Danzig said: "I think there is no question [it is having an effect]. We have spoken to soldiers with experience in Iraq who say, for young soldiers, there is a direct relationship between what they are doing in their jobs and what they see on TV... It's the same abroad. "The image of the US and its military [being involved in torture] is being affirmed."

Wayne Smith, of the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC), an international human rights group, said: "Even the FBI has confirmed executive orders authorising the use of hoods and dogs and stress positions. "If [these things] were being done to US troops we would call it
torture."

* Emphases added

Medicaid Rolls Down 22,000 in Ohio

2007-02-10T12:58:00.000-05:00

Medicaid applicants struggle with new ID, citizenship rules
By MATT LEINGANG, Associated Press Writer

COLUMBUS – With money tight, Melinda Shea and her family turned to a government program to pay their medical bills.

But she is one of thousands of Ohioans whose Medicaid applications have been denied or delayed because they are having trouble getting birth certificates or other documents proving U.S. citizenship. Advocates for the poor say it is an unintended consequence of a federal mandate to deny the coverage for illegal immigrants.

“It’s extremely frustrating,” said Shea, 27, of Cincinnati.

Shea and her 2-year-old son could not get Medicaid benefits for a month while they waited until January for a local health department to provide certified copies of their birth certificates. Their Medicaid eligibility cards finally arrived last week.

Shea’s husband, however, remains without coverage because he hasn’t received his birth certificate from state health officials in Kentucky, where he was born.

“He’s uninsured, and all we can do is hope he doesn’t get sick,” said Shea, who works part-time at a day care center. The couple make about $1,600 a month.

Ohio began enforcing the citizenship verification requirement in late September. Medicaid enrollment fell by 22,000 over the next three months, according to the latest state data.

Documentation problems also have caused Medicaid enrollment to decline in Wisconsin, Virginia, Kansas, Iowa, Louisiana and New Hampshire, according to a study of data from those states released last week by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a nonpartisan research group in Washington. Again, the burden is falling mostly on U.S. citizens in those states, the group said.

The federal mandate requires all people applying for Medicaid or renewing their coverage to show a passport, birth certificate or other documentation. A driver’s license alone doesn’t suffice because it doesn’t prove citizenship.

Strange Bedfellows

2007-02-07T14:08:00.000-05:00

From the New York Times:

Wal-Mart and Union Unite, at Least on Health Policy

"One goal is universal health coverage by a specific date, somewhere around 2012."

Wal-Mart supporting universal health care? Yup, 2012 sounds about right for that to happen. 2012 or when pigs fly.

"The worst post-conflict cluster bomb contamination I've ever seen"

2007-01-30T12:30:00.000-05:00

From the Independent Online

US Attacks Israel's Cluster Bomb Use

By Andrew Buncombe in Washington

The controversy about Israel's use of cluster bombs during its conflict with Hizbollah in July last year will reopen today when the US State Department publishes its draft report, which concludes that the American-made weapons were misused in civilian areas.

Israel received widespread condemnation last year after it was accused of littering Lebanon with thousands of unexploded bombs in the final hours of its war.

At the time Chris Clarke, the United Nations official in charge of bomb disposal in southern Lebanon, said his staff had identified 390 strikes by Israel's cluster munitions. "This is ... the worst post-conflict cluster bomb contamination I have ever seen," he said.

Tibetan Buddhist Rites for the Dead for Marla

2007-01-28T12:53:00.000-05:00

Marla Ruzicka (December 31, 1976 – April 16, 2005) was an activist-turned-aid worker. She developed a unique approach to advocacy for civilian victims of war: she insisted that combatant governments had a legal and moral responsibility to compensate the families of civilians killed or injured in military conflicts. This accomplished three things: 1. It produced tangible benefits for families of civilians war victims; 2. It raised antiwar consciousness; 3. It demonstrated the high cost of modern war, by focusing on the suffering of civilians (so-called "collateral damage"). Ruzicka's greatest assets were her intense likeability and her high energy, which enabled her to communicate effectively with soldiers, government officials, other aid and NGO workers, and--most importantly of all--the media of all countries. She was killed by a car bomb blast in Baghdad. She founded the Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict (CIVIC), an organization that assists Iraqi victims of the 2003 US invasion of Iraq. She was born in Lakeport, California.

Prior to launching the project in Iraq, she was based in Kabul, Afghanistan. Ruzicka worked with the San Francisco-based human rights organization Global Exchange to pressure the US government to set up a fund for Afghan families harmed in Operation Enduring Freedom. (from Wikipedia)

keywords:Tibetan Buddhism, Buddhism, Tibet, Iraq, Afghanistan, Compassion, War

What's in a Trillion?

2007-01-17T10:47:00.000-05:00

From the NYTimes

What $1.2 Trillion Can Buy

By DAVID LEONHARDT
Published: January 17, 2007
The human mind isn't very well equipped to make sense of a figure like $1.2 trillion. We don't deal with a trillion of anything in our daily lives, and so when we come across such a big number, it is hard to distinguish it from any other big number. Millions, billions, a trillion — they all start to sound the same.

The way to come to grips with $1.2 trillion is to forget about the number itself and think instead about what you could buy with the money. When you do that, a trillion stops sounding anything like millions or billions.

For starters, $1.2 trillion would pay for an unprecedented public health campaign — a doubling of cancer research funding, treatment for every American whose diabetes or heart disease is now going unmanaged and a global immunization campaign to save millions of children's lives.

Combined, the cost of running those programs for a decade wouldn't use up even half our money pot. So we could then turn to poverty and education, starting with universal preschool for every 3- and 4-year-old child across the country. The city of New Orleans could also receive a huge increase in reconstruction funds.

The final big chunk of the money could go to national security. The recommendations of the 9/11 Commission that have not been put in place — better baggage and cargo screening, stronger measures against nuclear proliferation — could be enacted. Financing for the war in Afghanistan could be increased to beat back the Taliban's recent gains, and a peacekeeping force could put a stop to the genocide in Darfur.

All that would be one way to spend $1.2 trillion. Here would be another:

The war in Iraq.

Some Advice

2006-12-21T10:20:00.000-05:00

Below are excerpts from a list I found on a website regarding "National Invisible Chronic Illness Awareness Week" which I found on a very cool website, ChronicBabe.com. I decided to post some of the list here because I know personally the difficulty of not knowing how to handle friends, or other loved ones who have chronic health conditions, or any serious health condition really. I have seen the sad reality that this causes time and again: those who end up needing a support system the most suddenly find themselves without one. I am lucky to have been raised by a mom who simply will NOT be one of those deserters, and of course I'm living with some chronic stuff myself, and have subsequently learned about the importance of being a true friend through thick and thin. But even then I find it difficult sometimes to know what to do or what to say to be the friend that someone needs me to be. I know that others who have silently and suddenly slipped from my life when my Dx came aren't bad people. They didn't purposefully say: what can I do to make things worse for Xine?

The list comes from a book: Beyond Casseroles: 505 Ways to Encourage a Chronically Ill Friend which has a Christian base to it. I mention this because one thing that I have found to be inappropriate and not helpful, is for folks to tell me that I just need to pray more, or some other such nonsense that offends me and shows how little they know about me. That is NOT to say that I don't appreciate being included in other's prayers. It is in fact quite helpful to know that others are thinking positive thoughts for me, when I am not always able to myself. My only caution would be to not go full force with some of the religious suggestions unless you know for sure what religious/spiritual beliefs the person holds. Even then it can be tricky. Like # 15 says: Ask. "Would you be comfortable with having your name on a prayer list, so that others can pray for you?" Don't assume.

Some others that I particularly liked are:

Understand that she lives in a constant state of making decisions for which there is no guarantee that she is making the right choice.
Put meals in disposable containers and attach a note saying "This doesn't need to be returned."
Add stickers to envelopes for a cheerful touch.
Arrange for your friend's kids to have a night with your children.
Don't make a person into a project.
Ask, "Would you be willing to talk to a friend of mine who has recently been diagnosed with a chronic illness and offer her some encouragement?" It makes one feel good to know that her experience can offer someone else hope and that God still has a purpose for her life.
Wash his car and put a little note inside for him to find later.
Remember important anniversaries, both the good and the bad. No one else will.
Ask, "Do you want company the day that you wait for the test results? I could come over for a couple of hours."
Accept that her chronic illness may not go away. If she's accepting it, don't tell her the illness is winning and she's giving in to it
Don't say, "Let me know if there is anything I can do." People rarely feel comfortable saying, "Yes, my laundry." Instead pick something you are willing to do and then ask her permission.
Ask her to share her testimony at an event.
Buy a magazine subscription for her on her favorite topic
Plant a rosebush to view from a window.
Just listen . . . until it hurts to not say anything. And then listen some more.
Mop the floors.
Buy a brightly colored umbrella as a gift.
For a unique gift, provide brightly colored paper plates, napkins, and utensils in a gift bag with a note that says "For when you don't feel like doing dishes."
Get her a pretty box to keep all of her notes of encouragement. Remind her to get it out and read things when she is feeling down
Be her advocate. If you are at an event and walking/seating is an issue because of her disability, ask her if she'd like you to take care of it. If she says you can, be firm but not rude. Don't embarrass her by making accusations of discrimination or by making a scene.
Say, "While you're in the hospital I'd be happy to take care of your pet."
Don't tell her about your brother's niece's cousin's best friend who tried a cure for the same illness and. . . (you know the rest).
Find out which charity is most important to her and then give a donation in her honor.
Ask, "What are your top three indulgences?" and then spoil her soon.
Don't tease her and call her "hop along" or "slowpoke." Comments you mean in fun can cut to the quick and destroy her spirit. Proverbs 18:14 says, "A man's spirit sustains him in sickness, but a crushed spirit who can bear?"
Say, "I know you must need someone to just vent to occasionally. I may not fully understand how you feel, but I'm here to listen anytime."
Ask, "What would you advise me to look for in a new doctor?"
If your friend has a disabled parking placard and you are driving, allow her to tell you where she wants to park. If she's feeling particularly good that day, she may not want to park in the "blue space." Don't be disappointed that you'll have to walk farther.
Don't ask, "Why can't the doctors help you?" or insinuate that it must be in her head. There are millions of people who are in pain with illnesses that do not have cures.
Avoid having gifts be "pity gifts." Just say, "I saw these flowers and their cheerfulness reminded me of you."
Ask, "Do you have an errand I can run for you before coming over?"
Ask her to do spontaneous things, like go to a concert in the park, or just for a picnic. She may be more likely to participate since she knows if it's a good day or a bad day.
Don't make her feel guilty about things that she cannot do
Treat her to a gift of movie rentals via postal mail through a service ($7-15 a month

ROMP

2006-12-04T18:08:00.000-05:00

Y'all can see that I have added a new link on the sidebar to an organization that is incredibly inspiring and just downright AWESOME. ROMP, or the Range of Motion Project was co-founded by a classmate of mine from college, Eric Neufeld. Needless to say I am amazed by and so proud of the wonderfully important work that this organization and its committed volunteers are doing around the world to help facilitate independence for those who require prosthetic or orthodic devices.

So far ROMP has done work in Haiti, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Pakistan, and Ecuador.

From the website:

Mission
ROMP was founded in response to the critical shortage of orthotic and prosthetic services faced by a majority of disabled individuals in the developing and war torn world. Our purpose is to facilitate the distribution of necessary resources and training in order to serve people living with amputations and other disabilities.

Goals
Romp will begin providing no-cost prosthetic limbs, orthotic bracing, and training throughout the developing world. The initial project will be in Zacapa, Guatemala in collaboration with Hearts In Motion (HIM). Our initial goals are to:

· Increase US awareness of the lack of rehabilitative medicine throughout the world.

· Build an orthotic & prosthetic laboratory in Zacapa, attached to a rehabilitation complex.

· Assemble a team to evaluate and fabricate prosthetic limbs for amputees within Zacapa.

· Begin training local practitioners.

Vision
ROMP recognizes the hardship of living in poverty without a prosthetic or orthotic device and understands how important these, often times simple devices, are to those who do not have access to them.

In many cases, a prosthetic or orthotic device is a critical component in a disabled person's rehabilitation. With this "tool", independence, mobility and involvement in community and the socio-economic structure can become more attainable. Rehabilitation has the power to increase visibility of the disabled and awareness can change attitudes and help people see that "disability" is only as crippling as the barriers we let stand in our minds and in our world.

Together, with the help of trained prosthetists and orthotists, care givers, volunteers and generous donors, ROMP's vision of offering independence and hope to countless individuals will become a reality.

I strongly urge you to visit ROMP's website to become inspired, learn more about what they have accomplished and what they will accomplish with your support, and help make this important work possible. What more could the loved ones on you holiday shopping lists ask for?

Anger

2006-12-04T13:55:00.000-05:00

I'm angry today. That doesn't sound like a surprising statement if you know me, but this is not the kind of anger that I usually have. I am usually angry at the world, at injustice, at ignorance etc. Today I am angry with myself. Usually I am just disappointed in myself, but today I am really MAD.

A couple of posts ago I mentioned that I was feeling well, and was doing my best to keep it that way by not overdoing it. Not doing all of the things that I so wanted to do, so that I could be responsible, and in the process keep pain and illness at bay. Then the weekend came, along with a cold snap, the flu, and 2 days of working outside in that cold, going door to door for my job, accomplishing little to nothing except making myself hurt again.

After once again silently putting myself through the hell of withdrawl from pain medicines, I was forced to start taking them again (which means I will be forced to endure withdrawl again). And for what? All because I couldn't stand up for myself and be the advocate that I would so willingly be for someone else. I don't want to seem incompetent, I am already battling perception issues that I don't know how to control, so I kept my mouth shut and didn't say what needed to be said: This is stupid, this isn't helping this organization, this is going to send me into a spiral of gimpiness that will take....who knows how long to recover from, and will leave me with nothing left for my family who in this struggle always gets the short end of the stick. Why is it so hard for me to say: I can't do this. I guess because in my mind, and in my life I have always been able to do whatever. I can push myself through anything, despite how grueling. It doesn't mean that I won't suffer for doing it, but I can do it. I guess the hard part isn't me saying that I can't do something, but rather that I shouldn't do something.

That is why I am mad. I know better, I am smarter than this, I shouldn't care what people think of me by this point. I don't need to be the stoic soldier 100% of the time. It would be stupid for me to try, because it's just not possible. I'm pushing myself to ruin and for what?!?! The hope that people won't see how much I suffer? The hope that I will be seen as "normal" in other people's eyes if I just buck up? Why do I associate suffering with weakness? And why do I make that association only with myself, and not with others? If I keep down this road, my self worth will be down the drain right along with my health. Not cool.

Shake It for AIDS

2006-12-01T18:31:00.000-05:00

Today is World AIDS day. Get up and BOOGEY, then check out the Dance 4 Life campaign.

Medicaid "Flexibility"

2006-12-01T18:27:00.000-05:00

Part of Bush's plan to "reform" Medicaid is to give states more flexibility in how they administer the program in their states. This could be good, let states try things out that they know will work for their people: like allowing Medicaid to pay for Home and Community Based Services as opposed to institutionalizing everyone they can; or it could be disastrous, and end up killing the basics of the program.

One of the more recent examples of this is what is happening in West Virgina. Under the auspices of "incentivisimg" prevention and health maintenance, the Medicaid program in West Virgina has begun to implement a program which would require recipients to sign a pledge "that they will do their best to stay healthy" in order to continue to receive certain health benefits from their coverage.

The incentive effort, the first of its kind, received quick approval last summer from the Bush administration, which is encouraging states to experiment with "personal responsibility" as a chief principle of their Medicaid programs.

Those signing and abiding by the agreement (or their children, who account for a majority of Medicaid patients here) will receive "enhanced benefits" including mental health counseling, long-term diabetes management and cardiac rehabilitation, and prescription drugs and home health visits as needed, as well as antismoking and antiobesity classes.

In future years, those who comply fully will get further benefits ("like a Marriott rewards plan," Ms. Atkins said), their nature to be determined but perhaps including orthodontics or other dental services.

OOOO aren't you fancy? Giving out the rewards of dental care. Now that's an "extra" for you! And mental health benefits, cardiac rehab? Cadillac coverage if I've ever seen it. And how exactly does taking away some one's long term diabetes management services mean that you are punishing them for not taking care to prevent worse problems? Of course none of this takes into account the lack of transportation/child care issues etc. that many people face.

And then there are two other states that I would like to discuss when it comes to Medicaid "flexibility." First off is California. If you read my blog ever, you know that an issue of contention with me is the new federal Medicaid citizenship verification requirements that will actually do more to hurt citizens than non-citizens, and leave newborns out in the cold. California, along with about 20 other states have postponed implementation of the law until they can figure out what kind of guidance to give to Counties on the issue, but say that they are showing a "good faith effort" to comply with the federal regs. However, because they haven't yet gone forward gung ho, patients be damned, they are faced with the possibility of audits and loss of FMAP monies (federal Medicaid $). Never mind that when someone in CA applies for Medicaid, their Social Security #s are automatically checked with the federal government, verifying their citizenship. Not good enough. Forget flexibility, its ridiculous rigidity that we are witnessing here.

Meanwhile, the little old Federal Medicaid Commission has some suggestions on this whole issue of flexibility. Of course, flexibility in this sense means, how can we spend less money, even if it means providing less services, and shittier health care to recipients? Like enrolling the people with the most complex health cases (so called dual eligibles) into HMOs that we all learned to love. Shit, in Ohio mandatory enrollment in Medicaid HMOs for the Aged Blind and Disabled populations are going to happen starting this month (we are already mandatory managed care for covered families and children, the majority of Medicaid recipients, who are also the simplest to manage, and we have done a shitty job doing that to date). I will keep my eye out to see how flexible everyone who has complex health histories feel about being told by an HMO what medicines they must try and in what order, what procedures are and aren't necessary, and what health care provider they can or can't go to. This is sure to go over swimmingly.

I guess the point of this post is that when the government talks about flexibility in Medicaid, it means the flexibility to keep people away from the care they need, and the inflexibility to get as much care to folks as needed. That's my take on it anyways.

I Couldn't Help Myself

2006-12-01T17:15:00.000-05:00

And besides, WalMart is so much FUN to bash, and even more fun to hear them try to justify their idocy after the fact.

Thanks to the DisablityNation Podcast for alerting me to this.

A local woman is firing back after she says her daughter was mistreated at the Albany Wal-Mart while carrying her service dog.

Now, Wal-Mart is admitting it was wrong, and is taking steps to change; that could be because the law seems to be on the customer's side.

Losing It

2006-11-29T18:25:00.000-05:00

We've had a bout of unseasonably warm weather as of late that has me feeling fine. My problem comes in that because I don't feel well most of the time, when I do feel healthy and young and vibrant and not tired, I have the overwhelming urge to do everything, all at once. I have fallen into this trap time after time after time after time. Its almost impossible NOT to. That feeling of being unhindered....GOD it is wonderful. Life fills my lungs and I just want to FLY. So I try. Well, OK, I don't actually try to fly, I just try to, like, do the dishes and run errands and feel productive instead of feeling like a burden. And this of course inevitably causes me to relapse, setting me back again, unable to even do what has become "normal" for me.

So this time I have been good, and haven't pushed too hard. I want this time to be as drawn out as possible. But now I'm sitting here losing my mind wanting to be active, and forcing myself not too. I want to run and climb trees and do capoeira (grooooan), but I am not. I'm not very good at discipline. I'm much better at overindulgence. Wish me luck here folks, I could use some calming mental energy right about now.

Sounds Like a Teenager

2006-11-29T17:42:00.000-05:00

The real basis of Buddhism is full knowledge of the truth of reality. If one knows this truth then no teaching is necessary. If one doesn't know, even if he listens to the teaching, he doesn't really hear.

-Ajahn Chah, "Taste of Freedom"

So when dealing with a teenager (though I KNOW its not just teens who think this way, that's just the chord that this strikes with me), how do you overcome this fact?
Even if she listens, she doesn't really hear?

How do you end up NOT sounding like Charlie Brown's teacher?

AHIP's Push for Health "Reform"

2006-11-22T12:35:00.000-05:00

America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) recently jumped into the arena of health reform efforts, by announcing its own plan to cover most USians. At first glance, it's one of those double take situations. The Insurance industry wanting to cover everyone? They have not showed this kind of desire for change ever before, and in fact they have traditionally fought reform efforts. So what's happening now? Have they suddenly been struck with a bolt of moral lightening? Me thinks not. However, I do see this as a very positive sign.

To me, this is a sign that AHIP has been feeling the winds of change, and has decided that the tipping point has come (or is on the very near horizon) for health reform in this country. There is no turning back. Public opinion and clamour has hit the point of no return. Health reform IS coming. AHIP senses this, and realizes that if they don't get on board and insert themselves now, insuring their role in the health care system, they run the risk of getting cut out of the equation entirely.

After all, if we get down to the nitty gritty, insurance industry profits are simply too high. The actual dollar amount we spend on health care is extraordinary, yet our health outcomes don't reflect this. We have out of control spending on health care in this country, and we let people die because of it, while at the same time the insurance industry skims our health care dollars for profit. Reforming the system so that we don't continue to keep this insane rate of inflation on health care spending, while ensuring every gets the care they need could mean cutting insurance companies and their profits out of the equation entirely. They want to make sure that they can continue to reap such profits, and get their cut of the 46 million in this country who are currently uninsured, but who will get some sort of coverage or care if we reform the system to make sure we all have access to care.

That's my take on it anyhow.

Rate Your Doctor

2006-11-20T17:15:00.000-05:00

Found this site today. All of my docs are in the database for the site, but none have been rated. Any other Dr. rating site that I have seen doesn't have any of my doctors, let alone ratings for them. So I have hope that this one could be helpful if we can just get more people to use it.

Powerful Shame

2006-11-16T11:20:00.000-05:00

From the Ragged Edge Online, a dramatic monologue by Laura Minges,

Disability Shame Speaks

Hello. My name is Disability Shame .

I'm incredibly difficult to catch in the act, but I make people tired, confused and depressed. I feed on stereotypes and negative self-judgments.

Secret Ballots

2006-11-16T10:29:00.000-05:00

One thing that struck me this year when I went to vote at the Franklin County Board of Elections, was the fact that the new electronic voting machines have no curtains for privacy. Apparently I wasn't the only one who was concerned about this. Voters have been complaining about the lack of privacy on the machines, but officials have hemmed and hawed about their concerns, saying that

voters privacy concerns about the new, unshieled machines could be eased by the way poll workers set them up.

That's true to an extent, but the problem that I saw at the BOE was that the machines were set up so that the voter's backs, and the screens of their machines, faced the line of others waiting to vote. As you waited in line, you had to look away in order to NOT see the screens of the machines of the people voting. They could have been set up so that you would only catch a glimpse of other's ballots as you yourself were led to your machine to cast your vote, but they weren't. They were the exact opposite. So much for a secret ballot! So I was pleased to see this article in this morning's Columbus Dispatch.

Voting booths may get curtains

Thursday, November 16, 2006

Robert Vitale

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

By the time Franklin County residents vote again next year, something more closely resembling traditional voting booths might await them.
...county elections officials said this week that they'll consider buying curtains by the May primary.

Since new electronic voting machines were introduced in February for a special election in New Albany, the biggest complaint from voters has been about privacy.
Machines used in Franklin County since 1952 had included curtains for voters to pull closed behind them.
Nearly half the voters surveyed after February's election said they worried about others seeing how they cast their ballots. In the May 2 primary, one Clintonville voter likened his experience to "voting on a chalkboard."

Of course Franklin County BOE director Matt Damschroder (I will keep my opinions of him to myself), says that purchasing those curtains would cost an estimated $1 million dollars. Really? For curtains? At any rate, he says that before buying the curtains (and protecting our votes, something that he is not notorious for doing, because it always seems to cost too much),

elections officials will first consider cheaper options, including going to the polls themselves to make sure machines are set up in ways to shield voters from prying eyes.

Well Damschroder, I guess you should have first gone to the polling place in your own office, and seen for yourself that they were set up in the least private way possible. Especially since this has been on ongoing concern of voters since February. Do I ask too much of those officials who are supposed to give two craps about voters and our vote?

Our Problem Isn't with Immigrants

2006-11-16T09:53:00.000-05:00

Some common sense and facts to counter the reactionary xenophobic cry that those damn "illegals" are coming here and demanding all these health services that our own citizens don't have access to. The study is published in this month's Health Affairs.

RAND Study Says Small Fraction of Spending On Health Goes to Undocumented Immigrants

A study released by the RAND Corp. on Nov. 14 said that only a small fraction of U.S. health care spending goes to undocumented immigrants. "Overall, immigrants to the United States use relatively few health services, primarily because they are generally healthier than their American-born counterparts," RAND said.

The study estimates that in the United States about $1.1 billion in federal, state, and local government funds are spent annually on health
care for undocumented immigrants aged 18 to 64. "That amounts to an average of $11 in taxes for each U.S. household," RAND said. "In contrast, a total of $88 billion in government funds were spent on health care for all non-elderly adults in 2000."

Search Engine Fun

2006-11-15T11:58:00.000-05:00

eXTReMe Tracking shows me how people get to this blog, and the best part of it are the google searches. Some good recent ones are:

What kind of professions west indians in east flatbush have
dirty bangs
BIG thanks for letting me know

My new favorite search that landed someone here is:

I still don't understand why you dumped him just because he has a
thing for unicorns

Two News Bits

2006-11-15T10:15:00.000-05:00

From the NYTimes. Unrelated, but put together make me feel weird inside....

First, a wonderful gain: South African Parliament Approves Same-Sex Marriages

JOHANNESBURG, Nov. 14 — Parliament on Tuesday voted resoundingly to legalize same-sex marriages in South Africa, making the nation the first in Africa and the fifth in the world to remove legal barriers to them, according to advocates.

The nation's highest court ruled last December that South Africa's marriage statute violated the Constitution's guarantee of equal rights. The court gave the government a year to alter the legal definition of marriage.

Followed by a disgusting inadequacy: Officials Clash Over Mentally Ill in Florida Jails

MIAMI, Nov. 14 — State law requires that inmates found incompetent to stand trial be moved from county jails to psychiatric hospitals within 15 days of the state's receiving the commitment orders. Florida has broken that law for years, provoking some public defenders to seek court orders forcing swift compliance.

Two mentally ill inmates in the Escambia County Jail in Pensacola died over the last year and a half after being subdued by guards, according to news reports. And in the Pinellas County Jail in Clearwater, a schizophrenic inmate gouged out his eye after waiting weeks for a hospital bed, his lawyer said.

None of Your Damn Business

2006-11-13T19:29:00.000-05:00

This November weather puts a frown on my face. The colder it gets, the more I hurt. The wetter it gets, the more I hurt. I've had a few too many days/weeks recently where I have had to use my cane to get around. This has prompted a lot of meddling into my business by total strangers. "Ooooo, what happened to you?" or that wrinkled brow, tilted head and strained smile of pity. For those who ask what happened I try to be polite and not say what I feel like saying (see this post's title), and at the same time not go into a complete medical history by waving my hand in the air, as if to swat away their question, keep moving forward, and saying: "Oh, you know....." I understand that folks have good intentions and all. But people don't get the point, and keep on with their questions. They don't really want to know. I don't really want to tell them. "Well you see, I have Crohn's. What is that? Well, it's an autoimmune inflammatory thing. What does that mean? Well, even though it's an inflammatory bowel disease, it causes other parts of my body to be inflamed from time to time...blah blah blah." Thanks but no thanks.

For those non strangers (acquaintances, colleagues) who may not be intimately familiar with my health history, but who have seen me zooming around looking perfectly fine, then one day showing up with a cane, I understand their questioning concern, but in the end, they too don't really want to know, nor do I feel like launching into the whole deal with them either. So I usually end up doing the same thing:

"Oh, its just one of those days...."

And if they push on, "Well did you hurt yourself?"

"No, I just have some health issues, I'll be fine."

"Well, what's wrong?"

"It's a long story"

"Were you in an accident? Did you fall down?"

And then there are the people who DO know my health history inside and out, but I ALSO don't want to go into a whole rant with them, because once again, who REALLY wants to hear your long convoluted story of pain? I mean, most days that I'm not feeling well, usually its not solely one thing that's bothering me. It is almost always some combo of symptoms and reasons for those symptoms. I can't usually just say, "oh X is flaring up today."

So, I have come up up with a new, one word term for what ails me: Itisitis. Pretty much all of my problems stem from inflammation of some sort, hence the term. Tendonitis, bursitis, Crohn's with colitis, bulging discs, pluracy, inflammation of my soul..... all itis's. So, if you know me and you read this, and you ask what's going on, I can now simply say: "oh, it's just my itisitis", and happily go about my day. Isn't that nice? And if a stranger asks, I can say the same thing, and hope that confuses them enough for me to be able to hobble away without having to field any more queries.

Shame on Us

2006-11-13T13:05:00.000-05:00

From the New York Times editorial page: A Crackdown on Newborns. This is an example of just how ugly the new Medicaid citizenship requirement truly is:

Illegal immigrants have no right to Medicaid, except in emergencies, which includes labor and childbirth. Perinatal care given to illegal immigrant women has routinely been extended for a year to their newborns, too, on the simple assumption that they need it and are automatically entitled to it, if they were born here. (The 14th Amendment grants citizenship to "all persons born or naturalized in the United States.")

But now, in a pointless exercise of bureaucratic obstinacy, these children will have to prove what is already self-evident. They must receive a birth certificate and have a Medicaid application approved before receiving a doctor's care. This could take days, weeks or months — a critical time for newborns, who receive a barrage of immunizations and well-baby checkups in the first year. Some babies may get no care at all, if their noncitizen parents, fearing arrest and deportation, decide not to seek it.

PSA for the Day

2006-11-03T09:06:00.000-05:00

I got this off of a blog that I read, but this past weekend there was something on PBS's "mini-med school" about the same subject, so I thought that I should pass it along to everyone I know....read on.
Xine
***********************************************

STROKE: Remember The 1st Three Letters... S.T.R.

STROKE IDENTIFICATION:

During a BBQ, a friend stumbled and took a little fall - she assured everyone that she was fine (they offered to call paramedics) and just tripped over a brick because of her new shoes. They got her cleaned up and got her a new plate of food - while she appeared a bit shaken up, Ingrid went about enjoying herself the rest of the evening. Ingrid's husband called later telling everyone that his wife had been taken to the hospital - (at 6:00pm , Ingrid passed away.) She had suffered a stroke at the BBQ.

Had they known how to identify the signs of a stroke, perhaps Ingrid would be with us today. Some don't die. They end up in a helpless, hopeless condition instead. It only takes a minute to read this...

A neurologist says that if he can get to a stroke victim within 3 hours he can totally reverse the effects of a stroke...totally. He said the trick was getting a stroke recognized, diagnosed, and then getting the patient medically cared for within 3 hours, which is tough.

RECOGNIZING A STROKE

Thank God for the sense to remember the "3" steps, STR .

Sometimes symptoms of a stroke are difficult to identify. Unfortunately, the lack of awareness spells disaster. The stroke victim may suffer severe brain damage when people nearby fail to recognize the symptoms of a stroke.

Now doctors say a bystander can recognize a stroke by asking three simple questions:

S * Ask the individual to SMILE .

T * Ask the person to TALK to S PEAK A SIMPLE SENTENCE
(Coherently) (i.e. . . It is sunny out today).

R * Ask him or her to RAISE BOTH ARMS .

NOTE : Another 'sign' of a stroke is this: Ask the person to 'stick' out their tongue. If the tongue is 'crooked', if it goes to one side or the other that is also an indication of a stroke. If he or she has trouble with ANY ONE of these tasks, go to the hospital immediately! ! and describe the symptoms to
the dispatcher.

A cardiologist says if everyone who gets this e-mail sends it to 10 people; you can bet that at least one life will be saved.

Oblivious

2006-10-30T17:24:00.000-05:00

I'm doing election work right now, which means that every day I find myself talking to hundreds of Ohioans about the upcoming elections, and what it means for our state and our country, and unfortunately, more often than not I find myself faced with a slew of uncaring people, proud non voters, people with ad fatigue who want to take it out on me (I don't blame them), and surprisingly enough, a cadre of those folks that I'm talking about are people who are working with me on the elections.

For anyone following the elections this year, if you have picked up a national paper, you have undoubtedly seen an article or two (or 50) about the Ohio elections. It would appear that the world is obsessed with us. Unfortunately, we are not that obsessed with ourselves (or the rest of the world for that matter). I understand that people have jobs and families to worry about, and are more concerned about their next paycheck than the next casualty in Iraq or Darfur, but..... well, I guess I'm getting a little fed up with it all. This is not to say that I don't fight my own cynicism on a daily basis, but what to do when you are faced with the cynicism of seemingly a whole state? I can't fight that fight for others, but I'm sick of being shat upon for fighting it within myself. Put down for caring about something, ANYthing.

Well, that wasn't supposed to be the point of this post. I wanted to link readers to an article in today's Washington Post about Lima Company, a reservist unit of the Marines that saw some of the heaviest losses in Iraq, and who happened to also be based here in Ohio. I guess it kind of links together. This is a quote from a member of Lima Co.:

"Is this what my friends died for?" he finds himself asking on days when he feels alone in a crowd. "It's amazing how oblivious we are as Americans to how much all of this costs," he said.

Bogusness on the VA Front

2006-10-20T20:54:00.000-05:00

This is a follow up to my recent post PTSD. A report was issued last week about VA centers, and the increase they are seeing for a demand for mental health services, how it is stretching them thin (they were not expecting to be seeing this many people, which is what my previous post talks about: how could they underestimate so much?), and how the administration isn't giving them the support they need. Disgraceful.

Vet Centers see escalating demand for help as troops return

By David Goldstein

McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON - A network of community-based walk-in veterans' treatment centers is under increasing pressure as more and more former troops who served in Iraq and Afghanistan have come looking for help.

Half of the Vet Centers sampled reported that their expanding caseloads have affected their ability to treat their current clientele.

"The administration's failure to increase staffing and other resources for Vet Centers has put their capacity to meet the needs of veterans and their families at risk," the report said.

"The Vet Centers' staff are dedicated and deeply committed to meeting the needs of veterans and their families, but without additional resources, even dedicated staff has limits," said Rep. Michael Michaud, D-Maine, the House VA Committee member who requested the report.

Sounds Familiar

2006-10-20T12:54:00.000-05:00

From USA Today

Calif. authorities: GOP campaign warning Hispanics

SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — State investigators have linked a Republican campaign to letters sent to thousands of Southern California Hispanics warning them they could go to jail or be deported if they vote next month, a spokesman for the attorney general said.

The letter, written in Spanish, tells recipients: "You are advised that if your residence in this country is illegal or you are an immigrant, voting in a federal election is a crime that could result in jail time."

In fact, immigrants who are naturalized U.S. citizens can vote.

Sounds eerily familiar to tactics used in 2000 and 2004 to scare away African Americans from the polls.

What's Wrong With Us?

2006-10-20T09:44:00.000-05:00

From the Guardian (because its not JUST us, its the UK, China and Russia too).

UK refuses to back cluster bomb ban as extent of use in Lebanon revealed

· Global ban also opposed by China, US and Russia
· Unexploded devices still killing three people a day
Richard Norton-Taylor and Ewen MacAskill
Thursday October 19, 2006
The Guardian

The location of an Israeli cluster bomb is marked with red paint near the village of El Maalliye in southern Lebanon. Photograph: Sergey Ponomarev/AP

Britain has joined the US, China and Russia to block a proposed ban on cluster bombs in the wake of extensive use of the weapons during the war in Lebanon.
A group of countries, led by Sweden, is urging a worldwide ban on cluster bombs at arms talks in Geneva. Each bomb contains hundreds of small "bomblets", many of which fail to explode until picked up by inquisitive children or stepped on by civilians.

Israeli forces dropped an estimated 1m cluster bomblets in southern Lebanon this summer - 90% of which were dropped in the last three days of the conflict, a new report from Landmine Action said yesterday. The weapons have left a trail of unexploded munitions that is killing between three and four civilians each day and impeding relief work.

In just one month, the UN identified more than 500 areas hit by cluster bombs, the report said.

Most Israeli cluster strikes hit built-up areas. Landmine Action says when the research for its report was undertaken a month after the ceasefire, water and power supplies had been blocked, and schools, roads, houses, and gardens were still littered with unexploded devices.
The report says: "In many affected areas, farmers have not been able to safely harvest what was left of this summer's tobacco, wheat, and fruit; late-yielding crops such as olives will remain too dangerous to harvest by November and winter crops will be lost because farmers will be unable to plough their grains and vegetables."
Simon Conway, the director of Landmine Action, said: "Every day women and children are killed or injured as they sift through the rubble of their former homes by cluster munitions that failed to go off. If they were any other kind of product, they would have been recalled."

According to the UN's mine action coordinating centre, Israeli forces fired 1,800 rocket systems, each with 12 individual rockets, into south Lebanon.

Flawed weapons

· Cluster bombs are usually dropped from medium to high altitudes and consist of dozens of bomblets in an outer casing. They have anti-armour and anti-personnel capabilities
· They do not have precision guidance. With a 5% dud rate, unexploded bombs become landmines
· According to Human Rights Watch, Nato aircraft dropped nearly 2,000 during the campaign in the former Yugoslavia in 1999
· They also estimate that 1,600 Kuwaiti and Iraqi civilians were killed by the estimated 1.2m duds left after the 1991 Gulf war

Don't Be A Sucker

2006-10-18T11:41:00.000-05:00

Found this on RaisingKaine.com where they say:

1947 Newsreel - Don't Be a Sucker - Harry Truman talks back to the right-wing. This is about the division of minorities and rise of a right-wing conservative agenda. It looks frighteningly familiar. They've just waited until enough people forgot. Please watch and pass along.

Please do pass it along!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VLbqt99YVA

Follow up to "Per Readers Request"

2006-10-17T15:53:00.000-05:00

Here is Kaiser's state health fact's latest on ADAP's (AIDS Drug Assistance Program) cost containment strategies. Looking only briefly at it, you could conclude, hunh, not too bad, only 3 states are using cost containment strategies in their ADAPs. Then you get to the bottom of the chart and see the note: (emphasis added):

Data includes cost-containment measures other than capped enrollment and client waiting lists

Those states that do have waiting lists (Ohio is not one of them currently, though I am unsure about the capped enrollment issue), don't have exceptionally long lists, as far as waiting lists can go (unless of course, you are the one waiting, then the #s cease to matter so much). But the fact that there are already waiting lists in existence, and that is without the implementation of the CDC's recommendation of testing everyone at least once a year, is worrisome.

I admit this is an area that I am woefully ignorant about, but if you want more facts, go here . Or if you have an opinion of your own, and know anything about this, PLEASE chime in.

If you are simply interested in what states have implemented Medicaid cost containment strategies, that information is hot off the presses as well for 06-07.

I'm Just Awash With Inspiration From Others

2006-10-17T11:35:00.000-05:00

This is something that is perfectly distilled, and just awesome in general. Here is an excerpt to whet your appetite, but it is short, and just go and read it.

We are not brave. We are not special. We are not tragic. We are not heroic. We are not "an inspiration". We are not the Bogey Man. We are not objects of pity. And we are not the living embodiment of our impairments. You can't predict what any one of us is going to be like just because you know someone else with the same impairment. We are people. Like you. We have the same rights that you have. We do the same things you do, but we do some of them differently.

You could join us at any time. Just by taking your eyes off the road for a split second. That's all it takes. If that happens, will you be special? Will you be brave? Will you just sit there quietly and accept it if no-one will employ you? If you're prevented from going where you want to go and seeing who you want to see? If no-one takes what you say seriously any more?

No? Then why should we?

CRUTCH!

2006-10-17T11:17:00.000-05:00

This is hot! Once you've watched this, you've got to check out dude's website.

If You Are a Healthcare Justice Wonk....

2006-10-16T17:23:00.000-05:00

You will find this interesting. Its a presentation of Herndon Alliance Data by American Environics and Lake Associates, about health care values polling of Americans.

Sharing the Burden

2006-10-16T16:40:00.000-05:00

File under why "I love Bob Herbert." He always manages to write
cohesively about things I'm thinking about & quite honestly don't
understand why everyone else isn't thinking about, or feeling too, &
therefore have difficulty writing about myself.

This is a follow-up to my recent post " I would argue." Herbert's
column "Sacrifices of war fall to only a few" Herbert talks to Sgt.
Mike Krause of the 101st Airborne Division of the army.

But there is a definite edge in his voice, an undercurrent of
bitterness, when he talks about the tiny percentage of the American
population that is shouldering the burden of the wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan. "We're nowhere close to sharing the sacrifice," he said.
"And it should be shared, because it's only in that sharing that
society will truly care about what's going on over there.

"Right now it's such a small minority of families who have a stake in
all of this. I hear people say things like, 'We lost a lot of good
people over there.' I sort of snap around and say: 'We? You didn't
lose anybody.' You know what I mean? "

While most Americans are free to go about their daily business,
unaffected by the wars in any way, scores of thousands of troops have
been sent off on repeat tours into the combat zones.

Krause is proud of his service and still loves the military. "But
we're a nation at war," he said, "and we should all be in this
together."

Wal-Mart At It Again

2006-10-16T15:19:00.000-05:00

Excerpts from a TomPaine.com article Wal-Mart's Benefits Squeeze, by Cindy Zeldin,

Wal-Mart's health insurance options for 2007, dubbed the "value plan" and the "freedom plan," feature deductibles reaching as high as $6,000 for family coverage under the "freedom plan"—meaning that a Wal-Mart employee selecting that plan would have to fork over $6,000 before insurance started covering their family's medical bills. That's a lot of money for a cashier earning Wal-Mart wages, and it begs some serious questions about how a deductible that high can be met without going into debt.

Shoot, I couldn't afford a $6,000 a year deductible

In a backdoor way, Wal-Mart's strategy is to do what many insurers have always done: get into the game of cherry-picking. Insurance companies have long been aware that one of the best ways to turn a profit is to enroll people with low health risk. Large nationwide employers, however, have never really been in the game of hiring workers based on health status. Typically, ability to perform the job in question is the deciding factor, making Wal-Mart's entry into the cherry-picking game revolutionary. And as the nation's largest private employer, Wal-Mart's employee benefit decisions will reverberate throughout the economy.

Like everything Wal-Mart does, it casts the largest shadow.

By offering high deductible policies instead of eliminating coverage altogether, Wal-Mart can still say to its critics that it is providing a benefit that works well enough for most of its employees, and technically, they will be right. But future health isn't always predictable, and the slice of WalMart workers who will fare poorly under the new plan are the very ones who will end up actually needing to use their insurance. After all, while many medical expenses are predictable, many are not—that's part of the reason we have insurance in the first place. And for those workers or their family members with unanticipated health expenses—those who become pregnant, are in a serious accident, or have children who are diagnosed with a chronic condition—well, they won't just be slightly worse off. They'll likely end up in a sea of medical debt.

PTSD

2006-10-13T16:25:00.000-05:00

The Washington Post had an article today entitled VA Mental Health Caseload Surges that says 1/3 of Iraq and Afghanistan soldiers are reporting stress or other mental health issues. First off, that number seems low. I mean, I'm sure that is all that is actually trying to access services, or who will admit to struggling, but you can't tell me that only 1/3 of the troops have suffered some sort of mental health issues. The article states

Nearly 64,000 of the more than 184,000 veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars who have sought VA health care were found to exhibit potential symptoms of post-traumatic stress, drug abuse or other mental disorders as of the end of June, according to the latest report by the Veterans Health Administration.

Again, it seems lower than reality. I mean, how many Vietnam vets actually sought out mental health services from the VA? The stigma at the time was greater than now, but still, I don't think that it has any actual bearing on what is happening with returning troops, some of them returning home from multiple tours of duty. Sure, there is "debriefing" that happens as the troops are just about to be sent home, but that about amounts to a bunch of war weary guys and gals in a room together, wanting nothing more than to get home to their families, being asked: OK, anyone in here have any issues they need to deal with? Come on. Would YOU bring something up in that setting?

The article continues to say that out of those 64,000 mentioned above,

30,000 had possible post-traumatic stress disorder

Possible PTSD? What does that mean? The top doc at the VA, Michael J. Kussman says

the number of troops reporting symptoms of stress probably represents a "gross overestimation" of those actually suffering from mental health disorders.

Gross OVERestimation? His reasoning?

Most of the troops who return from Iraq have "normal reactions to abnormal situations," such as flashbacks or trouble sleeping, Kussman said.

Uh, yeah, that's what PTSD is?! If you are a human being, and you are witness to and or participant in horrible situations (such as war, natural disaster, you name it), your "normal" reaction would be to have some sort of stress, or other mental reaction. I'm worried that the number isn't considered UNDERestimated, like why isn't it at 100%? Who are those who he thinks shouldn't be having this human reaction?

Is it just because there is still such a stigma associated with the idea of a "mental health disorder"? They're not crazy, they just are freaked the fuck out because they have been sent to and participated in war. Sorry folks, but PTSD is a normal reaction to the abnormal, and it IS a mental health disorder.

Then, another disturbing point in the article comes when Paul Rieckhoff, the executive director of the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America says that the Buffalo VA has a "wish list"

of needed supplies and other expenses, including wheelchairs, rehabilitation equipment and medical monitors.

If our own vets have to make wish lists for their health care needs, needs that arose due to their serving their country.... Dude, why did we start this f-ing war in the first place? And why can't we finally let it out? The truth. What war means? I guess that might hinder the next war waiting in the wings.

Reasoning v. Wisdom

2006-10-13T09:59:00.000-05:00

The king said: 'Nagasena, he who escapes reindividualization [rebirth], is it by reasoning that he escapes it?'

'Both by reasoning, your Majesty, and by wisdom, and by other good qualities.'

'But are not reasoning and wisdom surely much the same?'

'Certainly not. Reasoning is one thing, wisdom another. Sheep and goats, oxen and buffaloes, camels and asses have reasoning, but wisdom they have not.'

'Well put, Nagasena!'

-Milindapanha 32

Blossom Music Venue in Cleveland Needs to Hear From You

2006-10-11T18:43:00.000-05:00

Bob Dyer of the Akron Beacon Journal did a story recently on a man who uses a wheelchair, and his experience trying to enjoy some music at Blossom, the large outdoor Cleveland area music center.

To sum it up, the guy paid out the nose for the ticket (big surprise) and in the end, was seated in an area reserved for people who use wheelchairs. As soon as the music started, people in front of him and the others seated in the same area, stood up and began to dance. This made it impossible for those seated in chairs to see the stage. They couldn't even see the large video screens. The man asked the people who were blocking his view to stop. They made some rude comments, and security was called to the scene, with promises to fix the situation. Another security person came, listened to the man's situation, and also promised to remedy the situation. Never happened.

Miles believes the least Blossom could do is refund his $150. But he's not hopeful.

``I know there's a snowball's chance of that happening. They don't care.''

Which just might be true.

When I contacted Blossom's marketing director, Tim McGrath, he said: ``I'm sure we comply with the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act), but let me get you some information.''

That was 27 days and two phone calls ago. I'm still waiting.

Perhaps McGrath is having a hard time trying to figure out how to defend the indefensible.

For those of you who would like to contact McGrath to let him know how you
feel about Blossom's failure to give a damn, you can call "guest services"
at 330.916.6068. or their general line 330.920.8040

Tell Them Now

2006-10-10T18:30:00.000-05:00

The Columbus Dispatch had an editorial about Israel today entitled "Lethal Litter" that surprisingly enough I agree with. Me agreeing with the Dispatch or not is not the important part. The important part is what the editorial urges Israel to do, and what Israel actually has the power and ability to do. The important part is: will they?

Right now, there are innocent civilian Lebanese men women and, perhaps most importantly, children who are attempting to rebuild their lives, homes, and routines after the tragic violence that we bore witness to this summer. As they go about this task of rebuilding, there are some who are alive right as you read this. Right now they are sitting down to eat dinner with their family, they are sleeping, they are studying for school, they are LIVING. But tomorrow, or the next day, or the day after that, they will be dead. And they don't have to be. Of course I could go on and on about the destructiveness of war, the necessity or stupidity of it all. It doesn't matter. What matters is that if you have the ability to save innocent lives, you MUST take that ability and do everything you can with it. Right now, Israel has some ability to do that, to save innocent lives.

Currently, there are between 350,000 and 1 million unexploded "cluster bombs" scattered throughout Lebanon. According to the Dispatch,

Newer cluster bombs are designed so that the bomblets deteriorate if they don't explode, lowering the chances that a child, farmer or other innocent will be blown up.
But the U.S.-made bombs employed by Israel are older and lack the automatic-disarmament feature, leaving southern Lebanon covered with a deadly litter.

They suggest, and I give a hardy second that

To ensure that the bloodshed really is ended, Israel should provide detailed information on where the bombs were used, so United Nations workers can find and neutralize them.

Many of you know that Marla received the nickname "cluster bomb" girl, because of her strong advocacy in this area. She would identify areas where cluster bombs were known to be sitting unexploded, where they would most likely be picked up by an unsuspecting child drawn to the colorful objects, and would notify those whose job it was to neutralize the bombs where they were. It was a no-brainer for Marla: innocent life + possible harm + ability to deter said harm = duh! deter it!!

Here's to hoping that it is seen so obviously by the Israeli government as the right thing to do.

There is no need to wait. Israeli citizens don't have time to wait. Lebanese citizens don't have time to wait. The world doesn't have time to wait. Tell. Them. Now.

Remember When You Were 18?

2006-10-09T18:08:00.000-05:00

A tiny ray of light in Indiana.

Many youths leaving foster care when they turn 18 now will have government-provided health insurance under a change announced Tuesday by the state.

Those young people will qualify for Medicaid, the federal-state health-care program for the poor, if their incomes are less than $19,600, which is twice the federal poverty level for a single person.

Many children in foster care are there because they've been abused or neglected and, as a result, might have chronic physical and mental health needs, Lawson said.

"Simply to cut off their medical care because they turned 18 was horrible for us to do," Lawson said.

FYI for those of you not very familiar with Medicaid eligibility: you have to be not only financially eligible for Medicaid, but also categorically eligible, meaning: You have to be poor and fit into a "category" of being a child (up to age 18), a pregnant woman, a parent of a child, aged, blind, or disabled. In other words, if you just turned 19, and aren't pregnant or have a baby already, it doesn't matter how poor or sick or without a saftey net of family you are, you are pretty much SOL in most states. In Indiana, the transition from being in foster homes to being basically kicked out into the cold cruel world just became a smidgen easier. Not by much, but we have to count every victory don't we? Or we would all just sink under the weight of cynicism.

Are We Surprised?

2006-10-09T17:56:00.000-05:00

" Health Savings Accounts and High Deductible Health Plans: Are They An Option for Low-Income Families?," Kaiser Family Foundation : The issue paper, based on analyses of available data and research, examines whether low-income families could benefit from health savings accounts and high deductible health plans. According to the paper, such plans shift financial risk to consumers through higher deductibles, and out-of-pocket costs for such plans could consume up to 15% of the annual income for low-income families. In addition, the paper says that the incomes of most low-income families and individuals are not high enough to benefit from the tax deductions associated with HSAs and such plans reduce the use of preventive care and primary services (Kaiser Family Foundation, "Health Savings Accounts and High Deductible Health Plans: Are They An Option for Low-Income Families?," October 2006).

Of Course Kids Always Get Hit the Worst

2006-10-09T16:39:00.000-05:00

When someone has a stupid idea, and decides to legislate based on that stupid idea, doesn't it seem that those who can least afford to take the brunt of that stupidity (in this case children), are the ones who end up taking it anyways?

I've written many past posts (Only Crazy Horse Need Apply, Don't Even Bother, I TOLD you I loved Bob Herbert) on, first: the arrogant stupidity of County caseworkers taking it upon themselves to decide whose citizenship should be questioned (based on "foreign sounding" last names), second: the arrogant stupidity of Ohio legislators deciding that instead of questioning a Medicaid applicant based solely on last name, we should just question EVERYONE's citizenship and bog down an already overburdened system with more administrative crap (mind you, these were Rs wanting to legislate more bureaucracy), and third: the arrogant stupidity of our federal legislators doing the same thing as the state wanted to, and actually getting away with it. So dear readers, what happens when we legislate based on arrogant stupidity and xenophobic rumors?

Thousands of low-income children have been unable to enroll in Virginia's Medicaid program since July 1 because of new, tougher federal rules requiring proof of citizenship and identity, state officials said.
Officials for the state program for the poor and disabled said as many as 10,000 eligible children are living without health care largely because their families have been unable to present original birth certificates and other needed documentation to state or local Medicaid officials.

And that is just in one state. 10,000 uninsured children. I sure wish some "pro-lifers" would stand up and show they give a crap about what happens after a child is born. Well, I guess if I'm going to wish for anything, it would be that we just leave this arrogant xenophobic legislating behind all together. Wouldn't that be nice?

It is Just All Too Much

2006-10-05T16:03:00.000-05:00

I have so many things to say today that I can barely think straight, of course all about my new favorite idiot, our SOB of a SOS, Blackwell. I mean, can this guy screw up any more? Well, I guess I hope he can. The more he gets out there, the less people will vote for him (I pray). So, after I get over hitting my head against a wall, look out for a post on #1 Blackwell on health care #2 Blackwell on taxes #3 Blackwell on white supremacy.

Not to Add to an Already Overwhelming Day...

2006-09-29T14:56:00.000-05:00

but WHY oh WHY did Kaisernetwork.org have to be such a bummer today?

Study Examines Dual-Eligible Medicare Beneficiaries' Access to Mental Health Treatments
"Clearing Hurdles and Hitting Walls: Restrictions Undermine Part D Coverage of Mental Health Drugs ," Medicare Rights Center

New Jersey SCHIP Program Could Eliminate Benefits for Some Children Next Year

Minnesota Lawmakers Propose Tougher Public Assistance Fraud Measures

But then this mixed bag: one good, one bad

Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report Features Recent Developments Related to Medical Malpractice in Two States

If Guatemala Can Do It, So Can We: The Link Btwn Last Two Posts

2006-09-28T06:43:00.000-05:00

The campaign also received a boost in 2004 when the newly elected president, Óscar Berger, publicly apologized to the victims of wartime atrocities on behalf of the government. He has established a commission to compensate them as well as help fund some of the forensic work this year.

Also from the above article.

Opinion Piece on Victims of War

2006-09-28T06:31:00.000-05:00

The Anonymous Casualties of War
U.S. Government Needs to Disclose Civilian Casualties of War

OPINION By JENNIFER ABRAHMSON
Sept. 26, 2006 — As the number of casualties mounts daily, we all mourn the tragic losses of American service men and women in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The dispassionate statistics represent fathers, mothers, children, brothers and sisters who sacrificed their lives in support of the U.S. mission.

The statistics on Iraqi civilian violent deaths released last week by the United Nations are equally horrifying and overwhelming.

More than 3,000 innocent people — their names and histories unknown to us — were killed in August alone.

The British Web site, Iraq Body Count, estimates that as many as 48,000 civilians have been killed in Iraq since the war began in March 2003.

Violence in Afghanistan, where the death toll is murky at best, is resurging.

Most of these deaths have been at the hands of the insurgency in Iraq and the Taliban in Afghanistan — but not all.

Many Americans are left feeling helpless when they hear news of the latest macabre figures.

I can't help but think of Marla Ruzicka, the 28-year-old human rights advocate who dedicated her life to helping the surviving family members of innocent men, women and children caught in U.S. crossfire on the battlefields of Afghanistan and Iraq.

The door-to-door civilian casualty surveys she conducted in the early phases of both wars led to groundbreaking legislation worth $45 million in assistance for civilian victims of war.

Inspiring, yes. Enough, not nearly.

Marla pushed on, insisting that the Pentagon release records on the dead, wounded and dispossessed.

With accurate information, she argued, the United States, along with humanitarian organizations, could better assist civilians accidentally harmed in the lethal crossfire.

Time and again, she was told that no such records existed.

In April of last year, Marla finally received the most promising evidence supporting her deeply held belief that a mountain of official civilian casualty statistics was being shrouded by the fog of war.

Marla had befriended a high-ranking U.S. military official in Iraq who disclosed to her that 29 civilians had been killed by small-arms fire in skirmishes between U.S. troops and insurgents in Baghdad during a specific narrow window of time.

The figures were limited in their geography and time frame, making them useless as a statistical indicator, but they did achieve one thing of fundamentally critical importance — they proved that the U.S. military in Iraq was keeping its own body count.

A few days later, Marla's quest to unearth more extensive data was brutally cut short when a suicide bomber ended her life on Baghdad's Airport Road.

In the nearly 1½ years since her death, calls for the public release of civilian casualty records have largely fallen on deaf ears.

Congress is still waiting for a report on the Pentagon's procedures for recording civilian casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan, which is months overdue.

Ensuring that information about civilian casualties is systematically collected and maintained would help create the best possible record.

Then, it must be released to the public so the government and humanitarian organizations can identify and reach victims in need of assistance.

Furthermore, the Pentagon must establish a more effective civilian casualty compensation claims process, using the data at its disposal.

The one operating today in Baghdad relies on incomplete information and is applied inconsistently.

It can be easier for an Iraqi to obtain compensation for a car destroyed by a U.S. tank than for a dead child.

More accurate military records of civilian casualties would not only enable us to help grieving families rebuild their lives, it would also mitigate anger and resentment toward the United States, which is, at least in part, fueling the insurgency in Iraq.

Coming clean on civilian casualty data would not only help right the wrongs of the past, it would also help to prevent accidental death — and fury — in the future.

To its credit, the U.S. military strives to minimize civilian casualties.

Senior military officials earlier this year announced that American commanders were taking steps to decrease the chance of violent confrontations between troops and civilians during daily patrols.

Mitigating and preventing future mistakes would be much more effective with comprehensive, public records.

Equipped with little more than determination and a belief in moral responsibility, Marla gave a voice to the voiceless by collecting as much information as she could on civilian casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan.

It is time for the Pentagon to pick up where Marla — whose own voice was tragically silenced — left off.

Jennifer Abrahamson is an author and freelance journalist based in Brooklyn, N.Y. She has also worked for the United Nations in Africa and Afghanistan, which is where she first met Marla Ruzicka in 2002. Abrahamson and Ruzicka began collaborating on "Sweet Relief: The Marla Ruzicka Story" only months before Marla was killed by an IED in Iraq.

A Painful Past Meets a Painful Present; and a Request

2006-09-28T06:17:00.000-05:00

Below is a clip of a story for the Washington Post. I won't repost the entire article here, but do suggest reading it.

This is what I "worked" on, on and off, from 1997-2003 which cumulated in my thesis (yes, I know, I graduated in 99 but you know us Friends Worlders). For any tech savvy readers out there, I would like to find a way to put my thesis online for anyone to read who might be studying this subject or a similar one. I am at a loss of where to begin, and any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!!

Exhuming the Past In a Painful Quest
Guatemalan Victims' Families Seek Closure, Justice

By N.C. Aizenman
Washington Post Foreign Service
Thursday, September 28, 2006; Page A01

NEBAJ, Guatemala -- A decade after the conclusion of the long civil war that ravaged this Central American nation, Guatemalans are literally trying to dig up their past.

Spurred by a surge of requests from victims' families this year, dozens of forensic anthropologists have been fanning out across the countryside to search for remains of the 200,000 people -- most of them Mayan Indian civilians -- who were killed or abducted during the 36-year conflict.

Many were massacred by military forces and dumped into mass graves. Others were buried hurriedly in unmarked, secret locations by relatives anxious to avoid rampaging troops.

About 40,000 victims simply disappeared after being seized by government operatives.

Nearly every day brings another grisly discovery: skulls of toddlers executed with gunshots to the head; corpses of young men whose necks are still looped with the garrotes used to strangle them. Nearly every week brings another funeral packed with weeping relatives: once-youthful widows now wrinkled and gray, children long since grown to adulthood.

Meanwhile, in a cavernous, damp warehouse in Guatemala's capital, investigators wearing protective masks and surgical gloves are combing through piles upon piles of mildewed documents from a recently discovered secret police archive, hunting for clues to the fate of the disappeared.

The current effort is hardly the first probe of wartime atrocities since peace accords ended the conflict in 1996. But its scope and pace are unprecedented in a country where those responsible have enjoyed near impunity. Only two military officials have been imprisoned for war crimes, according to human rights activists, despite findings by a U.N. commission that government and allied paramilitary forces committed nearly all of the atrocities.

As We Spiral Away From Democracy....

2006-09-25T10:04:00.000-05:00

From the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Our rights to vote have been slowly siphoned away from us, and we as a nation on a whole seem really blase about it. Voting schmoting seems to be a prevailing attitude. So why be slow and sneaky about it anymore? well, the US House isn't. What will we do about this?

SURVEY INDICATES HOUSE BILL COULD DENY VOTING RIGHTS TO MILLIONS OF U.S. CITIZENS: Low-Income, African American, and Rural Voters at Special Risk
By Robert Greenstein, Leighton Ku, and Stacy Dean

On September 20 the House passed a bill (H.R. 4844) that would, starting in 2010, effectively deny the vote to any U.S. citizen who cannot produce a passport or birth certificate (or proof of naturalization). Although the bill's supporters present it as a measure intended to prevent non-citizens from voting, the bill's main impact will be on U.S. citizens themselves.

The national survey, conducted in January 2006 by Opinion Research Corporation and sponsored by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, finds that approximately 11 million citizens currently lack the required documents. A substantial number could have difficulty obtaining or affording them. The survey also indicates that the bill would affect certain groups disproportionately — including people with low incomes, African Americans, the elderly, people without a high school diploma, rural residents, and residents of the South and Midwest. Substantial numbers of these and other citizens could potentially be disenfranchised by the bill.

http://www.cbpp.org/9-22-06id.htm
http://www.cbpp.org/9-22-06id.pdf 4pp.

Per Reader's Request

2006-09-23T09:07:00.000-05:00

I recently received a request from a reader to ponder the recent CDC suggestion that HIV/AIDS testing be done on a routine basis. This opens a huge can of worms, and I will briefly touch on a few of those topics here. I would like to say off the bat though that I think the motivation behind these suggested guidelines is good, not sinister. I simply think that many docs, and many researchers, and CDC people simply don't understand the true problem of un/underinsurance in this country.

The first question this raises is: what happens after the test? I've seen news articles talk about the emotional impact these test results might have on unprepared patients. But what I haven't seen talked about is the question of what will happen to people who are uninsured at the time that the test is taken, and the diagnosis given. People transition between jobs, can't afford the COBRA, can't afford their employer sponsored coverage, aren't offered employer sponsored coverage, don't think they need coverage, are an independent contractor and can't afford or are ineligible for an individual coverage policy, are ineligible for Medicaid, don't know about Medicaid/Medicare, are in the process of becoming approved for it, or in the process of aging out of it if you are a child, especially if you are a foster child. What I mean to say is that there are any number of reasons that 48 million plus individuals in this country are uninsured for a year or more (that # jumps to the 70 millions when looking at if a person has been uninsured for any period of time during that year). The article that I link to above says that "high-risk" individuals who come in through the urgent care or ER should be tested 2 times a year. If you are in that category and are using an urgent care or ER, you are likely uninsured.

And then there is the fact that we are witnessing the erosion of employer sponsored coverage right before our eyes, yet no safety net, no insurance product is keeping pace with this erosion. As it continues to erode, more and more people will fall through those cracks and will for some period of time at least, become uninsured. It is inevitable. It's not just a matter of being high risk, or low income or anything. This is a problem that is touching us all.

There are certain programs that will pay for HIV/AIDS treatment for uninsured individuals, but funding is limited, and what will happen if all of a sudden there are a large number of these individuals trying to tap into that pool of money? In DC they have been doing massive testing lately, and the results show something like 3% of those tested are coming back with positive results. That's something like 2x the national rate (or the assumed national rate).

And then there are those who are insured, and their insurance companies. I recently read (don't remember where) an article about an insurance company trying to retroactively deny coverage to a little girl who was found to have a tumor. This girl's mom had filled out the paperwork to sign her up for insurance, and then took her in for a routine physical, where they found the tumor on her jaw. The insurance Co. claims that the woman lied on the paperwork because she knew that her daughter had a bump on her jaw and didn't include that as a preexisting condition, in which case they would have denied her coverage. But she didn't put it down as a preexisting condition, because it wasn't. It hadn't been diagnosed by any doctor. This woman had no idea that her daughter had a tumor and that it would cost $60,000 in medical bills.

Paul Krugman from the New York Times recently did an Opinion piece (click here for a summary) on the issue of insurance companies trying to not only deny coverage to people because of preexisting conditions, but now are pulling this retroactive BS in denying people's claims.

More health insurers "are finding ways to yank your insurance when you get sick," but the industry continues "growing rapidly," in part by "working harder than ever at identifying people who really need medical care and ensuring that they don't get it," columnist Paul Krugman writes in a New York Times opinion piece. In the past, Krugman writes, health insurers "mainly concentrated on screening out applicants likely to get sick," but today they have begun "devoting a lot of effort to finding pretexts for revoking insurance after they've already granted it," often by "claiming that they weren't notified about some pre-existing condition, even if the insured wasn't aware of that condition when he or she bought the policy."

It's disgusting. This trend, when coupled with the overall erosion of health care coverage, the growing ranks of the uninsured, and the idea to test every person in the country for HIV/AIDS is a potentially volatile and dangerous mix.

For Those Interested

2006-09-23T08:50:00.000-05:00

This is an interview with Omid Safi that is cut upt into various topics about 2.5 minutes each, and pretty much sums up what I believe. What is God? What is mysticism? What is good religion? The problem of evil.

Holy Crap!

2006-09-22T10:16:00.000-05:00

This is an ad that is running on Black radio stations in Ohio.

Script: National Black Republican Association
60-Second Radio Spot
Paid for by the Black Republican Freedom Fund, an
NBRA 527 affiliate
Not authorized by any candidate or political committee

Pam: Dr. King was a real man.

Tina: You know . . he was a Republican.

Pam: Dr. King, a Republican? Really?

Tina: Democrats passed those Black Codes and Jim Crow laws. Democrats started the Ku Klux Klan.

Pam: The Klan . . . White hoods and sheets?!

Tina: Democrats fought ALL Civil Rights Legislation from the 1860's to the 1960's. Democrats released those vicious dogs and fire hoses on blacks.

Pam: Seriously!

Tina: And the Dixiecrats? Remained Democrats and vowed to vote for a yellow dog, before a Republican. Republicans freed us from slavery and put our right to vote in the Constitution.

Pam: What?

Tina: Republicans started the NAACP, affirmative action and the HBCU's.

Pam: Democrats have bamboozled blacks.

Tina: Democrats blocked the minimum wage passed by Republicans. Over 200 billion dollars have been spent on education, healthcare and job training since President Bush took office.

Pam: So, Democrats want to keep us POOR and voting ONLY Democrat.

Tina: Democrats want us to accept same-sex marriages; teen abortions without a parent's consent and suing the Boy Scouts for saying "God" in their pledge.

Pam: We NEED to THINK! and vote OUR own values.

Tina: Exactly... Democrats have talked the talk, but Republicans have walked the walk.

Pam: I hear ya girl. It time for us to "DO" the walk.

Third Awakening?

2006-09-21T12:35:00.000-05:00

From the Washington Post:

Bush Tells Group He Sees a 'Third Awakening'

President Bush said yesterday that he senses a "Third Awakening" of religious devotion in the United States that has coincided with the nation's struggle with international terrorists, a war that he depicted as "a confrontation between good and evil."

Why do I all of a sudden feel less safe?

Depends on If you Actually Consume Health Care

2006-09-21T12:30:00.000-05:00

The GAO recently released a report on Health Savings Accounts (HSAs), or as our GOP friends like to call it: "consumer driven" health care. " Consumer-Directed Health Plans: Early Enrollee Experiences with Health Savings Accounts and Eligible Health Plans," The report in part examines the satisfaction of users of HSAs. According to the analysis given by Kaiser, most people using HSAs would not recommend the plans to:

individuals who use maintenance medications, those with chronic conditions, those with children or to those who might not have the money to meet the high deductible associated with HSAs

In other words, most of the U.S. and most regular "consumers" of health care services. I consider it very important that I, as a consumer of health care services, have a choice and partial direction in the course of my treatments, but I would get my ass served to me if I actually participated in one of these things. I would be bankrupt! So I guess consumer driven health care only works for those who aren't doing a bunch of consuming.

(or anyone with kids)

(or anyone middle class or poor)

I Would Argue

2006-09-21T11:53:00.000-05:00

The Washington Post ran an article on 9/12 entitled President Tries to Win Over a War-Weary Nation. I bristle a little at this. In my opinion, we aren't war weary, we are ADD. Most Americans aren't actually impacted by this war, nor do they really truly grasp what it would mean if we were war weary. I guess you could say we are weary of hearing about it. But beyond that, I think we are living in ignorant bliss.

Does Anyone Else Get the Feeling....

2006-09-19T11:07:00.000-05:00

That we are living in WWII Germany, and sitting on our hands like most Germans did?

Canadian Was Falsely Accused, Panel Says
After Tip From Ally, U.S. Sent Muslim to Syria for Questioning

By Doug Struck
Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, September 19, 2006; Page A01

TORONTO, Sept. 18 -- Canadian intelligence officials passed false warnings and bad information to American agents about a Muslim Canadian citizen, after which U.S. authorities secretly whisked him to Syria, where he was tortured, a judicial report found Monday

And I Quote

2006-09-19T10:12:00.000-05:00

General standards of human rights apply to the people of all countries because, regardless of their cultural background, all humans share an inherent yearning for freedom, equality and dignity. Democracy and respect for fundamental human rights are as important to Africans and Asians as they are to Europeans and Americans.

-His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "Harvard International Review," 1995

War Fucking Sucks

2006-09-18T19:23:00.000-05:00

That's about all I can muster.........

New Blog Link

2006-09-18T17:21:00.000-05:00

Hey ya'll, you might have noticed that I added a blog onto my list of cool blogs. It's a health care policy blog mainly, and I ended up finding it because we were both linked to a Washington Post article about the same subject. Then I realized, just about any health policy stuff that I wanted to write about, he had already done so, and in a more clear way than I could. So in order to ease my guilt of the piles of articles/opinion pieces/new happenings around health care that are accumulating in my in box to blog about, I thought I would just link to his blog instead. Let the guilt go! So check it out, it's called Stayin' Alive. Not that I won't stop my ranting and raving, but I just won't feel as guilty if and when I don't have the gumption in me to do it.

One More Reason Why Blackwell Has His Head Up His Ass

2006-09-18T16:19:00.000-05:00

Study Says Individual Insurance Too Costly

Eighty-nine percent of health-coverage shoppers can't afford policies or are rejected.

By Lisa Girion, Times Staff Writer

Individual health insurance — often touted as an alternative to employer-based group coverage — may be an option for the healthiest and wealthiest. But a study due out today suggests that the poor and sick need not apply. The overwhelming majority — 89% — of working-age adults who shopped for health coverage in the individual market over the last three years were rejected for health reasons or found it too expensive, according to the study by the Commonwealth Fund, a private foundation that sponsors independent research on health and social issues…

A Chance to Bring Attention to Innocent Victims of War

2006-09-18T10:58:00.000-05:00

SIMON SPOTLIGHT ENTERTAINMENT

Simon & Schuster
Contact: Betsy DeJesu, Senior Publicist
1230 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020

212/698-7243 | Elizabeth.DeJesu@simonandschuster.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The against-all-odds story of how a 28-year-old woman
from California took on the US government, changed
thousands of lives, and made the ultimate sacrifice.

SWEET RELIEF:
The Marla Ruzicka Story

by Jennifer Abrahamson

“The only solace in her death is that her story has
reached further. A lot of young women are inspired by
it. I wish more people had heard about her while she
was here.”
-- Jennifer Abrahamson

“In all the years I have lived, I do not know too many
people who have made an impact the way [Marla] has in
those twenty-eight short years.”
--Senator Barbara Boxer

“I count [Marla] among my heroes…”
--Sean Penn

Marla Ruzicka wanted to change the world, and she
succeeded. A free spirit who grew up in an idyllic
small California town, Marla became an activist at an
early age, and she never stopped fighting. Underneath
her bubbly, blonde appearance – this was a girl who
once rollerbladed down the halls of Congress -- Marla
was a savvy political operator, a war-time Mother
Theresa meets Erin Brokovich, who sacrificed her life
to give a voice to the invisible victims of war in
Iraq and Afghanistan. SWEET RELIEF: The Marla Ruzicka
Story, written by journalist Jennifer Abrahamson,
tells the unforgettable journey of an all-American
girl on her way to becoming a hero.

In SWEET RELIEF, Abrahamson recounts Marla’s quest to
improve the lives of the less fortunate. Marla’s
journey starts in the San Francisco area as a
grassroots activist, through her travels to Latin
America and Africa, and finally ends in the war zones
of Kabul and Baghdad.

Yet, despite her sunny demeanor, bright California
good looks, and fierce ambition, Marla was struggling
with her own personal demons. While everyone thought
Marla was on top of the world, she was in fact a
diagnosed manic-depressive who battled an eating
disorder, and a string of peaks and valleys in her
love life.

Through it all, Marla stayed dedicated to her work, as
she worked tirelessly to raise funds and awareness for
the cause closest to her heart -- the U.S. government
compensation for the civilian victims of the wars in
Iraq and Afghanistan.

Eventually, Marla was able to achieve her goal; she
had a large hand in winning millions of dollars from
the U.S. government to support her cause. This was the
first time in history that the U.S. government had
made a legislative effort to allocate funds to provide
reconstruction assistance to civilians who had been
directly harmed by U.S. warfare. Unfortunately, Marla
would not be able to see the long-term effects of her
contributions. In April 2005 Marla was killed by a
suicide bomber on the infamous Airport Road in Iraq.
She was likely on her way to assist a family in need.
She was only twenty-eight years old.

Weeks later, President Bush officially re-named the
fund that Marla’s work had inspired The Marla Ruzicka
Fund, with almost $50 million currently available to
assist victims of U.S. warfare in Iraq and
Afghanistan. However, more than any amount of money,
it is Marla’s life story – one of unflagging love,
hope, courage, and determination – that may truly help
change the world some day.

As Jennifer Abrahamson writes, “When Marla was a
budding activist volunteering for Global Exchange, she
seized on an idea to write a ‘how-to’ handbook for
other young people who wanted to make a difference
with their lives. Marla, of course, was too busy
actually making a difference to see it through. In
writing SWEET RELIEF, I’ve come to realize that
Marla’s life is that handbook.”

About the author:
Jennifer Abrahamson was born and raised in the San
Francisco Bay Area. She has written for Slate, Salon,
Elle, and other media, and worked as a humanitarian
spokesperson for the United Nations in Africa. A job
with t he UN World Food Program took Jennifer to
Afghanistan, where she first met Marla Ruzicka in
2002. They began collaborating on this book just
before Marla lost her life. Jennifer lives in
Brooklyn, New York.

About the movie:
The movie version of SWEET RELIEF is in
pre-production, with Paramount/MTV Films producing and
Kirsten Dunst attached to portray Marla.

Sweet Relief: The Marla Ruzicka Story
Jennifer Abrahamson
September 26, 2006 | $24.95 | 272 pages |
1-4169-1778-0/978-1-4169-1778-6

Hells Yeah

2006-09-14T16:48:00.000-05:00

"I don't think that the positions that are advanced by Ken represent
the mainstream of the Republican Party," said Saxbe, once a Republican
state attorney general candidate. "I don't think any right-thinking
Republican believes that people who are supporting choice are
murderers or that people who support gay rights or who are gay are
somehow ill-equipped to enjoy the privileges of citizenry in this
state."

In Case You Haven't Had Your Daily Vomitfest Yet

2006-09-12T19:31:00.000-05:00

Ken Blackwell (Ohio's Secretary of State) really knocked my socks off with his plan to "Cover all Ohioans", but after a moment of reflection, my socks are firmly back on. Duh, just more Republican double speak here. In their minds, the problem with the uninsured is that they just don't want to be insured and its up to the government to force them to take care of themselves. Which last time I checked, didn't seem to be a very GOP take on life.

My take on it is that this is his way of running the poor and (middle class) out of town. Pass an unfunded mandate and watch them flee. But in reality, what is going to end up happening is the same thing that happens with car insurance. The rates of insurance/uninsurance vary from state to state. The rates of uninsurance for cars (mandatory) and health insurance are about on par with each other by state. The percentages rise and fall based on, duh, the level of poverty for that state. The higher the % of people making it on poverty wages goes hand in hand with the uninsurance rate.

Of course there are big differences with car and health insurance. Driving a car is not mandatory. It makes life a hell of a lot easier, but you can live and not drive a car. Getting sick is not an option, at least not for any human being. Secondly, it is much easier to identify someone without car insurance. You get pulled over, and asked for proof of it. When you renew your license plates, you are asked for that same proof. How is Blackwell planning on making this mandatory health insurance thing work? How would one even go about enforcing such a thing? I mean with car insurance, you have jobs (police, BMV agents) that take on the responsibility of checking that as a part of their job. Who will take on the role of verifying proof of health insurance? Doctors? And what kind of penalties would he suggest imposing on already poor sick people who are looking for medical treatment?

And then there is the insidious comparison with Massachusetts who has for DECADES been working on health reform efforts, as well as expanding Medicaid, in order to lower the # of uninsured people in their state. The Mass plan also includes subsidies to help pay for premiums for those who can't afford it. And even though Romney (R) publicly came out to support Blackwell's plan, the reality is that they are starting from a very different place then we are in Ohio. Romney himself said:

The goal, was not to save money, but to find a way within existing spending to get all of his state's residents covered.

In fact, in the Akron Beacon Journal's coverage of the release of his "plan" Blackwell states that he would like to PRIVITIZE Medicaid. Sound familiar anyone? "Wither on the vine," "Part D"? Sorry, maybe I was the only one affixed to CSPAN when the Medicare debate was happening, but its all too familiar for my tastes. Anyways, see for yourself:

Blackwell's five-point proposal would:

• Create the Ohio Health Financing Commission to coordinate health-care policy and expenses for all state health-care programs.

More Government?

• Create the Buckeye Health Plan to cover uninsured Ohioans by matching them with existing health-care programs, including the eventual transfer of all of Ohio's Medicaid programs to private insurance programs.

Riiiiight, our uninsured problem is simply that people don't know how to access existing health care programs. I suggest to Mr. Blackwell that he try to get into AccessHealth Columbus and see what happens (a great program by the way, but one operating in 6 zip codes in a large metropolitan area with many doctors willing to take one or two uninsured patients at a time.) And did you catch that last line? THAT will cut costs for sure!! We all know how administratively efficient private insurance companies are. Ask your health care professional today! (Or at least her office staff) Oh, and by the way.... we already have a Buckeye Health Plan here in Ohio. Might want to learn a bit about things before going gung ho with a major overhaul of our entire state budget.

• Reform Ohio's Medicaid system by further implementing recommendations of the Ohio Joint Commission to Reform Medicaid.

Now that is a worthy goal, but I'm guessing they aren't talking about implementing all of the recommendations, but more of a pick and choose kind of thing.

And the scariest statement of all (and this is coming from an oft "consumer" of health care)

``My plan is consumer driven and allows for consumer choice,'' Blackwell said.

I shiver when I read that. Because once again it is doublespeak. Let me translate for you: let the free market handle health care costs. Because health care is just like any other commodity. It's just like an Ipod right?

Oh, and here's another great line:

Romney, a Republican, said the Massachusetts plan was worked out in a bipartisan fashion and was supported by his Democrat-dominated state legislature.

Oh yes, I can see it now: the Dems knocking down Blackwell's door to work with him. Yeah, that strong Democratic legislature that we have here in Ohio.

9/11

2006-09-11T13:59:00.000-05:00

If you are like me, today you have probably been keeping away from as much media coverage as you can, though its been difficult. Too many raw feelings. But the New York Times had a wonderful editorial today 9/11/06. If you read anything, I think this sums it up, at least for me, for the most part. There is more, but this is succient, and rings true to my heart.

Not to Be a Downer or Anything

2006-09-11T09:55:00.000-05:00

But.... this just screams at me.

Baghdad's morgue almost tripled its count for violent deaths in Iraq's capital during August from 550 to 1,536, authorities said Thursday, appearing to erase most of what U.S. generals and Iraqi leaders had touted as evidence of progress in a major security operation to restore order in the capital.

Separately, the Health Ministry confirmed Thursday that it planned to construct two new branch morgues in Baghdad and add doctors and refrigerator units to raise capacity to as many as 250 corpses a day.

Coming Clean

2006-09-06T18:05:00.000-05:00

No this post isn't about my latest colonoscopy, but it is about something that might end up being nearly as painful. I came out at work. That is to say, that I admitted to having Crohn's disease, and all of the fun "extras" that come along with it (bursitis, tendonitis, chronic pain and joint problems). When I was first diagnosed, I could never understand the position that some people took to NOT tell those around them what was going on. In fact, the first person who I met after my diagnosis who had Crohn's, my "Crohn's mentor," worked at a university, helping disabled students make their way through their college years. She was a staunch advocate for their rights as students, but never told any of her workmates that she had any disease herself. They would puzzle when she was obviously in distress, and they didn't know why, but she remained mute. I couldn't understand WHY she would keep silent like that. But as my experience in the workplace expanded, and I saw why the ADA is necessary, and found myself needing to meet with lawyers about my rights as a worker with a "disability," I decided that at my new job, I didn't want to face the conscious and subconscious judgment of ability that happens when people know that you have a chronic illness. At other jobs, I had naively thought that people would judge my ability based on, well, my actual ability. Turns out that people's perception of my ability was what prevailed at the end of the day, not my work, not anything I was producing or not producing. So this time around, I thought: Screw it, I don't need the hassle.

So why have I decided to let the world in on my "secret"? I've been preparing myself over the past few weeks to meet with disability rights groups as a part of my new job. I've been reading literature from groups like ADAPT, and others who have great sayings like: "I'd rather die in prison than live in a nursing home" or; "Danger, defective on the loose." In other words, groups who are proud and loud. It got me thinking about my "disability" that I don't think of as being a disability. I am covered under the ADA, I do face people's ignorance and judgment based on their perceptions, just like the people I'm reading about who are shouting about their rights from the rooftops. I'm trying to get around those problems by "passing." That is to say: I'm not in a wheelchair, I don't have any adaptive device that I use on a daily basis where people can tell right off the bat that I have obstacles to face due to health issues. In fact, on days when I can barely walk and I have to break out my cane, I was only using it until I entered a hallway where I knew a person was present, at which point I would whip my cane under my arm, pull my face into a smile and walk as assuredly and hurriedly past them as possible, until I rounded the corner, and could lean on it once again.

So, I can pass when needed, but it begs the question: just because I can pass, does it mean that I should? When I go to meet with these disability groups, do I tell them in order to gain their trust, while keeping silent to those around me? Just because I don't think of myself as having a disability, does that really matter? I know that many people who are immediately identified as disabled don't think of themselves that way either, but they still have to face the obstacles of other's opinions. Which brought me back to my mentor. She eventually came out to her workmates as well. What caused her to change her mind? The students she worked with who had disabilities. When they found out that she too had one, and had been keeping silent about it, while encouraging them in the process to push for their own rights, they felt betrayed. And I knew what I had to do. The next day I went out to lunch with my supervisor and laid it all on the line. No big deal, this is what I'm dealing with, this is what I might need from time to time, and this is why I haven't said anything up to this point. He seemed fine with it, and there we are. Who knows what will happen down the line if for example I have a really bad flare, and people around the office start to chatter (or, like in other offices, people might start to chatter even without a flare). I may not be a "Freedom Fighter" just yet, but at least I don't feel like a hypocrite.

The Blackwell of the South

2006-08-31T14:19:00.000-05:00

If you are white, you know all about something that my friend iomi calls the "racist elbow." That's when you are alone with other white people and they think that they can feel free to share some sort of racist remark with you, and you will be on the same page as them. TomPaine.com recently reported on just such a thing, which they call a "just us" moment, that happened with Katherine Harris, the Ken Blackwell of the 'O2 elections. Only this time it wasn't about race. In fact, it sounds eerily like what I just blogged about Blackwell. While being interviewd by a reporter from a Baptist publication she said:

… that lie we have been told, the separation of church and state, people have internalized, thinking that they needed to avoid politics and that is so wrong because God is the one who chooses our rulers. And if we are the ones not actively involved in electing those godly men and women and if people aren’t involved in helping godly men in getting elected than we’re going to have a nation of secular laws. That’s not what our founding fathers intended and that certainly isn’t what God intended.

Yikes!! The lie about the separation of church and state?! Our founding fathers didn't want separation of church and state? Then why exactly, as the Interfaith Alliance pointed out, it mentioned in line ONE of the Bill of Rights? I guess its easy to say that, and get away with it because its not like people actually pay attention to what happened last year, let alone pay attention to some dusty old document like that. People like Harris seem to forget that,

If there is not freedom from the imposition of religion, there is not freedom for the free practice of religion.
-Kim Baldwin, director of public policy at the Interfaith Alliance

But then here is my favorite part of the interview:

If you are not electing Christians, tried and true, under public scrutiny and pressure, if you’re not electing Christians then in essence you are going to legislate sin. They can legislate sin.

Wow. I'll just leave it at that.

Like I Said...

2006-08-30T16:52:00.000-05:00

Gotta love YouTube.

Thanks for Letting Me Know

2006-08-30T09:48:00.000-05:00

Our beloved Secretary of State has once again, given me reason to want to vomit. In talking about his stance on the separation of church and state, he tell us:

We are fundamental believers in the fact that the public square should not be stripped or scrubbed clean of religion or faith or God. I will fight for the right of the nonbeliever to not believe, because we all have a right to be wrong.

Thank goodness that he is giving us the right to be wrong. How very sweet of him. My question for him is this: how exactly does his Christian "faith" influence his actions in the public square? By attempting to end poverty? By treating others how he would like to be treated? By overturning the money changers tables in the temple? By being the good samaritan? Oh no, that's right, his expressions of faith are more along the lines of taking a line or two from the Bible and then trying to turn that into legislation: Issue 1 for example (which makes domestic partnership illegal). Because we all know how much Jesus preached about how people loving each other is wrong. Or maybe it has more to do with lying and hypocracy. Not combating it, but doing it. From the Dayton Daily News:

Blackwell Won't Press for Disclosure on Attack Ads Aimed at Strickland

Four years ago, Republican J. Kenneth Blackwell said voters should have the right to know who is behind groups that secretly pay for political ads.

"Without knowing who is behind these ads, voters are forced to make decisions without being fully informed," Blackwell told lawmakers considering campaign reforms in November 2002. "The secrecy surrounding the funding of these advertisements contributes to the erosion of voter confidence in the political process ..."

And now?

Four years later, as a candidate for governor, Blackwell is the beneficiary of this type of ad from a group that has managed to keep its contributors secret. Blackwell dodged a reporter's question Monday about whether he still believes issue-advocacy groups should disclose their donors.

Instead of answering any question directly himself, or standing in front of the public and being up front with us, he does his usual trick of sending out his toady Carlo LoParo, whose response is:

It's what the law allows.

Since when has Blackwell given two shits about the law?

"Straight Talk"

2006-08-26T15:26:00.000-05:00

[Disclaimer: I have had one wonderful doctor in a hospital setting, and have witnessed other good doctors, as well as caring and humane nurses, but this post had to be written, because unfortunately, those wonderful human beings who were there for me when I needed humanity the most, were in the minority, not the majority. It has been my experience that the blame for all problems with the health care system from financing on down to bad hospital stays is placed firmly on the shoulder of the patients: frivolous lawsuits from overly litigious and greedy patients; patients who use "too much" health care; and patients who just complain too much and have the nerve to actually be ill and ask for help from medical professionals for it. As an often time patient, I know how truly powerless we are in the sick care system, and how unbelievably frustrating and agonizing it can be. That's why I wrote this pissed off post.]

I came across a publication today, entitled "Straight Talk About Hospitalization: A Guide for IBD Patients." I found the link to this guide through a website, Crohns & Me which I wished had been in existence, or at least I wish I had known about it when I was first diagnosed. At any rate, even though I have had a couple of hospitalizations and know what to expect, and how to make things as easy on me as possible, the thought of this straight talking guide made me excited. Wow! I thought. Maybe I can pick up some pointers, because as anyone who has been a patient in a hospital knows: it SUCKS, and any help a person can get, I will take!

I began reading, and immediately became suspicious. The text begins:

Communicating effectively with your medical team
Remember, the painful emotions you are experiencing may impact the people around you. Doctors and nurses care deeply about your emotional as well as your physical well-being. Therefore, when you feel depressed, scared or helpless, you may be misinterpreted by your medical team as being demanding and impatient. Your medical team is working hard to get you well. They need your patience, courtesy and understanding.

Deep breath. THEY need my patience, courtesy and understanding? WE need to keep our emotions in check, lest it adversely affect the staff whose only concern is for us, the patient? Yeah RIGHT!! Sorry, I mean I have had some good doctors, a few good nurses, and some great CPA's, but its painfully obvious to the scared, sick, confused patient that you don't exist as a human being to most of the people working at the hospital. You are a specimen, an unimportant afterthought. The disease you have is what the medical staff cares about, not you.

This is not the place that you spend most of your time, unlike the medical staff who are there daily for their jobs. You don't know how things are supposed to work, what is supposed to be happening, what is the norm, and on top of it all, if you are hospitalized, you are feeling horrible. It should not be up to us the patients to make sure that things go smoothly. Its not our fault when we get stuck sitting on a gurney for hours with no idea why, with no one answering our questions, with no one answering when you are desperately calling to have your bed pan removed after you've been left alone on it for hours at a time, and on and on. But the guide explains why you have to be ignored sometimes:

Things often take more time than expected
It is important to remember, however, that procedures sometimes get off schedule because each patient is given the time and attention they need. When it is your turn, you will be given all the time you need as well.

HA!!!!!! Mmmm hmmmm, that's why nothing happens when it is supposed to. That is why you are woken in the middle of the night for some god awful test that you were never told about, and have no one to ask questions of except the person who was sent to move your bed from one place to another, who know nothing except the lay out of the hospital, and where they are supposed to leave you. It is because they are spending so much time with patients. I'm sorry, but when it was my turn, I never did get "all the time I need." I was never even spoken TO, only over, from one medical staff person to another, unless I was the squeaky wheel that no one wants to have to be. And apparently, this guide doesn't want you to be squeaking either, lest you be "misunderstood."

They all really care about you, its just you, the patient, who doesn't understand and who needs to make things go right. For example, you might need to put your nurse at ease, because he may be a little uncomfortable having to deal with a patient who has such awkward symptoms.

It can be uncomfortable for both the patient and the nurse when dealing with stool....A little humor may help to ease the tension.

Poor nurse, you gotta help them out. Because remember:

Although your nurse will undoubtedly want to assist with your emotional needs, their time is often limited. They may feel frustrated if they cannot assist you in the manner they would like.

Ohhhh, so that explains why nurses tend to act like they hate you, and that you are the enemy. It is because they just care about your emotions so much, and are so frustrated by not being able to help in the way they want to. It's up to us guys to ease their nerves, and make sure that their stay at the hospital is a pleasant one. I'm sorry, but in my experience, the lower you are on the totem pole of a hospital (minus the administrative staff who LOATHE patients, I know, I used to work along side them), the more sympathetic and caring you are to patients, the more you treat them like human beings.