If there is anyone who reads this blog and fails to realize that I am a political junkie, you should probably smack yourself in the head with a 2'x 4' because your brain needs a good kickstart! I have been watching the post-election analysis, and, so far it seems to me that both parties are majoring in Missing the Point 101.
The Sunday talk shows were full of discussions about the death of the "white male party," either pronouncing this election as it, or sternly warning that it will arrive in 2016. The emphasis here was on the "white." I would argue that equal emphasis should have been placed on the "male." Almost the only place I heard THAT discussion was on Dr. Melissa Harris-Perry's TV show. One FOX News female talking head actually pointed out that Obama had women by 2 more percentage points in 2008 than this year. Excuse Blondie, but since that is based on exit polls, your 2 points are probably well within sampling variation and therefore your "insight" is worth exactly nothing. The other point I would make about your silly statistic is that women are mothers of soldiers, husbands of soldiers, daughters of soldiers, sisters of soldiers, and in 2008 there were no doubt some of these who had had enough of the wars George Bush started, and despite having been lifelong Republicans, thought Obama was more likely to bring the soldiers home. Of course, since Romney talked big about Iran, and seemed likely to start another war, I'm not really sure why they would have reverted to voting Republican, unless the economic situation really had scared them. So I think I'll stick with the margin of error as the most likely explanation.
I do not vote Republican for several reasons. Until they got married: "one party, one religion" to the Catholic Church I voted for a few Republicans here and there. Local races, mostly, or state races. Once that happened, I ceased voting for any of them. If they didn't represent that medieval institution's viewpoint themselves, they lacked the backbone to make it sit down and shut up.
Of course, I have never voted for a Republican in the Presidential slot for one simple reason. I realized long long ago that the republican party did not , for the most part, work toward any policies that improved my life. Beginning with Ronald Reagan, the Republican policies felt like an assault on the life I held dear as innately, uniquely AMERICAN. I saw the closing of opportunities in Reagan's closing of libraries, in the changes to the student loan system which resulted in thousands of college students coming out of college with debts their first jobs did not pay enough to cover and not even bankruptcy could address the frustration of trying to eat and have shelter and repay a loan. Since then, I have seen increasing assaults on upward mobility, civil rights, and frankly the nature of what our Founding Fathers intended. All the while, the Republican party grew increasingly skilled at blowing wind up the pants and skirts of their voters, litereally terrorizing them in many cases. I have said for years that if the Republicans accuse the Democrats of something, it is to deflect attention from the fact that they were doing it. Nowhere was this made more clear in post-election analysis than in the many ludicrous explanations for their loss. My favorite was that the Democrats suppressed the vote, when, in fact, it was Republican governors, election officials, and operatives who were purging legitimate voters, shortening early voting hours, dumping Democratic voter registrations, and the like. QUICK! Name one Democratic person who was accused of or caught doing such a thing!
The other thing about the Republican Party is that they are good at "widow dressing" and "tokenism." Both these policies make me sick. Republican women candidates are such Stepford Wives. They ran out the only two women in their party that I might have ever considered voting for in a Presidential/Vice Presidential contest: Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins.
Like most people, I confess that my party tendencies were inherited from my parents. Of course, my father, who died in 1963 just after my 10th birthday was a Republican while my mother and her parents were Democrats. In 2008 my political science B.A. brother, my mother and I had the discussion of whether my father would still have been a Republican today had he lived. My mother was pretty sure he would have parted ways with the Republicans once they adopted their Southern strategy, because above all, my father hated racism. He would, she said, have found the increasing "lockstep"attitude of the party faithful an abomination, since another thing he hated was totalitarianism. Mother's uncle was best friends with Sam Rayburn, the long-time Speaker of the House. They had served together in the Texas Legislature around the turn of the 19th to 20th centuries. However, I have my complaints with the Democratic Party as well.
Here's where the emphasis on the "male"comes in. I did not vote for Obama in 2008, because the sexism coming from the Democratic Party, in my opinion, was as disgusting, perhaps more so because I didn't expect it, as the sexism of the Republican Party. There were a number of reasons I was never sold on Obama. First and foremost was he answer during a televised interview to the question "Would you support your opponent if you don't win the nomination?" To me, since the nominee is the party leader, there is only ONE correct answer to that question, an unhesitating, enthusiastic "absolutely, I am committed to my party's victory." Obama's response was something along the lines of "I don't know if my voters would support her." To me this said two things: first his voters largely were not party loyalists, which raised the question in my mind of OK who the hell are they? Second, he was not answering the question of what he himself would do, which stongly implied he would not. Not my idea of a party leader. After he secured his nomination, I was told I owed my vote to him. My response was that he indicated he couldn't deliver his voters to Hillary if she had won, so why should her voters be expected to vote for him? Now the secret to jy little rebellion was this: I live in Texas, which I knew would be red in 2008 and I knew it would be red this year. So, frankly, whatever I did or did not do in the voting booth, my vote wouldn't really count since all Texas's electoral votes go the winner of the state, and it wasn't going to be a Democrat. So I wrote in Barbara Jordan for President and Ann Richards for VP, two dead Democratic women I had had the pleasure to know.
This year I voted for Obama, despite the fact I knew the state would go red, and despite the fact that I still don't feel warm and fuzzy toward him, because I wanted the election in Texas to be as close as possible to make the Republican Party do some serious introspection. I also voted for him to make them realize their comments on women and rape and women's reproductive health are disgusting. I believe a woman's right to control her reproductive life is the basis of her freedom to fulfill herself emotionally, psychologically, professioally, economically and socially. Fine with me if she wants to have twenty babies, one a year for twenty-plus years. If beig a wife and mother fulfills her and she can provide for those children financially and emotionally so they grow up healthy, great! I have no quarrel with mothers and wives. I'd be one myself if I hadn't miscarried. Instead, I'm a wife not a mother.
So I was amused when I heard Republican pundits talking about Marco Rubio and capturing the fast growing Hispanic population vote in 2016. Psst, guys, most of our Hispanics are of Mexican and Central American origin.. As far as I have een told, read, or heard, they aren't wild about Cubans. Of course, that makes it inexpilcable to me that in Texas they voted for Obama AND for Cuban American Cruz for Senator! I heard several Republicans say öf course they voted for a Hispanic name over a white guy!" Maybe. Or maybe another cause was in play. After all, in 2008, teh Republicans thought Hillary voters would be won over by shallow, provincial Sarah Palin, too!
I was amused because, just as 2008 was the Blacks "turn" to elect one of their own, instead of the 51% of the electorate that is female's "turn," now apparently it is the Hispanics' "turn" and still not the women's "turn" to elect one of their own.
The Democratic pundits were no better. Sorry, Joe Biden, you may not have voted for yourself a final time this year, but I'm here to tell you no male, white, black, brown, Asian, or purple will receive my support in 2016. I say women decided this election, and women will decide 2016. I want a female candidate, perhaps several to choose from. My dream, of course, is that Hillary comes back, bringing her long experience and world popularity with her. I will understand if she says "no." I thind she has the best shot, however,
I am an old white woman with a disease that will take me to other pastures soon enough. I would LIKE to vote for a woman for REAL before I die and see her sworn in. I cried for Obama's inauguration. I want to cry in joy again.
Again, Mr Romney, you are speaking from your gilded gated "every need met" world. Allow me to introduce you to mine.
I am almost 60, an SLE patient who has no insurance coverage. I was hospitalized in May 2011 with low platelets (~37,000 when normal is !50,000-400,000+. I was in danger of bleeding to death internally. I went to the county charity clinic, where I met with the most incredible incompetence. Mostly, they just don't treat the poor patients with the same kind of respect and concern I got/get from doctors I pay. I have retained my private rheumatologist, although I didn't go for a year, and that's why we didn't catch the platelet issue until it was so severe.
Now I cannot take the medication that was keeping my lupus at bay because it destroys platelets. I also cannot take aspirin or NSAIDs such as Ibuprofen for the pain in my joints. Nor can I afford the medication I need, Ben Lysta. Why? It's $2000-$3000 a pop, and the first three doses are to be taken 2 weeks apart and then once a month after that. I am still taking prednisone, which isn't really controlling my lupus, and my doctor estimates will take 5 years off my life.
I have been turned repeatedly for SSDI, despite the fact I cannot walk more than about 100', suffer from exhaustion so badly that I often require 12-14 hours of sleep, and suffer pain in my joints on a daily basis. Right now I am taking 50 mg of Tramadol 4 times a day to get through the days. I'm not old enough for SS & Medicare, and if Congress raises the age requirement, I won't live long enough to collect. Even if they don't, I might not live long enough to collect.
My husband has high blood pressure, and he is not covered either. We lost our insurance when your friends the Koch brothers outsourced his job to India in 2009. He has not found a job. The first year, he didn't even get a nibble at anything suitable. So he took care of my late 80s mother and me, the house and the yard, the shopping, the laundry, theerrands. Mother died 21 November 10, and in the midst of her final days and the funeral, he got a call from a headhunter, which he missed because he was ferrying me around and sitting with my mother in ICU, and taking care of my needs. By the time he got the message, it was too late.
My brother is an attorney, and he has been paying all our bills, including house maintenance and some modifications for my condition, and supplying all our basic needs. I have a computer because he believes, that since I am often housebound, I need the intellectual stimulation. We also have a television because we never go to movies unless we get free tickets. He has also been paying for my medical care. He is 62 and about to retire from the law.
I had a friend who died from a curable cancer in 2009. He had no insurance, and could not pay for the ongoing treatment. So he got a pain prescription and died a long slow death.
My cousin, who is bipolar, has a heart condition, and is in charge of her 58 year old mentally challenged sister, had a breakdown not long before their Alzheimer's patient mother died. She had no insurance, and despite her pleas, the EMS took her to the NEAREST hospital instead of the charity one. They said that was their policy. She now has a $25,000 bill from that NEAREST hospital, an income under $20,000 a year, and goes to the charity clinic run by the county. If she has a heart attack, the EMS will take her to the NEAREST hospital, where she will once again incur charges she cannot afford. The NEAREST hospital to her house is about 5 blocks away and a for-profit institution. It's also the nearest one to my home. So guess where the EMS would take my husband or myself if we have a medical crisis at home?
We have elected to die rather than have that happen. If we were eligible for medical care under your plan, we would not be able to afford the premiums. the only quote I have gotten is close to $2000 a month. So yes, Mr Romney, people ARE dying for lack of insurance, and it is not because we have "chosen" not to be covered. You simply do not have any concept of the realities of live for the unemployed, the disabled, the underemployed, the working poor, or anyone in the REAL middle class (which, statistically is about $30,000 to $80,000, NOT those making $150K - $500K., as you seem to think.
Look through my posts. I invited your equally clueless wife to come viist me some montjhs ago. I promise you, we could give an education you've never had.
If you're wondering where I've been lately, I have been outside working to bring my yard into compliance with the desires of my "neighbors." I use this term exceedingly loosely because there is nothing truly neighborly about them. Mind you, I wouldn't care if they went about their lives and let me go about mine. What I object to is that they never come to see if they can help, they just cowardly tattle to the teacher (in this case the City of Houston) when I don't meet their OCD, anally retentive, control issues sense of what things could be like.
To be honest, I don't many of them by name. What I do know is that most of them arrived in this neighborhood after I did. When I arrived in June of 1957, most of this area was still woods, open fields, or farm land. I heard coyotes howling at night. there were bats swooping out of the sky to eat the mosquitoes, lightening bugs, and yes the odd rattlesnake in our yard. What do you expect? Immediately behind our house were acres of piney woods. I reckon I learned to dispatch a rattler to meet his maker with a garden hoe by the time I was 6.
These people can call in anonymously and get me in trouble -- threats of liens and big bills from the city to clean up my land. Let me make it clear. I don't have 2 or three junked up cars sitting out front. It's just that we had a drought last summer, which allowed bermuda grass (where the heck that came from, I have no idea) and some weeds (ditto -- I know I didn't sow 'em) that got GASP över nine inches tall! Some weeds, not a whole yard full. The grass was about three inches tall. We have been battling to get the yard in shape ever since last fall when the drought and pine bark beetles took out six of the large pines which were living here when I arrived.
I cannot describe how seriously the stress of the threat, along with the hours of physical labor, has impacted my health. I'm not supposed to be out in the sun. So I found shaded areas where I could work. We do not have thousands of dollars to spend on this project, so my husband and I are doing it mostly by ourselves. My brother did provide some money to pay for tools and maintenance supplies for them, and for some temporary labor. The latest purchase today was a 48"two man crosscut saw. We needed this to cut up the REALLY big logs. These are 6-8' lengths of loblolly pines, all upwards of 55 years old. Some of them were probably in the 75-100 year old range.
What I can tell you is that every joint in my body aches, and I am so tired that I fell asleep outside several times over the last couple of days while working. I have chopped two or three brush piles into mulch. What looks like a huge brush pile reduces to about 1 cubic yard of mulch. I did this with a set of pruning shears. I have also sawn up, with a bow saw, about a dozen or so branches 3-6" in diameter. We did find a bargain on a chipper/shredder which takes anything up to 1-1/4"diameter, so I spent a few hours feeding that as well. Anything over 6" and under a foot in diameter gets the chainsaw. My husband does that. Anything over a foot is gonna get the crosscut saw.
There's another solid week, two weeks of work to be done, and I'd appreciate any prayers you care to offer for the strength to keep on keeping on. I was barely walking this morning. I worked until the bottom dropped out of the clouds and then I came inside. I gotta admit that I didn't get as much work done today, because I hurt so badly every time I pull the pruning shears shut to cut a limb that I have to stop and will the pain away.
I have decided a couple of things. One, I am going to find the money to put privacy screening -- like they have on tennis courts -- around my backyard. I have a couple to the south of me that have been calling the city on us for forty years. Complete assholes the pair of them. She's a nosey gossipy pretentious cow whom I have done my best to avoid since her family moved in around 1960. He's so compulsive he went outdoors in very hot weather to mow his 1 1/2"buzz cut lawn to 1/2"one year and had a heart attack. I don't want this for my husband. They also violated the city's water rationing last year to keep their freaking lawn green! I resented this because when I went to take a shower I was lucky to get water at all. Did I call the city on them? Noooooooo. Nor on the other neighbors who were also violating the restrictions. I'm not the kind of person who tattles, snitches or looks for ways to make life difficult for other people, even when they do it to me. However, when I take all these sawn up pieces of my old friends the trees to create bed edgings, I am going to place some in this pattern facing their plate glass window: n9m. Maybe I'll make it a recurring pattern. They steal my Meyer lemons every year anyway.
Behind me is another jewel of a neighbor. He came to the fence to talk to my husband one day. He wanted us to cut down all the yaupons that make up our back hedge "because they drop leaves in my yard." "It sure would help me out," he says. When my husband told me, I gave a few minutes thought to remembering what he'd done to help us out. Since I came up empty, I let my husband's answer to them stand "Feel free to cut off the branches on your side of the fence."" This OCD also wanted us to cut down a pine tree in OUR YARD because it dropped needles on his yard. We offered to rake them up, but he said no, that tree was going to come down in a windstorm some day, and it should come down. He'd pay for it. This exchange occurred while we were cutting down the dead trees and that was one of the two living pines left. Then he started in ragging us about the pine logs two days after they were cut. Since he's not my boss, or my father, or anyone whose opinion about anything means a damn to me, I ignored him.. Privacy screen him out too!.
To the north, the neighbors aren't so bad. Her grandfather was a pain in the ass when he lived there, but we made our peace with her mother, and she and her husband, while they have some annoyingly noisy dogs seem to be pretty good hearted live and let live people.
The other thing I decided is that modern Americans are woosies that our Founding Fathers would be ashamed of. I have a deeper appreciation of those brave souls who entered the deep woods, swamps, and such over Carolina, Virginia, Georgia way and hacked down all those trees by hand and made them into log cabins, tool sheds, barns and the like. It's damned hard work! And I didn't have to take down the 90' trees by hand either! I'm trying to imagine what would have happened in 1730 if someone had called all his neighbors together and said "Let's implement something called deed restrictions that mandate everyone having a St. Augustine lawn in front of their cabin, and not letting any weeds get over 9" tall on their land nor having any undergrowth over 9"tall. Oh and no dead, decaying vegetable matter such as leaves or pine needles or fallen twigs." I swear I hear laughter and calls for commitment to the state asylum for the insane!
On the bright side, I got to watch a number of lovely songbirds flitting about my trees in my little glade on my NW corner. Lizards, skinks, anoles, and even a bunny live in my overgrown area. Not a pet rabbit, but a wild one. I haven't seen much of him while I've been working ; I think he's afraid of us. My husband put out some rabbit food for him though. Sadly, my bees have departed, probably as a result of the heavy spring rains. I have a clematis virginia, known also as Virgin's Bower Flower on my north gate, in full, luscious bloom.
I've also made a couple of vine birdhouses when I take a break. One-and-a-half really, but I'll get it finished. Now I have to get in bed before I fall apart.
Not the city, where I lived for 6 years, but the TV show. I was in MBA School at the U of TX when that show first came out. I hated it, but my room-mate was from Dallas and was addicted to it. What I hated about it most was that it seemed to paint, by extension, all Texans as still scheming conniving, money grubbing vicious people. I haven't bothered to peek in on the new series. Sadly, today, the description is probably truer of more Texans than it was then. I'm still trying to live down the notion that we're all as dumb hicks with a high school diploma or less, all own oil wells, and live on ranches.
I did hear that Houston was just voted the coolest city to live in, which I have been trying to tell people from other places since my teens. wso maybe the word is getting out.
However, Dallas is not inhabited by a lot of Ewings either. I just hate the notion that this new version of the TV show will undo the image of a metropolitan community with arts, well educated residents. I loathe the glorification of petty, sabotaging, dishonest, disloyal people
Does it happen to you too? When things you have to deal with NOW come in faster than you can process them?
Some are actual things, like a leaking faucet, or a broken dryer belt...but you gotta fix it NOW. Others are physical things, like waking up with a stomach bug you have no idea where it came from, but you gotta get on that toilet seat NOW. Or maybe your doctor calls and says "IÏ'm sending an order over to the lab for a ____ test, and I need you to go have it done as soon as possible" Then there are the emotional things: you find out someone you love is gravely ill, or an old friend with whom things ended rockily calls, or someone screws you over.
I've now had a week like this. Like many other people, I find this a bit stressful. Stress is not a good thing for an SLE patient like me. So I have also now spent three days dealing with the physical toll stress takes on me. That means I have had less energy to deal with the things I have to deal with. So I'm now several days behind, which makes life ever more stressful.
I'm trying to get back into my happy place. When I'm there, time slows such that a tortoise moves faster. I get an incredible amount done in just a few hours.Working in the garden almost always puts me there. However, exposure to sunlight generally intensifies my fatigue and aches, so that really isn't an option this time. I have prayed, and meditated and gotten nowhere nearer my happy place. I have obtained some enlightenment however.
I have realized that the reason I am separated from my happy place is that I have been wronged, I lost my cool, and although I got it off my chest, I am disappointed because I realize that the person who wronged me will never acknowledge that she did. I am pretty sure that behind her behavior is some mental illness. I'm not sure what it is, but she reminds me of my bipolar cousin: secretive, suspicious of others to the point of irrational paranoia, game-playing, deflective, projective, and manipulative. I'm sure that I will feel better when this person is completely out of my life. So if you are the praying type, please pray that she exits quickly and silently. Thank you.
I just spent $471 on a doctor's office visit & lab work. Before the month is out, I will spend another $460, and that doesn't include $50 worth of prescriptions. Prescriptions which don't control the lupus any more. I don't even see a family practice Dr any more ($120 per office visit) nor see the eye doctor every 6 months as I should because one of my meds (Hydroxychloroquine) can cause deposits in my eyes. I need new glasses too, but am doing with reading glasses from Big Lots (3 pr/$5). I haven't had a pap smear in years. Nor have I had a colonoscopy, as I should have. I haven't been to the dentist in over three years. I've quit testing my blood sugar on a daily basis because (a) I simply cannot afford the test strips any more,and (b) the prednisone I take raises blood sugar levels such that I feel it is futile to try to control it.
The good news is that the $460 more that I will spend will cover a panel of 6 blood tests that serve as a substitute for the $2000-7000+ liver biopsy I have been putting off until my platelet count got high enough not to risk bleeding to death, and six other tests, including an electrocardiogram. On lab quoted me $378 for the blood tests. The second quoted me $341. What I figured out is that if I get some of them from the first lab, and some of them from the second lab, they will total $311.. The other panel of 6 ultrasound tests is $149.
Last week 6 July) my local paper had an article about Texas's report on health care, I posted the results. Allow me to repeat it here for those who missed it.
Todays Houston Chronicle': Federal Report ranks state worst in nation for services provided The headline? TEXAS
HEALTH CARE BASHED. World ranked medical center and weak or very weak on 9 of 12 health care delivery
categories. Of course part of that is that we have the nation's highest uninsured populace -- 25% VERY WEAK on
home health care for elderly & disabled who live at home, for diabetes care
BEST SCORE (average) on mortality & potentially avoidable complications of PRIVATELY INSURED PERSONS
BELOW AVERAGE on those for uninsured & those covered by Medicare & Medicaid
DEAD LAST on caring for breast cancer patients under 70
Rick Perry's press secretary's response? "Texas will continue to fight the federal government for more flexibility to
meet our health care challenges, which is crucial to effectively improving our health care system."
Today's paper (9 July) offers this: Fewer Texas doctors taking poor patients
-- Doctors accepting new patients on Medicaid has dropped from 67% in 2000 to 42% in 2010 to 31% this year. This is
due to the Texas Medicaid program reimbursing the doctors at low rates.
-- 27% of Texas patients lack insurance, making Texas last in the nation in % insured.
-- For Medicare, the % of Drs accepting new patients relying solely on it went from 78%in 2000 to 66% in 2010 to 58%
this year. The federally managed Medicare pays better than Medicaid, administered by the state. This time the drop
is attributed to onerous Paperwork.
-- only 46% now accept poor children covered by CHIP
-- Texas medical students leave to take up residencies elsewhere because the state doesn't fund enough positions.
-- The number of primary care physicians in Texas is 72/1000,000 in urban areas, and 52 per 100,000 in rural areas.
Thr national average is 128/100,000. On the other hand the number of obstetricians has grown. Many doctors are
slated to retire over the next 10 years.
Check out these news announcements and stories. Pay attention to the TIMING.
Aug 26, 2009 ... HOUSTON – Gov. Rick Perry today highlighted Texas' efforts to combat the state nursing shortage by further investing in nursing education.
Jul 14, 2010 ... Texas is facing a shortage of 71000 nurses by 2020 as demand continues to outpace supply, the Texas Department of State Health Services ...
Jul 13, 2010 ... The state is facing a shortage of 71000 nurses by 2020 as demand continues to outpace supply, the Texas Department of State Health Services ...
Fall of 2010 ELECTION IN WHICH PERRY IS RE-ELECTED
Aug 29, 2011 ... Day 29: The state has dramatically reduced support for nursing education, meaning Texas will continue to face a critical shortage of registered ...
Mar 30, 2012 ... In response to mounting concern about Texas' nurse shortage, the Texas Legislature created TheTexas Center for Nursing Workforce Studies ...
This is the best medical system in the world?
Happy 236th Birthday America! [I started this on the Fourth.] I make this wish with a heavy heart, because I believe we have lost a lot of what made this nation strong. I sincerely hope it is not too late to recover it. Above all, we are not "ünited." Never in my lifetime have I seen this nation so subdivided by so many criteria, nor so hostile and scornful toward one another, nor so indifferent to each other, nor, indeed, so ignorant of each other. Nor, frankly, have I ever seen so many people voicing delusions nor behaving so dysfunctionally.. Every day, I want to scream at someone "GROW THE HELL UP! FACE REALITY! Above all, GET OVER YOURSELF!" We have grown so impressed by wealth, and so dependent on money for what we think is happiness, that most of us have lost touch with the concept of "enough." In recent years, I have heard people go on and on about how the poor in this nation have cars, air conditioning, TVs, internet, yada, yada, yada -- how they aren't really poor compared to people in other nations. Fine. OUR poor aren't living in those other countries. It is the disparity between what others have and what you The median household income for the US in 2010 Census data was $49,445.*** This is the figure which divides the top half of income earners from the bottom half. Since income is a skewed distribution, this is the appropriate measure of central tendency for income, not the "average," or arithmetic mean income, which is exaggerated upward by those households with very high income. that average income figure is $67,530. Let us look at the entire range of household incomes, however. Income *** % of households earning Cumulative Percent Width of Interval $ 0-$11,000 10 10 $ 11,000 Note 5% earn $ 5565 or less $ 11,001 - 20,000 10 20 $ 8,999 Note 5% earn $11001 tp 14900 $ 20,001-25,000 5 25 $ 4,999 $ 25,001-29,000 5 30 $ 4,999 $ 29,001 - 33,690 5 35 $ 4,689 $ 33,691-38,663 5 40 $ 4972 $ 38,664-43,853 5 45 $ 5189 $ 43,854-49,445 5 50 $ 5591 $ 49,446 - 55,198 5 55 $ 5752 $ 55,199-61584 5 60 $ 6385 $61,585-68,678 5 65 $ 7093 NOTE: the average, mean income is here $68,679-76763 5 70 $ 8084 $76,764-86,294 5 75 $ 9530 $86,295-98,062 5 80 $11767 $98,063-113634 5 85 $15571 $113635-136765 5 90 $23130 NOTE: Above this is the top 10% $136766-180472 5 95 $43706 NOTE The next intervals will be 1% $180475-195714 1 96 $15239 $195715-216095 1 97 $20380 $216096-245810 1 98 $ 29714 $245811-56019008 1 99 $55,773,197 NOTE: 1,780,230 households earn MORE than $ 56,019,008 $56019008 -149999974 1 100 NOTE No households earned more than $149,999,974 Here's a nice picture of this: US INCOME CISTRIBUTION 2010  These should be examined in comparison to Poverty Thresholds and Guideline s. In income terms, the MIDDLE CLASS, on the basis of this household data is $25,000 - $86,294, Individual Incomes 2010  Median $ 25,197 Mean $38,337 Here is a historical comparisonz; US INCOME DISTRIBUTION 1947 - 2007. This important thing to examine the ratio between the lowest quintiles and the highest. Please note that the 20th percent is the UPPER limit of that quintile, while the 95th is the LOWER limit. 20% 40% 60% 80% 1947 5.09 3.16 2.33 1.64 1967 4.85 2.95 2.20 1.61 1977 5.17 3.09 2.18 1.58 1987 5.95 3.45 2.36 1.63 1997 6.66 3.81 2.56 1.73 2007 7.08 3.98 2.63 1.75 2010 6.84 3.59 2.22 1.39 CLASS WARFARE?Alot has been said about class warfare, especially by those with money in regard to those without. Here's a nice chart below [Share of Total Income] of the redistribution of wealth that has been going on in this nation since 1967. You tell me who has won the class warfare, ok? Then tell me if you want things to continue this way for you and yours for the next 30 years. Oh yes, and before you put your mind to all of that please consider the political reality. Political Control of the US Government 1967 - Present [45 years] YEAR(S) Executive Branch US House of Representatives US SENATE 1967-1969 LBJ - Dem 1967 - 1971 McCormack Dem 1967-1981 1969-1974 Nixon-GOP 1971-1977 Albert-Dem Mike Mansfield 1974-1977 Ford - GOP 1977-1987 O'Neill-Dem Democrat 1977-1981 Carter -DEM 1981-1989 Reagan-GOP 1987-1989 Wright-Dem 1981-1985 Baker GOP 1985-1987 Dole-GOP 1987-1995 Mitchell-Dem 1989-1993 GHW Bush-GOP 1989-1991 Foley-Dem 1991-1999 Gingrich-GOP 1993-2001 Clinton-Dem 1999-2007 Hastert-GOP 1995-2001 Lott-GOP 2001-2009 GW Bush-GOP 2007-2011 Pelosi-Dem 2001 Jan3-20 Daschle-Dem 2001 Jan20-June 6- Lott-GOP 2001 June 6 - 2003 Daschle Dem 2003-2007 Frist 2007-2012 Reid-Dem 2009-2012 Obama-Dem 2011-2012 Boehner-GOP GOP: 27 yrs GOP: 19 yrs GOP: 19 years Dem: 18 yrs Dem: 26 yrs Dem:: 26 years Share of Total income Source of Data*** NOTE 1: The bod\rders may be sightly off on this calculator. I say this because the point at which the calculator says 50% is closer to $49, 350 than $49,445. NOTE 2: The logical problem with their statements about what each household can AFFORD for the government to spend is that it is predicated upon the assumption THAT BUSINESSES PAY $0 in TAXES! Now that corporations are "persons" they are obliged to pay personal income taxes, I would think. Bottom line: When businesses accept that taxes are a FEE FOR THE PROTECTION OUR GOVERNMENT AFFORDS THEM IN TERMS OF MILITARY PROTECTION, INERNATIONAL LEGAL PROTECTION, TARIFFS, ETC and they have a RESPONSIBILITY TO THE REST OF AMERICA TO PAY THEIR FAIR SHARE, ALL this hysteria and bad economic situation will stop. ADDITIONAL DATADistribution of Household Income 2010 HISTORIC DATA incl by race
Last week a 62-year-old woman in the pubilc housing project in Houston's Third Ward died from the heat. She had a second floor apartment, which are hotter than the first floor ones. The city housing authority said that since this complex was built in the 1930s, it was the responsibility of the tenants to provide air conditioning. One of her neighbors said he gave her a fan to use. Even that was not enough to save her in the 105 degree heat. So, no conservatives, not all poor people have air conditioning, but maybe they should. Or are you willing to say that this woman's life wasn't sacred? And where is an elderly woman in public housing going to get the money for air conditioning? Here are some figures for Houston 1999 - 2001. Here are the statistics on heat related deaths in Texas from 2003 - 2008. Here are some data through 2010. The Houston Housing Authority provides housing to over 60,000 Houstonians. Home Depot retails portable air conditioners with dehumidifiers for $279 which will cool 200 sq ft.. Why can't the Houston Housing Authority purchase enough of these at a lower wholesale price for the residents of units without air conditioning, put serial numbers on them, and check them out to residents, perhaps for a small fee, say $1 to $10 a month? Check them out like a library book, with the resident's name and unit attached to the serial number. When a heat wave is predicted, something like an A/cMobile truck could go to the housing projects loaded up with units and check them out. When residents no longer need the units, they could contact the Housing Authority to have the units picked up. They could pay for themselves in 2-3 summers, depending on how early the summer heat started and how long it lasts before fall weather comes. I don't have a lot of money myself, but as a Christian, I feel pretty sure I could cough up $5 for a month to help some poor senior have air conditioning. To me, even one woman who dies from heat exposure is a violation of the Second Commandment. Are there no churches willing to run or subsidize such a program? We are outraged when someone leaves a child or baby in a closed car. Why do we not feel outrage when we, as a society, leave elderly poor people in closed apartments to die in the heat? Are their lives no longer dsacred? Just heard on the news that governments in the states hit by thie latest heat wave and power shortages like Virginia are ëven delivering air conditioners...is that because the recipients are higher income and voters? Golly, where did I get the idea that all US citizens are created equal and have equal rights? What is it I don't understand?
This is what the NRA and its followers say every time any regulation of gun ownership is proposed. First let me say that I have no quarrel with gun ownership by competently trained, mentally stable, law-abiding citizenry. I happen to feel the need to own a gun myself. In 59 years of living, going all over Houston and the country, I have never felt the need of a gun to protect myself, even when one was pointed in my face. Since I didn't get shot, my verbal skills were apparently enough. To be fair, I don't drive a flashy car, wear a lot of expensive jewelry, live in a house that looks filled with ripe pickings, or tell people I have my millions hidden under my bed (as if I had millions..there might be a quarter under there.)
The reason I was moved to write this blog was a recent case I saw on TV in which a guy with a history of mental issues bought a gun and killed some people. The specific case doesn't matter. Have you ever googled "history of mental illness bought a gun killed?" You will get back a long list of cases to peruse. While federal law mandates that the mentally ill should not be allowed to buy guns, most states have hobbled the databases gun shop owners can check for disqualifying information by prohibiting the sharing of this information from the medical community to the gun databases. Histories of domestic violence, felony convictions are also not put into these databases. My question is this: why does the NRA fight against such things. They do. They fight any movement to keep handguns out of the hands of people with histories of mental illness, citing privacy. This leads me to ask "How many NRA members would be excluded from gun ownership if these checks were made?"
I have lived in Texas almost all my life. I've known a lot of gun owners, some of whom surprised me. Most of them didn't give any clue whether they belonged to the NRA or not. Without exception, and let me repeat that, WITHOUT EXCEPTION, the only people I have personally known who ranted and raved about gun ownership and assaults on it, were alcoholics, durg abusers (including prescription drugs), clearly mentally disturbed (whether they had ever seen a mental health professional or not), men with misogynistic/abusive tendencies, or racist paranoids. All of these, in my opinion are people likely to kill other people with guns if they have them. I have the case of a drunken Houston man who shot and killed a young Scotsman who was trying to get help after jumping out of the car of two people who, in his own inebriated poor judgement state, had offered him a ride but clearly intended to harm him. The young man was trying to get over the fence so they couldn't see him if they drove by. Probably not the wisest move, but he'd pounded on the door screaming ""Help!" only to get no response. It was late at night, but he was still yelling for help as he climbed over the fence, where the man was sitting drinking. I don't know about you, but my response to that young man would not have been to shoot him, but to ask what kind of help he needed. Had I owned a gun and had it by my side, I might have pointed it at him until I was satisfied he was no danger to myself. I might even had told him to stop right where he was, and gone and locked myself inside while I called the police. I'm pretty sure that if I had heard a Scottish accent, I would have believed that he had no idea where he was or how to get back to his hotel.
What I would like to see is the NRA propose some legislation that would EFFECTIVELY screen prospective gun owners to root out the ones who are most likely to kill others, instead of looking like they are willing to put guns in those hands willynill
This may seem a silly thing to be thinking about at 5:39 am on a Sunday morning, but I have a mind with a few little unique wrinkles. My way of saying I'm a little weird. There's an idea that's been knocking about in my head for a few days. I generally rely on motorized carts to get me around stores. Anything larger than a typical convenience store, and my knees and hips, sometimes my ankles start hurting so badly I want to scream or cry. On at least one occasion I did cry from the pain. when stores don't have them, or don't have enough of them, my husband has to push me in the wheelchair, with me pushing the shopping cart, which is hard on him as he is aging and has high blood pressure and a bad knee which was repaired poorly after and ACL tear. So I favor stores with a fairly large supply of shopping carts: Randall's, WalMart & HEB come to mind. Kroger sometimes has enough, sometimes both of them are gone. ALCO has one, and I almost always can count on getting it. If not, they have a wheelchair with a basket, which has to be pushed. One of the major disadvantages of the standard motorized cart is that eye level is about the second shelf from the bottom. With bifocals, reading labels, prices, etc. on the higher shelves requires a neck contortion I can not do. I'm not sure a person without RA could do it either! Maybe that TV ad character with the flip top head could. A few days ago, my husband and I stopped into a WalMart at Wirt and Long Point in Houston. Sitting in front of our parking space was a cart clearly designed for a child, but what appealed to me was that the seat was large enough for an adult and up high. So I climbed on for a test drive and my husband pushed me into the store, intending to return the cart to its storage spot and get a motorized one. However, as soon as we entered the store, I discovered a huge advantage to this cart for me. I could see the upper shelves! I could also see the signs over the aisles sooner. So we conducted our quick, and fruitless (they didn't have the product I wanted at that location) trip with me in the kiddy cart. Of course, there a few disadvantages. The seat was really too flimsy for an adult weight. There was some steering problem which might have been related to this weight issue, or might have been related to the problem one often has with older carts where the wheels twist around and stick in a non-optimal position as it ages. At any rate, I started dreaming of the "ideal" cart. I found some great things on the web, like this bicycle shopping cart, but no image of the cart I rode in at WalMart. I guess I'll have to call up there and get some information. or go up there and take pictures. I've never seen anything like it anywhere else. With a few modifications, I think it might be the ideal shopping cart for the disabled AND children. A couple of remaining problems, after the seat height issue, are the controls. Unless you turn them off every time you stop, if you lean forward to put things in the basket, or rearrange things in the basket, you end up leaning against the controls and making the cart move. I've goosed another shopper or two this way! the second is that when you're shopping, you're facing the end of the aisle. Twisting in the seat is not always a good option. perhaps the seat could be set to face the aisle shelves, or the seat swivel 180 degrees? The final problem is no place to put a coupon notebook; perhaps an attachment similar to those standup plexiglass cook book holders, wide enough for an open notebook OVER the controls could solve a couple of problems...
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