Contest

Nov. 28th, 2009 01:51 pm
tonyajot: (Default)
Okay, folks - here's how it goes. The more people that can get people to reply to my postings here (past, present, and future), regardless of content that put your username as their referral in their comments, gets a custom written fanfiction of his/her choice in the fandom of his/her choice (assuming I know the fandom even peripherally), with the pairing of his/her choice. Anything goes, gen, het, slash, threesomes, moresomes, whatever your little heart desires. One caveat - anonymous postings are automatically disqualified. The story is guaranteed to be a minimum of 650 words.

You can skip the posts of my personal bullshit. Frankly, it's pretty boring, but let's try to raise some awareness with the postings I've made that have some actual substance to them, huh?

The deadline is January 1, 2010 at 12AM. Votes will be tallied by me (and someone else, if I can con...er convince them to assist.) A posting must consist of more then five words (that's not the same five words written five times) and CAN include flames. Bring on the heat, if you must. I can take it.

Just, please, try to get people aware of some of these topics. They're important to me. Important enough for me to do this. So, please, please do your part to pitch in.

Desperately seeking people who give a damn,

Tonya
tonyajot: (Default)
This is a time for giving thanks for the help and support of the politicians in office who DO care about civil liberties. Please take the time to go to the following website:

http://www.stonewalldemocrats.org/thanksgivingpetition

And remind those politicians that their efforts are appreciated.

We need every ounce of support that we can get to force our country into honoring the rights of all its citizens and these people are in the trenches, working for us all. So, let's let them know that we're aware of the flack they might be getting and that it's worth it to all of us that they continue to fight the good fight.

Also, if you get the chance, explore the stonewalldemocrats.org site for ways that you can help make a difference and show your support. Those that can afford it, please contribute financially. Those who can't, please get the word out any way that you can.

That's it for now,

Tonya
tonyajot: (Default)
I sometimes get so worked up about the civil liberties that we, in the United States, fail to apply equally to our own citizens, that I do not want you to believe that things such as gay rights or true health care reform are the only things that we should be focused on.

The fact is, those of us in the so-called 1st world countries are fortunate. Regardless of the homelessness and hopelessness that comes to us, we are still very, very lucky to live in a time and a place that allows for freedom of speach, the right (for most of us) not to live in fear everyday of being shot, raped, or tortured. Most of us have food and clean drinking water. Most of us have education (despite its obvious faults). And, most of us have the luxury of hope. Hope that we, as a people can improve out lot in life. That we can make a difference by speaking out and encouraging others to do so.

The fact of the matter is, there are so very many issues that trouble me that it is little wonder that I get so little sleep.

To see first hand truly horrid and inexcusable attrocities against a people whose only crime is where they were born geographically, I urge you to visit this site: http://www.eyesondarfur.org/index.html

Our natural resources are under attack globally. Our Polar Ice Caps are melting. Polar Bears are in deadly danger as are seals and other wildlife dependent directly on these climate changes. Governmental interference has declassified the Colorado wolves from being endangered species and the murder of these noble creatures has already begun. Initiatives in our Congress and Senate have repeatedly failed to address issues that affect us directly, such as drinking water that is safe from contamination. I urge you to visit this site: http://www.nrdc.org/

So-called 'Blood Diamonds' and 'Conflict Diamonds' are still a problem, despite the pressure from the U.N. to prevent their mining and sale. Don't buy your wife or girlfriend a diamond engagment ring, necklace or any other diamond product until such deplorable conditions can be guaranteed NOT to continue in practice. Tell her or him the great 'myth' that diamonds are rare. They aren't. They are actaully quite common. It is only the diamond industry itself which helps to perpetuate the myth, driving prices up and keeping stones that are already in a family out of the marketplace. Is the stone you are wearing, worth a child having a limb severed by a machete? Does this not represent the opposite of the loving gesture such a gift should represent? I urge you to visit this site: http://www.un.org/peace/africa/Diamond.html

And here I return to medical care. The big four pharmaceutical companies regularly and routinely fail to do their fair share in helping rid the world of everything as 'simple' as a flu academic to AIDS drugs that can prolong and provide a healthier life for their recipients. The WHO, while it has tried long and hard, has been unable to move orgranizations such as the WTO to improve these conditions. Doctors without Borders, among other worthwhile organizations need your immediate assistance and commitment to better health care for EVERY human being. Not just those lucky enough to have been born in a geographically advantageous area of the world. I urge you to visit this site: http://doctorswithoutborders.org/

In the United States there is a severe shortage of qualified foster parents to help children who have been orphaned, abandoned, or neglected, many of whom suffer from health problems themselves. These children and others who live in single parent households are desperate for positive role models in their lives and people who genuinely care about them. If we don't want to see another generation of brilliant minds lost to a failing system, we need to step up and DO something about this. If you feel you are able, foster a child or children - for the love, not the money. If you have any free time, think about mentoring a child. (These children need better role models than celebrities and sports stars.) I urge you to visit these sites: http://www.nfpainc.org/ and http://www.bbbs.org/site/c.diJKKYPLJvH/b.1539751/k.BDB6/Home.htm

Every day, countless women and children are abused by someone they trusted. Oftentimes, they are forced to flee with little more than the clothes are on their backs. These are frightened women and terrified children with nowhere to go and no resources when they do arrive someplace. Donations to organizations that support survivors of domestic abuse are almost always tax deductible. You know those little sample bottles of shampoo you get at a hotel? The little packets of toothpaste in the mail? A comb? A chapstick? A toy your child no longer needs? Clothing you haven't worn in years? Each and every item can make a huge difference to these people in need. And let's not forget the men in such violent situations either, who may fee emasculated or embarrassed by the abuse they have suffered. I urge you to visit these sites: http://www.dosomething.org/actnow/actionguide/contact-your-local-ywca and
http://www.menstuff.org/issues/byissue/domesticviolence.html

I'm going to request something contrary to the most common suggestions for this time of year. In addressing homelessness and hunger, I'm going to urge you NOT to limit your gifts to the holiday season. Shelters are often inundated with gifts that can spoil more quickly than they can be used this time of year. By all means, give coats, mittens, healthcare products, and toys. These are always welcome. But, rather than a one time gift at the holidays, see if you can afford to make a more regular donation to such facilities. It does little good to gorge oneself on a feast once or twice a year, when the larder is bare the rest of the time. Instead, consider setting aside a small monthly donation or, if you can afford it, a large yearly contribution towards keeping these shelters open and feeding those that need the help. In these difficult economic times, if you are in a position to hire help, please do NOT write these indigent people off as smelly, unshaven, or without a permanent address. Assess them as people, not just as 'homeless'. You might be surprised at how hard they are willing to work, especially if they are trying to support a family. I urge you to visit these sites: http://www.salvationarmyusa.org/usn/www_usn_2.nsf, http://www.homelessshelterdirectory.org/
http://www.chaminade.edu/hogan/documents/homelessBrochure.pdf

These are just a very small few of the issues that trouble me. As soon as I get the chance, I'll go into VA Hospitals, Welcoming our Veterans Home, and a whole host of other social issues.

We seem to be making some progress with the bill that would provide eqaulity in the workplace for homosexuals, transgenders, and persons who are straight, but are mislabeled by management. Unfortunately, this bill does little to help in those states who insist on their inalienable right to hire or fire arbitrarily without even needing to give cause. It also does nothing to address the DA/DT issue that is apparently being tied into an appropriations bill to be presented in September of 2010. That's two months before November elections, folks. It's an attempt to shut us up and it isn't even that covert. That doesn't even begin to address the fact that it's almost a YEAR away and even one more day of this discriminatory and prejudicial policy is too much longer to tolerate.

Our politicians aren't going to do anything about any of these issues or any others unless there is something in it for them, so it's up to us, folks. The regular 'Joe's' out there, need to spread the word and do what we can to make the world just a little bit better.

I am now stepping down from my soapbox for the evening...er morning. Whatever.

Tonya
tonyajot: (Default)
The Crazy, The Poor, and The Sick - The Unspoken Caste System in America Today a social commentary by Tonya Trummer

Preface: Delving into the variety of reasons for my own personal bouts with mental instability, would serve only to detract from the greater message here. There are millions of people like me out there, without a voice, without hope. The many and varied ways that they've reached the ends of their individual tethers aren't what I intend to address here. Instead, I wish to focus on our greatest failings as a Nation. We, the American people stand and state proudly our superiority as a first world country. The sad truth is that most Americans have no idea what is going on under their very noses and the few that do know, couldn't be bothered to effect any kind of lasting change. There simply is no profit margin in helping the disenfranchised. Until people begin to stand up and demand that their rights have equal value, there is little hope for the most hopeless amongst us.

I choose NOT to dedicate this work to an individual, but to the throngs of people throughout our great land who have had no opportunity to have their voices heard.

Chapter One - Who Is Affected?

There are all kinds of wonderful euphemisms and political correct names for craziness these days. People are 'bi-polar' or 'schizophrenic' or just plain mentally ill. The vast array of illness and symptoms range from agoraphobia to social anxiety disorder or attention deficit syndrome or disorder or whatever the latest trend is. The fact remains that literally millions of people in this country have valid mental health issues that require help, from therapy and/or medication. Even more suffer from actual physical ailments. The sad truth is even more suffer from nothing more than the medical profession's pandering to the pharmaceutical industry.

What then, of the valid illnesses? How are they treated? What rights do the mentally ill or physically ill actually have when it comes to their own treatment and in the worst case scenarios, what protection does society have from those who are dangerously ill? The facts may astound you. There are several different classes of mental illness and physical illness and the not-so-hidden truth, is that they are divided primarily monetarily.

The first class of mental illness or even physical illness is formed by the elite. These are the rare top percent of those who do not require any insurance for treatment. They often do not require any actual meeting with a mental health professional at all. They simply phone a doctor 'friend' who prescribes whatever medication the self-diagnosing patient feels they require. It is in this sad state of affairs that we find celebrity overdoses and deaths. Regardless of the utter inanity, I cannot foresee any way that this sad condition will have any substantive change. A great deal of money can purchase just about anything from those greedy enough to sell it. There is nothing intrinsically wrong with being able to afford the best health care money can buy. This particular lass of ill people only suffer in comparison the further down the financial pyramid you fall. It should also be pointed out, that if and when illness strikes, this first class of patient rarely has a genuine job to miss time off from and even if he or she did, there would be no consequences for taking months or even years off to deal with a catastrophic illness.

The second class are those who are relatively well-off financially. These are the CEO's and their families. Contrary to a lot of bad press directed at the upper echelon of companies these days, many are very hard-working concerned people who are working under some pretty tight constraints to keep their budgets under a certain bearable level for their boards. These people who pick and choose the health coverage the others in their companies are forced to live with their decisions. Sometimes they choose wisely, sometimes the bargains that they are dealt are quite Faustian.. They themselves, are covered by insurance to a great extent, but certainly have no trouble meeting out deductibles or paying out of pocket expenses for those items not covered under company plans. They often see the most well-educated and 'elite' physicians in the country. Their conditions are taken quite seriously and exhaustive testing is done to ensure that any other underlying ailments are quickly discovered and treated accordingly. This class of worker often has an almost obscene number of sick days or even indefinite leave to deal with an illness that is not speedily recovered from.

The third class are those who work for those industrious companies and their CEO's. These people may be given token choices between Plan A or Plan B, told they can choose their deductibles to reduce the amounts of their premiums, which can be quite high proportionate to their annual salaries. Often they are informed that they may NOT opt out of company insurance at all, unless they can show coverage under a spouse or parent's policy. Here the terminology of insurance becomes somewhat murky. All of a sudden you have to adjust to seeing an 'approved' physician under the plan. Then there are co-pays, which can sometimes be of great benefit, but at other times, only kick in after a large deductible is met. In effect, you get the lowest bidding physicians providing bulk care to employees for whom the company bottom-line is often 'get them back to work asap' or get them out of our workforce so we can replace them with someone healthy who won't run up a bunch of medical costs. What this equates to, is sub-standard care with the goal NOT the health of the employee, but the productivity of the employee in the workplace. It should be noted that often at a later date, when billing time comes around, the employee is shocked and horrified to discover that many of the items that they believed to be covered under their company's policy have been 'disallowed' and that no amount of arguing can relieve them of the burden of this debt, leaving the worker no option but to work longer and harder hours to try and meet the unexpected expenses. It should also be noted that these workers often have a very minimal number of sick days and can often be 'docked' or even fired for taking time off beyond what their company policies allow. In my personal opinion, this type of insurance and company cooperation smacks a little too closely to the 'company store' of old that held workers as virtual slaves to their places of employment, indebted to them to the point where they see no way out of the void their medical bills have left them swirling in.

The fourth class are those who have lost their insurance for any number of reasons (one of which, is that their health costs have simply been deemed to expensive and the company in question has searched for and found a semi-valid reason to terminate their employ). This disenfranchised person is then offered by law COBRA. Now COBRA is intended as a stop-gap measure ostensibly to prevent people from becoming completely uninsured, especially when they already suffer from a pre-existing health condition. The primary problem with COBRA is that it is so exhorbitantly cost-prohibitive, expecially to those who are now recently unemployed, that there is simply no way for a person to afford this coverage unless they've managed to set aside a substantial nest egg that they can chisel away at to keep their coverage. Once COBRA is either declined or lost due to expense, the pre-existing condition then becomes un-insurable and the former employee then must try to pay for all medical costs out of pocket. Something quite impossible for almost every single American in that situation. I personally find this quite galling. As Americans, we should not and must not allow people to suffer and die because they hae suddenly become un-insurable. This is a travesty, people!

The fifth class of patients fall under the auspices of Medicare. Now a great many people who are on Medicare are also on Social Security. From personal experience, I can tell you that SSI benefits barely cover the necessities of daily life. Add to this, the government then taxes what income you receive from SSI. Even more appalling, they take out a 'premium' from your benefits to cover your Medicare plan. Whichever plan you are on, A, B, or D, there is a cost to be paid. There are deductibles and co-pays. There are specific doctors that will refuse to see you. The doctors who will see you, can and often DO bill you substantially more than your Medicare coverage will allow for, leaving you with a great debt that with a limited income you are quite unable to pay. Worse yet, if you are lucky enough to qualify for Part D, which covers prescriptions, an outrageous number of mental health prescriptions are simply not covered at all, leaving the patient to carry the burden alone or simply go without the necessary medication. All of those so-called crazy homeless people living on the streets, off of their meds and making you scared enough to cross well away from them when you pass? I'll lay odds that a good percentage of them could and SHOULD be helped with proper medical care and prescriptions, but for whatever reason, they have fallen through the cracks. This should shame you. I know it shames me.

The sixth class of patients fall under Medicaid. While I never mentioned the unbelievable amount of hoops necessary to jump through for SSI and Medicare, you can triple it for Medicaid. You are completely subject to whatever your 'case-worker' decides is best for you. Any forward thinking person should be able to make the correlation between the terms 'case-worker' and 'case-load'. These people may start out with the best of intentions, but face it, they have unbelievable amounts of work stacking up everyday and their primary goal is not necessarily the welfare of the person needing their assistance, but clearing their desk for the day. A case-worker can force a loved one to leave their own home with little or no justification for the decision. A case-worker can reject a request for a part-time nurse to help administer meds or assist a disabled person into and out of the bath. A case-worker can INSIST on placing a patient in a care facility, either on a day-care basis or on a full-time live-in basis. This person has almost complete authority over what happens to someone in this sixth class and it's controlled almost entirely by the government. If you don't find this at all disturbing, I worry for you.

Chapter 2 - Practical Solutions

Let's begin with what won't work. President Obama has been heard to call for 'health care reform'. Here is why that will never work as the system stands now. There are four - count them - FOUR major pharmaceutical companies that are basically in charge of every single medication out there today. Pharmaceuticals are BIG business, people and don't let these companies try to fool you into thinking that the high cost of medicine is due to research and development. They spend more then ten times the amount in ADVERTISING than they do on R&D. Ten times. Thanks to the WTO and other organizations like it, these companies have held a stranglehold not only over the United States, but world-wide. Until legislation is brought to bear that forces these companies to act not just fiscally responsibly, but ethically as well, no real change will ever be seen in this arena.

Alongside these BIG pharmaceutical companies, you have the FDA. The FDA is ostensibly a government agency that oversees the safety of the food and drugs that are brought into the marketplace. In the past decade or longer, the FDA has begun to pay little more than lip-service to drug testing, food testing, or quite frankly any preventative measures that are put in place to protect people from being hurt by the things big business puts on our store-shelves. There are far too many examples to list here (and I certainly don't want to get sued), so let me just remind you of the enormous number of bad pharmaceutical recalls in recent history. When and why did our government decide that selling out to big business was the best thing for the American people? And why didn't we get a vote on it?

Then, there are the clinical tests. These so-called blind studies are bought and paid for by the pharmaceutical industry themselves. Just look at the fine print on the multiple page booklets that accompany any medications brought to market today and you should be shocked and horrified that people are being given these drugs at all. The tests themselves are often stacked with researchers from the big companies and the doctors that oversee them are bought and paid for, perhaps not with actual cash, but with trips and golf-outings, awards, and dinner banquets. There have been documented cases where physicians' names have been attributed to drug studies that they never even were aware existed.

Now, how do we fix something so very, very, broken? First we start with the pharmaceutical companies. We legislate the living heck out of them until they fall into line. No more excuses about lack of funding for R&D. No more exclusive patents. If another company can manufacture a medication for a more reasonable rate, let them.

Then, let's clean up the insurance industry. Put caps on premiums and deductibles. Stop allowing them to disallow pre-existing conditions. Let patients see the doctors that they choose to see without penalties.

Next, the doctors and hospitals. Let's make them accountable for their costs. Allow them a REASONABLE mark-up for inflation and even a bit of profit, but cut them off, if they try to charge more than what the fair market value is for their equipment and services. It's nice to see a doctor driving away in his brand new BMW, but it's even nicer when my mother can afford her chemotherapy treatments.

Clean up Medicare and Medicaid. Privatize it, if necessary. Just because someone is poor, does not mean that they deserve sub-standard care or no care at all and NO ONE should have the right to send someone to a home for the aged, if there is no medical basis for it. NO ONE.

As a side-bar, it's imperative that patients become smarter consumers. Know what your insurance coverage is and how it affects you. Take advantage of free or cheap preventative measures provided. Get a prostate exam or a mammogram. Know your rights as a patient to refuse or question care. Get second or even third opinions whenever possible. ASK QUESTIONS. Find out what medications your doctor is prescribing and how they might interact with other medications that you may already be taking. Find out what happens to your insurance if the worst should happen and you lose your job. If you are on Medicare or Medicaid, get to know your case-worker. Don't become such a pest that he or she begins to feel irritated by you, but try to be sociable and ask questions of him or her that keep you HUMAN in his or her mind. Get to know your local pharmacist and try to use only one pharmacy. When you get your prescriptions refilled or filled for the first time, ask questions. Find out if he or she thinks that you may have a drug interaction. Doctors are NOT perfect and it cannot hurt to check before taking any medications. Ask if it would cost less or be less effective to use a generic version of the same medication. If a dosage seems wrong to you, ask about it. Doctor's aren't known for legible handwriting and typos can and do happen. Whatever you do, try to never give up hope. A positive attitude can often do more to aid the treatments you are given than anything else. Don't stop treatment to follow a homeopathic remedy, but don't be afraid to try something new in conjunction with a prescribed treatment, as long as there are no anticipated side-effects.

Remember, I'm nobody. I'm you. Not a doctor, not a pharmacist, or insurance adjuster. Just a human being who has to rely on the same flawed system that you do. The only way we can exact change is together. When the President held is 'Open Forum' simultaneously with online questions being fielded, I watched time and again as anyone who asked a single question that did not serve as a public relations tool was ignored. Not a single question of mine was even acknowledged or addresses other than by other online participants who seemed as frustrated as myself. There seems to be a very large segment of this government who seem more interested in de-railing sources of the truth in favor of political propaganda. This troubles me greatly. I am just a layman with an editorial opinion here. We are allowed to have vastly different opinions on a variety of different topics. That's what makes democracy work. When that debate is refused a forum, we're all in such poor shape, that it will take a miracle for things to improve. A single voice can capture the attention of a few, an entire choir commands the attention of all within listening range. Let's be a choir for change, together.
tonyajot: (Default)
Uh-oh. I've been accused of being a bleeding heart liberal. Uh-uh. Not liberal, not conservative. I prefer to think of myself as belonging to the common sense party - not officially recognized as such, of course.

I'm against the government interfering in most instances. That could be considered liberal, I suppose. I'm against big money controlling our political decision makers - that's liberal, too, I suppose.

Personal beliefs - legalize marijuana and prostitution - tax it and regulate it. It will de-criminalize those illicit industries and the tax money can be used to make sure that prostitution doesn't spread disease and that drug users can get help getting off the stuff, if the need or or want to do so. No more drive-by shootings, prostitutes getting raped, murdered, etc. Win-win. So, yeah, kinda liberal there, too.

Insisting that the arts, music, and gym are an important part of our education process and should be supported fully - hell, yes! That's liberal.

Socialized medicine - Nope. Not the way to go. I propose a sliding scale based on income and subsidized by both private and public insurance. NOT LIBERAL.

I believe that illegal immigrants should have to have insurance (and not State Sponsored insurance at that). If an illegal immigrant is brought into an emergency room dying, would you just let him/her die or would the rest of us tax-payers have to foot the entire bill? NOT LIBERAL.

I'm against gun control. If guns were never here in the first place, sure, it's POSSIBLE, if not probable, that it could work. Making firearms illegal at this point, means that the only people with guns are the criminals and the government. The 2nd amendment was put in there specifically to protect citizens from their own government doing things martially that were against the common good. I'm not advocating shooting at our own military - that's just nuts. But, look at the countries who have fallen into socialist or communist regimes and you'll find that they had no real weaponry with which to defend themselves. Gun SAFETY, YES. If you are one of the people that has guns in your home - it is your ABSOLUTE responsibility to ensure that any children know gun safety and to limit their access to weapons. Teaching your children about the sanctity of human life and the importance of freedom for all, is as much - if not more important than worrying about a gun. Plenty of kids go arond stabbing each other, running each other over with cars, or trying to build bombs to blow each other up. There's a core problem here and it's NOT gun control. It's respect and care for your fellow human being. Teach that to your children and treat everyone you meet with that mindset and guns will no longer be an issue. NOT LIBERAL.

Rating systems and the so-called 'V' Chip. It should be up to the individual parent to monitor the media that their children are watching. Television is pervasive in our society. Hell, I think I was 8 years old when I saw 'Porky's' for the first time on cable. I don't believe it warped me in any way. I could be wrong about that, but seriously...the honus here is on parental control, not governmental control. The internet is another animial altogether - if you cannot be in the same room with your child while he/she is surfing the net and monitoring the content that they have access to - they shouldn't be allowed on the internet unless or until you are able to monitor them. I realize that it's difficult to control what your children have access to when at a friend's house, etc. Get INVOLVED. If the parent(s) of a friend are absent or don't follow your same rules, you're going to have to put your foot down and disallow activities with those friends unless your rules are followed. Conversely, if a friend of your child's has stricter rules than your own, it is up to you to step up to the plate and follow the rules that the other parent(s) have laid down. Ultimately - it is not the government's place to patrol your children or censor material in your home - it is yours. LIBERAL.

Abortion - Whoo-boy. This is not going to win me many friends. As a rape survivor, I am NOT pro-life. I believe firmly in a woman's right to choose. That said, I am appalled and think that legislation should be enacted for those who use abortion as their primary form of birth control. Once is an accident. Twice, a misfortune. Anything more than that - and lady, you have no respect for either your body or the potential life of a child. Get some damn condoms or birth control pills or just keep your knees together once and a while. Harsh, I know. So, LIBERAL in that I'm pro-choice. CONSERVATIVE, in that I don't believe abortion should be a way of life.

Welfare/Social Security/Mental Health: Another one that's going to get me hate mail. I can hear the screaming now. These programs are necessary. They provide a life-saving service to people who are in need. Are they abused? Absolutely. People who have children for the sole purpose of increasing their welfare benefits should have some form of punitative reprecussions. As to many others - far too many people are denied claims as their illnesses are not recognized as debillitating or even as illnesses at all. Mental health issues, in particular, are not given enough consideration in our social services system. The benefits themselves are often so small as to make simple survival a day to day challenge for those receiving 'so-called' assistance. Homelessness could be almost completely irradicated by proper diagnoses, adequate government aid, and charitable donations. I am NOT an advocate of INSTITUTIONS. The abuses and disgusting conditions of most of those facilities have proven that form of solution, is no solution at all. I am advocating decent low-income housing in areas that are not crime-laden. I am advocating medical overview and proper pharmaceutical oversight when it is necessary, I am advocating THERAPY over drugs whenever possible, I am advocating vocational rehabilitation and a living wage for those who have trouble caring for themselves. I am advocating ADVOCATES to oversee individual cases, review, and adjust care as needed. Yes, I'm advocating spending tax money. (Yeah, yeah, yeah, you can stop screaming at me now.) If we can spend over 20 billion dollars to bail out banks that in turn give six figure bonuses to the very people who put those financial institutions in dire straits to begin with - we can treat our fellow human beings who need help with some form of dignity and humanity. Just saying. So....LIBERAL, in as far as spending of money on human beings, yet CONSERVATIVE, in as far as advocating government oversight.

I have more, far more popular and more than likely unpopular opinions, should you choose to read about them. Ask me a question - I promise that I won't hedge, like our politicians and media so frequently do. I'll give you my honest answer. There's just one life to live and I ain't in it for any popularity contests. (As an agoraphobic, that would be kind of pointless, at any rate.)

Tonya

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