A couple of days ago I was floored to discover that one of my favorite paranormal writers, L.A. Banks was fighting late stage renal cancer. Her editor notes that she is in an "uphill battle" that also includes skyrocketing health care costs.
Ironically, this video is of Banks talking about her healthcare insurance issue a couple of years ago when Obama's universal healthcare system was being pushed. Eerily, Banks talks about an issue that she is now facing, not enough healthcare coverage to pay her bills.
Along with the F for failure in universal healthcare, I am ashamed to have voted for someone who is consistently turning their backs on those who put him in office.
I represent a new class of people, it is the professional poor, people who have degrees out of the ass, but are barely or not making it at all. In this recession we are either unemployed, underemployed, or being pimped out at a job paying us a for a portion of what we do. We are either without healthcare insurance or under-insured, and in serious debt. Just like Banks, my talents, my education, my contributions to American society bear very little significance when it comes to protecting greedy corporations and jack-legged politicians.
Though I know that healthcare is being dragged through the courts, I just hoped he'd fight for it as hard as he allowed banks to get the biggest welfare check after slavery, or him igging critics in his support to drop NATO bombs in Libya, though the African Union has called for a peaceful resolution.
Yep, change did come, and it its not the change we bargained to get.
In the meantime, please buy a book for LA Banks to help support her return to good health. The last thing we need is a writer who writes more than "street lit" to pass before their time.
Eco.Soul.Intellectual
She had a name. She was a wife. She was a mother. She was a daughter. She was still a child herself at 18 years old. Now she becomes a statistic that is not quite at the forefront for a number of reasons.
I went over to Time.com and was struck by this moving and hauntingly real slideshow which brought me into the pain of childbirth, the uncertainty, the resolve, the relief, and unfortunately the death of Mamma Sessay. She was forced into a marriage at 14 years old. By 15 years old, she was having children.
As I trudge along in my own pregnancy at 17 weeks and some days, I don't question whether or not I will have to worry about care. I don't worry if I will deliver our my third child in a dirty hospital room with little technology to take care of me.
Every woman questions whether or not something will go wrong, but at this stage of pregnancy, it gets easier to focus on touching your new baby soon, as opposed to worrying about whether or not you will make it out alive. Well, at least if you are in privileged enough to have health care insurance or some kind of care in a "First World Country."
I feel guilty staring at her picture. I feel like I've done nothing to deserve these blessings. I wonder if I have earned enough. As I sit and watch her face and her untimely death, I can't help but thank and question God at the same time for all that He has given me. My kids were born in nice hospitals, one of them being newly remodeled and furnished with plasma television screens, DVD and CD player, beautiful wood paneling...
I'm not gonna talk about yesterday's Health Care Summit or whether Barack pulled out another ownage of Republicans. I mean what does it matter when the Public Option is off the table, and subsequently any form of competition in the insurance industry to help control cost. Frankly speaking, and I'm speaking as both a supporter of Barack Obama and reform. Accepting the White House's version of the bill in its form without a Public Option because it's better than nothing. Is pretty much like a women rationalizing that her abusive spouse beats her ass out of love...
Dammit, I wasn't supposed to talk heath care on this one, but I digest.
But anyway, remember the guy pictured above? James T. Harris, remember him? It's been almost 2yrs since I've had anything to say about him and his kneecap licking ass. But he popped up on my radar and I guess it's all because somebody looked into a mirror and chanted "Coonwithjuice" three times . You may not remember him but he was the Negro who got on his knees at one of John McCain's campaign stops and begged for him to take it to Obama in the debate. Remember him now? He's also one of the few Negroes in attendance at Tea Party rallies across the country who is allowed to dance the jigspeak.
Speaking of McCain, I bet he wished his arms hadn't been shortened as a result of being a POW so he could slap the shit out of Obama when Barry-O reminded him that "The campaign is over," at the Summit yesterday. Dammit, I wasn't supposed to talk about the Health Care Summit, but I digestive tract....
So anyway, perennial slave-catcher James T. Harris was on Fox & Friends a couple of days ago and had this to say about Barack Obama, Harry Reid, the jobs bill, health care, and domestic abuse:
Yep, Obama is to blame for the rise in unemployment and the subsequent rise in ass-whoopins women are taking in this country. Uh-huh, and it's also his fault that the Killer Whale at Sea World decided to run up in that woman's living room and "attack" her unsuspectingly as he did. These Mis-guided Negroes, I tell ya.
"It doesn't do good to open doors for someone who doesn't have the price to get in. If he has the price, he may not need the laws. There is no law saying the Negro has to live in Harlem or Watts" - Ronald Reagan
My man Max Reddick has an interestingly powerful post on Barack Obama up on his blog that has me fired up right about now [read it here]. I originally planned to piggyback his post with some thoughts of my own on Obama and how he has handled the issue of Health Care Reform. But I woke up this morning to this story via News One, on what Barry-O had to say rebutting his recent critique by the Congressional Black Caucus.
In case you missed it, they have voiced their discontent with the prez and his lack of focus by way of policy to positively affect the African American community which is currently in crisis economically:
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama on Monday rebutted critics who say he isn’t showing enough compassion toward black America, citing his health care effort as one example he says “will be hugely important” for blacks.
Obama said another example is the billions of dollars in aid to states included in the economic stimulus bill, money that was used to save thousands of teachers, firefighters and police officers from losing their jobs. He said many of those workers are black.
OK holdup, lemme step in here and call bullshit. First off, the negative effects of the economy on blacks and other minorities have been well documented. Yes, and states did receive federal funds through the Stimulus bill earlier this year as part of a rescue and recovery package. However, thus far only a 1/4th of the allotted $787 billion has been spent. And, according to the White House, that spending has been responsible for saving or creating anywhere from 600,000 to 1.6 million jobs.
So what's on Folk's fvcking mind after some time of rest and relax-fvcking-ation? Well like most of you, Folk trying not to be blinded by the fvcking governmental media conspiracy light. Back at the J. O. B., people asking about "What you think about Tiger this, Tiger that! Black ladies hating. Black dudes hollering 'that's what a motherfvcker get for fvcking with those WHITE girls'. Tiger, Tiger, Tiger!" Where you at Folk? What you got? How you feel about this son?
...[momentary silence]
Folk don't give a fvck! Folk don't fvcking care about the whole Tiger Woo sh!t and neither should any of you fvckers either. Who the fvck cares who Tiger fvcking. If it's one WHITE girl or twenty! Plus, what the fvck does it matters if his wife is WHITE? She's a fvcking person and if the allegations are true, then she's just as hurt as the next motherfvcker who's the mother of a man's seed. At least she's rich! Some of y'all agonizing over motherfvckers who ain't got no job. So fvck all y'all who spending time discussing, debating, demoralizing, or even fvcking jacking off on the images of the alleged "other woman."
And Folk ain't thinking about that White House dinner sh!t either. Y'all motherfvckers who screaming conspiracy should shut the fvck up! Fvck them broke azz fvckers who was trying to get their free dinner on.
Come on people! Stop being blinded by fvcking media diversionary tactics! What y'all should be concerned about is why is the media playing this sh!t up when over 10% of y'all fvckers are out of work. Over 20% of motherfvckers houses are upside down and the fvckers in congress are quietly performing a "reach around" on the American public called Health Care Reform. Yeah... Health care fvckers!
While the media has all us in a frenzy about "other" sh!t, the Senate is busy trying to figure out new ways to give the American public a "shell" of health care to basically place a "governmental tit in the mouth" of a crying American public. The government don't give a fvck about real health care reform, how y'all live what pitiful lives y'all have left, or how miserable you fvckers are while you live what life you have left while dribbling on the media bullsh!t shoved down our throats. The fvcking country is spiraling out of control. America... [read tax payers - that's you and me] have debt shoved up so far up our azzholes that foreclosure is tattooed on our foreheads.
Ok people, this town hall meeting thing is getting crazy. I love a good debate and I love seeing democracy in action, but, I swear this stuff has done all but to expose some of the crazies among us. I understand that certain people are afraid of our well tanned president and all, but damn. I didn't want to give them any of my time as I did when they had those Tea Party protests a few months ago. But when you have Elmer Fudd coming out of the woodwork showing up with a loaded gun holding a sign and alluding to watering the tree of liberty with the blood of tyrants and patriots, it cannot be ignored. Yep, these patriots with their religion and guns just won't stop.
Those racist cartoon characters I tell ya. I don't know what this guy was thinking if he was at all. But this is the type of stuff you can come to expect when our airwaves are being dominated by right-wing talking heads who capitalize on the fear and ignorance of some. Clearly Obama didn't fall victim to this deranged gun owner, but who's to say that this cannot happen at the next town hall meeting? Abraham Lincoln, anyone? I mean clearly Barack is no Bugs Bunny, but then again, is it even wabbit season? Or is it duck season. Oh, my bad. I forgot, Barack Obama is Felix The Cat; he's Black, lucky, and cooler than Morris Day so he cannot possibly ever meet such a fate.
But since this blog is where madness and reality intersects, lets get real with this one. Forget the cartoon people at these town hall meetings. What if O'dog of Menace II Society fame showed up with a gun? I mean my man Larenz Tate O'dog has grown up since the movie (that's if he's even still alive) and has probably done prison time by now given his dysfunctional destructive youth. I suspect he's probably unemployed like a host of Black men currently are, and without health care coverage; never mind him being a convicted felon. That said, do you think they would have let him stood there with his gun and a protest sign wondering when the marijuana green jobs are gonna trickle down to the "hood" in America so he can afford health care coverage?
Of course they wouldn't. O'dog would have been properly whisked away like Rodney King and not allowed to be heard. Yep, White rage is acceptable, but Black rage not so much. O'dog would not have had an interview with Chris Mathews on Hardball like Elmer Fudd did. Shit, keeping it real, the Secret Service would have been on his ass like he was a 14yr old female and they were all named R. Kelly.
No joke, if a Black man showed up with a gun at a town hall meeting hosted by the president, he would definitely get his ass pummeled. He would have been beatdown like Kenneth Gladney [definitely read about him here]. Gladney is another Negro who made the news recently for getting his ass jumped at a recent town hall meeting in St. Louis. Like Kenneth, O'dog wouldn't have health care coverage, but unlike Kenneth I doubt he would be against reform and siding with the Elmer Fudds of the world. But please believe, O'dog's story would be a lot more believable than Gladney's.
In the end, what we need are less cartoon characters and more real people at these events. Yes I know that corporate America is behind many of these anti-reform organizations. But I think their cause would be better served if they hired real actors instead of planting these crazy cartoon people. Hell, you'd think they'd give O'dog Larenz Tate a call. That brother needs a check; we haven't seen him since Love Jones. At least he'll be a better "actor" and and more convincing than all the silly people shouting lies. But then again fake rage combined with lies is what the last presidency was about, no?
One thing I love is how useful the internet has become as a tool for political activism. That said, if you're like me and interested in affecting change this post is for you. If not, then I suggest you go play in rush hour traffic. OK, so the hot topic is health care; yep, something I haven't touched on for some time on this blog. The last time I did, people didn't give a rats ass or commented. But anyway, the heat is on and yes, health care reform is a must. There's a war going on outside that directly impacts your life and well being; and that would be the current health care debate. Things are so heated that you cannot watch a show on television without seeing and ad which is either for or against health care reform.
You know, like this one:
Interesting ad isn't it? Unfortunately, CNN is refusing to air this ad on their channel. Why you ask? Well because according to them “it unnecessarily singles out an individual company and person.” Here's some news folks: these "individual companies and persons" are spending millions of dollars to spread mis-information about health care reform. And why would they do this? Because a government ran public health care option would create competition. And why is that a bad thing? Oh because they would see a slight shift in their profit margins in a direction they would rather it not go. I'm sorry, but this is America and everybody competes. Competition is a good thing. Yep, if it wasn't for competition we would never have "Ladies Night" at our favorite night-clubs, nor would we have "Quarter Beer Night".
Listen, these cable news channels like CNN are beholden to corporate interests just like politicians. Yes, and these corporations like the one mentioned in the ad above spend millions buying of donating contributions to election campaigns. That's right folks, the bottom line is money. Yep, money talks and bullshit runs marathons trying to play catchup. So listen, do me and yourself a favor. If you're about health care reform, take a few seconds of your time to click THIS LINK and tell CNN to air this ad. It's bad enough that they (CNN) allow Lou Dobbs to have a show where he pushes racist conspiracy theories, but now they want to be fair and balanced; oops, that's a whole different network...I think; checkout my sidebar on the right to see what you can do about that Lou Dobbs mess.
BTW: Click HERE and send a message to our Senators and tell them that health care cannot wait. To date, Democratic Senators have received up to $80 million from from special interest groups opposed to a public option.
If you don't think it's a big deal or unimportant, checkout what can happen to you:
The most important piece of legislation in America today, with nearly 100 cosponsors in the house, H.R.676 is the only health care bill that will truly reform our tragically broken health care system. What would you think about a health care system that actually works for everybody, costs billions of dollars less, provides greater coverage, truly protects you from financial ruin due to medical bills, improves quality, increases innovation, and returns medical decisions to you and your doctor instead of some claims adjuster at an insurance company 1,000 miles away.
31 cents of every health care dollar spent is wasted on administrative expenses and insurer profits in the US system. This is why the US spends double what other industialized nations spend on health care yet has worse outcomes. We need to save that money and spend it on better health care for you, me, and all Americans. Our system is sick and dying, and this is the cure. And just for the record, this is NOT what President Obama is proposing. Don't let the word UNIVERSAL in his healthcare proposal fool you. This is what America needs. Can you tell me why it won't work?
“He who warned uh, the British that they weren't gonna be takin' away our arms, uh by ringing those bells, and um, makin' sure as he's riding his horse through town to send those warning shots and bells that we were going to be sure and we were going to be free, and we were going to be armed.” -- Sarah Palin on Paul Revere
