Plant a tree!
Greetings and salutations from the sand, sun and surf of Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard and the sunny, cold island of Nantucket! Great to be with you and yours on this Monday morning, the 26th day of March, 2012, a cool start to the day on Cape, as the region dove back to more seasonable temperatures yesterday and overnight, with those temperatures only expected to elevate into the lower 40’s, a far cry from only 48 hours ago, when most of the eastern half of the country saw highs extending to almost ninety degrees Fahrenheit, in MARCH! But, hey, who cares right? And why on God’s green earth would you listen to a long haired, liberal, tree huggin’ scumbag like me, who writes this blog every day PRO BONO, hoping against hope someone, anyone, might listen…perhaps plant a tree? Of course, that might be just too much to ask in a world that has gone quite insane, evidenced by our priorities in this great democracy, an experiment created 235 years ago, when men like Jefferson, Paine, Adams, Washington, Franklin and many others drafted what is known as the Declaration of Independence, followed, of course, by the Constitution of the United States of America. There were many snags to work out way back then, such as the abolition of slavery, women’s rights, African-American rights, and all of the other rights we have ‘evolved’ into in present day 2012 America. One of those rights should also include the right to health care, hence, President Obama’s landmark accomplishment at the onset of his extraordinary Presidency, promoting a national focus on this very important subject for ALL Americans. However, the republican party, in it’s infinite wisdom, wishes, once again, to punish the ‘American People’ by bringing the Affordable Health Care LAW under the microscope of the John Roberts’ conservative Supreme Court. The caveat, and “problem”, being a mandate (the reason it will work), forcing all Americans to purchase some kind of health insurance, as state after foolish state buys into false argument that it is “un-Constitutional”. What most Americans do not understand, along with the specifics of a very good deal for most Americans today in the new Affordable Health Care LAW (e.g., insurance companies can no longer deny coverage based on a ‘pre-existing condition, part and parcel inherent within the slimy and sleazy operations of the insurance monopolies operating in the United States presently), is the FACT that these monopolies that control health care in this nation, like the investment banks and the big polluters (big oil, gas and chemical companies), are only interested in MAKING MONEY, thus, have no vested interest in creating a FAIR health care system that serves all Americans (especially the poor, minorities and elderly) not just those who work for corporations. The fact is 50 million Americans do not currently have health coverage at all, as most rely on the Emergency room for their ‘primary care physician’, thereby receiving nothing in the way of preventative care, no gym memberships, no follow up, no love. This does not seem to bother ‘Christians’ like a Santorum or a Mitt Romney who, ironically, created the blue print for the Affordable Health Care LAW today in this great state of Massachusetts. As a result of the vacuum, U.S. FREE HEALTH CLINICS, please Google, have sprung up during certain times of the year all over the country, struggling to bridge that gap between those with a safety net and those who are walking the wire all alone and in the dark. The question of a mandate simply increases the ‘risk pool’ for insurers, who are going to make out anyway you slice it, thank God!, and opens up the whole system to that giant swath of the population that, again, was left out in the cold. We mandate car insurance (who can’t, like me, get enough of those Amica, Progressive, and ‘the General’ Insurance Ads?), so it begs the question, why is it so ’socialistic’ that we make sure everybody is on the same page when it comes to keeping ALL U.S. citizens healthy? It is a WIN-WIN in the long run. Trust me, I was an executive in the health care group insurance world for way too long, over a decade and a half or so… This debate should not even be raging, for almost every other progressive, civilized nation on planet earth (Sweden, France, Belgium, England, Germany, Finland, Canada, the list goes on and on), has a single payer system, buying into the philosophy that health care is a right, moreover, a moral imperative that lies on the shoulders of our Federal government to offer an economically sound, efficient medical delivery system, one that serves the greater good, not just those who have United Healthcare and make over a million dollars a year. Keep an eye on John Robert’s Supreme Court over the next three days, as the debate rages on in our nation’s Capitol, Washington D.C.–knowing that this is LAW is not so much about being ‘un-Constitutional’ as it is about the ‘not your grandpa’s GOP’s’ never ending quest to STICK it to ‘the American People’ (credit Mitch McConnell, R-KY), for the PLUTOCRATS (.001 percent of the population, or about 400 people) gain and the AMERICANS PEOPLES’ (311 million strong) loss. Have a day and an even nicer week ahead folks and may God’s infinite grace continue to be with those still fighting for JUSTICE in the tragic killing of Trayvon Martin, in Sanford, Florida one month ago today…may God’s speed be with his parents’ today and always… PRESERVE THE WILDERNESS! Peace~M
