Snowy Dunes
Greetings and salutations from the sand, sun and surf of Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard and the great island of Nantucket! So good to be with you on this clearing morning here on little old Cape Cod, Osterville to be specific, only a football toss away from the mystical Hyannisport, where Jack and Jackie, Teddy, Bobby, Eunice, Rose and Joe Senior lived and loved, only 50 years ago–when Jack Kennedy held the White House. One of their closest family members, Jack’s brother-in-law, Sargent Shriver, father to Maria Shriver, lost his battle Alzheimer’s at the age of 95. His legacy was vast, as vast as the Nantucket Sound, no, as vast as the Atlantic Ocean, for it was by crossing that ocean, with an ocean of volunteers, that he began the Peace Corps, among other accomplishments, a program that embodied everything that is GREAT about this nation, it’s people, and her ideals. He will be missed and my deepest sympathies go out to the Shriver family, as well as the Kennedy family, for there will most likely never be a greater man who served this country than Sargent Shriver–GOD’S SPEED SIR KNIGHT, and may he keep you until we meet again… and, thank you for all you did for our country. Switching 68, health care repeal anyone? If you are among the 18% of Americans who say yes to that question, then you are on board with the republican effort to repeal the Affordable Health Care LAW that was passed a little over a year ago today. However, that republican argument is falling apart even as I write these words. If the LAW was repealed, a LAW whereby 43% of Americans say, “it doesn’t go far enough,” then 129 million Americans would lose their health care coverage due to pre-existing conditions, as the private insurance plans they have with the monopolized health insurance carriers, would drop them like a hot potato. Why? Because the health insurance companies in the United States of America are in the business of “health” for one reason and one reason only, in a word, PROFIT. The claim that it is a “job crushing” bill is also a false premise, as reported by the Congressional Budget Office, a bi-paritisan FACT check, if you will, along with any credible economist worth his salt. The fact is that this falsehood stems from the equal fact that say, if you were a 62 year old man who had diabetes and you were on your employer based health plan, and you wished to retire because you could, yet you dared not, for you knew that you could not just go out and buy your own health insurance due to that pre-existing condition, and therefore, were in fear of losing your only health insurance, which comes in the form of staying employed with your current employer, you would be forced to wait another three years, because you would be ineligible for coverage, again, due to your pre-existing condition, a mild form of diabetes. Under, “Obamacare”, you could retire, for the LAW will NOT allow these vultures, posing as health care providers, to discriminate against you due to that pre-existing condition, could not discriminate against ANYONE for that matter, and thus, you would be free to purchase insurance without fear of repudiation, and thus, could retire and enjoy your LIFE. This is where “they” are gaining their “logic” from. To quote Bob Schieffer of CBS’ Face the Nation, “Is that all you got?” Nancy Pelosi spoke with Rachel Maddow, on the “Rachel Maddow Show”, only on MSNBC, yesterday and she had this to say, and I paraphrase, poetic license if you will, this basic sentiment–”This is a second opportunity to show the American people just how GOOD this LAW is, for their own personal health as well as their families, not to mention their pocket books. It allows children to stay on their parent’s health plans until they are 26, and in this economy that is a good thing, it also banishes discrimination of pre-existing conditions, which is especially important for woman and children, and how, over time, most credible economists, along with the CBO, agree that this LAW will eventually bring down the cost of insurance for most Americans, taking away the unsustainable profiteering the insurance industry has enjoyed for the past 30 to 40 years.” I apologize to Lady Pelosi if I went too far in my paraphrasing what TRUTH you were explaining to the American public, but it probably did not go far enough. I used that poetic license because this topic is near and dear to my heart. I was an insurance executive for the largest brokerage firm in the world, Marsh, Inc., out of New York, along with the Prudential, where I started my “career”, as a ‘group rep’, as well as Johnson and Higgins of Maine, AON corporation out of Denver, not to mention UNUM corporation in Boston. I was in that industry for roughly 17 years, before, I, personally, could not stomach handing my large employer clients, as well as small ‘mom and pop’ businesses, a 20-30 percent increase in their annual premiums, pushing many companies to either cut benefits or scrap them altogether. Increases that I knew were going to the “bottom line” (profit margin) of said companies, as opposed to going towards REAL HEALTH CARE. So, go for it republicans! You have a whopping 18 percent of the public behind you, many of whom don’t know who to read, oh, that was not very nice, sorry about that, and WE all know that this is just another example of smart people “turning this country into a socialistic state.” Adam Smith once wrote, that “Capitalism cannot survive unless it has a MORAL base”, from where it works out FROM. Transparency is a b$tch, ‘ain’t it? Stay tuned America and don’t take any wooden nickles. Have a great day everybody and continued prayers to Gabby Giffords and all of the victims of that horrible day in Tuscon 11 days ago, may GOD’S strength continue to heal you ALL. PRESERVE THE WILDERNESS! Peace~M
