Health Care Is a Privilege?

So, Tennessee Republican, Zach Wamp believes that health care is a right for some people, but not others. I don't understand these people. They believe that they should have the "right" to health care, but if you are poor than you do not deserve the "right." In my not-so-humble-opinion, these people are the ones that should lose the "right" to health care. We will see how there health care for the privileged argument stands up when they lose their privilege.

Also, we have other republicans who oppose health care reform who make absolutely no sense to me such as Carly Fiorina who plans to run for one of the California Senate Seats. As someone who has just recently battled breast cancer, you would think that she would understand that she would want the same life saving medical treatment if she had been poor. But, no. I guess these people really can't put themselves in our shoes. Those who either don't have health insurance, or those who would lose it very quickly if for some reason they lost our jobs. I deserve health care today just as much if I am laid off tomorrow.

In my mind, when I think of the republican party, I think of the Christian party. That might not be fair, but that is what I think. That just adds to the reason why I don't understand why the majority of republicans are against health care reform. Did Jesus only heal the rich? Would Jesus want a health care system that would cater to the rich and not treat the poor? I think not. But, we live in a society where atheists want universal health care, and Christians think it is a privilege. Is this like opposite day that just won't end?

Arguments against health care reform include the cost, but the GOP finds the money for its projects. By a conservative estimate, the war in Iraq has cost us 500 billion dollars. That is just the war in Iraq, which we can pretty much all agree on was a big mistake. Not to mention the war in Afghanistan and the TARP money. These republican projects--just while Bush was in power and not even considering how much these same programs are still costing us--easily total 2 Trillion dollars (probably much much more). Granted, we may get some repayment for the TARP money, but the point is that even without counting for Tax relief for the rich, the republicans have easily generated Trillions of dollars to accomplish there goals of killing brown people in the desert and bailing out the wealthy.

Finally, republicans state that it will be a move to socialism. I suspect, that like me, you don't really care if your health insurance is public or private at the end of the day. You just want good health care with as little bureaucracy, claim forms, and referrals as possible. You want to know that you will not be dropped seemingly arbitrarily because you are negatively affecting corporate profit margins. You don't want to make the choice between surviving an illness and costing your family their house. I don't care whether it is the government or a not-for-profit provider; what is clear to me is that for-profit provider have failed to provide what I have just mentioned above and it is time for a change.

The sad part is how true this is.

This is from This Modern World

Amsterdam

I loved this. And, then you wonder why the USA has a bad reputation abroad.

Blogging Revival

Okay, I am going to try my hand at blogging again. Not sure I am going to stick to it, but I will give it a shot.

My motivation... health care and (as Jeff put it) my flowing locks.

First, I think my life is not really worth writing about, so after I blogged ad nauseum about my awesome puppy-dog Teddy, I stopped blogging. But, after reading this about health care. which was posted by tbaggervance, I decided that I wanted to post this. I was really confused about what was being proposed as health care reform. That really cleared it up for me, and I really believe this is an important issue.

Second, I miss my long hair.



If I liked it why did I get rid of it, look at the center of this picture.



When Sara made me face the reality of my bald spot, I knew it was time.




Damn you, male pattern baldness.

Here I go again with the blogging.

Nick

Julia Nunes

Hi everyone,

I want to share one of my favorite things. A year or so ago I stumbled across a YouTube video of the coolest girl playing the ukulele. I liked her videos so much I bought one of her ghetto, seemingly made-at-home cds. It was cute. Anyway, I checked in on her recently because Nick and I made a new friend who is taking ukulele lessons and it made me think of her. Apparently she is seeing a lot of success through her YouTubing because she got to open for Ben Folds Five a few times.

Check it out...
www.julianunes.com

Another "Normal" Day at the Dog Park in Southern California

Nick and I were having a nice old time at the dog park the other day when a man we've seen there once or twice came over to chat. We've never talked to him in any depth before - I don't think we've even introduced ourselves - basically, we just recognize him and say 'hi.'

Here's a quick description:

He's a short, very stout man. He wears glasses and a button-up shirt tucked into dress pants. He has a bluetooth earpiece that he sometimes talks on. Nick is fairly sure that he is a retired corrections or police officer.

The man has beautiful dogs and I commented on how pretty they were. Then, out of the blue, as if talking about where to find good frozen yogurt or something equally mundane, he says, 'She's on the cover of a movie...Transexual Dog Walkers...you should google it.'

What? Did I hear that correctly? Yes, I did...apparently she is on the cover of "Transexual Dog Walkers."

A few days later I brought up this weird interaction again and Nick and I started talking about it. I thought the man (whose name we still don't know by the way) said...

'She's on the cover of "A" movie.'

But Nick is convinced that he said...

'She's on the cover of "ONE OF MY" movies.'

Wait..what's that again? Now, not only is this stranger nonchallantly telling us that his dog is on the cover of a transexual porn movie, but there is potential that he either directs or stars in transexual porno. Well, after that, we googled. If you dare, click here... We didn't go so far as to actually watch the movie and I think we're both happy with that decision.

Poor Pathetic Puppy

So, today we noticed that Teddy's foot was a little inflamed. He always has licked his toes since we got him, but today it was a little worse and his pad looked kind of dry. So, he went on a trip to see his new vet. Apparently he has a lot of bacteria on his feet (probably from his licking) so he needs an antibiotic. Plus, the reason he might be licking in the first place is because of allergies. As a result, Teddy is on two meds (1 antibiotic and 1 antihistamine) and gets to wear around this awesome cone for the next 2 weeks. He went to the dog park today and actually behaved better than normal - probably as a result of the restriction of his neck.

Dang he looks cute...doesn't it look like a little bonnet from behind?

We are so bad at this!

After a VERY long time with no posts I decided I just had to sit down and write something. (It was actually prodding from certain family members that finally made me do it.)

So, we have been training for the Grand Canyon and going on 5-mi hikes whenever we get the chance. I took a 6-7 pound backpack when we went last weekend, which I thought would be no problem, but it really did make a difference! Anyway, here are some pictures of the trail that we've been going on. It's quite beautiful and makes training so easy because we actually look forward to getting out and doing this trail whenever we get the chance.

Teddy goes with us as you will see in the pictures. I thought he seemed more muscular lately and when we took him to the vet he weight 2 Pounds heavier than previously. The vet said it's probably all muscle from the hiking since we haven't changed his diet. So, he's our little Muscle Man now.

Here are the woods you walk through at the beginning (bottom) of the trail:















Here are some of the weird plants growing everywhere:




















There are some nice views of the town from up here:
































The mountains are gorgeous from up here...especially on a somewhat cloudy day like today:














































Just what is Nick doing that close to the edge?!
















Here is Nick taking a rest at the top of the hike:





















Evidence that Teddy is a studly little hiker-dog:








































The most beautiful view - you can see Los Angeles in the distance - it looks like Oz.

Bo-tacular Toys

Over the few months that we have had Teddy, it has become clear that one type of toy is favored above others. It's not that he doesn't like other toys...he does. He just prefers bobos.

For those of you uneducated on the features of the bobo, they are as follows:

-Long cylindrical shape
-Soft outer material
-Stuffed with fuzz
-Squeaker inside
-Head on one end
-Little nubby arms and feet

There is still great variance among bobos, but those characteristics that vary are not essential to the toy actually being a bobo. They are superfluous, but they do aid in naming the bobos.

So, here are photographs to document Teddy's Bobo collection. Each bobo is represented by 2 pictures:
picture 1 is the best possible representation of what the bobo looked like at time of purchase;
picture 2 shows the bobo in it's current state, rips and all.
*note: The fourth bobo has only 1 picture because it is rather new.

First: The original bobo, named "Bobo"






























Second: A female bobo complete with bikini and surfboard, named "Bobette"
*note: the surfboard has become something that looks like a cigar toy for Teddy - not very p.c. to have a puppy toy that looks like tobacco...



































Third: A reindeer bobo complete with antlers, named "Bo Derrick"






























Fourth (and last): A halloween-costumed bobo, named "Frankenbo"
*note: Frankenbo is by far Teddy's favorite - we've never seen him this obsessed with any of the previous bobos.




















Here are the bobos having a party:

G.C. Here We Come!

We are terrible bloggers. It's been a long time since we posted. However, we just recently really started to get excited about our hiking/camping trip to the Grand Canyon. For those of you who were not aware, we are meeting our good friends Ashley and Aaron at the Grand Canyon and hiking to the bottom to camp on April 5-6.

We haven't seen these two for way too long. We're used to seeing them quite regularly since they lived just 2 hours from us in MI for a few years. We'd see each other every other weekend or so. Anyway, this will be a great opportunity to do something amazing and spend a ton of quality time with our friends.

We've been going on walks, etc., a bit more frequently over the past week to try to get in shape, but today we really started a good workout regime to get us ready. There is a hiking trail at the foot of the mountain in Claremont - it's just a quick 10-min jaunt from our house. It's a 5-mile trail all the way around. About 2.5 miles is uphill. It will be a good place to practice for the Grand Canyon hike. We'll take some pics next time we go. Plus, once they open up Chino Hills Park, we will be able to practice on a 7.5 mile trail. However, because of the fires we had recently, that one is off limits for a while.

Beyond exercising, though, we have to get ready in other ways, too. Like getting gear. We already have a 4-person lightweight (11.5 pounds) backpacking tent, so we might just use that for all of us. That way, only one person has to carry a tent. We put it up today in our living room to see how easy it was to do and to see if it would be big enough for all of us. Here are a few pics. The first pic shows the whole thing (keep in mind it's not staked down). The second shows it closer. Ashley and Aaron, what do you think? Is this the way you want to go?






We'll keep you all updated on the progress of the trip preparations. It's pretty exciting for us!