Dear Hobby Lobby and its supporters,

I’d like to try to have a civil conversation with you regarding the recent ruling by the Supreme Court.  I have a lot of family that are evangelical Christians and I understand that you believe that an IUD and the morning after pill are abortefascients.  I am not going to get in to an argument here about the scientific evidence to the contrary because I am going to assume that your belief in this particular case is similar to your belief in evolution, it’s based on your faith.  While I disagree with you, your faith is your right.

Let me tell you a little bit about myself.  I am a 40 year old woman who has severe endometriosis.  I have had two abdominal surgeries over the past 15 years, one major & one minor.  I will need at least one more.  I have adhesions all over my abdomen, my bladder and intestines.  I frequently produce endometrial cysts that are extremely painful.  The one treatment (other than surgeries) that has given me some relief is various forms of birth control.

I can not tell you the exact number of different birth control prescriptions that my doctors have prescribed for me over the years.  I know it’s a lot.  I have worked for 3 employers over the past 17 years and each employer has required me to prove medical necessity for EACH prescription I have tried.  My current employer (until the ACA) covered medically necessary birth control at the highest tier of copayment.  That was $75/month.  And yes, I know there are very cheap options out there, but they don’t work for me and they don’t work for a lot of women.  So please don’t comment about $9 birth control.  Let me put it another way, if I had chronic kidney stones, my medicine to treat my condition would have been covered at the lowest tier.  However, because the medicine that helps treat my condition happens to be birth control, insurance companies and my employer were able to severely limit what they cover AND force me to prove medical necessity every time.

A couple of years ago, I was placed on Mirena (an IUD) by doctor.  If my insurance company had refused to cover it, it would have cost me over $1000 out of pocket.  I was placed on the Mirena because my body can no longer tolerate any estrogen and Mirena has been shown to help control endometriosis.  Unfortunately, Mirena didn’t work for me, so I am trying one last option.  My next option is a hysterectomy.  I will not be able to have children.

I understand your actions are rooted in your faith and in your belief that your religious freedom is being infringed upon.  I am trying to walk in your shoes and understand your reasons for your lawsuit.  I am only asking that you try and walk in my shoes.  Imagine a woman trying desperately to keep the adhesions at bay, to stop the endometrial cysts and above all, maintaining my fertility.  Imagine this woman having to battle the insurance companies over covering a medicine that treats a medical condition for almost 20 years.

I know a lot of your supporters are just happy for any blow struck to Obamacare.  There are a lot of potential unintended consequences to this ruling.  Everyone is celebrating the fact that a company’s deeply held religious beliefs were upheld.  Again, I ask you to walk in someone else’s shoes.  A lot of Americans have religious beliefs that don’t align with yours. Your religious beliefs tell you that an IUD is an abortefascient, mine tell me that it is not. I would never have used it if I did.  Freedom of religion means freedom for all.  What about the freedoms of those that don’t believe as you do?  Aren’t their beliefs just as important as yours?  Why does your religious belief trump my doctor’s medical advice?  Why should one trump the other?  Isn’t there a better way?

I don’t know the answer.  I do know that this lawsuit and this ruling is not the way.  I know that yelling at each other is not the way.  I know that disrespecting each others beliefs and values is not the way. 

And I do know this; I am tired of having to fight to get my medicine covered by insurance companies. I am tired of feeling that because I am a woman, my health concerns and beliefs matter less than those of a corporation.  And most of all, I am tired of those that spread misinformation about the cost of birth control, those that demean a woman for wanting to use birth control and those that would seek to over rule medical advice given by a doctor.   

Sincerely.

Me

Umbrellagate!!!!!!!

You might be a hypocrite IF:
You complained about one of these pictures but were fine with the rest of them!

Seriously, do some of the right wing nuts even stop to consider that the reason that the American people don't pay attention to them is that they go into def-con 4 over every small thing?

Walmart, Welfare and WTF!

Full Disclosure- I have never been a fan of Walmart for a variety of reasons.  I try not to shop there.  However, I am fully aware that I have the financial means to make that choice.

Once again, I heard a legislator on a talk show talking about food stamps.  He even ducked a question about why conservatives seem to keep bringing up food stamps and welfare for poor people, yet they are not addressing corporate welfare.  That got me thinking, how many of Walmart's employees are on public assistance versus how much in corporate subsidies do they receive.  I picked Walmart because they are huge and there is a lot of data out there on them.

Ohio seemed to be the easiest state to get the numbers so lets take a look at my neighbor.
In 2012, the Ohio State Department of Job and Family services found that 16,098 Walmart employees and family were on Medicaid and 14,799 were on food stamps. Walmart earned the dubious distinction of being number one (McDonalds came in second) for employers whose employees are on public assistance.  One caveat, these numbers do not differentiate between full time and part time employees.
https://docs.google.com/file/d/1niscE8_qdt3upqA0Aqg8vOS1APuzOvDGh9AV4UOiXwuve9mJW9SQPucu0Gtz/edit

Now lets take a look at corporate subsidies for Walmart in Ohio.
According to data compiled by Good Jobs First:

Good Jobs First has compiled data on Wal-Mart subsidies in the following cities

Cleveland/Steelyard Commons, OH : $4.16 million
Columbus, OH : $2.6 million
Grove City, OH : $19 million
Island Creek Township (Winterville), OH : more than $9.2 million
Lancaster, OH : $1.26 million
Moraine (Dayton), OH : more than $157,000
Ravenna, OH : $1.3 million
Streetsboro, OH : $491,000
Washington Court House, OH : more than $8.3 million
West Chester, OH : $3.4 million


So to be clear, its easier to demonize a worker who is on public assistance than it is to demonize a corporation who is getting millions in corporate subsidies.

                                                                           VS

Just the facts....Jack!

I have been thinking a lot about welfare and US citizen's perceptions of who is on welfare.  I would love to see someone do a study on how much money we think we spend on welfare, who we think is on welfare, who we think is on food stamps, how long we think they are on them versus the reality.  I have a feeling, judging off of posts I'm seeing on social media, that people think there are huge numbers of welfare queens.
Lets take a look at the facts.
4.1% of the US population is on Welfare.  Not including food stamps or unemployment insurance the US government spends 131.9 billion on welfare. Only 19.6% of   of welfare recipients are on welfare for longer than 5 years.  In 2011 14% of the US population was on food stamps. The US government spent 71.8 billion on the food stamp program.  In order to qualify for food stamps you can not make more than $1000/month.  The average monthly benefit was $133.85.  47% of people who were on food stamps in 2010 were under 18 and 8% were the elderly.  Less than 10% of people on food stamps are also on welfare.
Sources
http://www.statisticbrain.com/welfare-statistics/
http://www.statisticbrain.com/food-stamp-statistics/
http://www.fns.usda.gov/ora/MENU/Published/snap/FILES/Participation/2010CharacteristicsSummary.pdf

 Are there welfare queens out there? Of course there are!  Does it piss me off that people have learned to game the system and are sitting around on their asses while I'm working mine off?  Hell yes it does!  But the reality is that the number of people who are on welfare for a long time is low and a lot of those are people who do have a legitimate need.  Are there more reforms we can make to welfare and food stamps?  Of course there are.  But before we get our collective panties in a bunch over a few pieces of shit, lets get realistic about who really is on welfare and food stamps.  Welfare, food stamps and unemployment are meant to be safety nets and not safety trampolines.  The fact is that the majority of people really do use them as nets.

Lets start with the facts - Wealth Inequality

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=QPKKQnijnsM

I have been seeing a lot of people posting things about Welfare and Food Stamps and it got me thinking about what the facts and numbers are really saying about who really controls the purse strings and who is really receiving government assistance.   I thought I'd start with wealth inequality and go from there.

10 Common sense responses to Newtown

1. Promote gun safety and responsibility. The fact is that background checks would not have prevented Newtown shooter from getting a hold of the guns that he used to commit mass murder. I don’t know what, if any, methods his mother used to secure her guns but they obviously were not enough. If someone owns gun(s), they have a responsibility to make sure they are secure and don’t end up in the hands of someone that should not have them. I would like to think that a national campaign of PSA’s on gun safety would be a starting point.

2. Pass universal background checks. While universal background checks will not prevent every person from having a gun who should not have one, they will make it harder. I can’t drive a motor vehicle without a license there is no reason I should be able to buy a gun without first passing a background check.

3. Make sure those that should not be able to buy a gun (felons, mentally ill, etc.) are identified and placed in a national database that is updated frequently. Establish a process so that those that have gotten the help they need and no longer are a danger to society may have their names removed.

4. Strengthen the ability of the ATF by repealing the Tiahrt amendments and any other restriction that prevents the current laws from being enforced.

5. Encourage states to pass laws the punish those that have illegal guns. I would like to see those laws modeled after Project Exile. I lived in Richmond, VA during the initial enactment of Project Exile and I remember the difference that it made.

6. Encourage states to make the punishment for selling an illegal gun stiffer than owning one. For example, an illegal gun will get you 5 years in VA, selling a known illegal gun should get you 10 years.

7. Encourage the movie and video industries to tighten their ratings in regards to violence and promote better parent education and dialogue on children and violent imagery.

8. While we certainly need to cut our federal spending, please make sure it is not done at the expense of mental health services. Now is the time to increase the services that need to be provided to those that need our help.

9. Establish a maximum limit on magazine clips and outlaw armor piercing ammunition. While I have the right to defend myself, I don’t need 30 rounds to do so and I certainly don’t need armor piercing bullets.

10. I am not a gun enthusiast nor am I a gun expert. However, I do believe that if there is a weapon that is being sold in the U.S. whose sole purpose is a weapon of war, designed to kill on a large scale than it should be outlawed. I do not know if any of the “assault-style” rifles fit that description. I realize the reality of any legislation that outlaws a gun does not have much of a chance of passing; however I believe that weapons of war belong solely in the hands of our warriors.

I think my parents were right (on movie violence)

A couple of days ago, I observed an online conversation between some good friends of mine. A friend stated that she was at Zero Dark Thirty with her ~8 year old son. Another friend made the comment that she allowed her kids to see violent movies but not ones with sex. The thought then crossed my mind that this is exactly what should be part of the national conversation that needs to be had about the role that media plays in our American culture of violence.

When I was a child I wasn’t allowed to watch very violent movies. To this day, I very rarely do. However, I was allowed to watch movies that had nudity and some adult/sexual content. I can even remember my mother sending me upstairs once when she felt like the movie was too “adult” for me.

 I think my parents had it right and my friends have it wrong. I am not saying that my friends are bad parents, on the contrary they are great parents, they love their children and they really want what’s best for them. I suspect that there are a lot of parents that agree with them. I just think that when we as a society think its ok to expose our children to movies that glorify violence (like Saw, the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, etc) or a movie with (at least in my mind) the very adult content of torture over a movie that has a tasteful sex scene or some adult content than we have a problem.

For the record, I am not advocating that we allow our kids to watch porn (although a lot of them already are) and there are a lot of movies that are rated R for sexual content that are not appropriate for kids. However, maybe, just maybe parents need to think about what seeing all that senseless violence can do to a child. A movie is rated R for a reason and while we can’t control what movies parents show to their children at home, maybe its time to not allow small children in R movies or maybe its time for more movies to get an R rating for violence instead of a PG-13.

I am not saying that watching violent movies or playing violent video games is the sole cause of what makes a mass murderer but isn’t Sandy Hook enough of a reason to take a closer look? Every kid is different and it really is up to the parent to determine if the child is ready to see any form of adult content. However, its time we take a hard look at what our children are watching or playing and the effect that senseless violence has on them. Its time we talk about the responsibility of parents to ensure that children who are not capable of understanding the difference between fantasy and reality don’t live in a fantasy land that is filled with blood and guts. This isn’t something that we as a society should legislate but I really hope that the next time your child wants to see a violent movie you might just stop and consider what all these violent images are doing to your child’s soul. I find it ironic that European countries where sexual content is everywhere and violence is not do not as a general rule, have the culture of violence that the U.S. does. Maybe we could learn something from them.