http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=2742923

In short- a Army general went before the Senate Armed Services Committee, a man who had commanded NATO forces, while sitting next to two gay discharged soldiers- one an officer, one enlisted- and proceeded to claim that the massacer of civilians at Srebrenica was completely and utterly a cause of allowing homosexuals to serve in the military. You know, cause faggy people can’t shoot guns?

He even went so far as to claim that the Dutch Chief of Staff of the Army told him that. Except… He says he didn’t, he’s raising hell, the Dutch consulate was raising hell, the Dutch ambassador wasn’t thrilled, the active duty Dutch military leadership didn’t like it,, and now- suddenly- he’s backtracking from that lie statement.
Here’s a tiny excerpt,

THE HAGUE — An ex-U.S. general has apologised after saying Dutch UN troops failed to prevent the Srebrenica genocide partly because their ranks included openly gay soldiers, the Dutch defence ministry said Tuesday.

John Sheehan, a retired former NATO commander and senior Marine officer, “wrote a letter of apology,” ministry spokeswoman Anne van Pinxteren told AFP.

In it, Mr. Sheehan said he was “sorry” for remarks made at a Senate hearing earlier this month where he argued against plans by President Barack Obama to end a ban on allowing gays to serve openly in the US military.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/03/21/health.care.latest/index.html?hpt=T1

Stupak has reached a deal with the Speaker and the President! He’s on board with health insurance reform, were going to win this, the American people are going to get good coverage, abusive practices are going to be stopped!
Call your Representative’s office and tell them to vote for it today!

http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/03/21/health.care.main/index.html?hpt=T1

It looks like the President worked when he went to rally the troops. It’s also been reported that we have soft votes, people who don’t particularly want to vote for it(because they find it hard politically) but who also do not want to be the votes to kill it. I suspect this actual vote will literally be long so as to let everyone peg in their tally.

This is it people, do or die, do or die. This is where we decided to change the system to help working families, to enact all those ten points I posted below. If you believe in insurance reform, please call your representative. Let’s let them hear the voices of the people!

-Kansan

Now, I direct you to the Census website,

http://2010.census.gov/2010census/why/constitutional.php

And I don’t point you there to read from people who obviously have a point of view on the matter. I’m giving you the option to go there because it directly answers that question and it supplies all the relevant case law regarding it, going up to a case in the year 2000.

The reason this chaffes me is because this is a growing trend in the fringe movement in America. The more you disagree with something the more unconstitutional it is. Is it because there is actually something in the constitution that explicitly prohibits it? No, not really. You see, I just don’t like it, and because I have a warped view of what is and isn’t American that makes it unconstitutional- you know, cause it doesn’t fit my artificially crafted view of reality. :/

Right…

Here’s what the Constitution actually says about the census.

“Representation and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers … . The actual Enumeration shall be made within three Years after the first Meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent Term of ten Years, in such Manner as they shall by Law direct.”

– Article I, Section 2 of the Constitution of the United States

Notice how it actually says the Census can be done, must be done every ten years, in such a manner as law directs? Therefore questions about income, race, age, economic status, are all constitutional, so long as the law directs it, even if the law just directs a Census Bureau to direct the Census!

The notion that if it isn’t specifically laid out in the constitution that that makes it unconstitutional is just that- a notion. It’s silly, and the people who propose it know that it’s silly. Do us a favor and stop while your ahead.

- Kansan

]]> http://kansanforsanity.wordpress.com/2010/03/18/are-census-questions-unconstitutional/feed/ 3 kansanforsanity http://kansanforsanity.wordpress.com/2010/03/18/top-10-immediate-health-care-benefits-from-the-hcr-bill/ http://kansanforsanity.wordpress.com/2010/03/18/top-10-immediate-health-care-benefits-from-the-hcr-bill/#comments Thu, 18 Mar 2010 03:37:56 +0000 kansanforsanity http://kansanforsanity.wordpress.com/?p=15 ]]> The following list is the top 10 benefits that will immediately effet you upon the passage of the health care reform bill.

• Prohibit pre-existing condition exclusions for children in all new plans;
• Provide immediate access to insurance for uninsured Americans who are uninsured because of a pre-existing condition through a temporary high-risk pool;
• Prohibit dropping people from coverage when they get sick in all individual plans;
• Lower seniors prescription drug prices by beginning to close the donut hole;
• Offer tax credits to small businesses to purchase coverage;
• Eliminate lifetime limits and restrictive annual limits on benefits in all plans;
• Require plans to cover an enrollee’s dependent children until age 26;
• Require new plans to cover preventive services and immunizations without cost-sharing;
• Ensure consumers have access to an effective internal and external appeals process to appeal new insurance plan decisions;
• Require premium rebates to enrollees from insurers with high administrative expenditures and require public disclosure of the percent of premiums applied to overhead costs.

That sounds so frightening, doesn’t it? I love the conservative alternative- which is to do absolutely nothing. Because in their world you trust the corporations and private businesses, they’ll work to meet the needs of the consumers. <- Cause that’s actually happening, right now.

Let’s not forget that financial meltdown people. It was a conservatives wet dream, no government oversight, no regulation, and the oversight in place didn’t work. Complete trust in private business. That worked out so well.

Call your Representative, tell them to support health insurance reform.

- Kansan

The main things included in this bill are as follows below,

– Exempt employers from Social Security payroll taxes on new hires who were unemployed.

– Fund highway and transit programs through 2010. <- This is important. The best way to get money from the government into job creation is essentially through infrastructure, construction, and laborer jobs.

– Extend a tax break for business that spend money on capital investments, such as equipment purchases.

– Expand the use of the Build America Bonds program, which helps states and municipalities fund capital construction projects.

The CNN link is here- http://money.cnn.com/2010/03/17/news/economy/Senate_jobs_vote/index.htm?hpt=T2

This is one of the things that really was upsetting me for a long time. Unemployment in this country is far to high, and I am really hoping that with the warmer seasons coming and this jobs bill, along with the jobs funded by the stimulus project, that this really helps to employ  a lot of Americans. I’d also point out that the votes on this bill were bipartisin.

Hurray for jobs!!

-Kansan

When I am 23 I will loose my health insurance, unless this bill passes the House. Thankfully my condition is non-lethal, I don’t need a pacemaker(yet), and I’m not faced with immediate day to day symptoms. I’m really blessed, and really lucky.

Others aren’t so blessed, and they aren’t so lucky. And if the conservatives in this country have their way we won’t throw so much as a life raft at them. If you support health care reform call your Representative now and tell them why.
Let’s pray this happens.

- Kansan

Follow the story here- http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/17/nyregion/17hiram.html

Below is an excerpt.

Monserrate Loses Bid to Regain Seat

Hiram Monserrate, who was expelled from the State Senate last month after he was convicted of assaulting his companion, failed Tuesday in his quest to regain his seat as José R. Peralta handily won a special election to represent a swath of predominantly Hispanic neighborhoods in Queens, according to early returns.

As far as special elections go, this one drew unusual attention, a sizeable turnout and intense passion because of the circumstances surrounding it: The leading contenders were once close political allies and were competing for a Senate seat that became vacant on Feb. 9 when Mr. Monserrate became the first Albany lawmaker removed from office since the 1920s…

I’m ecstatic about this. One less bigoted person pretending to represent the interests of a group of citizens. This also shows the might of the equal rights movement in overcoming an enemy through a newly formed PAC, Fight Back New York, whose aim is to remove all of the Democratic Senators who voted against equal marriage rights.

Does this mean marriage equality is coming to New York? Probably not so much- but it will some day, and it’ll be through the legislature. Oh, and in case you were wondering if the fiasco is over- Monserrate has vowed to run for Peralt’s former General Assembly seat. Hang in New York, the freak show isn’t over yet!

- Kansan

I have a heart condition called Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome. Essentially, I have an extra pathway in my heart known as the bundle of Kent. This pathway is obviously not suppose to be there, and in your average person it isn’t- in fact this syndrome effects somewhere between .3% and 3% of the population. What this pathway can do that is so dangerous is to try and conduct itself like all the other normal pathways around it- which can blow your heart into a rapid pace and potentially cause sudden death. Typically once every day at least, sometimes multiple times in one day or night, or perhaps a few days apart I have what I call a flutter in my heart. This light feeling in my chest and this rapid increase in my heartbeat for about a second.

And I’m only 22 years old. Terrific, right? Craptastic is the way I’d like to describe it.

So tomorrow a terrific physician is going to cut into my neck, put catheters down my body and into my heart, try and find this bundle of Kent and then burn it to descrution- thus curing me of my WPW. Oh, and this is the second time I’ll have done this. Terrific again, correct? Depends on the way you look at it. The first time the doctor went through my thighs, couldn’t find the bundle of Kent for a very long time, and when he did the thing was so small and faint that it was 1) negligent in regards to risk of sudden death and 2) disappeared upon being touched by the catheter- they then couldn’t find it forever, and once they did it was near a specific dreaded area.

It’s in close proximity to my AV node. Now, the AV node as it was laid before me by the doctors is the equivalent of our biological pacemaker. Imagine if that thing gets burnt up? Congratulations, you’re 20 years old and you just won a pacemaker!! Hold the applause!

So, those of you who were paying attention above will note that the doctor this time is going through my neck. This is important because it quite literally changes the angle. It may not have been possible to burn and destroy the bundle of Kent the first time, but now we could maneuver in through such an angle that there is no risk of destroying the AV node- unless of course the man sneezes while playing pilot.

Oh, and how did I pay for this $30,000+ procedure the first time? And how am I paying for it the second time? Well I have health insurance, it’s called Tricare.

And what’s Tricare you ask? You haven’t heard of it before, doesn’t sound familiar? That’s because its health insurance for military service members, retiree’s, and their families. My father retired from the Army and I am on his insurance- so long as I am a full time student. It cuts off when I’m 23. Oh, and did I mention it was completely operated by the government?

That’s right, you heard it here! We have government health insurance in this country and it goes to our military. It is fast, effective, pays for essentially everything! I will say this in all sincerity; I am really blessed to have what is fantastic health insurance.

Now, keep in mind that if I did not have Tricare I probably couldn’t do this procedure. In fact, I have a pre-existing condition. 22 years old and a knock against me in the health insurance industry- but hey, as conservatives believe that is just a part of the private industry! When I’m 23 years old I will lose my health insurance. But not if reform is passed. If health care reform is passed the laws change, and until I am 25 so long as I am a full time student I can keep my health care coverage. Tricare, I will take a moment to point out, will be incredibly cheaper than any private insurance I, or my family, could purchase- especially considering my WPW being such a knock against me.

See, although a lot of these changes in the bill before Congress will take years to take place the insurance reforms take place immediately. And this is where Democrats in Congress are wrong about being hesitant to support this bill. If the Republicans want to run on a “Let’s repeal pre-existing condition bans, let’s remove you’re 23 year old college students insurance!” campaign then I say let them, go for it! That’ll be a terrific election to run in. The Democrats will frame it with little effort, and the conservatives will be forced to choke on a disproven rhetoric that the private industry is the best avenue to trust when it comes towards your health and finances.

I am very bitter in my reactions to the people who do not support this bill and who do not support health care reform. Do you support seeing 30 million more people insured? Do you support letting families paying off student loans keep their child on their insurance, thus saving them money from having to purchase a separate plan? Do you support helping to subsidize the cost of premiums for middle and lower income Americans? I will spell it out for you- you either do or you don’t. You either believe an irrelevant philosophy that the private sector will work to meet the needs of the people- and in doing so ignore the financial collapse that just graced us. That, which, I might add was conservative economic policy at its best- no regulation, no oversight, just trust in corporations.

I am praying to the gods that health care reform passes. Not just so this 22 year old kid with a heart condition has insurance while he is in school- but so that people who are not as fortunate as me can maybe go the doctor and have their much more severe WPW- which can lead to death- ablated and fixed. I am praying that Congress passes health care reform so that families can be able to put food on the table, pay the bills, the mortgage, and even afford what has now become a luxury- getting your child a flu shot and a doctors visit.

Now, If that makes me a socialist, a crazed bleeding heart liberal then get me a bumper sticker saying as much and I’ll slap it on my car with pride.

It’s about 11:00 pm now and I am going to get ready for bed, wake up tomorrow early, be at the admitting office at 7:00 a.m., and maybe get my heart fixed so I can avoid a pacemaker when I’m in my 40’s.

Forgive me for making such a long post, I’ll get you all an update on my procedure as soon as I am out of the hospital. Peace out friends.

-          KansanForSanity