If you live in Minnesota, you have a wonderful opportunity coming up this week. On Nov. 17th, from 8am until the following 8am, you can give a donation - it doesn't have to be big, any donation will do - to the charity or organization of your choice, and if you make that donation through Give MN, they will make a matching donation of 50 cents on the dollar.
So if you were to give $10 to, oh, let's say Pathways or Gilda's Club or Vail Place or the Weaver's Guild of MN (just, you know, choosing at random, *koff*), if you made the donation through Give MN, it would be worth $15. Great deal!
Here's what you do:
1. Go to www.GiveMN.org.
2. In the box that says "Donate," type in the org of your choice next to "Find a nonprofit."
3. Click on the link for your org when it comes up.
4. Enter your donation amount, click on Donate, then complete the form.
Give MN has a $500,000 matching fund available. I imagine your favorite nonprofit could use a little bit of funding at the moment - it's been a bad year for them, too. So scrape just a little bit together on the 17th and give. Starting a bit early in this Giving Season will go a lot further this Tuesday, and we're all for stretching our dollars this year!!
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Sunday, October 25, 2009
An Answer
I agree that the government, being made up of folks whose campaigns are financed by insurance companies and Big Pharma, is not likely to come up with a rational public plan that will actually work efficiently and economically.
That said, it is obscene that the United States is viewed by other countries as being barbaric when it comes to health care. It is obscene that our country's health care ranks 37th among the countries of the world - behind many 'third world' nations whose records are less than stellar when it comes to other human rights issues, and who have far fewer resources to spare.
And it is obscene that working people in the United States, people who have always been "responsible for themselves," frequently are bankrupted and rendered homeless by the simple and uncontrollable happenstance of becoming seriously ill.
Equating a public health care option with socialized government is like equating public schooling and public libraries with socialized government. There are certain things that people generally feel are critical to a rational/ordered/moral society. Education and health care tend to run at the top of the list for most countries, as those two issues have far-reaching impact on other aspects of a society's long-term survivability.
This is not a constitutional issue.
This is certainly not an issue of being responsible and self-reliant. Most of the people hurt by our current system are not the 'permanently unemployed' - they already get public health care. It is those who work hard at running their small businesses and those who struggle along in low-paying jobs that provide low-to-no benefits who suffer under the current system. And to a lesser degree, it is those of us who pay outrageously high premiums for our health insurance because of the cost to the system of treating people for whom Emergency and Critical Care are the only economically possible options.
This is a social issue. It is an economic issue. It is a moral and ethical issue.
I think it's (highly) unlikely that the currently proposed plan is going to work. What I am hoping is that it will put a foot in the door, and that once the door is open, we will eventually work our way around to a system that will be better than what we have now.
I don't hope for a perfect system, by any means - just a better one. Some day. Probably after I am gone, but hopefully before my son enters his dotage.
Some day.
That said, it is obscene that the United States is viewed by other countries as being barbaric when it comes to health care. It is obscene that our country's health care ranks 37th among the countries of the world - behind many 'third world' nations whose records are less than stellar when it comes to other human rights issues, and who have far fewer resources to spare.
And it is obscene that working people in the United States, people who have always been "responsible for themselves," frequently are bankrupted and rendered homeless by the simple and uncontrollable happenstance of becoming seriously ill.
Equating a public health care option with socialized government is like equating public schooling and public libraries with socialized government. There are certain things that people generally feel are critical to a rational/ordered/moral society. Education and health care tend to run at the top of the list for most countries, as those two issues have far-reaching impact on other aspects of a society's long-term survivability.
This is not a constitutional issue.
This is certainly not an issue of being responsible and self-reliant. Most of the people hurt by our current system are not the 'permanently unemployed' - they already get public health care. It is those who work hard at running their small businesses and those who struggle along in low-paying jobs that provide low-to-no benefits who suffer under the current system. And to a lesser degree, it is those of us who pay outrageously high premiums for our health insurance because of the cost to the system of treating people for whom Emergency and Critical Care are the only economically possible options.
This is a social issue. It is an economic issue. It is a moral and ethical issue.
I think it's (highly) unlikely that the currently proposed plan is going to work. What I am hoping is that it will put a foot in the door, and that once the door is open, we will eventually work our way around to a system that will be better than what we have now.
I don't hope for a perfect system, by any means - just a better one. Some day. Probably after I am gone, but hopefully before my son enters his dotage.
Some day.
Monday, October 19, 2009
A Blast From The... Umm...
This nifty item recommended by my dad is hereby dedicated to my lovely friends Sam and Paul. Enjoy!!
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Off Topic, And Possibly Off Color
This question is just for the ladies. With obvious exceptions.
What do you think is the sexiest, most erotic part of a man's body? What makes your engines rev when you are watching a movie, or a television show, or the guy at the cubicle two rows over, and he turns so that you catch him at just that angle, and...
I'll go first. Seriously, for me it is that area just under the ear, where the jaw angles and there is that tender, vulnerable spot on the neck. Seen from behind and to one side. Totally gets to me.
Yeah. I know.
Do you think maybe I was a vampire in my former life?
What do you think is the sexiest, most erotic part of a man's body? What makes your engines rev when you are watching a movie, or a television show, or the guy at the cubicle two rows over, and he turns so that you catch him at just that angle, and...
I'll go first. Seriously, for me it is that area just under the ear, where the jaw angles and there is that tender, vulnerable spot on the neck. Seen from behind and to one side. Totally gets to me.
Yeah. I know.
Do you think maybe I was a vampire in my former life?
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Home From the Hills
My, what a wonderful two weeks I have had. The first was spent in beautiful South Dakota with my lovely husband, and it was everything I could have hoped for. You can find a photojournal with commentary HERE. Don't you wish you could have been with us? I would, if I were you - heck, I wish I was there with us again!
After that, I spent much of another week at a retreat - I will be reporting on that on the other blog, once I've recovered my strength and fortitude. But it was educational and heartwarming and tender and bittersweet, and everything else that a retreat should be. I will be forever grateful to the wonderful women who run the Infinite Boundaries retreats, and to all the generous folks who give generously to the Breast Cancer Recovery organization.
And last, but not least, while I was in SD, I designed and knit up this exuberant pair of socks for Scott, using a skein of Trekking that he liked and a bit of orange Trekking from a pair I'd just finished for myself. As you can see, my husband is not afraid of color!
After that, I spent much of another week at a retreat - I will be reporting on that on the other blog, once I've recovered my strength and fortitude. But it was educational and heartwarming and tender and bittersweet, and everything else that a retreat should be. I will be forever grateful to the wonderful women who run the Infinite Boundaries retreats, and to all the generous folks who give generously to the Breast Cancer Recovery organization.
And last, but not least, while I was in SD, I designed and knit up this exuberant pair of socks for Scott, using a skein of Trekking that he liked and a bit of orange Trekking from a pair I'd just finished for myself. As you can see, my husband is not afraid of color!
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Now
My dad doesn't think it can happen. The cards are already stacked, and what happens now is just noise.
He may very well be correct - it's more likely than not. But right is right, and I can't just sit back resignedly and wait for the worst to happen to my neighbors and my child, any more than I can just sit back and wait for the worst to happen to me. They may say I'm doomed, I may even think they are probably right, but I'm not going to go quietly.
So. Here's a bit of noise, and I've written to my representatives in D.C. to make sure they can hear it. They can plug their ears, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't speak the truth.
He may very well be correct - it's more likely than not. But right is right, and I can't just sit back resignedly and wait for the worst to happen to my neighbors and my child, any more than I can just sit back and wait for the worst to happen to me. They may say I'm doomed, I may even think they are probably right, but I'm not going to go quietly.
So. Here's a bit of noise, and I've written to my representatives in D.C. to make sure they can hear it. They can plug their ears, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't speak the truth.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
South Dakota, Tentatively
Of course, I'm really looking forward to our (possible) vacation in the Black Hills. It's our opportunity to do the whole tourist thing, and we plan to take full advantage of it.
I think we'll be doing Wall Drug, the Lewis & Clark Keelboat Center, Mt. Rushmore & Crazy Horse memorials (of course), the various wildlife/scenic routes in the Badlands/Custer areas, Jewel Cave, Deadwood, the mines at Lead, and *maybe* the chuckwagon dinner and show at Circle B Ranch (argh, looks like it may close for the season the week before we get there) and/or the Reptile Gardens. But the thing I'm most looking forward to (other than the scenery), is the Mammoth Site. Yes, in spite of age and theoretical maturity, I still completely geek out at the idea of digging up old bones (and old buildings, and old pottery... anything historical, actually. Nowadays that pretty much means anything that pre-dates me).
Let me know if there's anything else you've done in South Dakota (or on the road between Minnesota and SD) that really made you squee. Restaurants, good motel deals, roadside attractions that may not be on the normal tourist agenda, we're up for it if it sounds interesting.
I think we'll be doing Wall Drug, the Lewis & Clark Keelboat Center, Mt. Rushmore & Crazy Horse memorials (of course), the various wildlife/scenic routes in the Badlands/Custer areas, Jewel Cave, Deadwood, the mines at Lead, and *maybe* the chuckwagon dinner and show at Circle B Ranch (argh, looks like it may close for the season the week before we get there) and/or the Reptile Gardens. But the thing I'm most looking forward to (other than the scenery), is the Mammoth Site. Yes, in spite of age and theoretical maturity, I still completely geek out at the idea of digging up old bones (and old buildings, and old pottery... anything historical, actually. Nowadays that pretty much means anything that pre-dates me).
Let me know if there's anything else you've done in South Dakota (or on the road between Minnesota and SD) that really made you squee. Restaurants, good motel deals, roadside attractions that may not be on the normal tourist agenda, we're up for it if it sounds interesting.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Wagons, Ho...
In case you were wondering about the whiny tone of my last entry, I wrote it while trapped in my house because our car had imploded rather spectacularly and loudly that weekend and was being towed away to the mechanics as I typed. Things looked dire, and our bank account was hemorrhaging in a scary manner with each passing minute.
The car repair was more than we could afford, of course, and it seems likely the rotten machine will need more repair within the week - but it's running again, at least for the moment, and it cost less than buying a new (used) car. (Big sigh of relief from the audience, thank you, thank you...)
Looks like I'll be able to go to the retreat, at the very least.
The trip to the Black Hills is still up in the air, but I hope... I hope... well, I hope to pet a prairie dog and gawk at a mammoth skeleton on my 50th birthday, is what I hope. We'll see.
In the meantime, the Teenaged Thug is entering his second week of his Freshman Junior** year of college, and seems to be doing pretty well, from the tiny window of information I'm allowed from my lowly parental position. In other words, he breezes in late at night, kisses (or worse, scroofles) my head as he passes by, and answers all questions with some version of "Fine. Fine. It's going fine, mom," while scurrying off to hole up in his bedroom.
I should know better than to ask. But I can't help myself. I'm a mother.
On the knitting front, I've got the neon orange lace socks done. Picture that in your head - and then try to forget you did, before your brain explodes. It's just as tacky as it sounds. Of course, I absolutely love them. There's no accounting for taste, especially mine.
I am following that feat up by knitting a pair of socks for Scott that raise the retina-damage-factor significantly from the bar set by my brilliant attempt to warn hunters away from my clodhoppers. I'm using some colorfully marled and striped Trekking Maxima (the orange mentioned above was also of the Maxima line; go for the gusto when you are lucky enough to have a husband who isn't afraid of color, I say), and then I'm adding my own little Barbara Walker-inspired twist on the whole thing.
I can't wait to get my stupid camera fixed. You have GOT to see this...
**This refers to the Thug's particular situation, in which he is graduating from high school with enough college credits to start his official college career as a Junior. More on that at some point in the future. This post is long enough!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
