I'm one of the 45 million people that has no healthcare. Not too long ago I had a decent job with a full benefit package. When I became disabled I knew it would be a challenge providing for my families healthcare needs. I never made it somebody else's problem. I think we as American citizens are aware that healthcare is in crisis. A plan needs to be drafted and if need be partly funded by us the people. I would also hope that people in general would not be opposed to invest in such a plan that benefited all and paid for by all. This new initiative to provide better coverage to our children whose families are unable to provide coverage for them there selves is a good thought but to be wholly funded by smokers? What is wrong with this? Our country has tried to shed the image of being a nation of racial or discriminate bigots by enacting policy that ensured we all be treated equally and have the same opportunities. People in general have raised their children to accept people for who they are not what color or nationality they are. Now our own government a government who has fought for equality is doing the very thing they have preached against. They have targeted a particular sector of people and imposed an enormous new federal tax on top of the federal tax they already have. You know the individual states are going to want a piece of the action and us smokers are to just take our medicine. No! that's just out and out discrimination. Oops that dirty word again. The African American people endured treatment that in today's world would be considered atrocities against mankind. Laws have been enacted to stop that and now our government is starting to attack sectors of people. I know some of you are reading this and think I'm rambling on about nothing but just stop and think. Smokers are people. We come in all different shapes, sizes and colors, but we pay taxes and we work and live just as you do. The only difference between me and you is...... nothing. Smoking is my right a personal liberty not a cash cow for some radicals to use as their own personal bank. Every person has a vice and most can lead to health problems and eventually death. Try to imagine if the government started taxing just the obese people who buy foods that's not good for them. Then after they tax you they tell you the money they collect from there new found cash cow is going to be used to help people that can't afford insurance. Yet everyone else goes on living as normal and being able to use your tax money you paid to get medical care... Oh but you have to pay for your insurance. Sorry don't see the logic in that.. It feels kind of Robin Hood to me. But who am I but just a dirty old smoker but the next time you see me on the street don't scowl at me for smoking just say Thank you. 

I have been following this somewhat in the news. This just my opinion. I do agree that if you decide to detain prisoners whether they are criminals or terrorist they do deserve a trial or tribunal. I however am sick of hearing this left wing liberal fodder that says we are abusing these detainees. Sleep deprivation and solitary confinement are now considered unfair punishment? I would like to ask the people who are arguing this point what exactly are we to do to get the information that many of these detainees have out of them? Oh let's just ask them nicely or let's give them 200 channels of cable, a fully equipped rec room and ice cream on Wednesdays. That should persuade them to relinquish any and all information we need from them. This country has become a nation of unfounded principles. Afraid of the truth and afraid to get our hands dirty. It's a admiral trait to forgive but not to forget. Do the people that are fighting for the expanded rights of these detainees think for a minute that most of those people in Gitmo if given a chance would do the most horrible acts imaginable to us because as spoken by them we are infidels, the enemy. I'm sadden daily when I see Americans standing up in defense of these alleged terrorist and allowing them as with the person in this story a chance to pull off another 9/11. As President Bush has said numerous times that [they only have to be successful once where we have to be all the time.] I know some people will pick this blog to pieces sighting every violation of basic human rights. I'm not arguing that. What I'm arguing about is this sudden outpouring of how we are not following the rules, not being just and fair. I want to hear the explanation from these groups when another national tragedy happens. What will happen is overwhelming displeasure in our government ability to stop yet another attack against our people and infrastructure. News Flash people! Can't have it both ways. Either let our people do their jobs or brace for another attack!!! It's just that simple. 

Bin Laden driver to seek leniency from Gitmo jury - Yahoo! News

I don't want to get into a political disagreement with anyone but you need to read this. I think this subject matter is becoming one of the leading topics of this presidential election. Read on and tell me what you think

  I'm writing this blog in the hopes that this will help other people in the future. I have to give you a brief background in order for all to understand how this situation developed into the disaster it has become. In the beginning of 2000 I was diagnosed with degenerative disc disease. What was so devastating about this is it directly affected my career. I was a supervisor in charge of the day shift crew at a local Newspaper as a printer. I suddenly found myself in the land of uncertainty, financial challenges were inevitable. My wife and I didn't know what to do about our long term financial goals. I had disability insurance which only pays a percentage of your annual gross income. We knew that the amount I would receive would not be enough.

                        We live in a rural area where farmland is abundant. Besides a little gas station, bank and a local hair salon there's not much of a town. There was however a little local business for sale and the owner was willing to owner finance the loan. After some negotiations we were the proud owners of a local business, a liquor store. The first full day of business that was about a week before Christmas we were robbed at gunpoint. The days profits gone!. I still had the fire in my belly to make this work but after 15 months we were bankrupt. The main cause not enough operating capital in the beginning. The main reason to buy this business was fear of being financially ruined, that we weren't dependent on the small income I was getting from the disability insurance. Big mistake!. My back continued to get worse my wife assumed all the responsibilities of running the day to day operations of the store. We had to hire help and when business got slow during the winter we were taking part of my check to pay the bills. In 2002 we had to turn the business back over to the person we were buying it from.

                      Now we were deeper in debt than we could have ever imagined. After we weighed all of our options we had no choice but to file a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy. We talked to a few attorneys to see which one would be sensitive to our situation and take the time to make sure we got through this with the least amount of loss as possible. Our request was simple. We wanted to keep our house and our car. The attorney told us that he would be able to do that. We did however question his fee which was several hundred dollars more than the other attorneys we spoke to. He convinced us that his fee was more because we were paying for experience, that he would make sure that everything was done and done right. He also told us that we could go to one of the other bankruptcy attorneys that charged less, but to not be surprised if something went wrong and we lost our home and other belongings. We accepted his fee agreement. During the bankruptcy process you have something called Meeting of Creditors. The point of this meeting is to allow the creditor a chance to challenge whether a debt should or should not be discharged. We sat down with the trustee and discussed our debts, we also discussed our home and was asked to make the trustee believe that we could keep the mortgage up on our home. This entire proceeding was recorded and after the trustee was finished with the interview he stated that our intentions was to keep our home and he recommended that we kept it. Once the meeting was over we talked to our attorney about what had just happened. The only thing I wanted to know was were we going to be able to keep our home and our car. His reply was yes, everything was fine and to go home, relax and have a good life. A few months later we received our Discharge of Debts and the Final Decree. In the final decree the trustee releases your estate back to you if there is no disbursement of funds. This is where they sell off your property and belongings to pay back creditors. None of that happened to us, we received our entire estate back, or so we thought.

                       We went on with our lives which has been really hard. My health problems continued to worsen. I became disabled completely which entitled me to Social Security disability. Things have been tough financially. Just as we thought we were leveling out my wife had a severe heart attack. She had to get Triple bypass surgery done with no health insurance. Final bill $65,000.00. We talked to every organization we could think of to get help but didn't qualify for one reason or another. Mostly because she wasn't permanently disabled and is still young enough to work. We finally got some help through the hospital collections. This gentleman helped my wife through the maze of paperwork and medical records to apply for assistance from the State's Medical Assistance program. Almost a year later she was approved to have everything paid except $2,000.00. We rejoiced for paying back that amount was a far cry better than 65k. You have to call each person you owe and give them this account number like a credit card number for the doctors to get paid. Now these people harassed us for over a year, phone calls and letters threatening to sue us and go after our bank account. Now my wife gives them the means to get every red nickel they threatened us for and all they had to do is call a toll free number and enter the number they were given and they get paid. They couldn't do that right and as a result we now still owe 10k because the doctors accounting departments didn't take action to get paid within the specified time frame allowed. Guess what it's our fault because we didn't follow up to make sure they got paid.

                        Once we found out this information we were upset. We decided that we needed to refinance our home since it had now been 4 years since the bankruptcy. We figured that our credit was not the greatest but the time lapsed since the bankruptcy and making our mortgage payments on time that owning our house for almost 10 years that we would have a good shot at a decent interest rate and take some cash out to pay these medical bills off. We found a bank to work with us. The loan officer was very helpful in side stepping a couple land mines. One she couldn't side step was I didn't have a credit score which she felt was odd because of making mortgage I should have some kind of score even with the bankruptcy on my credit. The loan officer called our mortgage company to find out why they haven't been reporting to the credit agencies only to find out that during the bankruptcy our attorney didn't reaffirm our debt on the house. Then after further investigation the bankruptcy department at the mortgage company told us that the house went into the bankruptcy. We were horrified! That's got to be wrong. We called the trustees office and asked the clerk if the paperwork necessary to keep our home was filed correctly. She claimed that our attorney filed our case as a no asset bankruptcy which means our house was filed under the bankruptcy. We now have filed a complaint with the attorney grievance committee. We pray at this point that the attorney will be held negligent and find some course to tear our house and our lives out of the clutches of the system that helped put us here.

                       So here's a case for life's unfortunate mistakes. I don't claim to be the smartest person in the world, but maybe too trusting. We as a society entrust other people to assist us through life's toughest problems. We pour out our lives,  give up our last nickel so that we feel safe and put a expert between you and the problem only to find out that you got screwed over. It's been 4 years since the bankruptcy, we are still living in our home and according to the courts it was my attorney's responsibility to tell us that our home was lost. He didn't. I was taught growing up that you have to claim half responsibility for your problems. I claimed mine when we filed the bankruptcy and imprisoned us to 10 years worth of bad credit. I hope people read this see that even when you try to do things right you still pay, sometimes with the very thing your trying to protect. In our case our home. Who pays now?   

Remembering yesterday today

I don't know why but lately I've been thinking alot about my time in the military. I think maybe because I'm disabled I don't have the same social interaction as I did when I was in the Army. Also the qualty of friendship is not the same. When your stationed somewhere with a group of people you literally put your life in their hands and theirs in yours. It gives you a humbling feeling knowing that you have an enormous responsibility, and at such a young age. Your job is a matter of life and death.

        I can still remember the day I went into the Army. Even as rough and tough as I thought I was at the ripe old age of 17 you become very lonely and a little scared. You see you lose your identity in a way because your starting from scratch in a new life. It usually takes a short time before you start forming friendships and enemies. You cannot make it through basic training on your own and the drill sergeants won't let you. These strangers suddenly become family. Oh and there is no privacy. The training is long, hard and tough but the most rewarding thing you will ever do. At the end of basic you come out lean and mean full of pride and honor, your chest stuck out and a straight upright walk that shows you have changed. You are now ready to learn the Art of War, become a cultural poet and teacher. Now you are ready to learn your job that you will do. Your literally a cog in a giant wheel. After school many of the people you have come to call your family have since moved on and you have begun constructing a social network of people you will never forget but will probably never see again. The first duty station is strange. It's much like  controlled chaos. Unit pride builds quickly and a whole new set of friends. After 20 years I remember people and wonder what they are doing? How did their lives turn out?. Did they stay in the service? Questions with not many answers. Suddenly the thought of tracking your buddies down becomes your mission, will they remember you? If anyone reading this was in Korea or knows someone that was in Korea in 86-87 at Camp Casey HQ CO 5TH/20TH MECH INF. contact me on this page. Happy reading.

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Friends discuss death of Steve Irwin

Sept. 5: "Animal Planet" host Jeff Corwin and Michael Hornby, a zoologist and friend of Steve Irwin, talk with "Today" show anchor Matt Lauer about the life and death of the "Crocodile Hunter."