Family...and What It's Supposed to Mean

Note: To help preserve this person's privacy, their gender has been deliberately obscured.

I've been having an ongoing discussion with someone about family. What it is supposed to mean, and what it seems it has become. It ain't pretty.

Your family is supposed to be there to help support you in good times and bad.

That doesn't mean that if you've done something bad that they should be right there with the rah-rah speeches, but it does mean that if you're suddenly in a bad way through no fault of your own, that your family - your biological/legal family - should be right there to help you as much as possible.

But no, this person's biological family essentially abandoned him/her when s/he needed them most.

You see, s/he was diagnosed with cancer. Yes, cancer.

Not something easily treatable like some skin cancers, but something that settled deep into his/her body. Something that would make life very difficult for him/her while s/he worked hard at getting better.

Money was and remains an issue. S/He applied for disability and was turned down before finally prevailing in a face-to-face hearing after two years. Some idiot in the initial stages of his/her claim decided that cancer wasn't serious enough to qualify for social security disability.

Really? Not serious enough?

Fucktard!

Once the positive outcome came, s/he waited to hear what s/he would be receiving. Shortly thereafter, s/he found out.

The payment is less than a grand a month. Yep, you read that right. Less than a grand.

Contrary to what the conservative dickheads out there will tell you, most folks on disability aren't "making" shit. Believe me, if this person could be out there working, s/he would be in a hot second, but being over sixty years old AND being ill with something like cancer kind of fucks up the chances of employment out there.

My family is taking in this person and his/her children for now, but we're not rolling in money, either. But that's what you do when your family (and s/he is part of my extended family by choice) needs help and has nowhere else to go. We can't pay for medical shit, but we can, at least for the time being, put a roof over their heads and make sure that the oxygen can be plugged in if it needs to be used.

I really want to be able to visit this person's biological family and let them know what a pile of pin-headed little dickheads they are being. Especially to this person's mother, who you would think would give a fuzzy shit about the person she carried within her for nine months and raised to adulthood.

This person has never been in trouble with anyone or anything. No arrests, jail time, convictions. None of that shit. There is no reasonable explanation that could ever justify the shunning s/he is receiving from these people.

This person is my best friend, and I cannot in good conscience let him/her be treated this way. Long ago, this person (and his/her kids) were incorporated into my family-of-choice. If his/her biological family can't be supportive, then they can go and eat shit.

Thoughts On Today's SCOTUS Decision...

Today's Supreme Court decision has larger ramifications, as was so eloquently pointed out by Madame Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in her scathing dissent. (Be sure to read it in its entirety. She's a hell of a lady.)

What is a company is owned by Jehovah's Witnesses? Should that employer be able to say that a non-JW's insurance coverage won't cover a blood transfusion? (as JWs believe that a blood transfusion is akin to consuming blood, which is a no-no in that faith. Vampires need not apply.)

Christian Scientists believe in the power of prayer to heal the body's ills. Should they be able to opt completely out of the Affordable Care Act because they don't use doctors? That is a "sincerely held belief" under the terms of today's Court decision.

Observant Jews and Muslims don't use or eat pork products. Insulin is pig-derived. Should observant Jews and Muslims be allowed to not cover insulin for diabetic employees because of this "sincerely held belief"?

This is more than simply a reproductive rights issue. This is an issue that covers a wide range of religious teachings. As there is supposed to be a separation of Church and State, according to the Establishment clause of the First Amendment, today's decision should never have happened.

As our Country slowly works its way toward becoming a Theocracy based upon Judeo-Christian teachings, are you going to sit idly by and wait for it to happen, or will you stand up and vote for the candidates who will put these religious fanatics back in their place?

The SCOTUS Follies: The Affordable Care Act and Contraception 6-30-2014

Well, they've gone and done it. Of course, it was the Court's ultraconservative contingent who did it, too.

The Supreme Court of the United States has said that companies like Hobby Lobby can limit the forms of contraception that their company offers to its employees.

The decision doesn't completely wipe out contraceptive coverage, but with today's decision, they no longer have to pay for the so-called "Morning After Pill", IUDs and the like. If the birth control would destroy an already fertilized egg, they don't have to cover that.

The decision is limited to companies with "limited" ownership and of a certain size. Hobby Lobby has fewer than 15k employees, and is owned by a single family. GM couldn't wriggle out of contraceptive coverage using this decision. They're too big and their ownership (as a public company) is all over the place.

But still, allowing a company to make these kinds of decisions about your own life is disgusting. Be sure to read the link above for more information on this decision.

Activist Mormon Woman Excommunicated

I see that much like the Scientologists have so-called "minders" placed on celebrity church members to keep them in line, the Mormons are working hard to push women back into the house with the rest of the female children with the excommunication today of a female church member who had been campaigning for women's ordination/inclusion in the LDS priesthood.

Their holy underwear all atwist, an all-male 3 MAN panel decided to exclude Kate Kelly from the fellowship of her lifelong church. There was a caveat given that if she comes crawling back and keeps her mouth shut like a good little incubator...uh...girl...they may let her come back and play.

On what planet (see what I did there?) is this possibly a correct action?

The last time there was a schism in the Mormon Church, it spawned the rebirth of polygamy in what is put forth as being a "return" to the church founded by Joseph Smith and his successor Brigham Young. Perhaps there needs to be another schism that accepts that you qualify for the priesthood whether or not you have a vagina. They could call it "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints Who Actually Live And Participate In the 21st Century".

Has a ring to it, doesn't it?

What Are You Looking At?

I got tired of reading about all the bullshit going on out there and just having to remain quiet.

Yes, it's fairly obvious that I'm writing under a pseudonym, but that's because I'm not stupid. On the internet, nothing ever goes away, and I am involved in other things where my rather opinionated way of thinking might turn around and bite me in the ass.

I'm not stupid, kids. Not by a long shot.

I'm going to post about politics, religion, and other things that catch my eye and cry out for commentary. I may have co/guest commentators post as well. We'll see what happens.

So hold onto your hat, fellas and gallas. It's going to be a bumpy blog.