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Oct. 20th, 2009
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sundries, really random evening edition
Oct. 20th, 2009 09:39 pmWhat do I address first? That my mom had to pay for her own MRI to be sure her cancer was in only one breast because the insurance company didn't cover it? Or that my health is permanently fucked because our system doesn't believe in preventive care or take auto-immune diseases seriously? Maybe I should talk about how as a woman I have to pay higher insurance premiums because of the assumption I'll have children, but when I explain to my carrier that I'm gay and not planning to inseminate, they still won't let me drop that part of the coverage, because apparently they know more about living my life than I do. And none of that comes even close to this, which really encapsulates the utter fuckery of everything right now:
Chelsea Caudle began signing her text messages this summer with a countdown. At 14 years old, she knew no better way to express what was coming. Day Zero was to be Oct. 7, the day Dad left for Army basic training in Fort Jackson, S.C. He was moving 950 miles from their home in Watertown, 950 miles from Mom.
He was leaving, even though Mom was sick with ovarian cancer. Even though he had been at her side through two long, miserable rounds of chemotherapy. Even though she now faced the likelihood of a third.
In fact, Dad was leaving because Mom was sick.
In March, he was laid off from his job as a raw materials coordinator for a plastics company called PolyOne, where he'd worked for 20 years. His severance package had provided several months' salary, but by August the paychecks were winding down. Soon the cost of his family health coverage was going to triple, then a few months after that, nearly triple again. They needed coverage so Mom could fight her cancer.
Dad's solution: a four-year hitch in the Army.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrEbJBFWIPk
A WWII vet speaks out on why he initially didn't understand the question when he was asked if he supported the rights of gays and lesbians to marry.
via
virginia_fell. Watch and pass on.
A WWII vet speaks out on why he initially didn't understand the question when he was asked if he supported the rights of gays and lesbians to marry.
via
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