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Friday, January 21, 2011

SO THE VATICAN WANTS THE IRISH CLERGY TO KEEP MUM ABOUT PEDOPHILES

WHAT?
A LETTER RECENTLY DISCOVERED BY NPR HAS BROUGHT TO LIGHT A HEINOUS CRIME BY THE VATICAN IN ROME AND ITS OFFICIOUS OFFICIALS.

THE LETTER REPORTEDLY INSTRUCTS BISHOPS IN IRELAND NOT TO REPORT TO LAW ENFORCEMENT AUTHORITIES, PRIESTS FOUND TO BE ABUSING CHILDREN.

A COPY OF THE LETTER CAN BE FOUND HERE:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=133015025

ACCORDING TO THE NPR STORY, THE LETTER WARNING BISHOPS TO FOLLOW CANONICAL LAW TO THE LETTER ACTUALLY HAD A CHILLING EFFECT ON THOSE BISHOPS, WHO FEARED THEIR DECISIONS TO DISMISS OFFENDING CLERGY COULD BE OVERTURNED BY THE VATICAN.

THE NPR ARTICLE WENT ON TO STATE: "We know from bitter experience that the letter's threat to overturn any punishments imposed by the Irish church was real and perversely executed in the case of Tony Walsh," she said.

"Walsh was defrocked by a canonical court in Dublin in 1993, but appealed the punishment to Rome, which decided the next year he should be reinstated as a priest and instead sent to a monastery," THE NPR ARTICLE STATES.

"Cardinal Desmond Connell, former archbishop of Dublin, got Walsh defrocked only after his criminal trial in Dublin had begun and Connell had made a personal plea to John Paul, explaining that no Irish monastery was willing to take him," THE ARTICLE STATES.

I JUST CANNOT STAND THIS: TO SACRIFICE INNOCENT CHILDREN TO AVOID SCANDAL, EXPOSING THE MOST VULNERABLE PEOPLE TO THESE ANIMALS THAT OPERATE UNDER COLOR OF CLERICAL AUTHORITY MAKES ME CRAZY.

OF COURSE TODAY THE VATICAN HAS BACKTRACKED, INSISTING THAT THE MEDIA MISUNDERSTOOD THE LETTER AND THAT THE MISSIVE WAS MEANT TO EMPHASIZE THE NEED TO FOLLOW CHURCH LAW, ESPECIALLY IN THE CASE WHERE PROPOSITIONS WERE MADE TO CHILDREN IN THE CONFESSIONAL. WHAT?

OH MAN, THAT IS SUCH BLATHER. A KID CAN SAY NO IN THE CONFESSIONAL BUT CAN BE FORCED IN A BACK ROOM, WHERE NO DAMN CONFESSIONAL PRIVILEGE EXISTS.

FOR THOSE WHO DO NOT WANT TO READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE, CHECK OUT THIS LITTLE TIDBIT.

"The 1997 letter cited the Vatican's Congregation for the Clergy, which had reviewed the Irish document and expressed reservations." THE NPR ARTICLE STATES.

"At the time, the Congregation for the Clergy was led by Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos, who has routinely defended the church's practice of not reporting abuse to police in favor of guarding the rights of accused priests. At the height of the Vatican's sex abuse scandal last year, Castrillon Hoyos told a Colombian radio station that no one should be forced to report abuse."

"'The law in nations with a well-developed judiciary does not force anyone to testify against a child, a father, against other people close to the suspect," Castrillon told RCN radio. "Why would they ask that of the church? That's the injustice.'"

"Lombardi in his statement noted that the letter was issued before the Vatican in May 2001 instructed bishops worldwide to send abuse cases to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith for review," THE ARTICLE STATES.

YOU WILL RECALL, I HOPE, THAT THE CONGREGATION FOR THE DOCTRINE OF THE FAITH IS THE NEW AND MODERN, KINDER, GENTLER NAME FOR THE HOLY FREAKING INQUISITION. WHAT?

OKAY, CHECK OUT THE ARTICLE, THINK ABOUT HOW MANY YEARS IT HAS TAKEN FOR THE CHURCH TO HAVE TO PAY FOR GENERATIONS OF RUINED CHILDREN AND THEN GET BACK TO ME.

I DO HAVE A QUESTION. WHY DOES THE NAZI RATZINGER AKA (I WILL NOT CALL THE CREEP POPE ANYMORE) BENEDICT WEAR RED SHOES? REALLY? RED SHOES? DAMN.

Thursday, January 20, 2011

DUDE I HATE CHINA

OKAY, SO THE CHINESE LEADER, HU TELLS THE U.S. THAT HE WANTS NORMALIZED RELATIONS WITH THE U.S., BUT WILL NOT BEND ON ANYTHING, NOT HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS (REMEMBER THE PEOPLE MOWED OVER BY THE TANK IN THE 1980s? NOT MUCH HAS CHANGED) NOT TAIWAN, WHICH SEPARATED ITSELF YEARS AGO,, FOR PETE'S SAKE, AND NOT TIBET.

HU AND OTHER LEADERS WERE PISSED THAT THE PRESIDENT HAS MET WITH THE DALAI LAMA, WHOM THE CHINESE GOVERNMENT DOES NOT RECOGNIZE.

THE DALAI LAMA, A TRULY HOLY AND GOOD MAN, HAS BEEN IN EXILE FOR YEARS.

OUR CONGRESSIONAL LEADERS HAD ISSUES WITH WHAT THEY CALL CHINA'S ENFORCED ABORTION POLICY, BECAUSE THE GOVERNMENT OF 1.3 BILLION PEOPLE HAS DECREED THAT ONLY ONE CHILD PER FAMILY IS ALLOWED.

ALSO, THE CHINESE GOVERNMENT HAS A PROBLEM WITH UNMARRIED WOMEN HAVING CHILDREN.

WELL CHINA IS A SOVEREIGN NATION AND AS FAR AS I AM CONCERNED, WE HAVE NO BUSINESS MEDDLING.

BUT WE ALSO HAVE NO BUSINESS TRADING AND THAT IS WHAT PISSES ME OFF.

POISONED ITEMS HAVE COME FROM CHINA IN THE PAST AND THEY CENSOR FREE INTERNET SPEECH, FORGET ABOUT FREE SPEECH IN GENERAL.

IN SHORT, THE GOVERNMENT SUCKS AND WE HAVE TO DEAL WITH THEM BECAUSE THEY HAVE SO MANY POTENTIAL CONSUMERS, WE NEED THE MONEY, RIGHT?

BUT WHY DO WE NEED THEIR CRAPPY PRODUCTS?

U.S. CORPORATIONS WHO LIKE THE CHEAP LABOR AND EASY QUALITY CONTROL RESTRICTIONS NEED THE CHINESE AND THEY PRESSURE THE GOVERNMENT AND LOBBY CONGRESS TO GET THEIR WAY.

I SAY WE STAND UP AND NOT BUY ANY, I MEAN ANY, PRODUCTS FROM CHINA. I AM SORRY FOR THE PEOPLE, YOU UNDERSTAND, BUT THE PEOPLE STAY POOR.

THEIR SO-CALLED SOCIALISTIC GOVERNMENT THAT HU LAUDED IS A JOKE. IT IS AN OLIGARCHY, A DICTATORSHIP, A REPRESSED SOCIETY AT ITS WORST.

IF WE VALUE OUR VISION AS U.S. CITIZENS FROM A FREE AND DEMOCRATIC SOCIETY THAT VALUES HONESTY, INTEGRITY, ETHICS AND MORALITY, SOMETHING THE CHINESE GOVERNMENT HAS NEVER, EVER, HAD, NOT FROM THE TIMES OF THE EMPERORS, THEN WE SHOULD STOP DOING BUSINESS WITH CHINA.

FOR ALL HU'S ASSURANCES THAT THEY ARE NOT SEEKING TO HARM US, THERE WAS A THREAT THAT IF WE DID NOT DO THINGS HIS WAY, THERE COULD BE AS HE PUT IT, "TENSIONS" BETWEEN THE TWO SUPERPOWERS.

I GOT YOUR TENSION RIGHT HERE, HU.

Thursday, January 13, 2011

I HAVE FELT PSYCHIC SHAME FOR THE SPANISH INQUISITION

FOR YEARS...

BOTH AS A ROMAN CATHOLIC AND A PERSON OF SPANISH DESCENT, THE SPANISH INQUISITION HAS WEIGHED ON MY SOUL.

MY BELIEF IN REINCARNATION (WHICH SOME MAY SAY DIRECTLY CONFLICTS WITH ROMAN CATHOLIC TENETS) HAS MADE ME FEEL THAT I WAS PRESENT DURING THE INQUISITION, (PERHAPS IN SPAIN, PERHAPS IN FRANCE) IN ONE OF MY LIFETIMES.

I ASK YOU, MY READERS, WHAT DOES A CHILD OF THE 20TH CENTURY HAVE TO DO WITH CRUELTY PERPETRATED CENTURIES AGO?

BUT THE ANSWER IS, THAT I CANNOT IN GOOD CONSCIENCE SAY, "OH THAT WAS A LONG TIME AGO, LIKE SLAVERY, AND THEREFORE, NOTHING TO D0 WITH ME."

BUT IT WAS MY ANCESTORS, BOTH SPIRITUAL AND GENETICALLY, WHO KILLED HUNDREDS, PERHAPS THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE, IN HORRIBLE WAYS, IN THE NAME OF RELIGION.

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH DURING THE TIME OF QUEEN ISABELLA, (MAY SHE STAY IN HELL, OR SHEOL FOR ALL TIME) WAS NOT ALLOWED TO SHED BLOOD DURING THE QUESTIONING OR EVEN DURING THE EXECUTION OF, SO-CALLED HERETICS, APOSTATES, UN RENOUNCED JEWS AND HECK, PEOPLE WHO WERE DENOUNCED BY NEIGHBORS, FOR WHATEVER REASON.

THE INQUISITORS THEREFORE, HAD VARIOUS WAYS OF TORTURING CONFESSIONS OUT OF PEOPLE, CONFESSIONS THAT I MYSELF WOULD HAVE MADE, IN THIS DAY AND AGE, GIVEN THE HORRIFIC METHODS USED.

THEY TORE OUT FINGERNAILS, THEY SLID SLIVERS OF METAL OR GLASS UNDER FINGERNAILS, THEY BURNED, THEY WERE PUT TO THE RACK, (THAT WAS PARTICULARLY GRUESOME, SINCE SHOULDERS AND JOINTS WOULD SEPARATE AS THEY WERE BEING PULLED IN SEPARATE DIRECTIONS ON A RACK WITH A SYSTEM OF PULLEYS).

PRETTY MUCH, ONCE THE SPANISH INQUISITORS GOT THEIR HANDS ON YOU, YOU WERE DONE FOR, SINCE THE CHANCES OF ONE COMING OUT OF THE CHAMBERS ALIVE WERE SLIM TO NONE, NEVER MIND HEALTHY OF MIND AND BODY.

CRIPPLED, HALF INSANE, INSENSATE, STARVED, BRUISED, BATTERED AND HAVING DELIVERED ONESELF OF THE WILDEST CONFESSIONS UNDER THE PAIN OF TORTURE, THE VICTIM (AND i DO MEAN VICTIM) WOULD EITHER BE BURNED OR HANGED.

IF YOU CONFESSED, REPENTED AND RECEIVED RITES OF FORGIVENESS FROM THE CHURCH (OH INIQUITOUS RELIGION) YOU USUALLY DID NOT HAVE TO SUFFER THE EXTREMITY OF FEELING YOUR BODY BURNING AS YOU STILL LIVED, SCREAMING FOR GOD'S MERCY.

YOU COULD BE HANGED INSTEAD, OH JOY.

SO TODAY I WONDER, HOW IN GOD'S NAME, COULD ANYONE CALL THE SPANISH INQUISITION (STARTED AND PERFECTED IN SPAIN BY THE AFOREMENTIONED, INFAMOUS, iSABELLA OF CASTILE), A WAY OF PRESERVING THE FAITH.

AND WHERE WAS THE MERCY THAT THOSE HOODED MONSTERS URGED THOSE POOR PEOPLE TO ACCEPT.

THEY WERE SOCIOPATHS, SADISTS, WHO HAD NO QUALMS ABOUT HEARING SCREAMS OF PAIN, SOMETHING OVER WHICH NORMAL, FEELING, MORAL PEOPLE WOULD CRINGE.

I KNOW I WAS NOT AN INQUISITOR, AND I AM SURE I WAS NOT ISABELLA OR HER CONFESSOR AND HEAD TORTURE GUY, TORQUEMADA, (MAY THEIR SOULS NEVER BE ALLOWED TO REJOIN THE COSMOS, IF THEY HAD SOULS AND I BELIEVE THEY DID NOT) BUT WHAT IF I WAS A PERSON WHO COULD NOT HELP SOMEONE I KNEW TO BE INNOCENT?

WHAT IF COWARDICE PREVENTED ME FROM SPEAKING OUT?

I AM ASHAMED.

AND FOR ROMAN CATHOLICS EVERYWHERE, I AM ASHAMED.

ISABELLA, YOU WERE A TOOL OF DEMONS, YOU YOURSELF ARE A DEMON AND YOUR CONFESSOR, TORQUEMADA, IS A BIGGER DEMON.

EXPELLING THE MOORS, WELL THAT WAS PURE RACISM, AS WAS EXPELLING THE JEWS, ALL OF THAT BAD ENOUGH, BECAUSE HAD IT NOT BEEN FOR THE MOORS AND THE JEWS, SPAIN WOULD HAVE REMAINED A LITTLE BACKWATER PROVINCE AND IN THE STONE AGE.

THEY BROUGHT COMMERCE, CULTURE, ARCHITECTURE, MEDICINE AND SCIENCE TO THAT LITTLE BACKWATER PROVINCE THAT WAS ACTUALLY FIRST INHABITED BY THE BASQUES, THOSE PROBABLE DESCENDANTS OF CRO MAGNON MAN AND PRESENT AS LONG AGO AS PALEOLITHIC TIMES.

BUT TO THEN TORTURE AND KILL YOUR OWN PEOPLE AND FORCE THE JEWS TO EAT PORK (WITNESS TODAY THE SPANISH FASCINATION AND TASTE FOR PIG IN ALL ITS FORMS) TRULY WAS EVIL.

NOT SATISFIED TO KILL HER OWN AND BECOME A MASS MURDERER, (THAT'S RIGHT i SAID MASS MURDERER, KING JUAN CARLOS OF SPAIN) LITTLE LIZZIE DECIDED TO ALLOW THE SLAUGHTER OF MORE PEOPLE SHE HAD NEVER EVEN SEEN, IN THE NEW WORLD.

WORKING THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLES OF THE AMERICAS TO DEATH IN ORDER TO SECURE GOLD AND SILVER, ISABELLA PROCURED A FORTUNE IN METALS AND OTHER RESOURCES, AND HER STUPID (THAT'S RIGHT i SAID STUPID, KING JUAN CARLOS OF SPAIN) HUSBAND, SQUANDERED IT IN POINTLESS WARS AND GREED.

I AM NO FAN OF ENGLAND, AFTER WHAT THEY DID TO THE SCOTS, CELTS, WELSH, INDIANS AND CHINESE, (THAT IS PERHAPS FOR A FUTURE BLOG) BUT I HAVE TO SAY MY SOUL SHOUTED "HURRAH" WHEN THE SPANISH ARMADA WAS SUNK BY A STRONG WIND, THE MIGHTY OF THE SPANISH MAIN SMASHED AGAINST THE ROCKS OF THE ATLANTIC.

I AM SORRY SO MANY SPANISH LIVES WERE LOST, BUT REALLY, PRIDE DOES GO BEFORE THE FALL.

AS AN ASIDE, ISABELLA AND FERDINAND'S DAUGHTER, JUANA, WAS CALLED "LA LOCA" THE CRAZY LADY, PROBABLY BECAUSE OF THE YEARS OF INBREEDING THE SPANISH ROYALTY, HAD ACCOMPLISHED.

SO PAYBACK IS A BITCH AND REVENGE IS A MOTHERFUCKER, AS THEY SAY.

TWO LAST THINGS:

I CALL FOR THAT NAZI POPE, BENEDICT, TO EXCOMMUNICATE ISABELLA, TORQUEMADA, JUNIPERO SERRA AND ALL THOSE OTHER SO-CALLED PRIESTS AND RELIGIOUS FRAUDS WHO INVOLVED THEMSELVES IN THE TORTURE OF THEIR FELLOW MEN, AND ALSO TO APOLOGIZE TO THE VICTIMS AND THEIR FAMILIES.

i KNOW YOU MOTHERFUCKERS HAVE RECORDS; RELEASE THEM AND LET US SEE AND DO NOT, AS YOU TRIED A FEW YEARS AGO, TRY TO REVISE HISTORY AND TELL US THAT MOST PEOPLE SWEPT UP IN THE INQUISITION WERE NEVER TORTURED OR KILLED, YOU BIG FAT LIAR.

SECONDLY, I ASK THAT ROMAN CATHOLICS EVERYWHERE TRY TO MAKE UP FOR WHAT OUR RELIGION HAS DONE TO OTHERS BY DOING GOOD TODAY.

YOU KNOW, I NOTICE THAT SEVERAL CHURCH GROUPS IN MY AREA HELP TO FEED THE WORKING POOR, THE LESS FORTUNATE, THOUGH IN THIS DAY AND AGE, THAT IS BECOMING A LARGE GROUP INDEED.

THOSE CHURCHES ARE ALL PROTESTANT. NOT ONE CATHOLIC CHURCH, (AND i MEAN YOU, ST. CATHERINE'S ON SANTIAGO STREET IN OLD TOWN) HOLDS A RESCUE MISSION OR RUNS A FOOD PANTRY.

HEY BENEDICT, YOU WANT TO DO SOME GOOD, YOU HITLER YOUTH BASTID? PULL SOME MONEY OUT OF YOUR ASS AND GIVE TO THE POOR.

SELL SOME OF YOUR SILKEN ROBES AND GOLD CRAP, YOU CHEAP SKINFLINT GERMANIC THUG.

OH YEAH, AND ALSO?

QUIT CALLING BISHOPS AND CARDINALS "PRINCES" OF THE CHURCH, CAUSE THIS AIN'T NO DAMN KINGDOM.

GEEZ, ELITIST AND MONARCHICAL MUCH?

THAT'S ALL FOR NOW....

ONE LAST LITTLE NOTE: I BELIEVE THAT NOT FOR NOTHING WAS CARDINAL RATZINGER, AKA BENEDICT THE NAZI, THE HEAD OF THE MODERN-DAY CONGREGATION FOR THE DOCTRINE OF THE FAITH THE OFFICE THAT WAS ONCE THE OFFICE OF THE HOLY INQUISITION.

HOLY MY ASS.



Monday, January 10, 2011

I Wish I Were Basque

From what I have learned in a series of lectures about the Vascos (in Spanish) or Basques (in French) no one can really say where the Basque people come from, only where they have been for centuries, their language, customs and cuisine unchanged for all that time.

According to the lectures, by Mark Kurlansky and his Basque History of the World, the Basques may have been direct descendants of Cro-Magnon man and their language is not at all Indo-European, which makes it different from all Latin or Germanic-based languages.

They eat a lot of fish, specifically cod, and sweet peppers and reportedly are tall, long-nosed and heavily browed.

That could have been my dad.

I just admire the Basque spirit of independence, though I abhor the years of terrorist activities and was pleased today to read that the militant arm of the separatist movement, ETA, has declared a permanent ceasefire and now plans to seek independence through political means and the courts.

Since the middle ages, Basque-land, which comprised what was then called Navarre, has belonged in part of France and to Spain, but in the Basque mind, they belong to no one and I totally agree.

In this day and age, people who consider themselves completely different from all those around them, (and judging by language, cuisine, culture and clothing, they are), should be free to determine their own destiny.

However, the socialist part of it, the jury's out on that one. If they can make the ideal work, hurrah for them, because no other society has managed to do practice socialism in its purest form, where all share in the fruits of everyone's labor.

Just a dream, I fear.

Sunday, December 26, 2010

Happy Christmas Everyone

I went to a protestant (read Christian) church service last night, and though it was very different from the usual Roman Catholic midnight Mass services to which I have been accustomed since a very small child, I found that it was still rewarding and comforting.

I must admit, I was a little shocked when I walked into, not a church as I know them to be, but an auditorium, with chairs, a stage and two large television screens.

However, the singing was magnificent and the message was the same. The Christ was born in order to save us from ourselves and He worked hard bring the light of love into the world.

I am sorry to say that even though it is shocking to know what the Ass King Herod (may be rot in hell forever) did to the Jewish babies while searching for Jesus, we in today's world should not feel superior to ancient kings and Romans.

The atrocities are still occurring and children are dying as we speak.

Okay, but the good news is that, we have the rest of our lives, starting from this moment, to redeem ourselves and the human race.

Sure I would like to go and personally knock some sense into those horrible dictators who are recruiting boys to shoot people, using rape as a weapon and committing genocide as fast as they can.

I mean, the Arabs in the Sudan and trying to kill off all the Africans? Helloooo, it belongs to the Africans.

But I digress. I cannot go kick ass, but I can pray and I can get on my soapbox and I can see to it that I do kindnesses as often as I can to others because believe you me, that love spreads, like the butterfly effect.

One last thing I want to say. I say a docco on the gospel of Judas, which they recently verified as having been written sometime in the second century, which would put it about 180 AD.

In it, the writer says that Judas saw Christ as He was, which was an enlightened and spiritual being in human form. He was told to betray Christ as part of the grand plan and supposedly he was the only one whose spirit could face that divinity of Christ that was shining through the human form.

Lots of theologians scoff and say that the for gospels we do have are fine. But really, I have always taken offense with Bishop Iraneous' contention that anything he personally did not include in the new testament was heresy..

Now I think I would have been a gnostic in the ancient times, because that new testament was put together for sheep, not thinking, enlightened people. Certainly not women, since it has been misogynistic from the first, as is the Catholic church.

I believe we have to think for ourselves and not just take the word of a mortal man, or mortal men, who try to tell us what our faith is about.

And no way can I follow a pope who was once a Nazi (and headed the office which once carried out the Inquisition, so that is a huge issue for me.

The more I learn, the more I realize I know next to nothing but I do know this: No one is Rome is going to tell me how to commune with my God and how to be saved by Christ.

That's all she wrote.

Thursday, December 23, 2010

So This Is Christmas

AND HANUKKAH, KWANZAA, FESTIVUS, WINTER SOLSTICE, AM I MISSING ANYONE?

It as been awhile I know but I just want to holler at ya'll for a bit.

For years I have been reading and thinking, thinking and reading, a philosopher without a stone, or a soapbox or even an ivory tower or a room of my own in which to just think about stuff.

But when I swim, I think. And when I drive and sometimes when I am working, I think.

Now that I don't have to worry about being unbiased because I was laid off my reporting job, I can say what I feel and feel what I say.

First, this whole Christmas thing sometimes bothers me.

I mean, it has pretty much been proved that Jesus the Christ was born in the Spring.

And most educated people know that the early Christrian (now called Roman Catholic) church pretty much co-opted pagan holy days for its own purposes and renamed them for a Christian calendar.

So, winter solstice became Christmas and spring equinox and a pagan goddess became Easter and the resurrection.

Also check out the English derivation from the Viking for Friday, Sunday, Thursday, (Thor's Day).

I do not have a quarrel with celebrating Christmas now, but I do have a quarrel with people using the holiday for greed or for manipulation.

Children have been receiving gifts at Christmas since St. Nicholas for some reason decided to gift the kids in his parish with presents.

Since then, the Western world has gone over the top.

Car commercials, watches, blenders, washing machines, sweat pants, jeans, exercise equipment, games, etc.

What does this have to do with the birth of Christ? Or for that matter, Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights, when it is said the Jews had enough oil for a very short time but instead the lamp burned for eight days and nights.

What is important is to remember that Christ preached love, whether one believed He was the son of God or a prophet, as the Jewish, Islamic and Hindu faiths preach.

God personifies love, and love is what we need to give to each other this and every holy season.

The tree, okay, again, pagan, but I love it.

Over the years we have mixed up so many practices and customs to call it Christmas that really except for the love part, none of it is actually Christ-related.

I am not bagging on Christmas, don't get me wrong. But if you think I believe I need to express my love by buying someone a Mercedes or BMW or Jag, fuhgedaboudit. Even if I had the money, I would specifically not buy a car.

Christ walked everywhere, the Israelites walked everywhere, except for Saul, who was a conceited bastid and got what he deserved for trying to kill the future King David.

So, this season, walk a little, smile a little, laugh a lot, be with friends, nosh a little, drink a little and fill your hearts with love.

That's all she wrote.

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

So My Insurance Does Not Pay For Chiropractic

Even though I am paying tons of money for COBRA and my former company, a good company, is helping me.

I found out from the pastor of Rancho Community Church on Temecula Parkway, that the church has a free clinic every Wednesday night and also a chiropractor who volunteers his evening.

This is the same church that gives bagfuls of cans and organically grown vegetables (from the church's Rainbow farmlands) and fruits to people in need every Wednesday.

Because I recently sprained my back, I opted to go to this healer, since the pills my medical doctor threw at me had little to no effect.

For two weeks I walked around like Quasimodo, with no relief, until the minister told me about the chiro.

The chiro over the past two weeks has straightened out my spine, made my legs match (one was shorter than the other because of the hitch in my back, and told me to continue what I have been doing, swimming in heated water, light-weight resistance weight training and torso twists.

And he told me I should come back next week; he did not hustle me out the door, even though there were people waiting for some relief.

Wow...there is help out there for people in need.

While waiting outside an RV for my turn, I met up with a woman whom I knew as a school crossing guard at Vail Elementary School, where we used to take my great-niece.

She needed her lungs checked before some surgery.. Her son is headed to an Ivy League school, her daughter a 14-year-old who plays the flute and wants to be a veterinarian.

They are both GATE students, which means they are taking honors classes in everything.

You know what? The people who need help are not low-life drug addicts, or so-called lazy welfare trash. They are working class mothers and fathers who are trying the best for their kids and who do not have the coverage they need.

So they sit outside in the cold, patiently awaiting their turns, in darkness, except for the light over the RV door and the registration table.

This is the richest country in the world, seriously, and there are a lot of wonderful things about it. But a woman with a lung infection, a former reporter with a twisted back, a crossing guard who is worried her asthma will flare up, and various and sundry others who need a little help, should not have to wait in the fucking cold for some mercy.

Kudos to Rancho Community. They are doing a wonderful thing for the community.

The disgrace is that they must.