Once More for the Cheap Seats in the Back

                               So, summer seems to be going pretty well. No major illnesses, although I suspect Feisty Pants is brewing another sinus infection.  It seems to alternate between raining and raining pollen here is the Southern Tier. (sigh)  Summer school is going REALLY well in FP's  not so humble opinion. Her summer class consists of BOYS, including Boyfriend Pants (!!!) and one other girl, whom Feisty Pants considers "a true friend" and henceforth to be known as BestFriend Pants.  Feisty Pants was happy to report this is the proper ratio for all classes.   This will probably be her fall class too. 

                             I am definitely glad school is humming along since society appears to goosestepping towards hell.  Seriously, what is with government trying to turn back the clock on pre-existing conditions?   For those who haven't thought this through allow me to explain why this an awful and awfully stupid idea. 

                              First of all, wtf is wrong with anyone who thinks ANYONE should not have decent health care. (Don't even spout that nonsense that we have the best medical care on the planet.   We are talking about ACCESS to it.  The tastiest gourmet meal does NOTHING for a starving person if they are not allowed to sit at the table and eat.)   We ALL deserve good health care. If you don't think so, you are evil or sick in the head. Either way some part of you needs healing and I hope you get it.   Pricing health care for anyone out of all true reach is just plain evil and we all know it. 

                              Secondly, do you even really understand what a pre-existing condition is?   We are not just talking about  a disability like Feisty Pants has.  The list is ridiculous.  Heart attacks, car accidents, RAPE, being above a certain age, having survived cancer, pregnancy, being FEMALE have all been on pre-existing condition lists before.  It's simply an excuse to raise rates to make OBSCENE amounts of profit.  It's legalized extortion.

                               Lastly, and here's the part I wish people would think about. Without the ban on pre-existing conditions, certain swaths of the country's population are doomed to poverty for life. For example, Feisty Pants is disabled through no fault of her own. (It's a frigging birth injury for goodness sakes) Without regular, expensive (in the US) healthcare she will DIE and die quickly- even her main FOOD is prescription only.  Without the ban on pre-existing conditions, she will NEVER be able to afford insurance on her own. That means she will have to have medicaid in order to live. That in turn means she will have to live under the poverty line. No career, no real gainful employment, no paying taxes.  No reason for the schools to educate her, for society include her, to not segregate her.

                            If you are ok with that, you are a Nazi and an asshole. Please get your soul checked.  If your NOT ok with that, please get off your ass and vote. Either way, the life you change will be my kid's.

The Dark Ages

                So, here we are in the dark ages.  Literally and figuratively.  Literally because Nazi ideology and a love affair with authoritarianism seems to be the public zeitgeist right now.   (Don't believe me? We are stealing the children of asylum seekers and locking them cages and calling them all criminals.  How on earth is that NOT Nazi bullshit?   That's like your neighbor banging on your door for help because of an emergency and our answer is to call them a criminal and kidnap their kids.  The detention centers even have "rules" about not even hugging them. If you are not appalled and ashamed then get your damn armband and goosestep proudly.)  Figuratively because Feisty Pants is on her first break of the summer. (She gets two- one for three weeks and one for two weeks) which means no therapy, no class, no Boyfriend Pants. Read that as one unfulfilled, grumpy, sweaty Feisty Pants who is bored stiff and craving brain stim like you wouldn't believe.  Ain't no party like a bored Feisty Pants party because a bored Feisty Pants does not stop. EVER. Or sleep. Or quit bitching because we are boring.   Her tv died last month. Thank the stars above I found a great sale on Amazon and got the new one in time for the break or she would've rolled away from home. Thank them even more for movies because she's fifteen and movies are the bomb diggity right now.   Steven Spielberg is worth every penny he ever made right now. 

             But fortunately, school starts the summer session next week. Feisty Pants is pretty sure Boyfriend Pants is in her summer class this year. She has her summer clothes, she has her new wheelchair (which would just be perfect if her uptight, stick in the mud mother relents and lets her put a Hello Kitty sticker with Hello Kitty wearing an anarchy shirt and giving everybody the middle finger on it) She has her new dye job - Mermaid! (all purples and teals and blue). She found out a new insurance may kick for her and allow her to have her old massage therapist back.  (OMG MIRACLES do occur!)  It may even stop being 100 degrees on my back porch every afternoon by then. (I wish I were exaggerating.)   She just might survive the horrible, terrible, mind numbing ennui of a barbecue with the family (horrors) with s'mores and sparklers. (Totally lame- honestly how is this not child abuse?!?)  The terror of a graduation party for (yawn) somebody else.  (At least there will be music and cake and relatives who fuss over her...) With a little bit of fortitude and pluck, she may just survive the the ordeal of school break. If not, she  is pretty sure she can figure out how feed us old farts to dinosaurs.