On Groundhog Day my position was "eliminated."
A position I held for over 13 years.
*Poof*
Escorted out the door the same day.
Since then, I've been busy applying for unemployment,
making last minute doc appointments
and alternating between rage, sadness and fear.
Not the most horrible of horror stories, I know.
Sadly, I am frighteningly ordinary.
Or as my friend Donna Smith likes to say about the financial fubar she and bubba-hubby Larry weathered, thanks to the for-profit insurance industry...
"I am not unique."
And CEO's are whining that a $500k compensation cap is a 'very tight limit'
I got a couple hundred bucks coming each week for unemployment,
and I'm utterly, ecstatically grateful for that.
And now I gotta deal with the fact that I have my health insurance till the end of the month...
But I want you to meet some of the peeps that have been watching my back-
for Valentine's Day and all...
I could make a joke about how my employer picked February to can me because it's the shortest month,
but i don't feel very funny...
Since the axe fell, I've had some time to reflect (and recover),
and Valentine's Day seemed an appropriate time to speak my mind.
as it's about people caring about each other. (sans Hallmark cards, natch)
So, I looked back at the past year to all the extraordinary, caring people
I have met in the health care reform movement:
Doc Quentin Young, IL Rep. Mary Flowers, Donna Smith, Nick Skala,
the fine folks at Progresive Democrats of America
and anyone and everyone who has stuck their nose and their minds and their hearts into this movement...
And even in the midst of my personal, as Ozzie sez...diddly-doo,
I still feel compelled to give them a big sugary kiss,
just for being so cool...
These are some awesome people, and this is my personal Valentine to all of them-
To me, the fight for Single Payer is stinkingly obvious.
Guaranteed Health Care for ALL!
I'm ever so tired of this country's health reform efforts being held hostage
to a bottomless pit of greedy for profit insurance conglomerates.
And to all the incrementalists I say,
Mandates...Sham-dates
We are all going to die, seemly sooner rather than later at this rate...
Then who will be left to pay the premiums?
Oh, right...it will be all the newly covered children
the politicians keep throwing under the wheels of change
to give traction to their empty promises of universal health care...
Yes, by all means, cover the children,
at least until they reach an age where they can get
harnessed to a job so they can keep up the premiums.
And a firm handshake and best wishes to their uninsured parents.
This is the U.S. talking here. 59% who want federally financed health care.
CBS News Poll, 1-09 (PDF)
Just across the street from me in IL-05, there's a fellow who gets it, and gives me some real hope.
Tom Geoghegan is running to replace Rahm, and he's certainly the type of guy that doesn't come 'round too often, much less run for Congress.
He speaks true reform...Single Payer NOW!
ah...how romantic
And here's Tom and the good Dr. Quentin Young, a strong supporter:
It's up to us to support Tom and any and all thinking, caring people fighting for a single payer solution.
Happy Valentine's Day to the Naked...
When I am feeling depressed and anxious sullen
all you have to do is take off your clothes
and all is wiped away revealing life’s tenderness
that we are flesh and breathe and are near us
as you are really as you are I become as I
really am alive and knowing vaguely what is
and what is important to me above the intrusions
of incident and accidental relationships
which have nothing to do with my life
-from "Poem", by Frank O'Hara
Dig in and keep fighting.
I don't look good naked.