Write Sassy Blog

When did "old" come to mean "stupid"?

2010-10-19T10:50:00.000-07:00

I'm old. I admit it - no sense not to; my birth certificate and the wrinkles on the backs of my hands tell the truth - no matter how much makeup I wear to hide the telltale crow's feet, around my eyes, and the marionette lines around my mouth, they are quickly becoming Grand Canyon crevices. I can't escape it.

It used to be, however, that "old" equated to mature, seasoned, and worthy of "elder" status, as defined by ancient natives - exalted, wise, and knowledgeable. But in the generations since my childhood, things have changed.

It figures. Just when I thought I'd be able to enjoy my seniorhood and impart tales of wisdom and wit to the young'uns. I am instead, passed over for jobs I could do in my sleep, my pay is lowered practically to minimum wage, I'm dismissed as not knowing anything about anything, even though I have 20+ years of experience in my chosen field(s), and in general, treated like an idiot.

When did "old" become "stupid"?

I am tired. Tired of beating my head against the proverbial wall trying to provide insights and ideas gleaned from decades of professional experience that would make a difference. Now I'm being waved away like an annoying, persistent gnat.

And then they wonder why old people these days sit around and talk about the "good ol' days," with seemingly little interest in today's world. We've been discarded and we have nothing else to do.

Always writing,

Credit-America's Hell in a Handbasket

2008-11-23T14:06:00.000-08:00

What is this world coming to?" And, "We're going to hell in a handbasket." Ah, two oft-repeated phrases in my childhood household as we traipsed through the 1950s, experimented through the 1960s, rebelled through the 1970s and … well, you get the picture.

After WWII (of what I recall from my parents … I was not a thought then), our country, as critics describe, became complacent, but it was also a time of healing and rebuilding. Not just for our country and those that “hosted” the war, but for all the world. It was a time of hope and new-found freedom for many.

Just as a child seeking new discoveries every day, we grew with each decade of knowledge and power. But as with life, we have choices. We are all going to “another world” at some point. “The End” of a story, whether it’s a life or a movie, is inevitable. The question is, do we go as a natural evolution to celebrate, or do we end it with choices that ultimately lead to self-destruction?

We have created a culture that exists solely for the love of money, whatever its form. Have we ever considered life's quality in its simplest form to be more important than money, possessions, or appearances? Not if we believe the ancient histories, full of societies and governments that have grown from nothing, prospered ... and ultimately destroyed themselves. Sound familiar? No? Haven't you been reading the news?

America is on the brink of destruction and terrorists have nothing to do with it. By virtue of our achieved power, we are running ourselves and many parts of the world ... into the ground. The catalyst? CREDIT AND BIG BUSINESS. Establishing a credit system was a fine idea. It worked for a while, until greed reared its ghastly green head and our loans began to travel between investors' hands faster than a slight-of-hand magician's cards. And poof! We were screwed.

Add to that our government’s propensity for saying "No!" to corporate conglomerates, while holding their hand out behind their back for the payola … all of a sudden, this country's forefathers who eschewed business monopolies so everyone has opportunities to succeed, are not simply rolling over in their graves -- their spirits are probably heading for another planet to try again. They'd better start over with smarter humans (or whatever), though.

BTW, you won’t find many so-called mandatory SEO links here ... you have a computer, Google or Yahoo! to your heart's content. I know it's out there, I simply don't have time to hand you the resource on a silver I-platter.

However, I'm not giving you obscure news. Even an Opus cartoon (July 27, 2008) lampooned the American CEO as crass and "naughty," his perplexed penguin asking a nightmarish businessman, "Why are you my anxiety?" Breathed knows (as we all do, whether we admit it or not) that the corporate executive and lobbyists, whose hands he/she greases, seem to have forgotten they also have families. In their haste to amass more dollars at anyone's expense -- in the long run, and the long run is NOW -- they have walked into the valley of self-destruction. He answers Opus, "Because you suspect Marx might have been right that America's DOOM is assured by greed, decadence and depravity ..."

The hammer’s knell for the US was the recent housing construction boom. Yes, it lasted several years and made a lot of people “rich.” But those fools who bought into the “American dream” solely on credit are the first to weep … and soon, if not already, the country’s newest homeless. Extending credit beyond the means to produce the income to cover it was the downfall. The new homeowners must not have ever heard the saying, “If it sounds to good to be true, it probably is.” Oh, wait – thaaaaaat’s right -- they listened to the “experts” – lenders, bankers, and politicians – who told them they could afford it!

And it was only a matter of time – which is HERE – before our economy woes played the dominoes around the world. But have we slowly, painstakingly, and with wise forethought, planned a viable resolution? Of course not ... that would have been too intelligent, and where's the greed in that?! Instead, the banks (failing faster than a bad student) and the mortgage lenders (quaking in their chin-high boots) went to the other extreme! From anyone who's breathing can have a loan, whether they can pay for it or not ... To OMG, you don't have $20,000 for a home down payment? What are you doing in my office?!

Smart nutritionists and doctors have been preaching the right remedy for years -- it applies here, too -- MODERATION you morons! The key to stopping the boulder from falling, yet not offer pie-in-the-sky fairy tales, is due diligence. I'm certainly no banker, realty lender, or high-finance millionaire; however, is there truly no common sense left in big business?

With cautious wisdom, I suggest still making loans accessible, but with reasonable restrictions. Duh, how hard is that?! Apparently too difficult for the scared rabbits of our crumbling credit system. From one extreme to the other ... too little too late ... do these idioms sound familiar?

Is history determined to repeat itself? Wake up world! Look around you! Take off the freakin' rose-colored hippie glasses and LOOK AROUND YOU. I hear echoes of the ill-fated Roman Empire, don't you? In our current state of worldwide gluttony and greed, we seem hell-bent on destroying not just one society this time, but practically a whole planet.

I sure as hell hope there IS life elsewhere in the Universe. Anyone have a spare spaceship I can borrow?

Always writing,

# # #

And before you-all get all up-in-arms about anything I say here—this is your notice that I am NOT in any way, shape, or form, a medical practitioner, politician, financial advisor, or any other "expert" on anything except life (such as I know it). So don’t follow ANYthing you could possibly conceive as advice, here. I am merely venting, although … perhaps one day of protests about any given topic is not a bad thing … but for the sake of libel or other misconstrued legal stance you may take, I am merely trying to be an informed citizen. I don’t make up the facts, I simply report them to you. WS

Write Sassy Blog Archives

Shares in the American Dream--Majority or Minority?

2008-07-14T09:52:00.000-07:00

July 14, 2008

I’m confused. Of course at my age, that’s not surprising anymore. Nevertheless, would someone please explain to me how we can be an America that is “united”—you know, as in “United States” of America? Have you looked around lately? Doesn’t everyone who comes here from another country seem to simply want to start their own country on their little share of American soil? No other country in the world allows immigrants the audacity of establishing themselves without assimilation.

Please do not take this as a discriminatory or inflammatory or racist or hate speech. I have some valid points to make regardless of your ethnicity. And I don’t give a whit what color you are—you’re human (right?)—that’s my criteria for initial judgment. Whether you’re a good human or not is left for judgment of your actions. Are you a “good” American?

I’m a child of the ‘60s. Oh no, I wasn’t born then. That’s when I became socially aware of my world and spent my teenage years in relative confusion—and here I am, confused again.

I agreed with our demands for race equality in that turbulent decade. (And of course, if it hadn’t been anatomically uncomfortable, I’d have burned my bra with Gloria Steinem. But that’s another article for another day.) And I’m no ostrich—I know that discrimination still exists. I’m just not convinced now, that 1) it will ever go away, and 2) that all immigrants want it to disappear completely. We’ve offered our country up on a silver platter because we are ashamed of the misery our ancestors wrought on incoming immigrants; and we originally wanted to be the “land of opportunity.”

Unfortunately, we didn’t know when to quit giving, and now and it’s being regurgitated back to us in a foreign language and jigsaw pieces of “the company,” once known as America.

Yes, I’m a native American—not to be misread as Native American (though they are truly the only real Americans, another issue, another topic). Practically a stereotype, I was raised in a rural, “white” lower-middle-class area during a couple of decades that shook our country to its foundation. If you were “White” you were alternately proud and ashamed, to “be American.” I was 17 years old when I learned that the color of one’s skin makes us all different, in more than appearance. But then, as now, I don’t think diversity is a bad thing … if we could “all just get along.” (Look it up—we had not learned anything even by 1992.)

Because of the Sixties though, today more than ever, born in America has its privileges for everyone. I became acutely aware of this after visiting abroad. I am ever-so-thankful to ancestors who had the foresight to allow me to be born on American soil. Not only because we have amenities here that are still not prevalent in many countries, but because we are “free” to “rule ourselves” (another later subject of discussion) and thus, have freedoms other world citizens may never experience or enjoy.

However, I’m beginning to feel as demoralized as any inhabitant of an oppressed country!
The minority laws of the 1960s and for at least another decade, were certainly needed at the time. And discrimination laws should likely never be repealed. But it is time for a change in our laws for new immigrants; and repeal or revision of many of the minority standards and regulations that measure minority assistance in the United States of America.

These laws have allowed immigrants to establish what amounts to their own little countries within our country. And I can say “our country,” because my family has been here long enough that we don’t know how we got here. Although I can trace my Irish ancestry back further than my Austrian/German heritage, there’s likely a little of a few other countries thrown into the mix, too. Who cares?! I’m American, now.

Back in the ‘60s, the idea of minorities’ laws was not to help immigrants build their own country, but to allow them to assimilate more comfortably into this one. That includes Blacks; though the laws for them should have materialized centuries earlier—in fact, they should never been brought here involuntarily in the first place. Same with Chinese slaves, etc. (You guessed it, another issue/day.)

But those migrants who came of their own free will during the 1960s-1980s or so, felt blessed to have survived the trek, and were grateful. They showed their gratitude—then—by humbly accepting the gratuities of special programs and funding—not available to those born on this soil. They became bilingual and for most, though they spoke their own language at home, they made a concentrated effort to learn English. They were the people the laws were made to protect and assist. That was then, this is now.

Things have changed. Immigrants have changed. Our laws have not. The “United States” of America is in imminent danger of losing its identity and as such, its sovereignty.

Let me ask you—seriously—if I were to migrate to France, Turkey, Russia, Japan, Kenya … it doesn’t matter where … should I expect their government to print legal documents in my language? They would laugh me right back across the border! Granted, many other countries require their citizens to learn English as a second language. But the language of their country is … well … the language of their country! They’re not going to mollycoddle me, just because “I arrived”! Whoop-de-doo!

Please explain to me (and the world) why this or ANY American should accept:
- losing a job to “minorities;” are we not now “one of them”?
- a low-income lifestyle without “assistance;” with the only barrier color/ethnicity
- legal documents in two or more languages
- street signs in two or more languages
- bank documents in two or more languages
- grocery signs in two or more languages
- schools mandated to teach another language, not as an auxiliary language, but side-by-side with English
- and the most heinous of all …
o foreign landowners and major business investors—those still residing in their homeland!

Don’t get me wrong—especially in legal issues, I believe in providing interpreters—if the foreigner has been living in America for less than say, 5-8 years. Isn’t that long enough to learn what you’re doing wrong in English? Or how to avoid American scammers in a language you don’t know? You live here—learn it! (Of course, I know that if you live in America, originated from another country and reading this, you did—congratulations and thank you!) If I moved even for a short while, to another country, I would welcome the adventure of learning a new language.

And haven’t you noticed the escalating—no, skyrocketing—numbers of foreign-owned companies that also own the “piece of America” on which that company sits? What were we thinking??!! Why is our government allowing this to happen? OK, I know our government and big businesses have investments in other countries, too, but when it gets right down to—or up to—the top rung of the “owner”—is it really “American-owned”?

We may be heading toward a World Government … yeah that too, is another issue, another day … but we’re not there yet and it isn’t likely in our lifetime. In the meantime, “we, the people of the United States of America,” who are true Americans—not in color, but in heart, soul, and patriotism—are fighting for our lives and we don’t even acknowledge the war. We’re allowing our country to be involved in a “hostile takeover” without a fight.

My question to immigrants is: You fought so hard and may have risked much to buy, rent, or even steal your little piece of this country, because you wanted the American Dream—so why are you so hell-bent on shaping it into the same nightmare from which you escaped? English-speaking or not?

Minority laws now discriminate against “Whites.”
I am NOT discriminating, nor advocating hate, here! I have the utmost respect for all people—I don’t care who they are, or the color of their skin. THEY are not the problem. THEY have merely taken advantage of opportunities offered to them. Wouldn’t you? Believe me, I would if I could, but I can’t. And if hate crimes seem to be escalating, perhaps the government should take a long, hard look at what it’s doing to provoke them.

Especially when it comes to financial and educational opportunities, the minority laws should be abolished, leaving only low-income status as the sole measure of assistance, regardless of race. I don’t blame those “of color” or auspicious ethnicity for exploiting the system. Humans are inherently acquisitive.

I do blame MANY of the immigrants of the past two decades, however, who are maliciously taking advantage of the United States’ minority programs, and have been trained to take advantage. Yet our government cannot see it.

And beyond my frustration with our archaic minority laws, I believe there is a much more diabolical scheme being wrought on this country. What will it take to wake up our leaders? Or is it already too late?

So what prompted this diatribe today?
A Mexican festival. An Armenian festival. A Chinese festival. An African-American festival. Can I have a Caucasian-American festival???!!!

We have Hispanic, African-American, and Chinese Chambers-of-Commerce. Isn’t just a “Chamber of Commerce” good enough for everyone? It used to be! Wouldn't it be healthier to address equality issues together? There are many other ethnic-related differences established in this country in events and beyond. So don’t vilify me for naming the ones that came quickly to mind. This is my soapbox, thank you.

Actually, now that I think about it even more, I believe the festivals are a great idea—as long as attendance isn’t limited to that ethnic group and allows everyone to revel in the celebration of their neighbor's heritage and ancestral culture. But again—can we offer a Caucasian-American festival without being labeled as discriminatory?! Go ahead, try it.

Wake up, America—before it’s too late and English is no longer the language of the United States of America—because there will be no “united states.”

In danger of losing our language notwithstanding (did you ever thunk it?!), our land and businesses are being parceled out like stockholder shares in a company … is anyone remembering to keep 51%?!

Always Writing—as a proud American,

Living Longer? Not for Long ...

2008-07-12T11:55:00.000-07:00

July 11, 2008

How long do you think you’ll live? 70 – 80 – 90 – a glorious 100? New technology has us believing it’s possible for an ever-escalating more of us to reach the centenarian mark, in reasonable good health. Are you taking care of any significant aches and pains, toward that goal? Do you feel your doctors and health insurance are helping you live longer? Perhaps not for long.

An informative article, “As Medicine Goes Hi-Tech: The Danger of Too Many Tests,” appeared in last Sunday’s edition of Parade magazine (Dr. Ranit Mishori, July 6, 2008, http://www.parade.com/health/). Interesting in its own right, the time I chose to read Parade and discovered the article, is karma—this morning (July 11, 2008) before picking up the parts of the paper I had not yet had time for, I lamented to myself about my lack of medical insurance. (I’m over 50 I’m allowed to talk to myself.)

What’s to happen as my body begins to fail and even if I endure small aches and pains—what if they are indications of bigger problems? In some ways of course, it’s my own fault. It only took a couple of brainless choices in life to plop me down in this unfortunate situation; and today, as I do more often now, I wrestled with my plight.

Without medical insurance I am inclined to peruse the “symptom checkers” on reputable medical websites—to what avail? Symptoms are notoriously duplicitous, often feigning a myriad of conditions and illnesses, from a pesky malady to deadly diseases.

But let’s, for the sake of argument suggest I have health insurance and a couple of twinges I want to have poked and prodded by a doctor. Well, first, you rarely get to see “the doctor” anymore. You get a Physician’s Assistant. Certainly (hopefully), these technicians are dutifully—stress the “fully”—trained and apparently are a medical diploma’s breadth apart from the “real doc.” However, are we getting the full benefit of our health insurance payments? Hmmmm. For both your curiosity and the medical industry’s fair exploration that’s another article.

So I describe my symptoms and the PA decides a heart imaging procedure is in order. Hold it! Before you PAs get all upset because I gave you a function that may only be decided by a Doctor—I’m hypothesizing here—we’re just rolling a scene. I have utmost respect for your profession and I have not yet researched your full role—it takes a special person to even consider medicine as a career.

But back to my office visit. In the Parade article, it tells us that heart imaging for instance—Coronary CT angiography—can produce allergic reactions and cause kidney damage. Of course, there is also the risky radiation exposure (how many x-rays have you had in a lifetime?); and do you know there is concern over its frequent false-positive and false-negative results?

Hey! That’s MY body you’re playing God with! I only have one!

This is the quandary more and more Americans are faced with every day—even if you have health insurance, how do you know it will keep you healthy? Now we’re told, “Yes we can help you … but be afraid, be very afraid”! (Yes, I meant for the exclamation point to be on the outside, you grammar buffs.)

Bottom line is our government and Corporate America is killing its citizens. I find this to be an interesting dichotomy—for those behemoths are comprised of human beings, too—don’t they care what happens to themselves and their loved ones?

On the one hand, a goodly many of us cannot afford health and dental insurance. You other poor saps are paying through the proverbial nose for care that might kill you anyway. Our government is at fault in two ways: 1) allowing greedy health insurance companies and doctors to run roughshod over it, with inept organization and ever-rising, resulting rate hikes; and 2) operating in collusion with the drug companies and medical equipment manufacturers, releasing pills and procedures for public use, knowing they’re going to kill some people. They don’t know who or when, but loss of life is likely. What a disgrace.

As if this news isn’t enough to gag you, other recent articles have warned us that the time is here—now—when hospitals will turn away those who can’t pay. Period. Go home and die.

Oh sure, privately-held hospitals have demonstrated a similar attitude (usually on the sly) for many years, stabilizing an under/uninsured patient as quickly and effortlessly as possible (if that), before turning him/her around to the nearest public hospital. I’m sure there is a statistic somewhere for the number of deaths that little trick has caused.

No, I’m talking about public hospitals. The ones we pay our taxes to support—however they get their funding, it ultimately comes from taxes. And though they’re not talking about the long-time uninsured, I’m sure it’s a-comin’.

At this point, it seems the trend is still with the private hospitals that are turning to upfront payments. Doctors’ offices have been doing that for decades. But their visits and procedures may only run to a few hundred dollars—not that I have it, but most of you might—that’s somewhat acceptable.

Hospital treatment however, often runs into the tens of thousands of dollars—and they want upfront payment?! The July/August 2008 issue of the AARP Bulletin gets serious about this in an article by Sid Kirchheimer, “Cash Before Care.” (Told you I’m old—but you young-uns better finish reading this and do some serious thinking—this is your future.) (http://bulletin.aarp.org/yourhealth/caregiving/articles/cash_before_care_0.html)

“Those most likely to be hit with upfront fees are the underinsured and the recently uninsured. And having employer-provided insurance is no guarantee that you won’t need to pay before check-in …”

And, they’re not talking about a mere 10% of the total estimated bill. “Today, the typical patient with private insurance is responsible for 23 percent of his or her medical bills—more than twice the out-of-pocket costs in 1980.” The article features Dave Williams who has a malignant cancer. The cancer center told him they needed $20,000 of his $30,000 estimate, up front. Now that’s kicking a guy when he’s down.

What’s to be done about this deplorable “malpractice” condition? Unfortunately, we can’t go back and undo decades’ worth of damage. And the Universe didn’t give me a magic wand … though I keep asking. I don’t know … maybe a day of protests? One day when all of us who can afford a day off, walk into our local Senator or Congressman’s office and voice our frustration and demand reform?

I wish I had a magic pill that would fix the problem. You know, like the ones for depression they advertise on TV? Will they give me a million dollars?! That’s all I’m depressed about—money!

Something needs to change—we finally have the technology to begin helping us live longer (obviously not perfected, it’s getting there)—but too many of us will die younger than we should simply because we don’t have enough money to live; and the government won’t put a lid on exorbitant insurance and killer, pricey procedures. Shame on our government and big business.

Ah, hell, I might just live longer without health insurance and doctors.

Always writing,

# # #
And before you-all get all up-n-arms about anything I say here—this is your notice that I am NOT in any way, shape, or form, a medical practitioner, so don’t follow ANYthing you could possibly conceive as advice, here. I am merely venting, although … perhaps the one day of protests is not a bad thing … but for the sake of libel or other misconstrued legal stance you may take, I am merely trying to be an informed citizen. I don’t make up the facts, I simply report them to you. WS

About ~ Welcome!

2008-07-12T10:29:00.000-07:00

July 4, 2008

Hi! This is your "welcome" to the Write Sassy Blog. I do graciously invite you to peruse its pages; but on this auspicious Independence Day let me remind you that "independent thinking" and Freedom of Speech are the cornerstones on which this blog is built.

Thus, this page will likely be the nicest soliloquy you will read here. The Write Sassy Blog intends to be irreverent, informative, with a hint of humor, and unabashedly biased. After all, we have the freedom of speech, right? Let's see how far it takes us. I'm aiming for weekly editions, but like most of you, I work for a living, so cut me some slack, OK?

A few words about who you're reading, which may influence your decision of whether you want to continue ... I am decidedly female, absolutely straight, and older than dirt, as the saying goes. But that is what gives me the right to bitch, moan, groan and hypothesize. About anything and everything. Think of me as Maxine in 300 words or more.

Why do I cower behind a catchy blog name and not reveal my true identity? Because we are a judgmental society and this blog is not about "me" (I have other blogs for that). Its purpose is to explore issues, raise awareness and yep, I admit it -- allow me to climb up on a soapbox to vent without feeling the heat from family, friends, and clients. Will I solve any problems here? Likely not. But who knows. Open discussion and "bouncing ideas off" are famous for following to a resolved conclusion.

At Write Sassy you will find, as I say in my intro, no subject safe. Whatever strikes my fancy will be the topic of the day. Will I fit into the standard blog category? Nope. Will that affect my readership? Maybe. Do I care? Not one iota.

Although riffing is a comedian's term, it works well here, because I will be working off the news of the day, or a pet peeve reignited, or perhaps one of your comments. Feel free.

And ... know this about me ... while I am certainly opinionated (that's my inalienable right - and yours, on your own blog) I take relish in presenting opposing points of view -- respectfully and eloquently stated. If you can't present your opinion in a comment under those guidelines, then please comment somewhere else.

So, after you're read my blog(s) ~ "Talk"! I want to know if you agree with me or not and whether I've wasted my time and yours by writing about the topic. In fact, I even admit that I may learn from your viewpoint ... no promises. And I know it may be difficult, but swallow your pride and let me know if you learned a thing or two from me, OK? Hey, we all have egos. You can comment here, and/or send a note ... your choice.

And if you have not yet learned that you can be wrong at times too, then you are likely too young to read this blog. Go check out YouTube. Come back in a few years. I'll be here!

Always writing,