Ummm… with all due respect, sir, I resent it.

Now, I’m only speaking for myself here, but you can be sure there are a lot of people like me out here in the real world outside the Oval Office.

I don’t visit doctors’ offices. I take care of myself. Therefore, I don’t do prescriptions. The strongest drug I take is aspirin. I think I can afford that without having to fall back on insurance.

My “preventive medicine” is good ol’ common sense, along with a healthy lifestyle. I’m quite capable of taking care of the occasional sniffle without running to ER.

I don’t visit dentists. I got rid of that problem several years ago. My $5,000 teeth are holding up splendidly, thank you.

So you see, I don’t need your insurance. I certainly don’t need you and the rest of the Government Gang to tell me what I need for my health when, in reality, you don’t know.

I have a few years on you (8 1/2 to be almost exact) and for you to say you know what’s good for me in this respect is really hard to swallow – especially when it will cost me money that would be better spent on things that will actually help me stay healthy, like healthy food, vitamins, supplements, and seeds for my garden.

You are in effect telling me that I have to instead spend that money on insurance. So I won’t have it for healthy food, vitamins, supplements, and seeds. So I will end up going to the doctor and getting pumped full of drugs that, if they don’t kill me, will cause other health issues and/or dull my mind. I’ve experienced all three of these effects on friends and acquaintances throughout the years. It’s ugly.

The medical profession, big pharma, and the insurance racket have been allowed to run amok. They have become money-grubbing industries who really don’t care about keeping America healthy. Their concerns are bleeding people’s bank accounts and doping America’s brain cells.

Now I have to pay because the whole medical-pharma-insurance scam has grown out of control??? Now I am being ordered to have insurance coverage???

Yes sir, I resent it. I resent you telling me that My Right to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness is Null and Void. Because that’s what you have said by signing this Health Care Fiasco.

“Complaining about anything, holds you in the place of refusing to receive the things you’ve been asking for. Justifying about anything holds you in the place of refusing to let in the very things that you’ve been asking for. Blaming someone, holds you in the place of refusing to let in the things that you’ve been asking for. Feeling guilty, feeling angry, it doesn’t matter what you call it, it is a refusal, not a conscious one. You’re asking; you can’t help but ask. The Universe is yielding; it must yield. It’s a big question, folks: why aren’t you letting it in?

— Abraham”

Now I don’t do New Year’s resolutions, but I do set goals each year. One of my goals this year is to banish negativity from my life. Pretty hefty goal, but I’m of the belief that it’s better to aim high.

This quote couldn’t have come at a better time :-) I’ve printed it and it’s now by my bed (where I’ll see it before I go to sleep and first thing when I wake up), front and center on the hutch on this computer desk, and on the fridge.

It’ll serve as a reminder to quit wasting precious time and energy on non-productive attitude and instead rev up the positive.

Wow. How true.

Some people were born with armor.
Some people spend so much time throwing people away over trivia instead of focusing on their qualities.
Some people repel others instead of attracting those who can compliment and enrich their lives.

Some people have shallow standards of judging others as to their suitability as friends: Are they smart enough, rich enough, attractive enough?

Then there’s the users…
…who stick with you to achieve their purpose. Once that’s done, they discard you like yesterday’s trash, leaving you to bear the brunt and become the “goat”. They then go on about their merry way, leaving you to pick up the pieces and to try to redeem yourself.
…who “love” you as long as they can bleed you – time, money, emotion, whatever they need. You either get bled dry or finally just say “no”, at which point the user suddenly no longer even knows you, let alone claims to be a “friend”.

I’m sick to death of users and abusers. Unfortunately, this has become the norm for our little rural community here. The “use/abuse” syndrome has spread like a fungus throughout what was once a fun, pleasant bunch of people. I’m just hoping for a cure.

Thanks, designerpens, for that so simple yet so profound statement.

Iran had problems with their recent elections of June 12, 09. From every article, blog entry and “tweet” I’ve read, it seems that there was some very interesting math done to keep the incumbent president of Iran in office. In support of the defeated candidate and his followers, Twitter is covered with green overlays or green highlights on icons, including mine, in support of their struggles for fair election.

#iranelection has been trending in the top 10 since the middle of June 2009. Judging from many of the blogs, and a few official news service reports I’ve read, Twitter has been responsible for getting much of the information out of Iran to the rest of the world regarding these matters.

It seems the Iranian government is trying very hard to keep the social unrest, riots, and other protests from being known in the rest of the world. They don’t really want the rest of the world to know that a large portion of their citizens are unhappy with how the elections were handled. Thousands of “tweets” containing links to blogs, YouTube videos of protests, and demonstrations taking place in the streets of Iran telling the world what is happening in Iran hour after hour.

As an American who has always valued the right to vote for my government officials, I can understand how important this is to the average Iranian. If this happened in the USA, I suspect there would hundreds of thousands o f US citizens in the street protesting. I do however have to ask myself if the rest of the world would be turning red, white and blue to show support for us?

To add to the international trends on Twitter, we have #Indonesiaunite which was brought about on account of 2 western owned Indonesian hotels that were attacked by terrorists. And here goes Twitter again! The call goes out on Twitter to put an Indonesian flag on your icon. This time we are being asked to put either a red and white overlay, or a small Indonesian flag, on our icons to show support for Indonesia. To make this even easier you can go to Twibbon.com select the Indonesiaunite flag and in one click add their flag to your icon.

Of course for the past several days #Indonesiaunite has been trending in the top 10 on Twitter. I didn’t know there was any division of government or in the citizens of Indonesia and I’m not sure what the ‘unite’ is all about. Based on available sources, this is the first terrorist attack since Sept 2006 in that country. Nothing in the “tweets” is giving me any clues as to where the division of Indonesia is.

The Twitter-fluff craze doesn’t stop with just users petitioning each other to stand behind international events. It’s become yet another outlet for celebri-holics to get their fix. Everything from the mundane to the ridiculous can be found if it’s about a celebrity.

On June 25, 2009 I found out on Twitter over an hour before it was reported on either CNN or MSNBC that Michael Jackson had died. Michael Jackson in one form or another, (i.e. MJ, MJ’s, King of Pop, etc), has been trending in Twitters top ten almost non-stop since his death only occasionally being briefly knocked out of the top 10 ten by another event.

While all this has been trending the United States has received reports that:
• the unemployment rate is at 9.2% and predicted to reach 10% before this recession is over (US Dept of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics As of July 2, 09)
• the number of US citizens without health insurance reaches 17% (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) FastStats Homepage
• 30 US troops killed in Afghanistan to date (7/21/09) the highest number since the war began
• PFC Bowe Bergdahl is being held hostage in Afghanistan, on July 20, 2009 a tape was released, made by his captors, showing a very frighten 23 year old saying he is scared he will never go home again, never see the woman he wants to marry again. PFC Bowe Bergdahl AP News

On July 20, 09 when I first found out about PFC. Bergdahl, I tried to start a trend to promote awareness of this young man’s situation. I was also hoping that if a trend got started, (and I could only hope it would) maybe the event would get picked up by some news media or other. My hope was that his loved ones would know that at least America was standing behind him.

One couple picked up on #PfcBoweRBergdahl that I originally tweeted, that’s it! However on one of their Twitter icons was a yellow ribbon! Someone had created a yellow ribbon overlay for Twitter icons to show support of PFC. Bergdahl on Twibbon.com. On one their tweets were instructions on how to get the yellow ribbon on my icon.

At first I was thrilled! My first thoughts were, maybe no one had picked up on the trend that I tried to start because there already was one! My elation didn’t last very long. twibbon.com showed only 89 people had utilized the service to add the yellow ribbon to their icon! Out of the millions who use Twitter on a regular basis, I was the 90th person to download a yellow ribbon for a captured, tormented US soldier. I wanted to cry, and I did, but then I got angry!

What does it take to get Americans to rally behind American issues, soldiers, anything? Why does it seem that if it is happening anywhere else in the world Americans what to show support, but if it’s happening in our back yard we can’t be bothered to do a damn thing about it? What will it take to make us pay attention to our own country, our own people in need, our soldiers fighting and dying trying to keep terrorism from over taking the world? 30 dead US troops and Twitter is silent, 1 terrorist attack in Indonesia and Twitter wants you to change your icon. I don’t get it. More important, I won’t do it!

Do you know what was trending on Twitter at 1pm on July 21st?
1. #lameclaimto fame – Ok, Twitter fluff. Fun, silly and everything Twitter was originally created for.
2. Starbucks – Did you know that with a coffee purchase today you can get a free pastry?
3. Chris Brown – Seems he apologized for beating up Rihanna before this year’s Grammy Awards.
4. #iranelections – it has dropped out of the trends, briefly, in recent weeks, but always comes back strong.
5. Jupiter – I’m a little fuzzy on this one, from what I can gather a meteoroid or comet hit the planet.
6. Swine Flu – 2nd day in a row trending in the top 10, saw tweets about issues with vaccines for this year and new reports from the World Health Organization and something about pregnant women and how this may affect them. This IS important to everyone!
7. What Harry Potter Character Are You? Quiz – Harry Potter in some form or other has been in the trends for days now.
8. Michael Jackson – He died on June 25th. What is there left to say? (I really don’t understand this one, but that’s another blog.)
9. Demi – referring to Demi Lovato, something about a new album being released. (I think that must be one for the younger crowd.)
10. iTunes – Could not nail down exactly why this was trending. Seems to be just about anything to do with iTunes and downloads.

Do you see anything here about 30 dead soldiers this month? A captured Pfc. on a video his captors made him take part in? I see no mention of any of the socially significant issue being discussed in Washington D.C. at this time? Healthcare reform? The highest unemployment in 26 years? Americans losing their homes at alarming rates? No, but we got lots of Iran Election “tweets” and no doubt Indonesia will be back very soon!

Where is the patriotism that was highly visible starting on Sept 12, 2001? Where is the support for our troops fighting and dying in Afghanistan? Is the sum total of what Americans are willing to do putting a yellow ribbon magnet on our cars? If so that is really sad!!!

Terrible things happen all around the world, there is no doubt about that. And I’m not saying that there should be no sympathy for people who are suffering just because they happen to be in a different part of the world. What I am saying is that we should be equally as sensitive (if not more sensitive) to the issues happening right in front of us.

I’d like to know where the line is drawn. When does it become ok for the internet to say “Hey! America’s in trouble too!” and get support not only from our own people but from international sources as well! Why is that not the case now when America is in serious trouble?

(I’d like to thank Colleen for posting this on her blog after seeing a few upset ‘tweets’ from me. And to my daughter Schaleen for editing and ghost writing services!)
Terri, @rhiannontjd
http://twitter.com/rhiannontjd

Thank you, Terri, for saying what needs to be said in this oh-so-important post! -Colleen, @ZippityZen http://twitter.com/ZippityZen

Photo copyright 2008 C.R. Speed aka DancingSpirit

I’m so far behind this week, I’ll never catch up.

But y’know, when work takes over to the point where you miss out on Life, then Life becomes work and the Good Stuff is lost. Forever.

The web sites and shops and stores will still be there, after the bluebirds fly away and the cats curl up to sleep. In the meantime, I’m gonna go enjoy Life.