See Gina Blog

(copyright Kalashinikoff)

President Obama has declared June 2009 Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month.  This is a huge step forward for the LGBT community.  The President wrote a fantastic tribute to the LGBT movement.

Our 44th United States President calls for equal rights for all Americans, regardless of gender or sexual identity.  For the first time in this country’s history we have a leader who supports rights for all citizens.  This is huge!

As if I could be more thrilled with Obama’s presidency, he surpasses my expectations for him.  I am grateful that we elected Obama and thankful to him for calling the country and the legislature to action.

We are a free country that proclaims to be based upon the principles of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness and equality for all and we may finally have that.  Let us continue on in this journey of equality.  We could very well see another historical moment occur in our lifetimes. I am ecstatic at the thought.

Obama Poster Teal, originally uploaded by hyperakt.

History happened today. No matter how long I stare at the screen and my fingers remain set on the keyboard I remain speechless.

I remain, too, in total awe.

Where’s my bailout?, originally uploaded by EssG.

At the end of 2008 we have had multiple requests for bailouts from the various industries.  I would like to make my own proposal for a federal bailout.

–

Dear Members of Congress,

I understand that you grow weary as the bailout requests pore in.  It must be overwhelming to watch billions of dollars slip through your fingers, moved from the ingoing to the outgoing categories of the federal ledger.  I have my own proposal for a bailout, though, and I am sure you will agree that this one is easily doable.

I ask that you consider providing me with a meager buyout of $5,000 so that I may pay my credit card off.  I will continue to pay my own student loans off.  I do not expect you to bail me out for all my debt, just the credit card debt.  I mean, it’s a much smaller bailout then the billions of dollars that have been provided to the auto and the finance industries.

If you provide this bailout my financial situation will improve and I will be a better consumer, able to spend more and help stimulate the economy accordingly.  Without a bailout, I can do nothing to stimulate the economy as all of my income will go into paying rent and my credit card bill (my student loan has been deferred for a few months).  Let’s face it; the U.S. needs every consumer out there spending.

I know, every individual has the same option as every corporation:  bankruptcy; however, a bailout is so much better for everyone involved. You know what I’m talking about, it is why you have offered bailouts to various industries at the end of 2008.  Give the average Joe or Jane the same option.  That is all I am asking.

If I am given this bailout, I promise to get out there and do my duty as a citizen and spend.  I may be spending on food, clothing, and other essentials, but still I will be stimulating the economy.  Isn’t that what our country needs right now? Wouldn’t this be the best way to pull us out of a recession?  We certainly do not need another depression written in the history books.

I thank you for your time and ask for due consideration on this very important matter.

Sincerely,

Gina Banina
United States Citizen

To protest Proposition 8, people across the country will gather in their towns and cities today, November 15^th, and protest this assault of GLBTQ rights. St. Louisans and those in surrounding towns will gather at the Old Courthouse today at 12 Noon in Downtown St. Louis to join in the protest. For more information, go here.

If you can’t make it to the protest, speak out against GLBTQ prejudice and intolerance when you are confronted by it, blog against it, write letters to elected officials, and volunteer with GLBTQ organizations and events. Every one of us can make a difference.

(Guest Posted By Miss Britt)

Whenever an election year rolls around, there is one stereotype that gets lobbed across the aisle that angers me the most.

Republicans have money and want to keep it, and Democrats want to take it.

And also?  Welfare is for lazy people.

It seems that much of America believes that the only excuse for poverty is laziness.  Or, possibly, stuipidity.  It amazes me to rediscover every few years how many Americans have not been up close and personal with financial hardship.

I grew up amidst The Working Poor.

I don’t remember a day that my mom stayed home with me unless she was on maternity leave with one of my brothers.  Even if I was sick I would often spend it in the sick bay unit at the hospital – where they store the ill children of nurses and hospital staff.

And yet, despite how hard she worked, we lived well below the poverty line for most of my childhood.  Well, well below.

I have eaten foodbank cheese.  For dinner.
I have purchased Juicy Juice with WIC coupons.
I have seen, first hand, what churches give to needy families for those Christmas Angel programs.

We always had a roof over our heads and food in our bellies.  Sometimes it wasn’t our own roof and once in a while the food was crap – but we survived.  Actually, we did better than that.  We thrived.

We loved and laughed and made memories with one another just like any other family did.  We talked about right and wrong and hopes and dreams and first loves and lost loves – just like other families did.

We were not less than anyone else because we were broke.

We were, however, constantly caught between worlds.  Despite how hard my mom worked – or how many jobs she held down at once – the bills always came in faster than the income.  A flat tire would set us back for months.

I’m sure it didn’t help that we had to leave everything behind and start from scratch several times as we tried to escape my abusive stepfather.  It’s hard to build financial momentum when you’re kicked back to ground zero every few months.

We did, eventually, get out.  Thanks to government programs that made it possible for my mom to go back to school and my brothers and I to grow up in safe neighborhoods around alternate realities, we were able to break the cycle.

And that’s why I’m a Democrat. :-)

Image by publik18 via Flickr

It is still surreal to me.  Barrack Hussein Obama has been elected President of the United States.  63,251,498 people in this country (with two states still processing votes) voted for Obama.  51% of our country elected Obama to lead the country.  This is a phenomenal time in U.S. history and I am proud, so proud, to be able to witness it.

Last night I stood in a ballroom filled with thousands of people who had taken the time to volunteer during the Presidential campaign and watched as the results poured in.  State after state turning blue on the map and electoral votes adding up in Obama’s favor.

When CNN announced that Obama had won, that he had been elected President of the United States, the room filled with applause, cheers, and tears.  I stood silently, taking it all in, still not believing it actually happened.  I saw states still not declared, worried that this or that state would soon turn red on the screen (including my state, Missouri), and that this would all fall apart within a moment.  I went to bed happy but still fearful.

Eight years ago when I went to bed following the election between Bush and Gore, it was my candidate (Gore) who had won.  When I woke the next morning it was Bush who had won.  The recounts began, the word “chad” entered into our vocabularies, and disillusionment and disappointment followed as Gore conceded.

I woke this morning, turned on the news as I always do, and Good Morning America discussing Obama’s Presidency.  I wasn’t dreaming! It had really happened!  Even now as people Twitter about the win, send e-mails regarding the win, and discuss this historical event around me, I find myself disconnected from it all, still taking it all in.

This is a day I will always remember and I could not be prouder to have Obama as the President of these United States of America.  I do not envy the job ahead for him, but I wholly believe that he will step up to the plate and do an outstanding job.  He was presidential last night in his acceptance speech and presidential throughout his campaign and this leaves me with great hope and optimism.

Do your duty as an American citizen: vote.  We fought hard as a people for this right – let your voice be heard.

(image found on web)

Last week, a fellow blogger Miss Britt wrote on the question of healthcare as a right versus healthcare as a privilege.  I responded to her outstanding post with the following:

I believe healthcare is a right.  In a supposedly evolved and civilized society, it is abominable that so many do not have health insurance or have mediocre health insurance.  Sure we all have the right to healthcare, but only if we are able to afford the bills that follow.  I am one of those American citizens who have health insurance, through my employer, but do not have good health insurance.

My deductible is so high that even with monthly physician visits and prescriptions, an ER visit, and various medical tests throughout the year, I will never get my deductible paid off and so am barely making ends meet with medical expenses on top of normal monthly expenses.  I work in a bankruptcy firm where many clients either have insurance issues like my own or do not have insurance but have health conditions, a sick kid, or have some other medical-related issue come up.  People end up in bankruptcy because of their medical bills alone in this country and that is alarming.

It is astounding to me that many other countries have national healthcare (or are working to implement it now), but we do not.  Politicians, the media, and Conservatives will claim that national healthcare would simply not work or is socialism in action; however I have seen information proving that it is indeed working very well in Canada, England, France, and even Cuba, for doctors and patients alike.  Look at the data before claiming it doesn’t work.  Socialism? The way I look at it our country is based upon “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” right? Then explain to me how healthcare for all does not provide greater quality of life and a greater chance at the pursuit of happiness.

The non-existence of a national healthcare system in this country very likely has more to do with lobbyists and corporate interests than the question of if one would be of benefit to the people or would be a valid solution to healthcare troubles.

I hope to God that Obama is elected and is able to do something, with Congress’ help, to fix the American healthcare system.  It is broken and it is breaking us.

With 45.7 million uninsured in this country and 11.4 million of the nation’s uninsured “working-age adults with one or more chronic illnesses, including hypertension, heart disease, diabetes, asthma and cancer,” we absolutely must fix the healthcare system in this country.

For an industrialized nation, it is unacceptable that “The United States ranks highest in preventable deaths among 19 developed nations, and the Institute of Medicine estimates that 18,000 Americans die unnecessarily each year because they lack health insurance.”  Those who have insurance are not necessarily much better off with high premiums, large deductibles, extensive regulations, and battles with bureaucracy.  I am one of the underinsured.

In February I had a seizure and ended up in the Emergency Room, taken in an ambulance.  Even with my current Blue Cross-Blue Shield insurance, I was left with a $411 ambulance bill and a $110 emergency room bill.  I was able to pay the $110 bill quickly, but the $411 bill has remained a weight on me and I hope to have it paid off by December.

I have a psychiatrist bill that I have been paying down for a year or more, the amount going toward my large deductible.  The bill is for regular visits, every two to three months, to continue for an undetermined amount of time.  I hope to have that bill finally paid in full by December as well.

I have regular prescriptions that even with the co-pays I question each month if I can afford them.  I have not picked up one of the prescriptions in close to two months because of the cost.  The other prescription I cannot do without, I’ve tried, so I continue to pay for it each month reluctantly.

My chronic health conditions will continue to result in medical bills for years to come.  I fear another ambulance ride, another emergency room visit, and still more unexpected medical costs.  I can’t imagine trying to pay medical bills as an underinsured person with cancer.

For the uninsured and the underinsured, we need to put in place a national healthcare system. We are the only industrialized nation without universal healthcare.  It is time to change this, it is time for change.

Bonus Links:

• A Conservative Case for Universal Health Care
• Physicians for a National Health Program
• Universal Health Care Action Network

Today I got to see Barack Obama speak in St. Louis. It was awesome.  Thousands upon thousands of people showed up to see him speak.  The crowd went wild for him, cheering and clapping for him and for the hope he brings us.  I saw history in front of me and it was overwhelming.  I felt as if I was glowing by the end, with hope and with belief in something greater than myself.  Here are some pictures of the event:

(More pics here).

Update: Evidently there were 100,000 people at the Obama rally.

Tomorrow at the St. Louis Arch grounds, I will get to see Barack Obama speak!  I am so excited I could just pee!  Rumors are that they are expecting 60,000 at the event!  If the security staff allow me a camera, I will post pictures this weekend following this awesome opportunity.