Are you ready for Thanksgiving?

Well, are you?  I'm not, between my grand-daughter's mother's I'm getting pulled into two directions, it sucks when you have an extended family and the two sides of it don't (or refuse to) get along.  I love all of them, I don't love one more than I do the other.  But if I pay attention to one, it's considered that I'm dissing the other, which I'm not.

How are we supposed to balance our lives when we're pulled up, down, right and left, and refusing to choose one side over the other.  Sometimes life is so unfair.

My son, now on the other hand, just ignores everyone, including me.  So I'm left stuck in the middle, trying to maintain the peace and harmony for all.  When will he man up and do what's right.  Probably after I'm dead and gone and it's too late.  That's when.

Ok, I'm done with my rant for the day.  On to more positive things. Have a great week everyone!

Is it true Springport H.S. will be accepting Albion H.S. Students?

I've been hearing some skuttle-butt that Albion High School is planning on closing on the 1st of November and their students will start being transported to 3 Jackson County School systems who have offered to accept them. Which includes Springport High School the other two schools I've been told are included in this process are Concord and Hanover-Horton.  My questions are why are Jackson County Schools accepting Students from a Calhoun County School, why aren't Calhoun County Schools accepting them, why is Albion closing it's High School in the first place?  What effect will it have on our own school system?  Springport is a school full of farm kids and small town values, while Albion is considered a "little Detroit" full of drugs, violence, and gangs.

Bringing those into a small town school could cause unexpected consequences, increased crime, violence and drug activity here in our school.  While I haven't received any response from our School, Village Council or our Township Board, neither a yes or a no response, it makes one wonder whether they are aware of the potential consequences and are waiting until it's too late to tell the community, or this is just a temporary move so that Albion can do some much needed upgrades to the H.S.

Personally, I think we should as residents of Springport, be told what is going on.  This should have been put to a vote by the community and not just accepted by our school board without consultation from the community.  I see trouble brewing, if this happens without input from the community.  Local law enforcement better be prepared for some violence,  Albion and Springport kids have never been able to get along.  We're asking for trouble.  If anyone knows the truth, please let us know instead of leaving us in the dark.

S.A.G.A- Springport Area Growth Association or Springport Against Growth Association?

Which is it? Does S.A.G.A really want growth in Springport?  If so, why haven't they tried to get a grocery store here?  Or a Family Dollar or Dollar General?  What is their reasoning against having something like one of these here?  Don't want to hurt the 2 convenience stores? Cause too much traffic?  Farmer's don't want it?  What about our citizens who have to drive at least 10 miles to the nearest shopping center or grocery store?  What about creating jobs in Springport?  Right now, we have 1 gas station/convenience store and 1 convenience store, a pizza parlor, a bakery/restaurant/tanning salon, a restaurant, a tavern and a beauty shop.  Then we have 2 insurance agents, I think we have 2 factories still but not sure of that and 1 mechanic.  So where are people supposed to work?  Not only do our citizens have to travel, but with the cost of gasoline and the distance they end up saving less than they would have if they had the convenience of shopping locally,  and the convenience stores overcharge and many times their products are out dated.

Battling the Health Care System

Just got the report for the MRI I had last week and it doesn't sound to promising, for one I have Prominent Empty Sella Syndrome, what's that you ask?  Well, what I have found out so far is that it's a condition of the Sella Turcica "turkish saddle" surrounding the pituitary gland in which CSF (Cerebro Spinal Fluid) has entered the cavity and either a: flattened the pituitary gland or b: the pituitary gland is absent, causing hypopituitarism which in turn can cause other endocrine problems, however, it is not life-threatening in and of itself, but it can cause other life-threatening problems, I guess.

Next observation was a 6mm round white signal adjacent to the right ventricle wall best seen in axial image 15, and coronal image 14, but unseen in the weighted images, that did not diffuse.  Okay, so now what does weighted image mean, and what does it mean when "it did not diffuse" mean?  Does weighted mean with or without contrast or what?  Now for the impression for this part of the report.

Upddate: I'm Mad as HELL!

Well guess what! If' you've got a burial plat, casket, etc.  they count these items as assets now!  So I guess we're not allowed to prepare for our deaths in advance so that our families have one less item to worry about.  now explain to me why should this be counted as an asset? 

One more way our government limits what we as a people can have, Social Security only gives our family $255.00 in death benefits.  I guess we're just supposed to buried under a tree in the back yard, like we bury our pets.  In today's market you certainly can't afford to purchase a burial plot, nor a casket, nor the expense of being prepared for burial any other way with only $255.00. 

In this new Health Care Reform Bill they made sure that we don't have to count our guns as an asset in determining our eligibility, but to HELL with us doing any thing to prepare for our death, we all die some time so why is it more important to protect the rights of gun owners (which is an instrument of death) and not the right to have preparations in place for when we do eventually die?  Is that fair?  I think not.

I'm mad as HELL and I'm not going to take it anymore!

Well any of you remember the movie Network, and the scene where everyone started shouting out their windows "I'm Mad as Hell and I'm not going to take it anymore!"  Well that's me these days.. 

Here's why..

1.  I'm on Social Security Disability and I receive $751.00 before Medicare Part B premium and Part D premium.. Which are $97 and $30 each which leaves me with $624 per month to pay for rent, heat, utilities, food, and medical expenses. So how am I supposed afford to pay for a place to live, heat, utilities, food, public transportation and medical expenses with only 624.00  Here's how...
     
       a. Share an apartment with my 81 year old mother, who is also on a fixed income.
       b. Share the cost of all expenses, except medical. 
       c. Apply for assistance.
2.  Here's what's happened..
    
      a.  Mom & my combined income (before deductions equals 149% of FPL) or $1861.00 (seperately I am at 87% of FPL and mom's at 101% of FPL, figure that one out)
      b.  We are eligible for $9 in Food Stamps, I am not eligible for Medicaid or assistance for paying my part B premiums,  I've received notice from CMS that I'm 100% eligible for Extra Help on the Part D premium, but I'm still paying 30.00 per month for that. I'm stuck with these costs for the next 12
months.  ..

 Now here's how they've figured our food stamp eligibility..
Standard deduction of 132.00
Housing expense of 535.00
Utilities expense of 98.00
Medical expense  93.00 ( not including my mother's expenses at all, nor all of my expenses)
Plus made the decision that I was overpaid in September, (however I was still living with friends, and my income hadn't changed and my mother and I were not living together at that time, so my status between August and September were the same)  I didn't receive any FS in October, November, nor December, so how had I been over paid, since I was eligible for all 3 of those months. Hence I shouldn't be in the red so to speak. 

Our DHS Caseworkers are becoming more and more difficult to contact, if I want a response from mine I usually have to send a cc: to Gov. Granholm, or one of my state representatives then I'll get a response quickly.  I never get a response otherwise.

I am confused as to how they calculate their data,  I think it's out of date big time..

Write to our congressmen, senators, both state and federal so that they are aware what these employees are doing to those in need. 

I'm also tired of those complaining about those of us who are low income.  I worked for 30+ years before I became disabled, before you make comments about others, walk a mile in their shoes.  Our companies are the ones, that have created much of this economic mess, by laying off employees, closing plants, etc.

We need to get our priorities straight again.

What will it be? Health Care Reform or Death Camps?

These days during the controversial Health Care Reform Bill, as it has moved through the House and Senate and soon to the President's Desk, will the President sign it, or will he send it back to the Legislative Branch with orders to remove the pork from the bill. Will it be crushed completely or will they actually come together and create something feasible. Right now, both parties are at odds as to how to create Health Care Reform.

But if health care reform isn't passed will more and more of the uninsured become disenfranchised even more than they already are? If we don't do something about reducing the cost of health care soon, and helping those least fortunate then we might as well sign their death warrents. Because we will basically be denying those most in need, and least able to afford it a reduction in their lifespan.

While much of this Health Care Reform bill is flawed, why aren't we as citizens writing to our legislators about what needs to be removed from the bill, what should be in the bill but isn't, our opinions on how to solve our health care crisis in this country.

Instead of complaining about everything let's start coming up with solutions, rather than just letting it go.

At least this congress has had the courage to attempt to solve our health care problems, several other congress' have had an opportunity in the past and haven't wanted to do one single solitary thing about it.