July 16, 2014

I need some information about SS retirement benefits and I can't it on the net.

My brother is 59 now and has never paid into social security. I think years ago he thought that ss would not survive for his retirement. He also is a minister and I read that some churches do not pay into ss.

My question if anyone can answer is: Can he start paying into ss now and be eligible for benefits in 10 years? Or any shorter length of time? I read that in his income taxes he has been paying into it all his working life.

I really appreciate if anyone knows about or can send me in the right direction.

OH, he said he will get medicare at 65 and I thought you needed to get ss to get medicare. Who is right?

July 14, 2014

Can't wait till a scientologist owned company wants to refuse psychiatric care to its employees

I wish someone would just do it and in turn make a really big statement. Besides they think it is all evil so they would have the same reasons for denying it as Hobby Lobby does contraception.

But now the anti-contraception form looks like it may be, possibly, with the help of all the Deities in the world starting to crash and burn.

http://tinyurl.com/od4p2t9

A Two-Page Form Spawns a Contraceptive Showdown

WASHINGTON — A two-page federal form has provoked a titanic clash between the government and many religious organizations.

The form allows some religious organizations to opt out of providing contraceptive coverage, which many insurers and group health plans are required to provide under the Affordable Care Act and related rules.

The opt-out sounds like a way to accommodate religious beliefs. But many religious employers like Wheaton College and the Little Sisters of the Poor are unwilling to sign the form. By signing it, they say, they would authorize their insurers or plan administrators to pay for contraceptives, including some that they believe may cause abortion.



Fights over the form are playing out in dozens of courtrooms around the country. In a separate case, the Supreme Court ruled on June 30 that family-owned for-profit corporations like Hobby Lobby Stores were not required to provide insurance coverage of contraceptives to employees if the companies objected on religious grounds. The Senate planned to take up legislation to reverse that decision this week.

July 11, 2014

This email from Charlie Christ about the real reason R Scott did not implement the highspeed

For years now, we've been asking why on Earth Rick Scott would turn down $2.4 billion in high-speed rail.

Finally, we're starting to get answers.

Scott said no to high-speed rail in order to cut out competition for a private company with strong ties to his chief of staff, Adam Hollingsworth.

Scott's showing his true colors once again. He put special interests and personal connections above real Floridians. Scott has got to go.
railway that the Floridians voted for.


Dear Maraya

This story is disgusting, but not surprising:

Adam Hollingsworth was an advisor on the Scott transition team in 2010. He pushed Scott to turn down the infrastructure investment.

Then Hollingsworth took a job outside the administration and immediately began lobbying Scott to move forward with All Aboard Florida, the intercity transit system his company had connections with.

Scott said yes, and now All Aboard Florida is receiving millions in Florida taxpayer dollars. Hollingsworth later rejoined the Scott government.

And there you have it. When you're sitting in traffic on I-4, you know who to blame.

Sick of this? Chip in $10 or more before tomorrow's filing deadline:

https://donate.charliecrist.com/All-Aboard-Florida

Thanks,

Charlie Crist for Governor 2014

July 9, 2014

Does anyone know what just happened on America's got talent?

These 2 guys. pushed on Howie Mandel's head and he could not read the 3 signs that the other judges could read. Then they stopped pushing and he could read them.

The only thing I can think of is they had it set up so that the way they showed the signs made them legible or illegible and that was the slight of hand.

July 7, 2014

So my 82 year old mom who had a stroke 3 months ago is now home with her boyfriend.

And I noticed she does not look as well as she did in the rehab. The first day home she was saying, "I'm so tired" and yesterday I noticed a lethargy about her also. And one of the big problems I know is her boyfriend, who is 83, insists on keeping the AC off or at around 85 degrees all the time. It was 85 degrees when I went there yesterday.

And he fights me like a wild boar to keep it hot like that. I went to the AC thingy and tried to turn it on and could not get it on. He finally turned it on after yelling at me some nasty things like he always does.

So later on I noticed it was very hot again and I went toward the AC and it said 85 again so I made some comments and he said, "Don't touch that. You don't live here" So when I was trying to turn it on again he pushed me out of the way. My mother got right in between us, (even though she has a lot of trouble talking she knows what is going on).

I don't know how I can get him to stop heating up the house. He says he pays 1/2 the AC, (it is my Mom's house) so I called my brother who is POA and told him to have the boyfriend just pay the basic amount he is paying now for electric and then pay the rest with Mom's money and tell him he can't shut the AC off anymore, (Mom,boyfriend live in FL as do I)

I was wondering if I could call an agency that could check in on them and tell him he has to keep the air on for her health. It was different before she had the stroke. For one thing she was out and about all the time. Also now she is supposed to be doing her lessons for speech and from what I can tell she doesn't do them unless I am there.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

June 30, 2014

I just wrote to a lawyer about this gift card I have for Hobby Lobby

First I called their corporate headquarters and told them I wanted my money back because of their abuse of women concerning blocking contraception. I got the CEO's assistant and he was very curt and told me they would not give the money back and then hung up on me.


In case anyone else wants to contact them and tell them what a bunch of shit asses they are, (or maybe don't use those words) And to tell them that you will never shop in their store and you will tell all your family and friends not to shop there. (And whoever else - you church?)

DAVID GREEN - Hobby Lobby

405-745-1110 - Wouldn't it be nice if their phones blew up?

david.green@hobbylobby.com


We really can do something about this travesty if we try. I imagine they don't pay their female workers much so it would be hard for them to get contraception without health care. (more abortions you hobby lobby misogynists!)

Here is a link describing the reason these people do this things.

https://www.aclu.org/using-religion-discriminate

Here is my letter to the lawyer in case anyone wants to read it and see some of the points I made - not that I know they will contribute to his taking my case.

Hello Mr.

I am writing to you because I am furious that Hobby Lobby, who just got permission from the Supreme Court to deny its employers birth control coverage. I have a gift card that has a small amount of money on and I called the corporate office and spoke with his assistant. I was told that they would not give my money back and that was that.

I believe that should I find out a company is doing harm to its employees I have a right to not support that company and in this case it would be to get my money back from a gift card I got while bringing and an item to the store. Instead of giving my money back they gave me the gift care, (a practice that I also think it unfair since they are basically saying you can only spend that returned in their store)

I find their views on contraception misogynist, irresponsible and manipulative. I believe at the bottom of all these anti-contraception laws are men who don't like women in the workplace. Of course this highly religious company does not care that by not covering contraceptives that are only increasing the number of unwanted pregnancies and thus the number of abortions.

I would like to sue them for the amount they owe me on the card and hopefully it will get publicity and others will do the same, (or a class action suit). I believe there are not many people who do not want the gift card or maybe their purchases from Hobby Lobby now.

And I did not know about their desires for this ability to deny health care when I brought back the item that I received the gift card from. It was a few years ago.

Sincerely,

June 2, 2014

I don't want to create any problems here. I have been attending a Kadampa Buddhist center

and I happened on to some videos that express a division between the Kadampa tradition and other Buddhist views.

Is anyone familiar with this and if so can you offer some understanding so I do not feel like my Buddhist center is wrong or not welcome by other traditions?

I have read one thing in Geshe Kelsang's book, (I am #1 of his books) that has upset me. I don't really think what he says is that important because I can always choose to not accept that belief. But the fact that I find something that really disagrees with me is disturbing. I had thought I found a great place to learn how to practice Buddhism and now I am all confused and don't want to be one of those who complain and then leave their centers because of disagreements between the Kadampa tradition and other traditions.

This is the video that I watched that upset me and I cannot find a way to resolve it in my mind.

May 3, 2014

OK So this is now a post about my jackass brother.

Background - Our mother had a stroke about 7 weeks ago. He came down to FL where me and my Mom live, (she with her boyfriend) and stayed a couple days when she was in the hospital. So he knows how bad she is.

She has expressive aphasia which means basically she forgot every single word she ever knew how to speak. She can understand what you are saying but cannot reply. Although she is in a rehab now and having intensive speech therapy she can now speak small sentences but it is very halting and she even gets confused playing solitaire, (which is one of the things I try and do with her after I saw the occupational therapist do)

Anyway, I have joined Strokenet.com I have looked all over the internet for therapies and treatments for her. I found one drug that they have found useful for stroke survivors and I told the nurse and she is now on it.

I found this video, (I will post the link after I find it here) where a man is speaking of a brand new therapy for people with this type of aphasia. Basically it is the idea that if someone speaks slowly the person with the aphasia will be able to follow them and speak almost like the person. It is quite amazing. I also found a study about this type of treatment and it showed that the people who had it made much greater strides than the others in the study.

So I tried to make a video by myself of just my lips reading a cook book and my camera video was broke. So I asked my brother, who I had already sent the link to the video to, to make some for her. He is a pastor, (the is the big hint) at a Presbyterian church and they know a lot of people so I thought he might know someone with a good video recorder and also because I feel like I am the one doing all the work trying to help our mother and he should do something for a frigging change.

So I sent him the link to the video AGAIN and asked him AGAIN if he would do this for our mother and I just got an email back from him. Here are some of the sentences from the email.

" I read a great deal (hours, every day). But I do not read (much) on my computer screen. And I almost never watch videos on the computer that last more than a minute or two." "

"That is simply my temperament. My not watching the videos is not a matter of indifference to you or mom. Nor is it a judgment on the content or message of the video"
My not watching the videos is not a matter of indifference to you or mom. Nor is it a judgment on the content or message of the video. I have a friend here at XXX Church who often sends me videos of sermons and other spiritual lectures he is excited about. And, I know I disappoint him when I do not watch them. The things he sends to me are on subjects on which I have some familiarity and expertise – yet I find no enthusiasm for interacting with them via a computer and/or video. Give me a book. Or, if the material is available on CD, give me a CD and I will listen to it while I drive. I am currently working on a series of lectures on the history of food while I drive. "

" So, please do not take things personally, or think that I am not interested in mom’s recovery, when I do not watch these videos on the computer. That is simply not a venue easily accessible to me"



OK so basically he is saying that the 5 minute video that I send and TOLD HIM was of a new treatment for the problem our mother is having is not in the proper format for his ass to use.

I feel like sending him the research abstract from PudMed on this type or therapy with the instructions, "Go to page, hit "Control P" then "Enter" and when a paper comes out of your printer take it out and read it you lousy self absorbed bullshit artist.

Another edit: I have been at the rehab almost every day since she has been there. I understand that he can't be there but for the love of God he can't do anything?

EDIT again: You don't have to watch the video. It is just an example of this type of therapy that I am trying to get my brother to understand so we can help our mother using it.

Here is the video - It is amazing what they are doing.

May 3, 2014

This is a video. But it is amazing and wonderful.

May 1, 2014

All you pro-death penalty people who say it's not about revenge or any other negative

reason have you ever seen the large groups of people who congregate outside of a jail when someone is to be executed who are cheering and having a grand old time that this person is going to die or has just died?

Are they there because they think that the murder rates is now going to go down and thus they cheer?

Are they there because this execution will make our country safer and thus they cheer?

Or are they just into revenge and like the idea of killing and use this barbaric practice to indulge themselves in something they would never do themselves?

If the death penalty does not make the homicide rate go down and indeed the evidence suggests that it causes the homicide rate to go up because it creates a society that condones murder. And if the death penalty causes the states to spend more money than they would if they person were just locked up for life. If it tortures the families of the criminals and if we are the last country in the civilized world to uphold it.

Why are these people cheering?