Where I Stand

I’m a strange one and a tough voter to please. I identify as Christian but pretty much dislike other Christians and think they are judgemental assholes. I’m pro-life, anti-Capital Punishment, and pro-second amendment. I’m pro-military but I think most wars are petty and wrong. I think our legal system is severely flawed, and our prison system is unhumane. I don’t promote spending more money on education.

I’m an environmentalist who believes God entrusted us with taking care of our planet. Going along with that, we are to be good stewards and kind to animals. I don’t eat veal and buy cage free eggs. Both because I think we have a responsible to treat animals with gentleness. I can’t stand humans who keep their dogs caged or outside all the time.

I don’t think we should align ourselves so strongly with Israel. I’m a Palestinian sympathizer but it has nothing to do with my views on Israel. I don’t think America is always right and every other country is always wrong.

I think government recognized marriages should be thrown out and we should have civil unions for everyone, both gay and straight. What did Jeaus say? Oh yeah… “the greatest of these is LOVE.” So civil unions for all!! Love is beautiful. Marriage is an institution that belongs in the church.

I’d disband the IRS in favor of a flat sales tax. (The more you make the more you spend. The more you spend the more you contribute.) This would make even undocumented workers help pay for social programs they take advantage of. I’m firmly against illegal immigration but think we need to make an easier, quicker, and cheaper path to citizenship. Why deny citizenship to people who want to move here, work hard, and help make our country the great melting pot it is?

I think our government is too big. I think we need social programs and they are vitally important but need to be at the state and local level. Make people in the community think of and help others. Spread that love around!

Most importantly I think everyone needs to mind their own business, stop judging, and start loving their fellow human beings. We need to treat one another with respect and dignity. We must fight for the poor, disadvantaged, and imprisoned fellow beings of our planet, loving ALL, especially those we disagree with.  At the end of the day we all live on this same big planet. I think Americans are so self centered and it makes me sad. We need to think about those who are suffering outside our borders.

Peace & Love to all.

In Sickness…With No Health

I’m so frustrated with life and I need to vent.

Every once in a while I reach the point where I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired. I just reach my breaking point of illness and cannot take one more moment of it. Days spent being in bed and doing nothing productive turn into weeks and I’m reminded that my life is abnormal. The frustration of being unable to work and be what society considers an “adult” makes me feel completely inadequate. I am a total failure and it is beyond my control and ability to fix.

I’m a planner. Illness has taken away my ability to plan. I’ve canceled so many social engagements that I’ve pretty much lost all my friends over the years. People have moved on. Doctors, lawyers, marriage, children. All things I don’t expect to experience. (Deal with my pity party. I need it right now.)

My CSF pressure is high right now. Not high enough to warrant a spinal tap, but I almost want one just to get some pain relief. Even if is just for a day or two. I’ve had over 100 spinal taps at this point. I’m pretty sure I could perform one. Seriously…I have to tell the doctor where to insert the super long needle because of all the scar tissue I have. I feel like I should get a discount for doing their job for them! 😉

Lupus is also killing my body right now. As if the side effects of the disease aren’t enough, immunosuppressants are making me pick up every cold in the world. I feel like I’ve had a sore throat and a cough for months. Lupus is also attacking my lungs. (My weakest part of my body.) I’m largely trying to hide this from my family. I feel that they think I’m a burden and I complain far too much. I think they want me to “push” myself but I know it will just make me sicker.

Steroids are pretty much the most evil drugs ever. They can make you feel so much better, but the side effects suck. I’m getting the classic “moon face” that is so incredibly round. Acne is awesome. So are the mood swings and my desire to eat every single thing in sight. Mood swings are hellish when you have Bipolar Disorder and OCD. My OCD is crazy out of control right now. But at least my kitchen counters are crazy clean! Also, bruising so easily makes people in stores think I’m a battered wife. It is rough sleeping with a 100lb dog sometimes. Good thing she is so adorable! The nausea is the stupidest thing ever. I’m getting tied of ginger salad dressing and ginger ale very night. I don’t even like ginger!

I really try to put things in perspective and be thankful for the little things. Not sitting in an Emergency Room for twelve hours and rocking in pain as they put me though a bunch of tests is something to be happy about. To be completely honest, I miss the morphine. I just want one headache free day. I leave a night out with friends and usually cry in the car on the way home because I’m in so much pain.

I need friends. I need relationships. I need to be able to make plans in advance. I need to be able to hop in a car and go hang out at a moment’s notice. People are very unforgiving and don’t understand. I truly believe if they did they’d be willing to have more patience. However, I don’t blame them. I can’t. They just haven’t experienced it so they can’t understand.

So here is to hoping 2013 brings more healthy days than sick ones and that I make the most of the good days without killing myself by pushing too hard!

Big Bad Oil Companies

Most of us know that the gasoline that powers our cars comes from oil. Few are aware, however, of how many other things get their start from a barrel of oil. Everyday things, from synthetic fabrics we wear year-round to medicines that make us feel better to fertilizer to help our garden grow – and just about every toy children play with.

From the time your digital clock alarm rings in the morning to the time you turn in for the night, oil touches your life in ways you may never have imagined. Thousands of products – from your toothpaste to your telephone, your credit cards to your computer, and your vitamins to your shampoo – all got their start from oil. Understanding how much life there is in a barrel of oil helps us discover how our nation’s oil and natural gas industry keeps America going strong.

The oil industry is a steward of the environment. Between 1995 and 2004, the U.S. oil and natural gas industry spent about $188 billion to protect the nation’s environment. This amounts to $299 for every man, woman and child in the U.S. Thanks to directional drilling, slimhole rigs and other technological advances, oil can be found with less disturbance to wetlands and other sensitive environments.

Oil has a second life. Two gallons of recycled used oil can generate enough electricity to run the average household for almost 24 hours, cook 48 meals in a microwave oven, blow dry hair 216 times, vacuum a house for 15 months or run a TV set for 180 hours. Motor oil doesn’t wear out – it just gets dirty. The oil you take to a collection center to be recycled can be reprocessed and used in furnaces for heat, used in power plants to generate electricity, and re refined into lubricating oils that meet the same specifications as virgin motor oil. For more information, visit www.recycleoil.org.

Oil products are cleaner. Thanks to improved automobile technology and cleaner burning gasolines, today it would take 37 new cars to produce the same tailpipe emissions as one new car in the 1960s.

If it weren’t for petrochemicals, you could kiss lipstick goodbye.  Oil does a lot more than simply provide fuel for our cars and trucks, keep our homes and offices comfortable, and power our industries. Oil is a key ingredient in making thousands of products that make our lives easier – and in many cases – help us live better and longer lives. From lipstick to aspirin and diapers to roller blades, petrochemicals play a vital part. Here are just a few examples.

 

Antihistamines

Antiseptics

Artificial Hearts

Aspirin

Audiocassettes

Baby Strollers

Balloons

Bandages

Blenders

Cameras

Candles

CD Players

Clothing

Compact Discs

Computers

Containers

Crayons

Credit Cards

Dentures

Deodorant

Diapers

Digital Clocks

Dinnerware

DVDs

Dyes

Eyeglass Frames

Fertilizers

Food Preservatives

Food Storage Bags

Footballs

Foul Weather Gear

Furniture

Garbage Bags

Glue

Golf Balls

Hair Dryers

Hang Gliders

Heart Valve Replacements

House Paint

Infant Seats

Ink

Insecticides

Life Jackets

Lipstick

Luggage

Medical Equipment

Nylon Rope

Pacemakers

Pantyhose

Patio Screens

Perfumes

Photographic Film

Photographs

Piano Keys

Roller Blades

Roofing

Safety Glass

Shampoo

Shaving Cream

Shower Curtains

Slippers

Soft Contact Lenses

Sunglasses

Surfboards

Surgical Equipment

Syringes

Telephones

Tents

Toothpaste

Toys

Umbrellas

Vitamin Capsules

Oil companies don’t make as much as you’d think off a gallon of gasoline. Did you know that oil companies only make 4% off the cost of a gallon of gasoline? The average price of gas in this country is $3.26. That would mean that the big bad oil companies make $0.13 on every gallon of gasoline you buy. What people don’t realize is that it is their government that is causing the price of gasoline to be so high. In California the amount of tax on a gallon of gasoline is $0.69 per gallon. That is over five times what the oil companies take.

If the government really cared about the rising price of gasoline you’d think they could cut the tax on it. In fact, that is what Senator John McCain wanted to do for the entire summer. (Not that I’m a supporter of McCain.) It is nice to see that there are some people out there who realize where we could make some tax breaks.

There is always talk about the big profits that oil companies make. But what are they doing with that money? If they aren’t using it to employ the 1.5 million Americans that American oil companies hire (that doesn’t count foreign oil companies who have employees all over the world), or using that profit to pump money into environmental causes, they are storing it away. Why? They are preparing for the when they fall on hard times. The government doesn’t bail out oil companies who are suffering financially. (Unlike how it helps financial institutions like Bear Stearns.) After 1980, reduced demand and overproduction produced a glut on the world market causing a six-year-long decline in oil prices. This culminated with a 46 percent price drop in 1986. Jobs in the market were hard to come by and oil companies had to make many, many cutbacks. This is still fresh in the minds of those who worked in the industry at that time. Being smart, and not wanting that to happen again, they are saving away money for a rainy day.

The bottom line is this: We live a world (and a country) that depends on the petrochemical industry. So the next time you meet someone who works for an oil company, don’t sneer and make a rude remark. Be thankful for all of the plastic products, energy, charitable donations and jobs that they help provide. Whether you like it or not you can’t live without oil, so make the best of it. Oh…and let your elected officials know they should cut some of the taxes on gasoline, because we all could use the financial break!