Point, Counter-Point

2-17-12 this and that brain

There is excitement here in Des Moines, Iowa…. More than most people would expect from this “small rural state”.

As you can see in the picture from the DM Newspaper yesterday, it’s February... and that means the State Wrestling Tournaments are in town! !…… AND.... oh yea, some guy from China is visiting.

What was even more exciting than the VP from China in Des Moines on Wednesday night was the 400 up to 600 Tibbetian protesters which came in on buses and walked the streets of downtown Des Moines.

Other exciting news- I discovered on my walk at lunch yesterday that the daffodils are pushing up in my south front garden. 

Side BAR: 

Now I probably should keep my mouth shut, because I haven’t paid much attention last week to the whole contraceptive debate….. why not? Well here in Iowa this issue was taken care of in 2000, when the *“Iowa Legislature required employers that cover benefits for outpatient drugs, to also cover contraception”  (*info from DM Register) … and the Iowa law did not exempt religious institutions from the requirement. The vote at that time in 2000 was 85-12 in the Iowa House: and 44-4 in the Iowa Senate. Governor Vilsack signed it into law.

So who is making this a big deal now?.... well of course it IS an election year. The question on NPR asked: Is Obama the master chess player or is his the pawn? Of course Rush Limbaugh this week said this controversy was brought up by Obama to make the GOP look negative. Personally, I thought it was Rick Santorum who talks about these types of topics.

Who knows, who cares….. ?  But it does illustrate how pathetic the whole Health Insurance Industry is delivered here in the US. Why is it that our employers are even providing this insurance, since they don’t have their fingers in our home-owners’ insurance or car insurance, now do they?….

Maybe it is time employers shouldn’t pick the health insurance which we purchase.  Of course people don’t want the government telling us what to do, and others don’t want churches telling us want to do. So that just leaves us on our own to decide what health insurance we want. And I’d be OK with that, as long as everyone picks something…. Or they choose to never go to the doctor or hospital, or if they do, they have to pay it out of their own pocket. After all, currently we ARE paying for everyone who doesn’t have health insurance… either with our taxes, or with our higher insurance premiums.