judge not

I am a liberal leaning conservative but there are things about the GOP that I used to admire.  Looking at what has happened  to the party lately, I am sad.  I like fiscal conservatism when it comes to things like fighting other people's wars and the like.  Some dumbass politician who looks OLD enough to be drawing SS is saying now that it is being "squandered" by the recipients.  Oh boy....them's fighting words.  The majority of us paid into that program and Medicare our entire careers.  I retired earlier that the usual age because I could see I could not stand the job any longer, physically and mentally.  I have worked off and on since then choosing jobs wisely and mostly on my terms.  There is a long term disability payment for the shoulders that will end in March of 23.  Oddly enough, the benefit was free to me and I would have never know if it weren't for the HR lady.  That plus a small pension from MHS has allowed me to do things that others cannot if SS is their only income.  I'm hearing that there will be a great big COLA for 2023 and I'm curious how much the cost of Medicare will go up.  It did last year with the 6% COLA.  I pay around 175 now, straight out of the check.  

And then there are the ones who think that it's awful about the student debt forgiveness.  I had only a small one thanks to scholarships and work study.  But that was in the 70s before Freddie and Fannie got together with big banks and made it easy.  If there had been something like this available to my daughter shortly after she graduated it would have left here with a reasonable amount to repay.  However, the interest fees on 25K have grown to way over 40 because it took her years to find a job that paid over 12 bucks an hour , with a BS in Social Work.  She got stuck in the hamster of for-profit mental health and burned out after a year.  There was a regular caseload of clients nearby that she worked with plus they added on small groups for at risk kids.  

Speaking of healthcare, yeah..you know I'll always go there.  I did four years to get a BS in Medical Technology and started working at 4.92 per hour in 1977.  Most of the raises that I got were early in my career before corporate got involved.  I was a hard worker and pretty damn smart.  Blood bank was my thing but we all had to do it all.  Even on call.  Stop me if you've heard this one.

One night a very messy surgeon decided to operate on someone with a triple abdominal aneurysm which was wayyyyy beyond our scope.  The whole thing went to hell in a handbasket when my pathologist refused to back me up on my decision of product and instead went with what the surgeon wanted.  He literally changed the man's blood type and limited options to O neg only.  That shit is rare as hen's teeth.  All in all I think we went through about 55 units that day and night before he was transferred to Methodist.  They called me the next day wanting to know WTH happened.  I will never forget that.  There were other pathologists who have not served me well, but for the most part I respected them and they respected my knowledge.  My favorite one was Sonia Gad who was killed way too early in her career in a car crash with her son.  That was one sad funeral.

I'm rambling here which is usually where my prolific thoughts come from.  My devotional this morning was from the book of Philippians which has always been my favorite. It's just all about peace and love,  right Becca?  One of these days when the book comes together, y'all will figure out who everybody is.  Or not!

Live loudly ^j^