Moving, Birthday and a Rant

I’m moving my blog over to Word Press. It’s going to take a while, I have until March (when Blogger turns off my ability to publish via FTP, the main reason I stick with Blogger) and I’m pretty excited about it.

Two folks whose blogs I love and respect, Margaret Roach and Adria Richards, both use and love Word Press. That’s good enough for me! (I love name dropping these two brilliant women, I so respect their work, I feel fortunate to know them both!)

I will miss Blogger – I’ve been with them since I started in 2002 – but the time has come to take a bit more control of my blog, and I’m happy to do it.

I’ve been non-blogging because I’ve been rather ill again this week. Two episodes where a backslide into wheat (one semi-intentional, one absolutely innocently) caught me up and wore me out SO much that I was blindsided by how rotten I felt.

In one way, it’s very good. I was able to bounce back rather quickly with some Vitamin D, a LOT of water and some aerobic Wii bicycling. Work that poison (to me) out of my system, baby!

And it also points out to me that my suspicions are valid – the wheat really is one culprit in my muscle and joint aches and my overal malaise/fogginess of brain. I’m also beginning to think that one of the reasons I got so sick around Christmas was the amount of holiday cookies I was digesting.

So I start this week rededicating myself to a wheat-free existence, with a bit more emphasis on eating less sugar, too. We’ll see…

That’s the main reason I’ve been so quiet on my blog and in Twitter. It’s astounding to me how little I feel like doing when I’m down and out, but there it is!

While all this rolling around in the bed in agony was going on, I was approached by Interweave Knits and IK Crochet to do a project for each, which is wonderful. I love working with them, such a great company!

I’m also working on a flowered cloche for Crochet Insider (the hat CAN be worn outside, too…) and it’s more fun that should be legal. Alls I’ll say is that I LOVE ribbon embroidery!

The online classes are going beautifully, I’ve got a LOT of students in my classes this month, and I’m working up a free “How To Knit” class which I thought would be finished by now. More’s the pity that it’s not, but with any luck I’ll have it done by the end of the weekend.

However, when it’s done you’ll have a place to send your non-knitting friends where they can learn both Western AND basic Combination knitting. Or, in the off chance that you don’t knit, you can visit and hone your mad knit chops.

More info when it’s ready to go, stay tuned!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY
Gerry turned 51 yesterday and we’re pretty stoked. We were going to go to Pizza Luce where I can get a gluten free slice and a gluten free beer, but I was feeling SO under the weather we stayed at home and had some gluten free birthday cake (courtesy of Betty Crocker and Hannah)

I love that ad from the American Cancer Society where they say they’re the Official Sponsor of Birthdays. Obviously this really resonates with us – we are VERY lucky.

But the truth remains that with so many Americans uninsured and under-insured, many folks can’t get the help they need without going into bankruptcy (and even then getting the correct health care is an iffy proposition.)

RANT
I’m amazed and astounded at how the anti-health care folks who are fighting against a Public Option in DC have been able to paint their position as even slightly humanitarian.

Through fear, a LOT of expensive ads, lobbyists cash to Congress and a successful campaign to polarize the American Congress (if not the American people), they’ve convinced some naive folks that a majority of citizens is against a public option, but an interesting ABC / Washington Post Poll refutes this.

I’m sick to death of hearing the twin lies that:

1) Insurance Portability Across State Lines Will Save Us and
2) Tort Reform Will Save Us.

The only people these two strategies will help are the insurance companies. They’ll be able to charge what they want with very little regulation, and patients won’t be able to sue to overturn bad insurance company decisions (usually based on raising profits) which cause severe injury or even death.

Lie #1
The state by state portability issue would allow states with good regulatory laws (like Minnesota and California) to be brought down to the lowest common denominator – to the level of states with BAD consumer protection laws.

Jerry Flanagan, a patient advocate for Santa Monica-based Consumer Watchdog, is quoted in an article in the LA Times, “The insurance companies will all run to Wyoming to issue policies, and Wyoming laws would rule in California.”

Think of what’s happened to consumers under the thumb of credit card companies who all flocked to states with very bad regulatory laws. 30% interest rates and crushing, hidden “fees” are NOT uncommon. This usurious situation has flourished because the banks issuing the cards are able to base themselves in states which allow these practices.

Lie #2
Right wingers like to use the Bar Association as a whipping boy because – well – everyone has heard some story of folks being screwed by a lawyer. Even Shakespeare wasn’t fond of them.

But the deeper reason is that many attorneys actually fight FOR the rights of citizens who are all but powerless against large entites, and this is anathema to the multi-billion dollar corporations.

It can be expensive, but anyone has the right to seek council and sue a company which has caused damage. To take away this right is to further reduce the strength of the average American against the monied large corporations.

Now that Corporations – masquerading as people – have been sanctioned by the Supreme Court to spend unlimited amounts of money in support of political campaigns, my own fear is that more and more Americans will be convinced by expensive ad campaigns to vote against their own best interests.

No one, no group, has the kind of money the corporations control to work against the multi-million dollar ad campaigns that are on their way.

What’s the cure? Education and information. Don’t take my word for any of this, but don’t take anyone else’s word for it, either. Use your brain, educate yourself, make yourself informed.