Welcome to where I am, where my kitchen's always messy, a pot's (or a poet) always about to boil over, a dog is always begging to be fed. Drafts of poems on the counter. Windows filled with leaves. Wind. Clouds moving over the mountains. If you like poetry, books, and music--especially dog howls when a siren unwinds down the hill-- you'll like it here.


MY NEW AUTHOR'S SITE, KATHRYNSTRIPLINGBYER.COM, THAT I MYSELF SET UP THROUGH WEEBLY.COM, IS NOW UP. I HAD FUN CREATING THIS SITE AND WOULD RECOMMEND WEEBLY.COM TO ANYONE INTERESTED IN SETTING UP A WEBSITE. I INVITE YOU TO VISIT MY NEW SITE TO KEEP UP WITH EVENTS RELATED TO MY NEW BOOK.


MY NC POET LAUREATE BLOG, MY LAUREATE'S LASSO, WILL REMAIN UP AS AN ARCHIVE OF NC POETS, GRADES K-INFINITY! I INVITE YOU TO VISIT WHEN YOU FEEL THE NEED TO READ SOME GOOD POEMS.

VISIT MY NEW BLOG, MOUNTAIN WOMAN, WHERE YOU WILL FIND UPDATES ON WHAT'S HAPPENING IN MY KITCHEN, IN THE ENVIRONMENT, IN MY IMAGINATION, IN MY GARDEN, AND AMONG MY MOUNTAIN WOMEN FRIENDS.




Sunday, March 21, 2010

Vernal Equinox: A Chance for Healthcare Reform


(Sunrise on the first day of Spring)


On this Sunday, the day after the Vernal Equinox, when our Congress has the chance to pass reforms that so many former presidents, all the way back to Theodore Roosevelt, have attempted, I am hoping that the distortions, outright lies, and the viciousness that have accompanied this "debate," including the chanting of the "N word" at black legislators and the spitting on another of them, will fail and that the better nature of American politics will prevail so that here in Jackson County friends I love will no longer have to fear losing insurance coverage when they develop live-threatening illness.

Here's a quote from one of my favorite columnists, Gail Collins.

"We live in an era in which the power of the new hypermedia is so intense and politics so rabid that it’s almost impossible for Congress to do anything more difficult than tax cuts or highway construction. Yet, here’s this huge, complicated, controversial reform — bigger than any domestic program in decades.

If it passes, the short-term political consequences are unknowable. But in 10 years, people will look back in amazement that we once lived in a time when Americans couldn’t get health care coverage if they were sick, when insurance companies could cut off your benefits for being sick, and when run-of-the-mill serious illnesses routinely destroyed families’ financial security."

I wish you a lovely spring. Our early garden is in--spinach, beets, cabbage, broccoli. We are waiting now for the predicted rain to come and water it.

8 comments:

Charlotte Holmes said...

Thank you for this message on the first day of a new season, Kay. I hope more than daffodils are in bloom by the end of the day.

DeadMule said...

Amen.

But remember, even if it doesn't pass today, God is Still on the Throne. Justice will rule. We will have health care for all. We shall overcome. YES, WE CAN!!

Vicki Lane said...

People resist change. These same folks who are so opposed to the health care bill would have hated Social Security and Medicare -- both of which they totally embrace now -- as in, keep your government hands off my Medicare.

Keeping my fingers crossed that Congress will do the right thing.

Lyn said...

Born on the second day of spring gives me an Aries boost..viva la Spring!
Hard to believe that Theodore Roosevelt was the first in a very long line of presidents(including Nixon) who promoted healthcare. Is that the beginning we're asked to go back to?
Agree about Gail Collins..a runner up to Bob Herbert at the NYTimes..

Vagabonde said...

You know I come from a country where there is health care for all and which has been voted the best health care in the world, so it is very hard for me to understand why so many people do not want it here. Of course in France health care is considered a right, not a money making business. I hope that this time it will pass because it is terrible that such a wonderful country has citizens dying because they don’t have health care. Now I read many women are starting to die in childbirth here, placing the US at the next to the bottom in that rank. This country deserves better than that, but the lobbyists are hard at work. Let’s hope that big money and big insurance companies won’t win.

The Whole Bunch said...

Kay, I agree with you in regards to healthcare. I agree with you on most things political. I miss you. I have had some surgeries (good news) and had my hard drive crash, destroying all e-mail addresses. I am still hoping to publish my poems. Have written a few more that you haven't seen. My daddy died in June. Not sure that we have "talked" since then. I'd love to hear from you and really need some advice on how to get the poems out. When you have time.... Teresa

Berowne said...

Mozart and Nina Simone -- my kind of woman!

Kathryn Stripling Byer said...

Hello all, I've been busy with our 40th Anniversary and the WCU Literary Festival. By now, we know that the healthcare bill passed. I was appalled by the anti-bill protests outside Congress, the racism and sheer toxicity of them.
Lyn, I admire both Herbert and Collins. Don't know if I could live without their columns. HAPPY BIRTHDAY to you. Aries is a strong sign.
Vagabonde, I know Europe has been shaking its head for decades over our refusal to learn from our allies when it comes to healthcare. At least we've made a bit of a start toward bettering the lives of those citizens so often devastated by major illness.
Teresa, I will get in touch with you very soon.
And Berowne, Nina and Wolfgang are pretty hard to top in my book! Long may their music enthrall us.