I'm a liberal. We get accused of wasting money on people who don't have much, and not wasting enough money on people who will never lose their wealth in 10,000 years.
     My blood glucose testing strips ran out and I called my prescription renewal in two weeks from this penning. Without a prescription my Medicare won't cover them and I would pay $90 bucks out of pocket. The next business day after my call to the pharmacy was a Tuesday, Monday being a holiday. I had not heard the recorded call telling me that my prescription renewal was up, so I called to see where I was in the queue. They had not been called back yet by my physician, so I called the Doctor. A sudden snowstorm had closed the office. Finally on Tuesday, one week later, I recieved the recorded message. When I got to the pharmacy, they had filled my prescription with a whole new blood-testing kit: lancets, reader, and test strips. It goes without saying that the various parts are not compatible.
     This is where I am conservative. I'm okay using one system that has worked well for me. Why waste money on a completely new system when the old one was fine. If those damn test straps are worth $90 bucks without a prescription, how much would the glucose meter cost? Or even the lancet, I sometimes think I don't need the Lancet's because 1) I have a cat who draws blood as she sees fit, and 2) one lancet can last a long time. That money could be better spent on someone who can't afford a blood glucose testing system, and not rewarding the overpayed CEO. Additionally, that is a lot of plastic to go in a landfill. Plastic that will last somewhere around a nuclear half-life. And can be used for nothing useful in a second life. 
     The conservative of today would not know Edmund Burke who was so inspiring to William F. Buckley, the conservative who led conservatism as recently as four decades ago. Few of them would know who William F Buckley is. Today's conservative is a sour-tempered poorly educated, person always looking for someone to hate. And fearful that kids and adults might read books that would make the reader woke. There is a bust of Edmund Burke somewhere which is cracking from neglect. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

CANNABIS-INFUSED SODA, AND OTHER BLESSINGS.

     I started smoking pot in about my 18th year. It was not love at first sight, more of an occasional dalliance. Alcohol had place of honor for a while. At some point it became clear to me that the famous slippery slope to heroin abuse was a rightwing trope. People did not use the word trope at that time, there were more colorful descriptions, bullshit would be one. Since that time, so long ago, we have seen changes in alcohol, and the public houses you can go, "where everybody knows your name". Beer is now, more often made locally, or regionally. Taverns are now pubs, Stewart sandwiches and pickled hard-boiled eggs, have been replaced by bistro food or other edible delights. Wine is much better, and produced in American Viticultural Areas that are not dominated by California. Even distilled spirits are being produced by local craft distilleries.       More recently Marijuana has, in smarter states, been legalized, usually regulated by the same people who regulate fermented
Read more

PINKY: IN MEMORIAM

    On 2:53 AM, March 24, 2022, Pinky Conklin was relieved of the chronic pain that had bedeviled her most of her life. She was 79 years old. I was only with her a few short years, 3 of them where she was reasonably ambulatory, but we had some fun together. When we started our relationship she was living with one of her sons and his wife in Prineville, Oregon. She was 8 blocks from a senior center, but had no public transport to get her there and she walked unstably with a cane. I thought she could get better treatment in Portland, she was trying to get hip replacement, but I lived on my little 27' Bayliner cruiser. I was living the dream I had held in my mind for some four decades. I did not think she could handle the rigors of marina life, but my purchase of the boat, and the necessary costs of maintaining a boat were taxing my resources.       For a while she was able to live with a relative in Tigard. We joined the Tigard Senior Center and she had people to talk with outside of
Read more

IT COULD HAPPEN HERE.

     Recently I was given a task by Professor Wen at Willamette University . She is conducting a study on generations with her class. Since I am of an older generation,  i represent my demographic. My task was to make a presentation of my writing to a small group of students from the class she is teaching. I knew immediately what I would present to her Generations group.      Some years ago in my mid 20's I hitch-hiked to Southern California. On a typical sunny California day I found myself sitting in the well-heeled comfort of Marina Del Rey.  An old man struck up a conversation with me. He was then, around my age now.     He was clearly Jewish, that distinctive nose and the Eastern European accent. He told me a story of escaping Holland in a sailboat regatta of these odd little sabot sailboats. I said little except to draw him out when the story began to lag. He used a phrase when referring to how people dealt with the insult of being occupied by a hostile nation, "small dis
Read more