The Emerald Rose

Years ago, (well actually decades) I started to scribble down quotations that inspired me, or that I thought were brilliant philosophically, or that I just plain liked. I’m sure you’ve heard some that have made you laugh, made you think, made you reevaluate many things, and gave you strength, well I have been tagging the end of each of my blogs with a quote for months now, and I thought it might be fun, (since let’s face it, after a while you’re blog starts to get very stale, very “blah” and otherwise more of a chore than the “fun” it started out to be) to try just a few commentaries on some of the quotes that resonate with me, and I hope you.

In the last few years as I “age out” I have become very captivated by Thomas Jefferson, the “bad boy” of American history. But you can go read all about that on google if you want, but let’s see what he had to say in the mid 1700’s which rings true today.

” If people let government decide what foods they eat and what medicines they take, their bodies will soon be in as sorry a state as are the souls of those who live under tyranny.” -Thomas Jefferson

Have we slowly fallen into that morass already perhaps? Logic may dictate that “Well someone has to do it. Look at how obese Americans have become, they don’t have any self-discipline anymore, everything is too easy to come by, and “Big Business” is exploiting that, so someone has to do it, why not the government?”

“Sure my Doctor would rather I take a specific drug or pharmaceutical that HE has more confidence in, that has withstood the scrutiny of the world and been amply tested,….but the insurance plan or medicare won’t cover it, and the prices I can’t afford.”

Maybe we have lost a majority of our personal discipline and will power, maybe we can’t think for ourselves, maybe we have made the decision to let others think for us because they constantly tell us we aren’t “sharp enough” to really understand it or make our own decisions. We reinforce that every week with all these dumb reality shows, and three judge panels whose expertise is far superior to ours so they decide and just like real life we are allowed a “token” call in vote but who really knows how or whom the tabulators really are and are there any checks and balances on the process?

Sure big business has a vested interest, just walk into any supermarket and wander down the aisles. Pretty soon it would be feasible to have restrictions on purchases of certain “restricted purchase right” items. after all how much would it cost to put a scale in the floor at the check out counter and imagine as you check out and the item is scanned a bell rings and a red light flashes and the check out clerk simply puts the object down a hole and you are denied because you have a body mass index based on your weight which exceeds the purchase level for that candy bar, and that sugar filled cola. (Pretty cool idea if I do say so myself) So when all is said and done you leave with the two tomatoes and head of lettuce, and that’s it. The twinkies, the ice cream, the big fat roast, the candy and the high calorie drinks and high sodium level products are all “down the hole” ,…but look on the bright side, you’ll at least be a little thinner next week and you will then buy four tomatoes and two heads of lettuce!

So why are all the check out lines full of, excuse the term, crap? All the candy is thee, the trashy mind anesthetic tabloid magazines, etc.? Guess someone knows how to make the money. Hell even I’m guilty sometimes. Getting a quart of skim fat free milk, low cal chocolate pudding and a head of lettuce and since there is someone in front of me, and it is getting close to the supper hour,…..well damn if that 3 Musketeers candy bar doesn’t just jump into my hand.

Now about the medication, I’ll make this short and sweet. My wife has Rheumatoid arthritis and as she gets older it bothers her more. Well her Doctor has recommended she take new “biologic” drug called Embrel. It is a “T-cell” blocker. (T-cells are that specific part of the immune system that fight off bugs, infection, etc.) Consequently a body is more prone to infection disease, etc., but the arthritis is much better. Well that is just the beginning!

She gets a package of four (4) self injectors which look like cigar tubes every month, they are live so they are delivered by Federal Express overnight in a styrofoam cooler with insulation, etc. etc. etc. Obviously they must be kept refrigerated, and every Friday she “shoots up” with one shot. Since it can’t “cure” arthritis it’s a “forever” fix.

Oh, the cost you ask? How about $1875 a month. Yep, EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-FIVE DOLLARS! Well as you already know I am far from “rolling in dough”, but have no fear the drug company to the rescue. Since her Doctor has recommended it they will underwrite all but $10 (that is TEN DOLLARS) a month of it,….until she reaches Medicare age (65) and she is 63 now so the next two years are covered, after that if Medicare won’t cover the cost she is screwed, or I have to get a new set of panty hose and start learning to disguise my voice and practice saying, “Just put the money in the bag and shut up or I’ll drop a dime on you to the IRS for fraud. They’ll make you life miserable for the rest of you r days,trust me”

And if, and I mean a BIG IF generics are the exact same thing, then tell me why Simvastatin, a generic cholesterol lowering medication is now getting warning labels yet Plavix, and Zocor, the mirror image “name brands” are not? I guess my feeble mind would have to say ,…”guess equal is not always equal”

Well so much for thought provokings from a single quote, let me know your comments.

Later this week how about we look at one of my other favorite all time quotes by Henry Ford, the inventor of the assembly line and the “Model T” Ford car. (Incidentally the only automaker who did not take money from the U.S. Government in this bailout fiasco and first to make a good and sizeable profit the good old way, hard work, cutbacks and attention to detail)

Ford said, “Whether you think you can, or whether you think you can’t,….you are right.”

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