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Have you ever hated a company so much that you swore them off for the rest of your life?
My late father was a successful engineering professor for most of his life, who eventually became a university president. What is less well-known about him was that in the early years of his career, he worked for a major oil company. He and his co-workers hated working there. In fact, they hated it so much that as he left this company, this practical and fairly even-tempered man made a vow with his co-workers never to purchase their products again as long as they lived!
Perhaps it sounded like a few disgruntled employees blowing off steam. But as we grew up, our family got used to the idea that Dad would always drive past this (major) brand's gas stations, in favor of any other one. Over time, it became part of our family history.
Of course, being a family tradition, his children honored it as well. I certainly never wanted to disrespect my father and use this gas station either. In my entire adult life, the only time I ever made an exception to the family boycott was when I was running out of gas in the middle of the Arizona desert, in the middle of blistering 100-plus degree heat, when one of their stations was the only one around for many miles. But even then, I felt kind of like a Hindu vegetarian who had just eaten a greasy pork sandwich to survive.
Perhaps a fitting epilogue to this boycott came late in my father's life, when he attended a reunion and reconnected with some of his fellow engineers from that oil company. And guess what - they confided to Dad that they, too, had honored their vow never to use their products in their vehicles. All their lives. And probably passed it along to their children too. Meanwhile, in my own family, this boycott will soon be entering a fourth generation.
So how much do your employees love your company? Would they purchase your products and services after they leave? In fact, would they leave in the first place?
14 Haziran 2012 Perşembe
12 Haziran 2012 Salı
Computer Hell!
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I am in computer hell! We were having some problems with our computer. It started running really slow a couple of weeks ago. I just couldn't take it anymore. Nathan went through and cleaned up junk out of her. He ran test after test; checking for viruses, software problems, hardware problems, malware, etc. Everything kept coming back saying that everything was fine with her. So we finally decided to back everything up and do a reinstall. It takes so much time to do that. I have a lot of files, pictures, music, fonts, and applications. It took an entire day to back up all three user sides. Then poor Nathan had to take another entire day to rebuild the computer. He still has a couple of things to do, but he is playing Starhawk now, so god only knows when it will get done.
Now I have to go through and fix my entire side. The application Nathan uses to burn the discs changes all the icon sizes of everything in every folder and puts everything in a haphazard order. It is highly annoying and time consuming to change it all back. Archiving folders doesn't help either. So I have been going through every folder to fix them. I had to reinstall all my fonts, but I cut the number down some. At least it is under a thousand now. Plus I am getting rid of some other things. I'm spring cleaning the computer. I'm still working on it. I'm just taking a break to write this post.
Thankfully, the computer is running faster again. I don't know what the problem was. The internet is another story however. The past few weeks we have begun to get the "stop script" crap again on more websites and the browsers are being slow to load pages. It was so nice not to have that problem for a few months.
I have to get back to straightening up my files. I probably won't be back on until after Mother's Day, but then, you never know. Something might bother me bad enough to write about it.
Take care everyone and have a nice weekend with your mothers.
Now I have to go through and fix my entire side. The application Nathan uses to burn the discs changes all the icon sizes of everything in every folder and puts everything in a haphazard order. It is highly annoying and time consuming to change it all back. Archiving folders doesn't help either. So I have been going through every folder to fix them. I had to reinstall all my fonts, but I cut the number down some. At least it is under a thousand now. Plus I am getting rid of some other things. I'm spring cleaning the computer. I'm still working on it. I'm just taking a break to write this post.
Thankfully, the computer is running faster again. I don't know what the problem was. The internet is another story however. The past few weeks we have begun to get the "stop script" crap again on more websites and the browsers are being slow to load pages. It was so nice not to have that problem for a few months.
I have to get back to straightening up my files. I probably won't be back on until after Mother's Day, but then, you never know. Something might bother me bad enough to write about it.
Take care everyone and have a nice weekend with your mothers.
I Hate Facebook
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I do not have a Facebook account and never will. My three oldest children have used Facebook, despite my dislike for it. Nathan only got an account to monitor our children, and he hasn't even done that very often. He hates Facebook almost as much as I do. My two oldest sons do not live at home, so what they do is their own thing. My oldest daughter, however, is still a minor and lives at home.
Nathan was trying to get some code for Starhawk a week or two ago and he was supposed to go through Facebook to get it. He went to log in and Facebook would only allow him to log in if he gave up our private phone number so that a call could be sent to verify it. He refused to do so and then complained to the makers of Starhawk. Why should he have to give up private information just to get a damn code? They (the makers of Starhawk) were actually quite nice about it and sent him the code.
The whole thing with Facebook made me question our daughter. She said they hadn't asked for her number. I doubt that. But she knows how private we are and might not tell us if she had done so. If we wanted to check up on our daughter, we can now no longer do so. I'll be damned if we are giving up our phone number. I haven't given out our number to anyone on the internet. Blogger doesn't even have it. Why should you have to give out personal information? Facebook has no right to ask for such things.
I decided to look into Facebook a little bit. Did you know they use your portable device's GPS to locate exactly where you are and then they notify you if any of your "friends" or "others" are nearby? That is a bit creepy. They track you wherever you go on the internet too. They give your information out to whomever they please. It can take 90 + days to delete an account from Facebook. Facebook states that they try to keep you safe but that is a flat out lie. If they were trying to keep users safe, then they wouldn't ask for so much private information which could then be hacked (nor would they give it out to everyone). ANYTHING on a computer is accessible, and therefore, NOT SAFE. If they were concerned for users' safety, then they wouldn't notify others of your location. That is asking for trouble. Who do they think they are anyway? Next they will be trying to get your social security number and samples of your DNA. What Facebook does is a serious violation of people's privacy.
If you are a parent who wants to have your minor child's account deleted, you have to go through all sorts of hoops and give Facebook your private information. Then Facebook does not immediately remove the information on the account. The fact that Facebook collects and gives out private information on minors at all is illegal. Why are they not being charged for that violation? Oh...that's right. It is because they are an American company who is allowed to do whatever the hell they want.
How exactly did Facebook become so popular? Why is mindless socializing so popular in America? Facebook is juvenile. Will you "like" me on Facebook? Come on- that is so childish. What is wrong with people?
Why do so many Americans not seem to care about their personal privacy? Your safety is wrapped up with your personal privacy. It should be important to everyone.
When I first heard about a planned attack on Facebook last year, my first thought was, "Go for it, Anonymous!" I hate how Facebook has invaded everything, like a plague or a cancer. I hate everything about Facebook. I wish Facebook didn't exist at all. But I had concerns because they are connected to so many websites. Wait... has anyone seen a website which is not linked to Facebook? Since they are everywhere, it may have created problems. But then it might not have. My specialty is certainly not the internet. Either way, Anonymous should have attacked them. Facebook deserves it for the things which they do. Facebook is just another American company who thinks they can do whatever they want to people and get away with it.
Nathan was trying to get some code for Starhawk a week or two ago and he was supposed to go through Facebook to get it. He went to log in and Facebook would only allow him to log in if he gave up our private phone number so that a call could be sent to verify it. He refused to do so and then complained to the makers of Starhawk. Why should he have to give up private information just to get a damn code? They (the makers of Starhawk) were actually quite nice about it and sent him the code.
The whole thing with Facebook made me question our daughter. She said they hadn't asked for her number. I doubt that. But she knows how private we are and might not tell us if she had done so. If we wanted to check up on our daughter, we can now no longer do so. I'll be damned if we are giving up our phone number. I haven't given out our number to anyone on the internet. Blogger doesn't even have it. Why should you have to give out personal information? Facebook has no right to ask for such things.
I decided to look into Facebook a little bit. Did you know they use your portable device's GPS to locate exactly where you are and then they notify you if any of your "friends" or "others" are nearby? That is a bit creepy. They track you wherever you go on the internet too. They give your information out to whomever they please. It can take 90 + days to delete an account from Facebook. Facebook states that they try to keep you safe but that is a flat out lie. If they were trying to keep users safe, then they wouldn't ask for so much private information which could then be hacked (nor would they give it out to everyone). ANYTHING on a computer is accessible, and therefore, NOT SAFE. If they were concerned for users' safety, then they wouldn't notify others of your location. That is asking for trouble. Who do they think they are anyway? Next they will be trying to get your social security number and samples of your DNA. What Facebook does is a serious violation of people's privacy.
If you are a parent who wants to have your minor child's account deleted, you have to go through all sorts of hoops and give Facebook your private information. Then Facebook does not immediately remove the information on the account. The fact that Facebook collects and gives out private information on minors at all is illegal. Why are they not being charged for that violation? Oh...that's right. It is because they are an American company who is allowed to do whatever the hell they want.
How exactly did Facebook become so popular? Why is mindless socializing so popular in America? Facebook is juvenile. Will you "like" me on Facebook? Come on- that is so childish. What is wrong with people?
Why do so many Americans not seem to care about their personal privacy? Your safety is wrapped up with your personal privacy. It should be important to everyone.
When I first heard about a planned attack on Facebook last year, my first thought was, "Go for it, Anonymous!" I hate how Facebook has invaded everything, like a plague or a cancer. I hate everything about Facebook. I wish Facebook didn't exist at all. But I had concerns because they are connected to so many websites. Wait... has anyone seen a website which is not linked to Facebook? Since they are everywhere, it may have created problems. But then it might not have. My specialty is certainly not the internet. Either way, Anonymous should have attacked them. Facebook deserves it for the things which they do. Facebook is just another American company who thinks they can do whatever they want to people and get away with it.
Virginia Medicaid and DCSE Scam To Not Cover The Poor
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I have been trying to deal with a health insurance-related issue for the past few weeks. So I thought I would let you see what I've been struggling with. It is still not resolved. Plus I would like to dispel the myth people have about the state health insurance program, Medicaid. Some people seem to think that Medicaid recipients get better care or have everything covered, or some other nonsense. It's simply not true.
My oldest daughter, the one born with kidney and urinary system defects, has ongoing health problems related to the defects which she will continue to have for the rest of her life. She is highly sensitive to getting kidney infections in the partial kidney. Over the past year they have been recurring more often. Last year she was in the hospital twice. We didn't have a primary doctor at the time. Living in a rural area, there aren't many choices. The doctors either don't take Medicaid or they can not take on any new Medicaid patients. The state regulates how many Medicaid patients doctors can see. So people are left without a primary doctor. That means no medical care. We had no choice but to take her to the ER. Thankfully, she wasn't admitted. She did have to take a course of antibiotics. We have Medicaid, or rather...Virginia Premier (one of the state HMOs for Medicaid). Ever since the Virginia government started the HMO programs, the quality of health care for Medicaid recipients went.... god, I can't even think of a word. It's like not even having health care coverage. You have health insurance in name only, because they don't want to pay for anything.
VA Premier paid for my daughter's antibiotics, so I didn't know there was a problem. Then I started receiving bills from the hospital stating Medicaid/VA Premier refused to cover the payments. I called the hospital to find out why. They said VA Premier/Medicaid said there was 'other' insurance which had to pay first. I knew of no 'other' insurance. So I called VA Premier. They have horrible customer service, by the way. I couldn't get any explanation out of them. I called the social worker but couldn't get an explanation there either. So I was left with the hospital bills, thousands of dollars worth.
In order for a family to qualify for Medicaid in the state of Virginia, they have to be below poor. They have to be practically destitute, barely above the zero income level. So for them to stick thousands of dollars in hospital bills on the family qualifying for Medicaid is pretty low and disgusting. They know that family can't pay for them. Another bad strike on their credit to help compound the entire poverty problem. Back when things were a little better, we did have another health insurance so Medicaid became the secondary insurance. They paid whatever the first insurance didn't cover. But those days are long gone. All we have is the state. I still have those unpaid medical bills hanging around.
Last fall, we finally found a new doctor accepting Medicaid patients. I made appointments for all the kids to get seen. Then came February with the Norovirus pandemic. The doctor prescribed medications to help stop the vomiting. Once again VA Premier reared its ugly head and refused to cover some of the medication. Actually the medication I'm referring to is Zofran. They used to cover it and then stopped covering it at all to now only covering 12 pills in a 30 day period. I know, it makes no sense. Twelve pills were not going to cut it and the entire family was sick. Zofran is an orally-dissolvable pill. It may not be as strong as others in its' class but it is the only one that will work (outside of a hospital IV) if a person can not hold anything down and has diarrhea. So the doctor had to work out a plan for the family since VA Premier refused to cover more than 12 pills for each person. Health insurance companies should not have the power to decide what medications you can or can't take. Do they have degrees in medical science? I think not. The doctors seeing you should have the say, along with yourself, since it is your body after all. But that isn't how America runs. The people without the medical degree or any medical knowledge whatsoever gets to decide your medical care. My 2 year old son had to be taken to the ER in the middle of the night because he would not stop vomiting. VA Premier/Medicaid refused to cover all of his bill nor the medication the ER gave him to stop the vomiting. Guess who got stuck with the bill? We did. He does not have ant other insurance so they have no excuse for it. When I had to go to the ER last summer for the severe bacterial infection, VA Premier/Medicaid refused to pay for the bill too and I had no other insurance. We got stuck with that bill too. They are both unpaid.
Anyway, the doctor set my daughter up to see a nephrologist, a kidney specialist. She was overdue for the kidney reflux test. She has had kidney reflux in the past and had surgery to try to correct it. The nephrologist who did the surgery told me it was a fairly new procedure so he wasn't sure if it would be a permanent fix. With her having more kidney infections, it could be a sign that the reflux is starting again. Kidney reflux creates severe infections which then leads to kidney damage. Kidney damage then results in kidney failure. So it is best to keep the infections at bay and promptly treat them when they do occur. We have been unable to do this because of the state regulations making the few doctors unable to take more patients. Plus VA Premier has limitations on where in the state you can get seen and what hospitals you can go to and so on. They make it exceedingly difficult to get medical care. Medicaid used to be taken throughout the whole state. Not any more, at least not the HMO version. But the state government did that on purpose to save money instead of giving quality care to the poor.
I had to cancel the appointment for the nephrologist because on April 30, 2012, I received a letter from VA Premier stating that my daughter's coverage would be canceled on April 30, 2012. Yeah, it was to be canceled the same day I received the notice. Wasn't that so nice of them to give us such a long prior notification? Plus there was no explanation as to why it was being canceled. So I called VA Premier again. All they said was they didn't know why it was canceled and that I would have to speak to the case worker at social services. I called the case worker the same day. She didn't answer so I had to leave a message. I continued to do this twice a week until today. She never returned my call. We tried to get a prescription filled for my daughter and it was denied.
Today I said enough was enough. Despite being ill and running a high fever myself, we went to the social services office. Guess what? She wasn't there. Neither was her supervisor. Friday is still a work day, right? We are paying taxes for them to be at work, right? So I told the receptionist that someone needed to look into it and give me an explanation. One of the other workers said that she didn't see a reason why my daughter's VA Premier was canceled but that regular Medicaid was still active. As for the unpaid medical bills, I would have to talk to the worker on Monday. I'm sure I won't get a return call for that either. They said Medicaid should cover my daughter's prescriptions and medical care. OK.
Then we went to the pharmacy to get her prescriptions filled, using regular Medicaid. Once again it was denied. The pharmacist was feeling pretty bad for us by this point, but what could they do. They gave us a paper showing why Medicaid denied coverage. It said that Medicaid was denying coverage due to some 'other' insurance which had to pay first. I had a reason now but no real answer as to this mysterious 'other' insurance causing problems. Now I was pissed and beyond frustrated.
So I thought of one more thing. I called the Division of Child Support Enforcement. I asked them if the absent father had insurance on her. Guess what? He did, not from trying to be nice either. Trying to stay calm, I asked them why they did not notify me of the insurance and why I was not sent insurance cards. She said she thought a notice was sent when he got coverage on February 28, 2012. I never received anything from them except a notification this week that they were sending his employer a wage-withholding order. If he had the job in February, then why were they just now getting around to sending a wage-withholding order? We have only received $70 in child support for the past four months. So no, I don't believe that they sent me a notification for the insurance. It would have eventually gotten here. I told her about the unpaid hospital bills and the prescriptions. She said she didn't know if he had medical coverage last year and that she would try to get the insurance company to send my daughter a card. TRY!!!! They can enforce that coverage is taken out but they can't enforce that the child be sent a card so they could actually get medical care? What stupidity is that? How is that going to help? I asked her if I could request for the absent father to not get insurance (it isn't as if he will be at this job long- he never does stay long) and she said the state of Virginia mandated that noncustodial parents be forced to get coverage for children covered by Medicaid. Why? So they can not be notified or sent cards so they can't seek medical care because Medicaid won't cover them either? Another Medicaid scam to save the government money?
I am so frustrated! I have to wait around to see if a card will be sent. Meanwhile my daughter can't see her doctor, can't get her prescriptions filled, and can't get her medical tests done. It will only last a couple of months before he moves on to another job. That is what he does. Then there will be another lapse in insurance coverage. It is just bullshit! What fucking idiot came up with this mandate anyway? If the man leaves his child and can only get made to help with raising that child by going to court, then he isn't going to be able to handle the responsibility of something as important as medical coverage. Most men who owe child support try to dodge paying it as much as they can. Believe me, he is just like that. Instead of fucking up the child's life with on and off again coverage, why don't they just have the absent fathers pay a certain amount into a fund to go towards Medicaid while leaving the child on the Medicaid coverage. That would make more sense and give the child stable health insurance coverage. But then our government never does anything which makes sense.
They don't care about poor children. They don't care about people having medical care. I think the Virginia government has done all these negative things to the Medicaid program on purpose so that they do not have to pay out as much. Virginia tax dollars go towards the cost of Medicaid. Plus the Federal government gives states funding from income taxes to go towards the Medicaid program. Billions of dollars go into Medicaid. If the state caps doctors on the number of Medicaid patients they can see, then there are a lot of people left without a doctor and without medical care. Those people aren't costing anything because they can't get care. Hospital bills aren't being paid and medication is being rejected for payment- so no money spent there either. Very few dentists accept Medicaid-covered children, so that lessens the amount the state has to pay. Dental coverage for poor adults isn't even covered at all, so that saves the state money. You can only go to an eye doctor once every two years and can only get the cheapest glasses there. When they do pay on a bill, they only pay a tiny fraction. For example: on a hospital bill for my son the bill came to $800+, but they only paid $30 on it. It is medical coverage in name only because it is severely gimped in what is covered. So where exactly does all the billions of dollars go to exactly? It isn't going to cover medical expenses. What is Virginia doing with all the money it receives for Medicaid? What? I want an answer!
Doesn't everyone in America deserve better quality health care? Health care should be between a doctor and a patient. NOT a doctor, a patient, and a corporation.
My oldest daughter, the one born with kidney and urinary system defects, has ongoing health problems related to the defects which she will continue to have for the rest of her life. She is highly sensitive to getting kidney infections in the partial kidney. Over the past year they have been recurring more often. Last year she was in the hospital twice. We didn't have a primary doctor at the time. Living in a rural area, there aren't many choices. The doctors either don't take Medicaid or they can not take on any new Medicaid patients. The state regulates how many Medicaid patients doctors can see. So people are left without a primary doctor. That means no medical care. We had no choice but to take her to the ER. Thankfully, she wasn't admitted. She did have to take a course of antibiotics. We have Medicaid, or rather...Virginia Premier (one of the state HMOs for Medicaid). Ever since the Virginia government started the HMO programs, the quality of health care for Medicaid recipients went.... god, I can't even think of a word. It's like not even having health care coverage. You have health insurance in name only, because they don't want to pay for anything.
VA Premier paid for my daughter's antibiotics, so I didn't know there was a problem. Then I started receiving bills from the hospital stating Medicaid/VA Premier refused to cover the payments. I called the hospital to find out why. They said VA Premier/Medicaid said there was 'other' insurance which had to pay first. I knew of no 'other' insurance. So I called VA Premier. They have horrible customer service, by the way. I couldn't get any explanation out of them. I called the social worker but couldn't get an explanation there either. So I was left with the hospital bills, thousands of dollars worth.
In order for a family to qualify for Medicaid in the state of Virginia, they have to be below poor. They have to be practically destitute, barely above the zero income level. So for them to stick thousands of dollars in hospital bills on the family qualifying for Medicaid is pretty low and disgusting. They know that family can't pay for them. Another bad strike on their credit to help compound the entire poverty problem. Back when things were a little better, we did have another health insurance so Medicaid became the secondary insurance. They paid whatever the first insurance didn't cover. But those days are long gone. All we have is the state. I still have those unpaid medical bills hanging around.
Last fall, we finally found a new doctor accepting Medicaid patients. I made appointments for all the kids to get seen. Then came February with the Norovirus pandemic. The doctor prescribed medications to help stop the vomiting. Once again VA Premier reared its ugly head and refused to cover some of the medication. Actually the medication I'm referring to is Zofran. They used to cover it and then stopped covering it at all to now only covering 12 pills in a 30 day period. I know, it makes no sense. Twelve pills were not going to cut it and the entire family was sick. Zofran is an orally-dissolvable pill. It may not be as strong as others in its' class but it is the only one that will work (outside of a hospital IV) if a person can not hold anything down and has diarrhea. So the doctor had to work out a plan for the family since VA Premier refused to cover more than 12 pills for each person. Health insurance companies should not have the power to decide what medications you can or can't take. Do they have degrees in medical science? I think not. The doctors seeing you should have the say, along with yourself, since it is your body after all. But that isn't how America runs. The people without the medical degree or any medical knowledge whatsoever gets to decide your medical care. My 2 year old son had to be taken to the ER in the middle of the night because he would not stop vomiting. VA Premier/Medicaid refused to cover all of his bill nor the medication the ER gave him to stop the vomiting. Guess who got stuck with the bill? We did. He does not have ant other insurance so they have no excuse for it. When I had to go to the ER last summer for the severe bacterial infection, VA Premier/Medicaid refused to pay for the bill too and I had no other insurance. We got stuck with that bill too. They are both unpaid.
Anyway, the doctor set my daughter up to see a nephrologist, a kidney specialist. She was overdue for the kidney reflux test. She has had kidney reflux in the past and had surgery to try to correct it. The nephrologist who did the surgery told me it was a fairly new procedure so he wasn't sure if it would be a permanent fix. With her having more kidney infections, it could be a sign that the reflux is starting again. Kidney reflux creates severe infections which then leads to kidney damage. Kidney damage then results in kidney failure. So it is best to keep the infections at bay and promptly treat them when they do occur. We have been unable to do this because of the state regulations making the few doctors unable to take more patients. Plus VA Premier has limitations on where in the state you can get seen and what hospitals you can go to and so on. They make it exceedingly difficult to get medical care. Medicaid used to be taken throughout the whole state. Not any more, at least not the HMO version. But the state government did that on purpose to save money instead of giving quality care to the poor.
I had to cancel the appointment for the nephrologist because on April 30, 2012, I received a letter from VA Premier stating that my daughter's coverage would be canceled on April 30, 2012. Yeah, it was to be canceled the same day I received the notice. Wasn't that so nice of them to give us such a long prior notification? Plus there was no explanation as to why it was being canceled. So I called VA Premier again. All they said was they didn't know why it was canceled and that I would have to speak to the case worker at social services. I called the case worker the same day. She didn't answer so I had to leave a message. I continued to do this twice a week until today. She never returned my call. We tried to get a prescription filled for my daughter and it was denied.
Today I said enough was enough. Despite being ill and running a high fever myself, we went to the social services office. Guess what? She wasn't there. Neither was her supervisor. Friday is still a work day, right? We are paying taxes for them to be at work, right? So I told the receptionist that someone needed to look into it and give me an explanation. One of the other workers said that she didn't see a reason why my daughter's VA Premier was canceled but that regular Medicaid was still active. As for the unpaid medical bills, I would have to talk to the worker on Monday. I'm sure I won't get a return call for that either. They said Medicaid should cover my daughter's prescriptions and medical care. OK.
Then we went to the pharmacy to get her prescriptions filled, using regular Medicaid. Once again it was denied. The pharmacist was feeling pretty bad for us by this point, but what could they do. They gave us a paper showing why Medicaid denied coverage. It said that Medicaid was denying coverage due to some 'other' insurance which had to pay first. I had a reason now but no real answer as to this mysterious 'other' insurance causing problems. Now I was pissed and beyond frustrated.
So I thought of one more thing. I called the Division of Child Support Enforcement. I asked them if the absent father had insurance on her. Guess what? He did, not from trying to be nice either. Trying to stay calm, I asked them why they did not notify me of the insurance and why I was not sent insurance cards. She said she thought a notice was sent when he got coverage on February 28, 2012. I never received anything from them except a notification this week that they were sending his employer a wage-withholding order. If he had the job in February, then why were they just now getting around to sending a wage-withholding order? We have only received $70 in child support for the past four months. So no, I don't believe that they sent me a notification for the insurance. It would have eventually gotten here. I told her about the unpaid hospital bills and the prescriptions. She said she didn't know if he had medical coverage last year and that she would try to get the insurance company to send my daughter a card. TRY!!!! They can enforce that coverage is taken out but they can't enforce that the child be sent a card so they could actually get medical care? What stupidity is that? How is that going to help? I asked her if I could request for the absent father to not get insurance (it isn't as if he will be at this job long- he never does stay long) and she said the state of Virginia mandated that noncustodial parents be forced to get coverage for children covered by Medicaid. Why? So they can not be notified or sent cards so they can't seek medical care because Medicaid won't cover them either? Another Medicaid scam to save the government money?
I am so frustrated! I have to wait around to see if a card will be sent. Meanwhile my daughter can't see her doctor, can't get her prescriptions filled, and can't get her medical tests done. It will only last a couple of months before he moves on to another job. That is what he does. Then there will be another lapse in insurance coverage. It is just bullshit! What fucking idiot came up with this mandate anyway? If the man leaves his child and can only get made to help with raising that child by going to court, then he isn't going to be able to handle the responsibility of something as important as medical coverage. Most men who owe child support try to dodge paying it as much as they can. Believe me, he is just like that. Instead of fucking up the child's life with on and off again coverage, why don't they just have the absent fathers pay a certain amount into a fund to go towards Medicaid while leaving the child on the Medicaid coverage. That would make more sense and give the child stable health insurance coverage. But then our government never does anything which makes sense.
They don't care about poor children. They don't care about people having medical care. I think the Virginia government has done all these negative things to the Medicaid program on purpose so that they do not have to pay out as much. Virginia tax dollars go towards the cost of Medicaid. Plus the Federal government gives states funding from income taxes to go towards the Medicaid program. Billions of dollars go into Medicaid. If the state caps doctors on the number of Medicaid patients they can see, then there are a lot of people left without a doctor and without medical care. Those people aren't costing anything because they can't get care. Hospital bills aren't being paid and medication is being rejected for payment- so no money spent there either. Very few dentists accept Medicaid-covered children, so that lessens the amount the state has to pay. Dental coverage for poor adults isn't even covered at all, so that saves the state money. You can only go to an eye doctor once every two years and can only get the cheapest glasses there. When they do pay on a bill, they only pay a tiny fraction. For example: on a hospital bill for my son the bill came to $800+, but they only paid $30 on it. It is medical coverage in name only because it is severely gimped in what is covered. So where exactly does all the billions of dollars go to exactly? It isn't going to cover medical expenses. What is Virginia doing with all the money it receives for Medicaid? What? I want an answer!
Doesn't everyone in America deserve better quality health care? Health care should be between a doctor and a patient. NOT a doctor, a patient, and a corporation.
Landline Telephone Bill Scams
To contact us Click HERE
Yes, we still have a landline telephone. I have a cell phone but it is a pay-as-you-go plan. We used to get a dial-up internet connection, because that was the only thing available in this area outside of town. Our old phone company went belly up at the beginning of the year so we had to look for new service. There was only one option as far as phone service. They had been advertising for fast internet service so we thought, "What the hell. Let's give it a try." I was tired of nodding off while waiting for website pages to load and Nathan wanted to play online games. I use the internet for doing research and writing my blog. I use the internet for finding homeschool material. I also like to find cool craft ideas and projects to do with the kids or by myself. Downloads wouldn't take forever with faster service. Plus with faster internet service, we could upgrade our operating system and browsers. Lessen the amount of stop scripts we'd been getting since last fall. Sounded good.
Everything was set up. After some initial problems with the bum modem they sent us, we got everything going. There is still problems of course, because the speed will fluctuate or drop down to almost dial-up but for the most part it has been better. The first thing we did was upgrade the operating system. It is as far as we can go now. The next step is an Intel iMac. Tiger is annoying. It has all kinds of weird quirks that annoy me. Panther was much better. But we couldn't upgrade the browsers any farther with Panther. Next came browser upgrades, as far as we could go without having an Intel iMac. It actually made a difference for a short while, a couple of months. It was smooth sailing on the internet. Then at the beginning of this month, websites started to lag again and we started to get stop scripts again. Despite the actual internet speed, the website pages are getting slow to load again. They just keep writing out older operating systems and browsers. Apple totally forgot about us. They could have at least kept Safari going for us. Yeah, I hope you read that Apple executive who was on my blog. Nathan has no such problems with his PS3. So he has been happy with playing games online. I get to listen to it every night. You know, guys can be really immature on there.
Anyway, we got the first bill and it was over $200. Ouch! Can anyone tell me why you can't just get the exact services you want instead of being forced into paying for a lump of services which you don't want just to get that one thing? I wanted caller id. In order to get it we have to pay for 13 other services we don't want. Why? I just want local, long distance, and caller id. It's that simple. But no! They force you into a bunch of crap you'll never use or want.
They charged a fee of $31.20 to do the central office line connect. Why exactly did it cost that much? Was it that strenuous of a job? Seriously. Then they charged $37.95 to mail the bum modem to us. That was expensive shipping. Then there was a plethora of Virginia state sales taxes multiple times, Federal Excise taxes multiple times, county taxes multiple times. Taxes, taxes, taxes. And our Founding Fathers thought they were taxed to death! The majority of the bill was the telephone company's inflated set-up fees (and Nathan set-up the internet himself, not them- that would have cost a lot more) and government taxes and fees. Without us making a long-distance call, the phone bill is $86 a month. A total rip-off. It costs that much for us to connect our phone and computer to the outside world. Ridiculous. It's not like they had to come and install telephone lines or anything. These phone lines have been here for years. So why does it cost so much?
Let's look at some of these charges on a phone bill. First there is the Universal Service Fund Surcharge. It started out as a fee made up by the FCC to provide schools, doctors, and such with connection services. In the future it is supposedly going to go into funds to expand broadband internet across America. From what I read, the telephone companies themselves are supposed to pay the fees, not consumers. So instead of the phone companies taking it out of their profits, they charge all of us to pay for it. But aren't we already paying taxes to do these things? The Virginia state budget has a funding of $13.2 billion dollars. They can't pay for phone and internet out of that? Can't doctor offices pay for their own services? A single doctor makes a hell of a lot more than my family, so why do I have to pay for the doctor to have phone and internet services? It makes no sense.
Then there is the 911 tax. Here is the thing. The 911 tax does not actually go towards paying for the 911 centers. In the state of Virginia, the money collected goes first towards government administrative salaries. After that, money goes to the Virginia Relay Centers for the hearing impaired (that's fine). Any leftovers get handed out to towns, cities, and counties for whatever undisclosed purposes. Not one penny goes towards 911. A Big Fat Lie. Yet citizens never question the lie or even look into it to find out that they are being scammed by the government.
Then there are the multiple right-of-way fees. I have found two explanations for this charge. One is that it is charged for you to access the network. Isn't that what you are already paying for in the subscriber line charge- to have access to the network? Why do we have to pay twice for the same thing? The other explanation has to do with phone lines on properties. But instead of you paying the phone company, shouldn't they be paying you for putting poles up on your property? Why are we being charged for poles and lines which have been up for many years anyway? How many generations are going to have to pay for the same exact crap? It sounds like another bullshit charge to me.
Then there are the multiple 'Non-Telecom Services Surcharges' with no explanation whatsoever. Just made up charges the phone company can't give you a straight answer on. What is this shit? Really.
Next is the carrier cost recovery fee. It is a total bullshit charge. The phone companies charge it for really no reason. They say it is for state-to-state or international calls, but you are charged this fee even if you do not make such calls. Again, aren't you already paying a fee for those long-distance calls when you make them? Some also say the fee is to pay for accounting services and national regulatory fees. Shouldn't that be coming out of the phone company's profits instead of being charged to consumers? Basically this fee is just there to bring in extra profit for the company.
Coming this summer will be another charge! An Access Recovery Charge. Can you guess what their explanation is for this one? Another charge for access to the network! How many fees are for the same thing now? Three? Subscriber Line Charge, Right-of-Way Fee, and now also the Access Recovery Fee. Yes, three.
The Federal Excise Tax is paid to the IRS, just like income taxes. Except they put it into effect during times of war or economic downturn. Let's slam citizens even more during rough times. That makes perfect sense. If you are poor, you can get a good bit of your income taxes back. So why can't you get a refund on the Excise taxes you paid?
There is also a large part consisting of various sales taxes. Sales taxes in Virginia, for the most part, go into funding VDOT. I totally disagree with paying sales taxes to fund VDOT. If you have been reading my blog, you already know why I feel this way. Why should I want to fund VDOT to make my family, or anyone else, homeless for road expansions? It is like paying them to take away my home. Why should I have to pay sales taxes?
Speaking of sales taxes, they also charge you for sales tax on long-distance calls. But if you don't make one single long-distance call and the balance is zero, you still get charged sales tax. How do they get a 70 cent tax on a zero amount? Or are they charging you taxes on the Carrier Cost Recovery Fee which is under long distance? Are they charging a tax on a fee? That doesn't make sense at all.
Phone bills are full of bullshit charges and fees. All these things are just 'legal' scams to get more money out of consumers.
Why aren't Americans doing anything about it?
Everything was set up. After some initial problems with the bum modem they sent us, we got everything going. There is still problems of course, because the speed will fluctuate or drop down to almost dial-up but for the most part it has been better. The first thing we did was upgrade the operating system. It is as far as we can go now. The next step is an Intel iMac. Tiger is annoying. It has all kinds of weird quirks that annoy me. Panther was much better. But we couldn't upgrade the browsers any farther with Panther. Next came browser upgrades, as far as we could go without having an Intel iMac. It actually made a difference for a short while, a couple of months. It was smooth sailing on the internet. Then at the beginning of this month, websites started to lag again and we started to get stop scripts again. Despite the actual internet speed, the website pages are getting slow to load again. They just keep writing out older operating systems and browsers. Apple totally forgot about us. They could have at least kept Safari going for us. Yeah, I hope you read that Apple executive who was on my blog. Nathan has no such problems with his PS3. So he has been happy with playing games online. I get to listen to it every night. You know, guys can be really immature on there.
Anyway, we got the first bill and it was over $200. Ouch! Can anyone tell me why you can't just get the exact services you want instead of being forced into paying for a lump of services which you don't want just to get that one thing? I wanted caller id. In order to get it we have to pay for 13 other services we don't want. Why? I just want local, long distance, and caller id. It's that simple. But no! They force you into a bunch of crap you'll never use or want.
They charged a fee of $31.20 to do the central office line connect. Why exactly did it cost that much? Was it that strenuous of a job? Seriously. Then they charged $37.95 to mail the bum modem to us. That was expensive shipping. Then there was a plethora of Virginia state sales taxes multiple times, Federal Excise taxes multiple times, county taxes multiple times. Taxes, taxes, taxes. And our Founding Fathers thought they were taxed to death! The majority of the bill was the telephone company's inflated set-up fees (and Nathan set-up the internet himself, not them- that would have cost a lot more) and government taxes and fees. Without us making a long-distance call, the phone bill is $86 a month. A total rip-off. It costs that much for us to connect our phone and computer to the outside world. Ridiculous. It's not like they had to come and install telephone lines or anything. These phone lines have been here for years. So why does it cost so much?
Let's look at some of these charges on a phone bill. First there is the Universal Service Fund Surcharge. It started out as a fee made up by the FCC to provide schools, doctors, and such with connection services. In the future it is supposedly going to go into funds to expand broadband internet across America. From what I read, the telephone companies themselves are supposed to pay the fees, not consumers. So instead of the phone companies taking it out of their profits, they charge all of us to pay for it. But aren't we already paying taxes to do these things? The Virginia state budget has a funding of $13.2 billion dollars. They can't pay for phone and internet out of that? Can't doctor offices pay for their own services? A single doctor makes a hell of a lot more than my family, so why do I have to pay for the doctor to have phone and internet services? It makes no sense.
Then there is the 911 tax. Here is the thing. The 911 tax does not actually go towards paying for the 911 centers. In the state of Virginia, the money collected goes first towards government administrative salaries. After that, money goes to the Virginia Relay Centers for the hearing impaired (that's fine). Any leftovers get handed out to towns, cities, and counties for whatever undisclosed purposes. Not one penny goes towards 911. A Big Fat Lie. Yet citizens never question the lie or even look into it to find out that they are being scammed by the government.
Then there are the multiple right-of-way fees. I have found two explanations for this charge. One is that it is charged for you to access the network. Isn't that what you are already paying for in the subscriber line charge- to have access to the network? Why do we have to pay twice for the same thing? The other explanation has to do with phone lines on properties. But instead of you paying the phone company, shouldn't they be paying you for putting poles up on your property? Why are we being charged for poles and lines which have been up for many years anyway? How many generations are going to have to pay for the same exact crap? It sounds like another bullshit charge to me.
Then there are the multiple 'Non-Telecom Services Surcharges' with no explanation whatsoever. Just made up charges the phone company can't give you a straight answer on. What is this shit? Really.
Next is the carrier cost recovery fee. It is a total bullshit charge. The phone companies charge it for really no reason. They say it is for state-to-state or international calls, but you are charged this fee even if you do not make such calls. Again, aren't you already paying a fee for those long-distance calls when you make them? Some also say the fee is to pay for accounting services and national regulatory fees. Shouldn't that be coming out of the phone company's profits instead of being charged to consumers? Basically this fee is just there to bring in extra profit for the company.
Coming this summer will be another charge! An Access Recovery Charge. Can you guess what their explanation is for this one? Another charge for access to the network! How many fees are for the same thing now? Three? Subscriber Line Charge, Right-of-Way Fee, and now also the Access Recovery Fee. Yes, three.
The Federal Excise Tax is paid to the IRS, just like income taxes. Except they put it into effect during times of war or economic downturn. Let's slam citizens even more during rough times. That makes perfect sense. If you are poor, you can get a good bit of your income taxes back. So why can't you get a refund on the Excise taxes you paid?
There is also a large part consisting of various sales taxes. Sales taxes in Virginia, for the most part, go into funding VDOT. I totally disagree with paying sales taxes to fund VDOT. If you have been reading my blog, you already know why I feel this way. Why should I want to fund VDOT to make my family, or anyone else, homeless for road expansions? It is like paying them to take away my home. Why should I have to pay sales taxes?
Speaking of sales taxes, they also charge you for sales tax on long-distance calls. But if you don't make one single long-distance call and the balance is zero, you still get charged sales tax. How do they get a 70 cent tax on a zero amount? Or are they charging you taxes on the Carrier Cost Recovery Fee which is under long distance? Are they charging a tax on a fee? That doesn't make sense at all.
Phone bills are full of bullshit charges and fees. All these things are just 'legal' scams to get more money out of consumers.
Why aren't Americans doing anything about it?
Starhawk Tournament
To contact us Click HERE
I know this doesn't seem like what I normally post about, but it does have something to do with my family. Nathan, as I've mentioned before, loves video games. My autistic eleven year old son loves video games too. As crazy as it sounds, video games have really helped my son with reading and math. Plus it helps him to interact with others. So you can't hate on video games too much. But back to Nathan. He played Warhawk a lot and won money in tournaments from it until we ran into trouble when he contracted West Nile. Then we moved here and only recently got a high-speed internet connection again. He played the Starhawk demo and was eagerly awaiting Starhawk's release earlier this month.
Nathan hasn't played anything but Starhawk since it's release. I know it sounds like I'm bragging, but Nathan is really good. He is near the top of the players' skill list. He's trying to get a team together, because there is a Starhawk tournament coming up next month. A tournament with $20,000 in the pot! I told him that he can play as much as he wants. If he could win that tournament, the money would really help the family out.
Especially after the phone call today. VDOT called. We weren't able to answer the call, but it is NEVER good when they call. Nathan tried to call them back but has gotten a busy signal each time. I'm sure they'll be calling back soon enough. They love to hurt people. When we saw that VDOT had called, a stabbing pain went straight through my back into the center of my chest and I felt like I couldn't breathe. Real physical pain. We've been living in fear of the day they call telling us we have to move out. We still have nowhere to go. We don't have money to buy a new home. They didn't pay us anything for the home they are taking away from us.
Our neighbor said that he heard VDOT will be tearing up everything down here this summer. Perfect timing. I have end-of-school tests to do with the kids. Most of our children's birthdays are during the summer, starting with my youngest daughter whose birthday is this Sunday. I want to have a garden with lots of heirloom tomatoes, melons, and squash. The kids want water for the pool. We just want to be able to enjoy summer, my favorite time of the year. There is only one summer of 2012. I guess they are going to take that away from us. They are going to make us homeless for the summer.
So we are hoping with all our hearts that Nathan can win this Starhawk tournament. It won't be enough to buy a new home but at least it could help with moving our belongings into storage.
If any of my readers are religious, please pray for my family.
Nathan hasn't played anything but Starhawk since it's release. I know it sounds like I'm bragging, but Nathan is really good. He is near the top of the players' skill list. He's trying to get a team together, because there is a Starhawk tournament coming up next month. A tournament with $20,000 in the pot! I told him that he can play as much as he wants. If he could win that tournament, the money would really help the family out.
Especially after the phone call today. VDOT called. We weren't able to answer the call, but it is NEVER good when they call. Nathan tried to call them back but has gotten a busy signal each time. I'm sure they'll be calling back soon enough. They love to hurt people. When we saw that VDOT had called, a stabbing pain went straight through my back into the center of my chest and I felt like I couldn't breathe. Real physical pain. We've been living in fear of the day they call telling us we have to move out. We still have nowhere to go. We don't have money to buy a new home. They didn't pay us anything for the home they are taking away from us.
Our neighbor said that he heard VDOT will be tearing up everything down here this summer. Perfect timing. I have end-of-school tests to do with the kids. Most of our children's birthdays are during the summer, starting with my youngest daughter whose birthday is this Sunday. I want to have a garden with lots of heirloom tomatoes, melons, and squash. The kids want water for the pool. We just want to be able to enjoy summer, my favorite time of the year. There is only one summer of 2012. I guess they are going to take that away from us. They are going to make us homeless for the summer.
So we are hoping with all our hearts that Nathan can win this Starhawk tournament. It won't be enough to buy a new home but at least it could help with moving our belongings into storage.
If any of my readers are religious, please pray for my family.
13 Mayıs 2012 Pazar
Publix to Test New Digital Coupon Program
To contact us Click HERE
Mobile applications and digital offerings. Both were commonthemes shared by retailers and manufactures alike at the 2012 Food MarketingInstitute trade show this month inDallas , TX
This summer, Lakeland, FL-based Publix Super Markets willtest a digital couponing initiative that could change the way grocery shoppersget discounts. The system (in its test phase) works as customers go online to acoupon publisher or Publix.com and set up a distinct membership code or PublixID. From there, the customer can choosewhich coupons to ‘clip’ and they would be uploaded into an account. At thecheckout counter the customer enters their phone number into the credit swipemachine. The register reads the uploaded coupons on the account thatcorresponds with the purchased products and automatically deducts the savings.
The program could be especially beneficial to mobile users,working in real-time as they shop grocery aisles and get coupons using thisprogram right from their handheld device. While there’s no indication that this new initiative will be rolled outacross all Publix stores, the concept is somewhat new to the industry andcertainly one to take notice of. Retailers and manufacturers - as well as the coupon publishers - relishnew digital systems such as this. Themain benefit is efficiency as the digital coupons are customized by theindividual user and obviously do not have to be printed on actual paper.
Other retailers, such as Winn-Dixie and CVS, have been usingloyalty cards to distribute coupons based on customer purchasing data foryears. Digital couponing, however, helps to reduce fraud and takes consumerpurchasing data to a new level of collection.
Mobile applications and digital offerings. Both were commonthemes shared by retailers and manufactures alike at the 2012 Food MarketingInstitute trade show this month in
This summer, Lakeland, FL-based Publix Super Markets willtest a digital couponing initiative that could change the way grocery shoppersget discounts. The system (in its test phase) works as customers go online to acoupon publisher or Publix.com and set up a distinct membership code or PublixID. From there, the customer can choosewhich coupons to ‘clip’ and they would be uploaded into an account. At thecheckout counter the customer enters their phone number into the credit swipemachine. The register reads the uploaded coupons on the account thatcorresponds with the purchased products and automatically deducts the savings.
The program could be especially beneficial to mobile users,working in real-time as they shop grocery aisles and get coupons using thisprogram right from their handheld device. While there’s no indication that this new initiative will be rolled outacross all Publix stores, the concept is somewhat new to the industry andcertainly one to take notice of. Retailers and manufacturers - as well as the coupon publishers - relishnew digital systems such as this. Themain benefit is efficiency as the digital coupons are customized by theindividual user and obviously do not have to be printed on actual paper.
Other retailers, such as Winn-Dixie and CVS, have been usingloyalty cards to distribute coupons based on customer purchasing data foryears. Digital couponing, however, helps to reduce fraud and takes consumerpurchasing data to a new level of collection.
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