News for today's 2018: 11/22/12

Thanksgiving Fun Never Ends

9:00 PM Tukiyooo 0

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />Hola once again y’all! As our fun-filled week here in the sensible, yet wacky capital of the American Midwest comes to an end, I give you one last meme. Don’t worry about the numbering; it’s the questions and answers that are most important. I think.<br /><br /><b>2. Favorite Place to eat a romantic dinner?</b> Western Sizzlin?<br /><br /><b>3. Last time you Puked from Drinking?</b> I guess the night we had homebrew, whisky, tamales and fresh baked chocolate cookies.<br /><br /><b>4. When is the last time you got drunk and woke up in a strange place?</b> Never, that I know of.<br /><br /><b>5. Name of your First Grade Teacher?</b> Mrs. Langston. She wielded a mean yardstick too.<br /><br /><b>6. What do you really want to be doing right now? </b>Travelling<br /><br /><b>7. What did you want to be when you were growing up?</b> A lawyer.<br /><br /><b>8.How many colleges did you attend before you settled on the one you graduated from?</b> One College, but I attended it twice (kinda)!<br /><br /><b>9. Why did you wear the shirt that you have on right now?</b> It was clean.<br /><br /><b>10. Gas Prices! First Thought?</b> Reagan eliminated most federal funding for researching alternative energy resources in the 80's.<br /><br /><b>11. If you could move anywhere and take someone with you where would you go and who would you take?</b> Somewhere in Europe, maybe Amsterdam and I'd take anybody that wanted to come along.<br /><br /><b>12. First thought when the alarm went off this morning?</b> No alarm, but when I woke up my first thought was, as usual, "I gotta pee".<br /><br /><b>13. Last thought before falling asleep last night?</b> "Why do I have so much trouble falling asleep?"<br /><br /><b>14. Favorite style of underwear?</b> Boxerbriefs unless I'm going commando!<br /><br /><b>15. Favorite style of underwear for the opposite sex?</b> Any or none. Whatever you want is fine with me.<br /><br /><b>16. What errand/chore do you despise?</b> Doing laundry. It's dangerous.<br /><br /><b>18. Sex or Sleep?</b> Both, in that order.<br /><br /><b>19. Your Favorite Cartoon Character? </b>The Tick “SPOOOOOOOOOOON!”<br /><br /><b>20. Favorite non sexual thing to do at night with a girl/boy?</b> Play basketball?<br /><br /><b>22. What was your first car? </b>'79 Cutlass, and it was a BEAST!<br /><br /><b>23. Your best your mama joke? </b>"Yo momma so stupid, she sold her car for gas money"<br /><br /><b>24. Your favorite lunch meat?</b> Smoked ham, I guess<br /><br /><b>26. Beach or Shore?</b> What's the difference? Beach I guess<br /><br /><b>27. Do you think marriage is an outdated ritual that was invented by people who died at 20?</b> For some people, but for others it’s great.<br /><br /><b>28. Who do you stalk?</b> There are a lot of people I WANT to stalk, but I would get caught immediately.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6-xiwFb4yAGPe6Mo65QvDMQmyejpaFX6bTpwrp-uEdH7m_VpUZWLwXjtoxWjmVmBMGp3YG3y9qZRxCDAU59P5CREs2GpCMGX-n1RxNmDRmiG64T166luD_X21SaRGCPUzuoWoFXYReJA/s1600/Jennifer+Lawrence+Nude+Bikini+Hot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6-xiwFb4yAGPe6Mo65QvDMQmyejpaFX6bTpwrp-uEdH7m_VpUZWLwXjtoxWjmVmBMGp3YG3y9qZRxCDAU59P5CREs2GpCMGX-n1RxNmDRmiG64T166luD_X21SaRGCPUzuoWoFXYReJA/s400/Jennifer+Lawrence+Nude+Bikini+Hot.jpg" width="201" /></a></div><b>29. Favorite guilty pleasure? </b>Taco Bell? Celebrity gossip? Keeping up with Jennifer Lawrence?<br /><br /><b>30. Movie you watch whenever it’s on but wouldn't want anyone to find out about?</b> Grease 2.<br /><br /><b>32. Cowboys or Indians?</b> Indians<br /><br /><b>33. Cops or Robbers?</b> Fuck da Police!<br /><br /><b>34. Do you cheer for the bad guys?</b> In movies and on TV? We’re supposed to, right?<br /><br /><b>35. What Hollywood star do you think resembles you best? </b>Oh, totally Brad Pitt hahahaha<br /><br /><b>37. What do you want when you are sick? </b>To be left the fuck alone<br /><br /><b>38. Who from High School would you like to run into?</b> I try to avoid all of them<br /><br /><b>39. What radio station is your car radio tuned to right now?</b> Some heavy metal station. When I'm hope it's usually on ESPN Arkansas.<br /><br /><b>42. Norm or Cliff?</b> Norm, Cliff is a bore<br /><br /><b>43. The Cosby Show or the Simpsons?</b> Simpsons.<br /><br /><b>44. Worst relationship mistake that you wish you could take back?</b> Me just being me usually ruins everything.<br /><br />46. If you could get away with it who would you kill? Oh no, no no no no .... Do you guys with the NSA think I'm stupid or something?<br /><br /><b>47. What famous person would you like to have dinner with?</b> Bill Clinton<br /><br /><b>49. Have you ever had to use a fire extinguisher for its intended purpose?</b> Yes<br /><br /><b>51. Do you have a teddy bear?</b> No, I AM a Teddy Bear ..<br /><br /><b>52. Strangest place you have ever had sex?</b> umm ..... uhhh ..... well ... that'll have to remain a secret since family members read this blog.<br /><br /><b>53. Strangest Place you have ever wanted to have sex? </b>see #52<br /><br /><b>54. How many times a day do you text?</b> Very few.<br /><br /><br />Okay, damn, that was fun, wasn’t it? Anyway, hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.<br /><br />Also, listen to IWS Radio!<br /><br /><object classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.adobe.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=9,0,0,0" height="270" id="143577" name="143577" width="210"><param name="movie" value="http://www.blogtalkradio.com/btrplayer.swf?file=http://www.blogtalkradio.com%2Fim-with-stupid%2Fplay_list.xml%3Fitemcount%3D5&autostart=true&bufferlength=5&volume=80&corner=rounded&callback=http://www.blogtalkradio.com/flashplayercallback.aspx" /><param name="quality" value="high" /><param name="wmode" value="transparent" /><param name="menu" value="false" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><embed src="http://www.blogtalkradio.com/btrplayer.swf" flashvars="file=http://www.blogtalkradio.com%2fim-with-stupid%2fplay_list.xml%3Fitemcount%3D5&autostart=true&shuffle=false&callback=http://www.blogtalkradio.com/FlashPlayerCallback.aspx&width=210&height=270&volume=80&corner=rounded" width="210" height="270" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" quality="high" wmode="transparent" menu="false" name="143577" id="143577" allowScriptAccess="always"></embed></object><br /><div style="font-size: 10px; text-align: center; width: 220px;">Listen to <a href="http://www.blogtalkradio.com/">internet radio</a> with <a href="http://www.blogtalkradio.com/im-with-stupid">Im With Stupid</a> on Blog Talk Radio<br /><br /></div>Jayman <a href="mailto:Jayman3768@gmail.com">Jayman3768</a><br /><a href="mailto:Jayman3768@gmail.com">@gmail.com</a><br /><a href="http://www.twitter.com/jayman_iws" target="_blank">@Jayman-IWS</a> <br /><br /></div>

Thanksgiving Fun Never Ends

Hola once again y’all! As our fun-filled week here in the sensible, yet wacky capital of the American Midwest comes to an end, I give you on...

Saints & Citizens

3:36 PM Tukiyooo 0

<br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt;">In Healing the Heart of Democracy, Parker Palmer worries that American society is losing the virtues, the basic qualities of character, esential to living as a free society. The trainers at my community organizing training last week expressed the same concern. Palmer and they both saw the decline of “civic life” as the problem. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt;">By “civic life,” they mean the intermediate institutions that stand between the family and the massive power of the market and government. Take for example the influence of marketing and media on children and youth. Those are powerful rivals to the authority of parents. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt;">Since 1973, the influence of the market and government has grown by leaps and bounds while the influence of civic institutions has declined. Civic institutions include schools, service clubs, churches, and others – think of 4H, the Grange, VFW, etc. Civic institutions buffer the family from all sorts of destructive economic and social pressures. And they do something more: they are the context in which we learn and cultivate the virtues essential to life in a free society. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt;">This is not a new or novel idea. Benjamin Franklin wrote in his essay “On The Necessitie Of A Publique Religion” that a republic is possible only if churches instill virtues in people that insure that most of us will behave well most of the time without the watchful eye and heavy hand of a totalitarian state. From the founding fathers through sociologists like Robert Bellah and theologians like Stanley Hauerwas in our time, we have known that living together in freedom requires capacities for empathy, restraint, compromise, etc. We learn those virtues in civic institutions, most particularly, churches.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt;">The Epistles are first and foremost guides to how to be a community. They are full of teachings about the virtues we have to master in order to be the Body of Christ – which coincide with the qualities of character essential to life in a free society. If the church is to do its job of forming saints and citizens, we have to get intentional again about teaching people how to deal with each other.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt;">For example, as I write this article, Congress is looking for a way to steer the budget away from the fiscal cliff. Whether this needs doing is beyond debate. Whether it is important is beyond debate. The only argument is over whether failure to avoid the fiscal cliff will be a disaster or just really, really bad. The only way to save the economy from this mishap is compromise. But among the constituents of the Congress only 46% of one party and 53% of the other support any kind of compromise. A substantial percentage of our population is bullheaded to the extent of being self-destructive. We complain about Congress but they merely reflect the populace. We get the government we deserve.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt;">The business of the church is not to teach political or economic ideologies, but it is our job to teach wisdom, common sense, empathy, and forbearance that enable people of good faith to bridge their differences.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt;">I am particularly impressed by Parker Palmer’s Five Habits of the Heart (derived from Quaker Spirituality) that he says are necessary to democracy:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt;">                 1. An understanding that we are all in this together</span><br /><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt;">                 2. An appreciation of otherness</span><br /><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt;">                 3. An ability to hold tension in life-giving ways</span><br /><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt;">                 4. A sense of personal voice and agency</span><br /><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt;">                  5. A capacity to create community</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt;">The practices of story-telling and identifying our deep self interests (things we want and need that go deeper than money, power, and prestige) and finding ways to meet those needs for both sides – all part and parcel of community organizing – are also crucial to being church and being a democracy. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt;">One of our priests just finished training in conflict resolution with the Lombard Mennonite Peace Center. I have not had this experience yet. but from what I have read and heard, it may be another rich source for helping us be the kind of community Paul urged us to be in all his letter, especially 1<sup>st</sup> Corinthians.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt;">Often church folks do not behave toward one another with the kind of wisdom, patience, and kindness one would expect of Christians. If we cannot behave virtuously in church, what can we expect of human behavior in the rough and tumble world of politics? I hope in the coming decade or so we will renew our efforts to teach and practice relational skills, that we will grow stronger in the capacities we need in order to be good citizens and good church people, and that we will cultivate the strengths we need if we are going to get on with God’mission.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div>

Saints & Citizens

In Healing the Heart of Democracy, Parker Palmer worries that American society is losing the virtues, the basic qualities of character...

Planning my menu

2:32 PM Tukiyooo 0

<span style="font-size: large;">We have a group of friends coming over on Saturday night and  I am currently planning what food to serve.  </span><br /><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">I am going to have canapes and cocktails for our guests on arrival.  I will serve my usual taste explosions of blini's with smoked salmon, red peppar hummus in pastry tarts with sun dried tomatoes along with bruschetta and a selection of cheeses.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">Then for the main meal I am going to heat things up with a mild fish curry and a pot of both korma and tikka masala served with rice.  I decided on the above to keep things casual and informal.  </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">I am going to offer two desserts one hot and one cold.  The cold dessert will be a deep dark chocolate mousse served with a shot of milk (!) and the warm dessert will be an apple strudel.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">I will probably make a jug of cosmopolitan and make caipiroska's to order along with a beer selection and wine.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">Luckily I am off work tomorrow so I can go to the shops to gather everything I will need.  </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">Pictures of the completed food to follow shortly!</span></div>

Planning my menu

We have a group of friends coming over on Saturday night and I am currently planning what food to serve. I am going to have canapes and c...

IRON DOME WAS THE ONLY REAL ISRAELI WINNER OF THE GAZA OPERATION

10:26 AM Tukiyooo 0

<br /> <br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 1;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;"><br /></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 1;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;"><br /></span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUIeAVhVHUJW3n4tQyGBhLWmKXert5g0r8HW6EbrQ86hhkMbDHvzc2xpLe4kXaLDUfiBss111WS7c2ypbQZOQx_Jnzziq3So3dTWGDleARgs6MkCh-AeJNcIVxlSFyzrrC2Jy76CO2QSgb/s1600/CE3EB8F5-3F7A-43ED-8132-A37956BA1645_mw1024_s.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUIeAVhVHUJW3n4tQyGBhLWmKXert5g0r8HW6EbrQ86hhkMbDHvzc2xpLe4kXaLDUfiBss111WS7c2ypbQZOQx_Jnzziq3So3dTWGDleARgs6MkCh-AeJNcIVxlSFyzrrC2Jy76CO2QSgb/s400/CE3EB8F5-3F7A-43ED-8132-A37956BA1645_mw1024_s.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 1;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;"><br /></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 1;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;"><br /></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">IRON DOME WAS THE WINNER</span></b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Via DEBKA<i>file</i> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-size: large;">The trio which conducted ISRAEL’S eight-day Gaza operation, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, marked the Gaza ceasefire that went into effect Wednesday night, Nov. 21, by announcing that all the goals set for the Pillar of Cloud operation were achieved.<br /></span> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">They did not reveal the concessions they made to enable the US and EGYPT to persuade Hamas to promise to halt its long missile blitz against ISRAEL. The most damaging was ISRAEL’S consent for EGYPT to act as truce monitor and arbitrator between itself and Hamas and the address for complaints of violations, misunderstandings and broker of future negotiations to follow the ceasefire for regulating future relations.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><br />By deferring to EGYPT’S superior authority, ISRAEL let itself be demoted to an equal footing with Hamas, a group listed as a terrorist organization in the US and EUROPE and dedicated to the destruction of the Jewish state.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><br />In some respects, ISRAEL might have been better served by direct talks with Hamas itself rather than placing its strategic policy on two borders in the hands of the EGYPTIAN Muslim Brotherhood.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">As of 9 pm, Nov. 21, Israel’s security actions on its borders with EGYPT and the Gaza Strip must be adjusted to staying on EGYPTIAN President Mohamed Morsi’s good side.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"></span></span><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">THE USA HAVE VERY LITTLE INFLUENCE ON THE MUSLIM BROTHERS</span></b></span></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">   </div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><br />Netanyahu and Barak’s advisers defend this concession by maintaining that it is superseded by Morsi’s dependence on Washington for the sake of AMERICAN aid grants and guarantees for international credit to rescue EGYPT’S economy from collapse. Cairo will be in the hands of the Obama administration and so ISRAEL has nothing to worry about, they say.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">However reasonable this argument may sound, debkafile’s analysts say it has nothing to do with EGYPTIAN-ISRAELI relations which operate on a separate plane. It is a fact that Barack Obama never managed to persuade EGYPT to resume its gas supplies to ISRAEL after the Sinai pipelines were repeatedly sabotaged, or raise a finger to halt the arms smuggling traffic running through its territory to the Gaza Strip from LIBYA and SUDAN.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Washington has very little influence on the Muslim Brothers when it comes to Cairo’s attitude towards ISRAEL. They are far from being AMERICAN puppets. President Morsi may heed US wishes up to a point with regard to the Gaza Strip and the Palestinian terrorists ruling the enclave, but the Brothers will prefer to line up with TURKEY, SAUDI ARABIA and the GULF EMIRATES and follow the gospel of their radical guru, Sheikh Yousuf Qaradawi, the great champion of suicide terrorism against ISRAEL.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">ISRAEL has gained substantially less than Defense Minister Barak claimed from the eight-day air operation launched to rescue southern ISRAEL from the 12-year old Palestinian missile war waged from Gaza .</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span style="color: blue;"><b>WEAPON<span style="font-size: large;"> TEST</span></b></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCrv39Lcx8wZ2VkJTlU_qqm0yh4jB223AgnbQrJ2f6A8a8hKi5cVrj5VVpj3w1m_wEFcQxb0YGKGVhxZ15SnwhRVg90aKdTCexsVflvuZy29_9l0yIIalT29xd3xdTKJKuWnxGvGhdMGE_/s1600/operation-pillar-of-cloud-t-shirt_olive_men_tshirts_a8102dm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCrv39Lcx8wZ2VkJTlU_qqm0yh4jB223AgnbQrJ2f6A8a8hKi5cVrj5VVpj3w1m_wEFcQxb0YGKGVhxZ15SnwhRVg90aKdTCexsVflvuZy29_9l0yIIalT29xd3xdTKJKuWnxGvGhdMGE_/s200/operation-pillar-of-cloud-t-shirt_olive_men_tshirts_a8102dm.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span style="color: blue;"></span>Hamas undoubtedly took a heavy beating and devastating damage to its command and control, military infrastructure, arms manufacturing and arsenal. But its 15,000-strong militia remains largely intact after losing 50 men and can be reconstituted. In any case, Operation Pillar of Cloud was not meant to be a military contest between the IDF and the Hamas military wing. What it finally boiled down to was a duel between the IRANIAN weapons wielded by Hamas and Jihad Islami and ISRAEL’S Iron Dome missile interceptor.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"></span></span><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;">TWO HOURS AFTER THE CEASEFIRE WENT INTO EFFECT, HAMAS HAD FIRED SOME 12 ROCKETS AGAINST ISRAEL</span></b></span></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">   </div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Iron Dome came out of the ordeal the unchallenged victor.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">With that success in hand, ISRAEL had no need to get into negotiations with Hamas and Jihad Islami over a ceasefire, which neither of the two organizations is expected to honor. A unilateral ceasefire declaration from Jerusalem would have been enough. And in fact two hours after the ceasefire went into effect, Hamas had fired some 12 rockets against I<span style="font-size: large;">SR<span style="font-size: large;">AEL </span></span>. Schools in the south will remain closed Thursday.</span></span></div>

IRON DOME WAS THE ONLY REAL ISRAELI WINNER OF THE GAZA OPERATION

IRON DOME WAS THE WINNER Via DEBKA file The trio which conducted ISRAEL’S eight-day Gaza operation, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Def...

How to Get Health Care While Uninsured | The Billfold

10:25 AM Tukiyooo 0

<base href="data:"><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; color: black; text-align: left; "><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: normal; color: rgb(39, 39, 39); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 15px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">A couple of years ago, I had a cold for about four months. I thought I had somehow caught five colds in a row, which I thought was no big deal, because they were just colds after all.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: normal; color: rgb(39, 39, 39); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 15px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">But then I started dropping a lot of weight while eating a lot of chocolate cake. My hair started falling out, and I had the shakes so bad that my handwriting—which I used to be proud of—became illegible. My short-term memory stopped working. It was difficult to have a conversation, because by the time I neared the end of a sentence, I had already forgotten what I was talking about.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: normal; color: rgb(39, 39, 39); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 15px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Things were bad, but I had no health insurance, which I thought meant that the only thing to do was try to ignore it, and hope that whatever was wrong with me would go away on its own. Each new symptom added another few hundred dollars to the imaginary doctor's bill in my head, which meant that as things got worse, I had more incentive to pretend that I had some sort of temporary bug that would eventually go away.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: normal; color: rgb(39, 39, 39); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 15px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Then one day, I got up to go to work— at the time, I had a part-time job copyediting product labels and PowerPoint presentations—but I couldn't make it out the door. About halfway through my morning shower, I started panting, and my heart was beating out of my chest. It was as if I had just run a mile, when I had actually just walked 20 feet from my bed to the bathroom. There had been signs before this incident: The day before, I found myself so nauseous and out of breath during my four-block walk to work, that I turned around and went straight back home. <span id="more-5401"></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: normal; color: rgb(39, 39, 39); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 15px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">It took near-complete incapacitation for me to bite the bullet and go to the doctor. It turned out that I have <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001398/" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(82, 160, 204); ">Graves disease</a>, a congenital, autoimmune hyperthyroid condition that I'll have for the rest of my life. Missy Elliot, George H.W. Bush and Barbara Bush also have it. Graves disease affects every cell in your body, so it gets bad if it goes untreated. But it's very manageable as long as I take my pills, see my endocrinologist and get a blood test every six weeks.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: normal; color: rgb(39, 39, 39); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 15px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">As a freelancer, I still don't have health insurance. But at this point, I've gone to a bunch of doctors, and have learned some things along the way about getting health care without health insurance. The more I know about the health care system, the less I do stupid things like get so sick I can't function anymore.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: normal; color: rgb(39, 39, 39); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 15px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><strong>1. Doctors aren't just for the insured.</strong></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: normal; color: rgb(39, 39, 39); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 15px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">If you don't have health insurance, the immediate reaction is not to go, and to chew on a couple of echinacea pills and hope for the best. I thought of health insurance as some kind of entry card to the entire health care system, but it doesn't work that way. Plain old cash can get you through the door too. A trip to a doctor costs around $150–$200, or about the price of a nice dinner.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: normal; color: rgb(39, 39, 39); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 15px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">If you're too broke to go for nice dinners, then look for community health clinics, like <a href="http://www.ryancenter.org/rn_cost.htm" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(82, 160, 204); ">Ryan-NENA</a> in New York City, which has a sliding scale for people without health insurance. I used to go there for routine check-ups when I was a student, and they were very nice. I don't remember getting a bill for more than $5. If you're skirting the poverty line, which is an annual income of<a href="http://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty/11fedreg.shtml" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(82, 160, 204); ">$10,890</a> for a single person, then you might qualify for Medicaid, and you should <a href="http://www.medicaid.gov/Medicaid-CHIP-Program-Information/By-Topics/Eligibility/Eligibility.html" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(82, 160, 204); ">definitely apply</a>.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: normal; color: rgb(39, 39, 39); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 15px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">The other thing to keep in mind is that unless it's a true emergency (severed limbs, heart attacks), don't go to the emergency room. Go to an urgent care clinic for things like broken bones, pink eye, and other non-life threatening illnesses, or a private walk-in clinic. They're more pleasant, faster, and much, much cheaper. Call ahead to ask how much, but they usually fall in the $150–$200 range to see a doctor. I went to one in San Francisco, and they were the ones who ended up diagnosing my illness. Last time I had a tear in my cornea, I went to <a href="http://www.nydoctorsurgentcare.com/" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(82, 160, 204); ">this place</a> in Manhattan.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: normal; color: rgb(39, 39, 39); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 15px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Sometimes specialists don't cost much more than a generalist, depending on what you need. The endocrinologist I go to in New York charged $300 for the initial consultation, then $175 for each visit afterwards. While general practitioners are accessible and great, it's nice to have a specialist who knows a lot about my disease. If you've had insurance before, you may have heard that you need a "referral" before going to a specialist. That's insurance provider bureaucracy, and you don't need one if you don't have a health insurance company to answer to.</p><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-style: normal; color: rgb(39, 39, 39); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 15px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "> <br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: normal; color: rgb(39, 39, 39); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 15px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><strong>2. Always ask for a discount at the moment when you are handing over your debit card.</strong></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: normal; color: rgb(39, 39, 39); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 15px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Even if you've made a huge deal since the moment you walked into the doctor's office that you don't have health insurance, they often won't give you a discount unless you ask for one, point-blank. If you've called ahead to make sure they give discounts, be sure to ask again at the counter. It's up to their discretion, but the discounts I've gotten have been around 20 percent off. And since I go to doctors pretty often, I've had a chance to test this out. When I'm too shy to ask for a discount, I usually end up paying more.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: normal; color: rgb(39, 39, 39); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 15px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">The trick is to remember that you're making them do less work because you don't have health insurance. They don't have to pay an administrator for filling out insurance paperwork. They don't have to wait for the insurance company to send a check. They don't even have to send out a bill. When the office gives you a discount, they're not just being nice: You've saved them from doing a lot of work, and deserve one.</p><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-style: normal; color: rgb(39, 39, 39); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 15px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "> <br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: normal; color: rgb(39, 39, 39); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 15px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><strong>3. Blood tests are very expensive, but they also offer big discounts.</strong></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: normal; color: rgb(39, 39, 39); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 15px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">I really hate needles, but the thing about blood tests that scared me the most was the bill. Before I got the right diagnosis for my illness, I went to a doctor who ran $1,200 worth of blood tests. They were all the wrong ones, and told me nothing useful, but I still had to pay for them. It was horrible. I didn't know that discounts existed, so I didn't know to ask for them.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: normal; color: rgb(39, 39, 39); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 15px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">These days, I still have blood tests every six weeks, but my doctor gives me a form to fill out called the "Patient Financial Assistance Application," which I send to <a href="http://www.questdiagnostics.com/home.html" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(82, 160, 204); ">Quest Diagnostics</a>, a testing company. I declare my income, and depending on how much I'm making with my footloose and fancy-free freelance job(s), I fall into either the 50 percent off bracket, or the 75 percent off bracket. Instead of paying around $400 every six weeks, I pay around $100.</p><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-style: normal; color: rgb(39, 39, 39); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 15px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "> <br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: normal; color: rgb(39, 39, 39); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 15px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><strong>4. Drugs can be really, really cheap. Don't assume that you can't afford any medicine at all without health insurance. </strong></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: normal; color: rgb(39, 39, 39); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 15px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">As with everything else on this list, it all depends on what you have and what you need to treat it, but if the patents on your drugs have lapsed, the generic version will be dramatically cheaper. I got a prescription for alprazolam (generic Xanax) for anxiety related to a spike in hyperthyroid symptoms, and a bottle of 30 pills cost $20. Cheap.</p><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-style: normal; color: rgb(39, 39, 39); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 15px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "> <br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: normal; color: rgb(39, 39, 39); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 15px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><strong>5. Medical tourism isn't as sketchy as it sounds, and it is less sketchy than just being sick for years.</strong></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: normal; color: rgb(39, 39, 39); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 15px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">You know how health care costs so much more in America than anywhere else in the world? That's a huge topic that can and should be talked about, but here's how it played out for me. After getting a blood test that showed that my thyroid levels were completely out of whack, I was told that before I could start treatment, I needed to take two more tests. Large machines and radioactive liquids were involved. That sounded expensive.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: normal; color: rgb(39, 39, 39); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 15px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">I called a specialist to ask how much it would cost without health insurance. They estimated that it would be $3,000 to $7,000. Not just expensive, but prohibitively expensive.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: normal; color: rgb(39, 39, 39); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 15px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">I'm from the Philippines, and my cousin is a doctor there, so I called him. He was appalled at the price that I was quoted, and told me to go to the Philippines to get these tests. Here's why: Each of those two tests cost $20. For a total of $40, or the price of a cheap meal for two in the U.S. and—just to give you some perspective of relative prices—$40 is the price of a nice meal for two in the Philippines. Add the price of a ticket, some doctors fees ($14 per visit) and a trip to the beach, and I spent maybe $2,200. My doctor was the head of endocrinology at a big hospital there, and was educated in the U.S. She was, by far, the most capable and knowledgeable doctor I've dealt with so far. The experience was easy, pleasant and safe. There was even a man playing a grand piano in the lobby of the hospital.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: normal; color: rgb(39, 39, 39); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 15px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">There are risks (and probably some discomfort) to going abroad, sight unseen, to get medical treatment, so <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/Features/MedicalTourism/" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(82, 160, 204); ">do your research</a>. But with limited access to health care and rising costs in the U.S., medical tourism is something that <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/talk/financial/2012/04/16/120416ta_talk_surowiecki" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(82, 160, 204); ">millions of people do each year</a>. I suggest involving your doctor in the U.S. Mine wrote down exactly which tests I needed to come back with, and I called my endocrinologist in the Philippines before booking my tickets to make sure that all the logistics worked out. If you don't have a connection in another country, there are <a href="http://www.medicaltourism.com/en/" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(82, 160, 204); ">whole associations</a>dedicated to facilitating medical tourism, and there are a couple of hospitals who have made their name treating foreigners, like <a href="http://www.bumrungrad.com/thailandhospital" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(82, 160, 204); ">Bunrumgrad Hospital</a> in Thailand.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: normal; color: rgb(39, 39, 39); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 15px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-align: center; "><a href="http://thebillfold.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/walletfavicon.jpg" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(82, 160, 204); "><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSHJnVcMcF-pBhDIADrUA17Mz5w9ZtIbwZoMKR4gN1iWq6TKujyWCq6GW8PChStGA-hVxd-hwiEJGjXVEwWV2yrxvO81BoQYwtqcaE7FD7Ikdfajc3aLhwBgeVKABZMTZvJfC2B48kr1k/s1600/walletfavicon-740040.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5813705272023610130" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSHJnVcMcF-pBhDIADrUA17Mz5w9ZtIbwZoMKR4gN1iWq6TKujyWCq6GW8PChStGA-hVxd-hwiEJGjXVEwWV2yrxvO81BoQYwtqcaE7FD7Ikdfajc3aLhwBgeVKABZMTZvJfC2B48kr1k/s320/walletfavicon-740040.jpg" /></a></a></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: normal; color: rgb(39, 39, 39); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 15px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Everyone's health care experience is going to be different, but the aim of this is to demystify the health care system enough to help you start using it. Just because you don't have health insurance, it doesn't mean you're not going to get sick. Remember that you have options.</p><div><br></div></div><a href="http://thebillfold.com/2012/06/how-to-get-health-care-while-uninsured/">http://thebillfold.com/2012/06/how-to-get-health-care-while-uninsured/</a><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; color: black; text-align: left; "><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div>

How to Get Health Care While Uninsured | The Billfold

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How to Get Health Care While Uninsured | The Billfold

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