P+P again

Oooooh that was comfy last night ...... like slipping on an old shoe ..... like finding your favourite sweater behind the sofa after you thought you'd lost it ..... and I'm not quite sure whether that was a good thing .....

Going to the Poz & Proud meeting last night for the first time in a very long time was no different than going to the last meeting. It felt wonderful to be with the boys again, arguing, discussing, sussing, encouraging, debating, moaning at the Schorer as usual, and I love them dearly.

But it didn't feel like a lot had been achieved in the in-between time.

There we were again, just like last year, just like the year before, complaining about the Schorer Stichting and their horrific Press handling of the Schorer Monitor 2006/07/08 etc.

I suppose its because the Schorer has never actually cared whether the people it is supposed to serve are happy or not. I suppose its because they've never had to. Or have never been made to.

It was good to be together again but it was depressing to be reminded of the lack of change.

Grace Jones - Corporate Cannibal

tip from GJ ....

RAPIDO laser show amsterdam november 2008

I'm somewhere in there .....

Rapido!

Just to prove I was there ....... me and Taco.

AMEN

Next Sunday in Church ....

democracy

Don't get me wrong, I'm happy that there's a Democrat in the White House.

I just don't want you all to forget that it is a man who, because of his religious convictions, opposes same sex relationships.

That's all.

Health Care for the Rich

Its getting so that only the rich can afford to be ill these days, and I'm afraid it doesn't seem to be getting any better in the near future.

As chronically ill person it was distressing to hear that next year all the small tax deductibles will no longer be available. So no writing off extra medication, therapy, hospitalization etc that is not covered by the insurance companies. Its more than unfortunate of course that insurance companies these days have decided that even with very expensive policies usually not more than 75% of this kind of thing is claimable anyway.

Psychiatric help has also been dramatically reduced to a maximum of 12 sessions a year with any kind of psychiatric practitioner, psychiatrist or psycho-therapist. As if the government/insurance companies can determine that's enough. "Sorry sir but although you are chronically ill and have mental health issues that may or may not be related to this, you are officially healed after 12 sessions with a shrink".

Imagine my distress a couple of days ago when I found out that as per january 2009 all medication used to treat anxiety disorders, stress disorders, sleep disorders and the like will no longer be paid for by the insurance companies.

No, not even the most expensive policies will honour a prescription. People with mental health problems will have to pay for their own medication.

The logic?

According to the leaflet ....

"This sort of medication is only meant to be used for a short while. Having to pay for it yourself will help you to keep its use to a minimum."

On a day that one of the largest countries in the world decide who will be their leader, where one of the crucial questions is a National Health Care Plan, on the other side of the water what was the most liberal of all countries is rapidly demolishing its Health Care.

.... and no-one says a word ....

I'd start saving up for your HAART medication if I was you - after all - it was your own fault now wasn't it ....

Silence = Death

Bjork (Play Dead)

I play dead
it stops the sting
I play dead
and the hurt stops
its sometimes just like sleeping
curling up inside my private tortures
I nestle into pain
act suffering caressing me now