Archive for the ‘Personal KCC Story’ Category

Johnny Edwards on CNN, in happier times

Conservative bloggers have known it seemingly forever. The liberal media has ignored it as long as he has. The man with the given name Johnny Reid Edwards once ran for the Vice Presidency as simply “John”.

Edwards grew up in the  small town of Robbins, North Carolina, his television commercials always portrayed his parents as poor, but they were anything but.  They may have been folksy and middle class, but certainly not poor.

After graduating from North Carolina State University in 1974 with his undergraduate degree, he went on to the University of North Carolina to earn his law degree.

He rose to fame and fortune by winning huge awards for his clients (though several were overturned and amounts were reduced).  He was a passionate litigator and this blogger had friends who would go watch him hold court in Raleigh, just so they could attempt to adopt his style. One friend told KCC at the time that “he is a master in the courtroom and he’s simply amazing to watch”.

Today Edwards faces prison.  He has chosen to gamble with his future, once again and is taking his chances with a jury trial.  He refused to accept a plea bargin, as it meant six months behind bars.  But if he loses, it will mean losing his freedom for many years.  Clearly he feels sure he will win, as he has in the past.

Check out the article and indictment on the Wall Street Journal.  The trial is being held in Winston-Salem.

The Planned Parenthood crowd planned well today.  They held their annual  rally at the North Carolina Legislative building on the hottest day of the year, with temps reaching near triple digits, and the air conditioning nearly out indoors.

Your blogger has been following their “determined fight” on Twitter.  They say these abortion rights are crucial for the doctor-patient relationship.   Doctor-patient confidentiality?

Did you know that the abortion doctor never actually sees the “patient” until she is on the table with her legs wide and the “procedure” is ready to begin? In short, there is no such thing as doctor-patient confidentiality because there is no preliminary visit.  Most never even remember their doctor’s face.

Additionally, they march for “women’s health”.  How is an abortion a “health” issue?  It isn’t.  It’s about a woman and a man who got together and decided not to have the baby that God conceived.

Finally,

how many of these so-called “brave” women do you think have actually HAD an abortion?  If they have, do you think they’d still be marching?  No.  It’s the worst thing that can happen to any woman with a soul.  The loss haunts a person for years and the sadness never leaves. It’s impossible to just get over and forget, even if she  has  more children later on.

Next time you see a woman marching for “women’s rights”, ask her if she’s ever had an abortion.  If she has and can still march, you’ll know she is cold and hard inside. She is a person who needs a lot of help.  If she has not, she’s just a silly idealist.

Something to think about…

No Obamacare Needed, courtesy of Liberty Pundits

After the “dot com bomb” towards the end of the Clinton years, I lost an excellent job in the tech sector, as did many of us in the Triangle NC region.  We all realized that those stock options for which we had worked so hard were never going to materialize.  After that, I had to go from contract tech job to contract tech job.  In between, I worked retail at a bicycle shop and occasionally took unemployment and lived off savings.  Eventually, the money disappeared and with the stress, my health problems began to increase.

As my health problems increased, they required expensive medication and regular doctor and emergency room visits.  Being out of a full-time job meant I had no medical insurance.  Since these were the days before Obamacare, I had to make it on my own.

My mother was very kind, but she was going through her own issues.  Times were bad for everyone, and since she was in sales, people weren’t buying.  She sent me a twenty here and a twenty there, and I’ll always be grateful for what she did for me.  In fact, I can never put into print how much I appreciated her emotional support.  But the time had come.  I was past 30 and it was time for me to stop depending on family.

First I needed to find a way to continue seeing a doctor.  I went to the local health department, but they turned me away and told me that I could only come back if I were pregnant.  Since I was single, getting pregnant was not in my future.

I found out that help was available for those who wanted to work to get back on their feet.  With advice, I found a doctor that charged on a sliding scale, based on my income.  His salary was paid by a public/private partnership.  I had to open my books and bring in all my bills to prove that I needed their help.

Second, I applied for what used to be called food stamps.  I dressed up in my most professional looking suit and applied at the Wake County Social Services.  I hung my head and explained how ashamed I felt to be there.  I’d never pictured myself having to go “on welfare.

The case workers in my county liked me immediately and were nicer to me than anyone else. They later explained how that they liked that I didn’t come in EXPECTING something and that I wanted to get off “public assistance” as quickly as possible.  My case was approved, and I could get fresh groceries and cook at home again.  Due to the embarrassment, I didn’t go buy groceries in MY neighborhood.  I went across town where I was sure NOT to know anyone.  I got off food stamps first.

I didn’t want to accept welfare but without it, I didn’t know where my next meals were coming from.  My mother explained how I had worked hard for years and I’d been a taxpayer, as opposed to “welfare queens” who would never, ever get off government assistance.

Finally, I needed help purchasing my expensive medication.  My regular pharmacy helped me with finding generics and my doctor helped me contact the drug companies directly.  I found that the pharmaceutical  companies want to work with people in my former situation.  They did not wish to work with those who had skated by on welfare for years and years, but with those who really needed medication. I worked out payment plans, directly with each company, bypassing the pharmacy.  I promised my pharmacy that I would be back as soon as I could and I thanked them for all they had done for me.

Yes, it was difficult and many nights I spent sweating it out, and crying.  Often I thought I would lose my tiny apartment.  I had to ask my church for help paying my electric bill one month, and I paid them back before I paid anyone else.

I persevered by working two jobs, and a lot of long, low paying hours. It took a lot of faith and a lot of emotional support from my friends, too.   After a few years, things in the economy began to look up and I got a good work-at-home-job in my field, with IBM. I fell in love with the man of my dreams, and got married.  I eventually quit technical writing and am now doing what I really love, writing about politics, and staying at home with our five-year-old son.

I now look back on those times and am thankful for the support of so many, especially those I never got to meet.  I appreciate the prayers of my friends and church family, and the support, and sometimes annoying advice, of my loving mom.  When I went back to work, I had a lot of debt due to those chronic medical issues and it took several years to pay off my bills.

When I met my future husband, he was instrumental in helping me take care of lingering medical bills.  For a wedding gift, my late father-in-law paid my remaining debts.  I will always be grateful to them both

An Atlanta-area union rejected its own leaderships’ campaign to  strike in uncertain economic times, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Sunday.

Work at the Lockheed Martin plant in Marietta will go on today as machinist union workers rejected a proposed strike over a labor contract they deemed “substandard.”

On a 1,366 to 1,006 vote members of the Local 709 of the International Association of Machinists decided to stay on the job.

Many workers feel this is the worse possible time to go out on strike, due to the poor economy.

The AJC continued:

In the face of record unemployment in Georgia, union members felt their action would have made better conditions for people who might be unemployed now but could be hired in the future by Lockheed Martin.

The new contract removes pensions for new hires.  The union campaigned hard for its members to vote to reject the contract, but to no avail.  The old three-year contract expired on Sunday and a new three-year deal went into effect.

EDITOR’S PERSONAL NOTE: As the daughter of a union employee, this blogger remembers well those “every three-year-worries”.  Would we, or would we not go on strike?

Striking meant the embarrassment of being on free lunches at school in front of all class mates.  It also meant KCC went to the front of the lunch line with the other “free lunch kids”.  To avoid this, KCC either brought her lunch each day, or paid for it out of her babysitting money.   At H. J. McDonald Junior High, if you only wanted a salad, they put you at the front of the line, so in a pinch, your blogger could get a salad with her free lunch ticket and no one else would know.

KCC’s mother and father worked very hard and saved and their daughter never wanted for anything. They also taught her the value of hard work and KCC started working at age 11.

However, during strikes, her parents felt that as hard working taxpayers, they, too had the same rights to free lunches as the “welfare mothers” had for their kids.  KCC didn’t care.  It was an embarrassment to be in Junior High and to have to get a free lunch.

Hat Tip: http://www.laborunionreport.com