Saturday, February 22, 2014

Michigan Drivers: HELP ME HELP ALL


Michigan auto insurance has gotten out of hand. I have always shared ownership with my sons when they purchase a car so I can put the insurance in my name making it cheaper and affordable for them. My nineteen year old son recently bought a car. He tried to register it on his own. He is very self-sufficient. He was excited. He wanted to do it on his own. Then the call came. “Mom, can you put the insurance in your name?” Of course, I had done it for the others, it was his turn. I was in awe as to why. “Mom, they want $7,000 a year for no fault insurance. I’ve never even had a ticket.” I knew I could get it much cheaper, at least affordable. After all, my age, my driving record, low cost no fault, right? Boy was I surprised.
I called to get Austin an insurance policy. The first quote I received was $3,200 for six months. The absolute cheapest basic insurance I could find for Austin was through e-surance at almost $1,300 every six months. The next cheapest no fault I could find was at $3,610.00 a year. That was with, and I hate to admit this, an AARP discount (Which, of course, I would have to join before the discount could go into effect.)

Talking with many difference agents, I learned that Michigan has the highest insurance in the nation. It’s because of the Personal Injury Protection mandate in our required auto insurance. I learned that if you don’t have employer paid medical insurance, your auto insurance is higher. Health coverage, unless its employer paid, doesn’t cover auto injuries. So, by law, we have to carry two separate health insurance policies? It doesn’t make sense. To top of it all, there is the Michigan Catastrophic Claim Association PIP Premium. So below is the list of costs for the most basic no fault on a car that my son paid $800.00 for, a 1998 4-door Saturn under my name:

Bodily Injury Liability $20,000/$40,000 $324.00
Damage Liability $10,000 $9.00
Uninsured Motorists $20,000/$40,000 $10.00
Underinsured Motorists $20,000/$40,000 included
PERSONAL INJURY PROTECTION $3,078.00
PIP Catastrophic $189.00
TOTAL: $3,610.00

Without the Personal Injury Protection and Catastrophic insurance the cost would be a mere $343.00 a year. Payments of $28.59 per month is affordable. The people should be allowed to opt out of this high cost of insurance. Yes, Michigan says if you are hurt in an accident and out of work they will send you a check for the rest of your life, but nobody knows what that monthly payment will be. The catastrophic insurance will pay if you lose limbs. Why can't we take personal responsibility? This should be a choice, plain and simple.
I interviewed many insurance companies. One agent told me a twenty-eight year old woman moved from Michigan to Indiana. Her auto insurance plummeted $900.00 per six months to the reasonable $300.00 it should be. Another agent told me that they quit offering full coverage, because in Metro Detroit many policies exceed $10,000 per year and people just simply can’t afford it. Another agent explained a $200.00 policy, good for 1 week, just to obtain license plates, due to skyrocketing costs. All agents blame the state. They are suffering, too.

I began talking to people about this situation. A Lincoln Park small business owner almost hit the roof when he received his insurance renewal. Out of anger, he blamed his insurer and called another company. The agent came in and told him that everyone should expect a 25% increase in their insurance upon renewal due to…get this…”Obamacare.”

I talked to a young mother, 28, who just purchased a vehicle. There was no way she could afford $500.00 down and $500.00 a month for no fault insurance. The last time she registered a vehicle is was $130.00 down a little over a year ago. She had no choice but to opt for the $200.00, one week coverage.

A few said they would rather take the chance without insurance. The ticket cost is about $175.00. In Michigan, there is Drivers Responsibility through the Department of Treasury which demands payments of $200.00 for two consecutive years if you are guilty of driving without insurance. Sorry, but $575 in two years surly beats that same payment in a month. I still don’t understand driving isn’t a right, it’s a privilege. If that is so, how can the state mandate it? How does the Michigan Department of Treasury collect on a paid violation? By having a driver’s license we earn the privilege.

I say it’s time to put the brakes on imposing irrational costs by the State of Michigan. This is totally out of control and out of hand. While everyone else is falling into the smokescreen traps we can’t continue to allow ourselves to be sent to the poor house. Young people cannot bear this expense, especially when their parents carried them on insurance and they have never been insured on their own. This makes it impossible for many to follow the law and be law abiding when there is no way they can afford to drive legally. Have we become a state of people where driving is only a privilege for the elite few?

Uninsured motorists are referred to as dirty drivers. Filth is a much better word, not towards the drivers, but toward that state that mandates such ridiculous cost without the choice to opt out of their coverage. People are dirty because they can’t afford the insanity imposed, but people are filthywhen they impose such hardships on their people.
I am furious. I think it’s time that the people in Michigan stand up and take responsibility for what is being done here. I am willing to write the proposal if I know people will sign the petitions. There is only one way to change it and we all know where that begins.

Please contact me and let me know if I have your support in standing up against these absurd costs. I will try my hardest to make the change, but I need to know if I have support.
Till the next time,

Pam

Thursday, February 13, 2014

Today, I Am Gay


Today, I am gay. Today, I choose to love Joanie, not Joey. Today, I desire the touch of another woman. Today, I long to the kiss the lipstick soft lips of my lover, while smelling my own perfume as I explore her nakedness. Today, I choose love over make believe, passion over sex, and courage over acceptance. Today, I will shout in every Cathedral, every Church of Christ, every Assembly of God, and every dwelling that claims to worship Jesus Christ that I love a member of the same sex. Today, I respect my predecessors who have suffered at the shame of family, degradation of society, and the immense condemnation of Christians who hide their hatred behind my God.
No longer will we, the Homosexual-American, commit suicide from the depression of non-acceptance, harassment, and hatred. No longer will we cower, hide in the proverbial closet, or feign heterosexual relationships to please others or to gain acceptance. No longer will we play don’t ask don’t tell within a military full of patriots, as I too, am a patriot. And today, I will not hide and I will openly show love to my partner. Today, I am free.

Today, as a Homosexual-American, a lesbian, or to some of you, a bull dike, I am going to tell some people exactly what I feel inside my carpet munching heart.
Representative Lynn Luker (R-Boise) proposed an anti-homosexual bill. This bill would allow doctors, lawyers, police personal, or any other licensed professional to deny services to anyone in the LGBT community if our way of life offends their religion. It bans pulling the license of those who discriminate against us, via their religious views. Considering many male Christians, and Christian leaders, (not only Catholic) has had indiscretions with young boys and girls, (which trumps our non-pedophile homosexuality) you should check yourselves, not exempt yourselves, in the same vein.

You are hypocrites. You are not followers of the Christ you claim to worship or you speak with a forked tongue. If God is the Creator, I was equally created. I am your sister, you are supposed to love me, not pass judgment on my sexual desires in the privacy of my personal life. As a homophobic, are you not hiding your real desires of homosexuality? Are you hiding deeper than in a closet, but in the locked deep cellar of your mind? Don’t you know the same God you claim to worship knows what’s in your heart? Will you be damned to eternal Hellfire alongside of me, my brother? Or will you burn deeper and at a higher temperature? I hate no one. I don’t discriminate or push my lifestyle onto you. Am I following the true word over your words that spread hate and injustice?

This excerpt is taken from the original article:

The Cornerstone Family Council is backing Luker’s proposal, which is now awaiting a full hearing, to prevent the state from passing laws to block people from “living out their faith.”

“The free expression of religious freedom is no longer understood for what it was intended,” said Julie Lynde, executive director of the conservative Christian group associated with Focus on the Family. “There’s a double standard against people of traditional religious faiths.”

As an American, I fully agree that every American has a given right to live out their personal faith, but that isn’t faith that imposes sanctions on others. It’s their personal faith, between themselves and their God.

Julie Lynde needs a history lesson if she believes that freedom of religion justifies condemnation of others as if Christians hold the septor to the gates of Heaven. The reason for the freedom of religion clause was based on everybody’s right to believe as they chose to believe. It was to keep people from imposing their religions on other sects or believers. It was written because of all the violence and death caused by the believers that killed anyone who believed in a different road to the same God. It was created so people would be free from religious persecution on all levels. It was also written well enough to allow all readers to know, without a doubt, that America was a nation of diverse religions and did not and never would, have a national religion. In this regard, Christianity fails. It was written outside of politics and it was well documented that religion had no place in government. The founding father's could foresee the insanity in fundmentalist beliefs.

Unfortunately, this bill passed through the State Affairs Committee with an 11-5 vote and now moves on to the House.

Just for today, I understand how far from American constitutional values we've grown.  I have learned, in just a day, what a travesty our nation is. We live in a state of the imaginary illusion of freedom. Just for today, I vow to vote against any republician, or anyone that represents any republican, that chooses to impose sanctions against the very crux of America, Freedom.

Just for today…