Help for age 65 and over with low income

Just wanted to let everyone know about a discovery I made while helping my neighbor with his Social Security. If you have a low income and are 65 years old or older, you can qualify for additional income in the form of an SSI [Supplemental Security Income] check. The caring people in our government want to ensure that everyone who is 65 or older has enough money to live. They’ve figured up how much you need and they’ll subtract whatever income you have*—which is likely just your Social Security check—from that amount and give you the balance. Isn't that great?! So if your income is less than $733** rest your worries here because your money problems are over. You should probably send them a thank-you note.

Another load off your mind will be that if you get SNAP [Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program]—which most likely you do if your income is that low—you don’t even have to worry about reporting that extra income. The Social Security Administration will inform them on your behalf, which is kind of them. You wouldn’t want to take more than your fair share, would you? Of course not. Once your SSI is approved, you’ll get a letter from the DHHS [Department of Health and Human Services] letting you know that your SNAP will be cut due to your increased income.

For example, in the county where I live, if your Social Security check is around $500 a month, you get somewhere in the vicinity of $150 for SNAP and you’ll get about $233 from SSI. Good deal, huh? Of course, your SNAP will drop to about $20. Don’t look at me like that. The Government giveth and the Government taketh away. Everyone knows that. Besides, how much does an old-timer need to eat, anyway. There’s only so much money to go around and the hard-working people who run corporations and industries need subsidies much more than you need luxuries like food, soap, and toilet paper. Stop being selfish. They have to pay their executives enough to live on, you know. Not to mention the salaries and benefits for our elected representatives.

On a side note: if you’re receiving any type of Social Security check, you’re probably aware by now that there will be no COLA [Cost of Living Adjustment] for 2016. Well, the cost of living hasn’t gone up so why should you get more, you greedy SOB [Son of a Bitch]. Quit acting as if you’re entitled to that money you were promised when you voluntarily paid into it. Sheesh. 

You selfish old people are the root of all the troubles in this country. You should have planned for your retirement better than that. 

 *Minus $20

**Some states add to this.

That’s what Earthchild has to say for today. Leave your comments below.

Jumping off a cliff

I'm reminded of what I guess all mothers say at some point: "If everyone jumped off a cliff, would you have to jump?" Implying, of course, that you absolutely should not do that; you should think for yourself. Well, evidently that's not true anymore. Seems we're expected to do what everyone else does. Seems everything you do online has to let you know what your friends did or bought. Whenever I sign on to Facebook, I'm told how many of my friends have given them their phone number. I guess I’m supposed to say, "Oh, if my friends did it I guess I'd better do it, too."

I was just at Walmart's website looking for an item I'd looked at before. I couldn't remember the details so I wondered if there was a history. I noticed a link for *wishlist* so thought maybe I'd added it there. A click informs me of the top items that other people are wishing for. Seriously? I do not give a rat's behind what people I don't even know are wishing for. Sure, if I were trying to get ideas for what a friend wanted as a gift, I'd be glad to have access to his or her wishlist.

Why do I need to know what strangers want? Is knowing what other people want going to influence me to want that item? Reminds me of, "Guess I'll head on out to the store and see what they have that I desperately need that I never even knew existed."

That’s what Earthchild thinks about it. What do you say?

The Facebook Game

Recently I’ve been playing the Facebook Game. I’d scroll through my newsfeed and see how long it takes before I see something incredibly stupid or arrogant or just plain hateful. It never takes long, which is sad because I’m talking about friends and family. I know they don't mean to be hateful, arrogant, or hurtful; they just don't think through what they're saying but I can't point that out to them because, well, I've been pointing it out for years with no change so I don’t see a point in continuing. Wait, doesn't that suggest that they do mean to be willfully ignorant and arrogant? Doesn’t that mean they don’t care whose feelings they hurt? I'm sad now.

It was for this reason that I left Facebook a few months ago. One thing I’ve learned from my hiatus was that staying off Facebook for a few months gives you a good idea which of your friends really has an interest in you and what you have to say.

I missed Facebook so I put everyone in the Acquaintances folder except those who had shown an interest in hearing from me. Now I post to just those people. Then I took everyone on my Friends list out of my newsfeed except the few who aren't going to post something to make me cry out of hurt feelings or sheer frustration. Of course, I care about those people so I hate to miss if they post about something important like a problem or illness in their family or they want to share some joy or accomplishment. To me, that’s the purpose of Facebook. So once-in-a-while I'll pop over to someone's page, scroll through quickly, and hope not to see something too hurtful. So much for *hope*. :(

I suppose you might say that those people might feel the same about the things I post. Good point. I'm not going to claim that everything I post is logical or true. It is to the best of my knowledge but I could be wrong which is why I've asked again and again for such to be pointed out. I'm not going to be angry if someone shows me I'm wrong. I want to know when I’m wrong. Here is a guide for responding:

Unacceptable: "your a dum ass this stupid".

Unacceptable: ::scrolling by while getting offended, angry, hurt, or such; and then fuming or fussing to yourself or others about what a dum ass [sic] I am::

Acceptable: "I don't agree. Have you seen this report? From what I've read___________________________." My response to that might possibly be that I have read that report and we can discuss why we have such differing views of the same information. On the other hand, I might say, "No, I haven't seen that. I’ll go read it and get back with you." and then check that report and do a little more research and thought before responding in an equally polite and respectful manner. If things progress as they should between intelligent people, a conversation would ensue that would be thoughtful and interesting. Maybe others would join in with their well-reasoned comments and information. Someone may be swayed to change his or her mind. Or not. At least the topic was discussed in a reasonable and respectful manner.

Bottom line: It’s okay to disagree; it’s not okay to be disrespectful. 

I *want* to know if I'm wrong so I’ve assumed this was true for everyone else. Sadly, I’ve reached the conclusion that most people don’t want to hear anything that conflicts with their baseless opinion. It’s usually not even something they’ve thought about and typed an opinion. Usually, it’s those memes that go around that rudely express an opinion and tell you to keep scrolling if you don’t agree because they don’t care who they offend. It’s sad, really. Because I’d want to know the truth, many times I've tried to bring about a conversation about something someone posted but lately I’ve reached the realization that no matter what anyone tells them they'll continue to believe they're right. 

It absolutely amazes me to have talked about a thing, giving facts, logic, and my POV and asking for discussion on the matter only to have the same hurtful bullshit posted again by the same person. Ignoring *facts and logic* is bad enough but when I tell someone that their derogatory remarks about me and how what they’re saying isn’t even true, that it hurts me that they think such about me when they know and supposedly care about me, and they post the same tired old meme again, I just want to cry. Sometimes I do cry and I wonder what they’d think if they knew that. Oh. I already told them. :(

That is all. Earthchild has spoken and now awaits your comments.

Don't Care Who They Offend

Today I’m reminded of how some people want everyone to do things their way and when others resist they start this bullshit about how they Don’t Care Who They Offend by doing things their way. News flash. No one cares how you do it. People only care that you’re trying control how they do it. Few people care what you believe, how you live, how you worship, how you celebrate, or anything else. Anyone who is that concerned about what *you* do is an asshole and you should ignore them. Kind of like we ignore you. Which is difficult considering how it’s always in our faces.

You are the only one who is making a fuss. The vast majority of everyone else is just trying to live and it bugs us that you spend so much time spouting off about how you don’t care who you offend. Great. We get it. Do it your way. We don’t care. I suppose you can even keep spouting if it makes you happy but keep in mind that while you’re busy not caring who you offend you are likely hurting the feelings of a loved one who believes differently from you and now thinks you don’t understand or care. And maybe you don’t.

For example: Christmas. The dreaded Holiday Season. You know. The one where you get all worked up because someone else acknowledges that other people celebrate other holidays during the winter and wishes them happiness. Holidays, I might add, that were celebrated long before Christmas was ever thought up.

You do realize that there hasn’t been a long line of annual celebrations since Christ was born, right? It’s not like you’re carrying on a long tradition that was started by Mary and Joseph way back over 2000 years ago. “Okay, Baby Jesus, blow out the candle on your cake now.” Heck, Jesus wasn’t even born in December! [Some would say he wasn’t even born at all. But that’s another blog post for another time.] No, in the 4^th Century the Catholic Church, evidently jealous of all those other religions celebrating the birth of the sun at the winter solstice, announced that Jesus just happened to be born at that time. Several Christian sects denounced this because it was based on a pagan holiday. The Puritans in Massachusetts banned Christmas. There are some sects of Christianity who, even now, don’t acknowledge Christmas for this same reason: they know it’s pagan so they’re not going to celebrate it.

Be that as it may, what I want to know is: why does it bother you so much for a someone to wish another person happiness? Are only people who believe as you do allowed to be happy? I mean, think about what you’re saying: You don’t want people to wish people a happy holiday. You don’t even want them to wish *you* a happy holiday. They are telling you that they hope you’ll be happy and have a wonderful time during the holiday season. How is that a bad thing? Why does their choice of words bother you so much? People have been saying “Happy Holidays” and “Season’s Greetings” for decades and it only became an issue in recent years. Plenty of people still say Merry Christmas. Can you not share? Do you need the entire time between Thanksgiving and New Years to yourself? Why can’t you just enjoy your holiday and leave everyone else alone? Not only do you ruin the season for everyone else, I don’t see how you could even enjoy it yourself with all the anger and resentment you seem to have towards people who differ from you.

So, yes, keep Christ in Christmas. Please. Then the rest of us can celebrate our holidays in peace.

Oh, and... Have a happy holiday. May your days be merry and bright.

Earthchild has spoken. Now it’s your turn.