I was quite surprised and disappointed recently to learn that the people who are receiving Medicaid to help pay for their medical expenses cannot get Medicaid to pay for mental health expenses. I don’t understand the logic behind the reasoning of Medicaid not paying for mental health issues when it seems to me that so many people are suffering from poverty because of their mental health issues. When I watch television shows; it could be a news program or it could be an episode of Law & Order or Criminal Minds or some other type of television show related to crime it seems that so many of the people that are committing the crimes are poverty stricken and suffer from mental illness.  I have several close friends and even have family members that are struggling with emotional and mental problems that they can certainly benefit from receiving some kind of mental therapy that they can’t afford to get.  Paying for therapy is just not an option for them.  I am sure that a lot of people would be upset with me if I suggested that Medicaid pay for these kinds of treatments because that would probably mean that income taxes would be raised to pay for those treatments; but I think that in the long run, and society in general, would benefit if these people got the treatments they needed.

I would LOVE to take a Zumba class.  It looks like so much fun!  There are a few things stopping me from taking them, however – time, money, and health.  I don’t feel like I have enough of any of those to be able to take a Zumba class.  And to be honest, I didn’t know of any local places that hold Zumba classes – until recently.  I just found three local places that hold Zumba classes.  Unfortunately, all of the class dates and times are during the days and hours that I work!  Maybe it just isn’t meant to be.  <sigh>

I am so glad that I stayed home today and cleaned house instead of going out into that insanity that is called “Black Friday.”  I remember last year when I heard on the news that in New York there was a crowd of shoppers so eager to get into their Wal-Mart that they broke down the doors and stampeded over a Wal-Mart employee, who was trampled to death by the crowd!  That is absolutely crazy and stupid, and I think that this is a very good reason to stop holding “Black Friday” sales in the future.  There really is no need of this insanity!  Stores can hold good sales without all of this craziness going on, for crying out loud!  There has got to be a better way!

Found this photo of a lady while I was surfing around a bunch of different sites this morning looking for a new hairstyle. The strange thing about it is that she looks just like my sister, Amy. My sister has not yet “gone grey,” but if she did, I know that she and the person in this photo could pass as twins!

There has always been controversy surrounding whether being straight or gay is a “choice” or biological. I was interested this past week to be reading several articles regarding recent scientific evidence that supports that sexual orientation is a biological event. One such article was in Time.com, which talks about what the gay brain looks like. Another, similar article was in the US News and World Report.

My personal feelings have always been that it is nature, not nurture that determines sexual orientation. I wish that people would just “get over it” and treat gay people with the same respect that they treat straight people. I know that some of the larger objections have simply been that they take offense at those who go above board with public displays of affection, but to be fair, that offense is committed by a lot of straight people, too. I can hardly walk down the aisles of the local Wal-Mart without finding myself walking behind a straight couple where the man reaches behind the woman and pinches her butt. I find that very offensive!