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Nancy of Mesquite Country:

January 25, 2011

Bureaucracy and Other BS

Recently the hearing aid center that filed for Dad’s Medicaid insurance called and said we needed to bring back the hearing aid that they had furnished for Dad because there had been no insurance benefits coordination with his part B for Medicare. Mind you, no Medicare policy out there pays for hearing aids, dental care, etc., but somehow Medicaid thought they had been misapprised of the circumstances or extent of Dad’s insurance. Anyway, after I stopped shaking my head the first time, I dropped the situation into the laps of the care center personnel. Now we are back to square one with a pocket hearing device that has ear buds. What the hey! It works. And Dad still reads lips very well, when he feels like it. But the point of this tale is that like any government agency, one hand had no idea what the other was doing when the order was approved in the first place.

Sometimes it simply seems that any number of things are taken to a new standard of stupidity before folks allow those things to go back to their normal of simply dumb. A very sweet friend of mine has this thing about being a vocal Christian. She refuses the generic “seasons’ greetings” in favor of a brief sermonette to anyone unwise enough to greet her with anything other than “Merry Christmas” around this time of year. Never mind the fact that some folks are about to celebrate other types of religious or cultural festivals—her holiday matters more. I suppose some folks would prefer to be known for their evangelical gymnastics rather than for their kindness to others, but that is just one of those choices we make.

Then there is the Imam in Iran who gave a lecture on how and when to beat one’s wife. Oh yes, there is a way and a reason to beat one’s wife, you know! The beating must be gentle and not harmful, not to mark the woman’s face or fracture her skull or break her bones. And the man must do it out of respect for her because she needs to return to his bed. THAT is the reason—the only reason—he should beat her—according to this cleric. If she refuses to return to his bed, he should admonish her or refuse to sleep with her. THEN beat her for not sleeping with him! Now that makes perfect sense…somewhere in some insane asylum.

Logic must require new calibrations every few seconds in some arenas—disregarding all politics at the moment and just referring to things that happen on a yearly basis. For instance, we have New Year’s Day. Now we will grant that the days have begun to lengthen by January 1. Whooptee-big-do! So the ice on the windshield of the cars and trucks might actually defrost on its own by two or three in the afternoon on a good day—or not. The point of having a NEW year should be a good thaw, some kind of animal activity—the arrival of the first old crow might work—or something encouraging us to poke our heads out from under the electric blankets. And WHY, in all that makes any kind of sense, would anyone want to invest in a heavy duty hangover and insobriety as if it were anything to celebrate to see one snow day follow another? I am still shaking my head and wondering how drinking alcohol makes anyone merry—much less wise.

About the only thing really nice about January has to be the arrival of the seed, flower, and tree catalogs. Of course, they have their own version of the ‘When it’s ok to beat your wife’ routine in telling us what kind of soil certain plants need and whether or not those plants need sun, shade, or partial sun or shade. Also, the pH of the soil and the timing of first or last frost simply add interest to the final tally when the wish list is complete. Let’s face it; beating a wife is easy compared to growing some plants in some places. In our part of the world, it is sunshine, extreme sunshine, and more of the same.

Ok, it is almost easy to segue into the next step of illogic—let’s talk about theft and compare theft to theft or right to wrong or wrong to right or anything in between if that suits the Imam and his wife beating scheme. Is it ok for a city or state to ‘steal’ a vehicle if the person driving it does not have a driver’s license? Never mind whether or not the person is a citizen of the U.S., does driving without a license constitute enough of an offense—somewhat like refusing to sleep with a wife beater—and give a city or state the right to tow, ticket, or otherwise confiscate a vehicle? When Texas came out with the law that said ALL drivers must purchase liability insurance, it almost seemed like a good idea. But, of course, the law was meant to encourage everyone to keep at least a minimum amount of insurance on his/her vehicle. Two problems quickly arose with this idea: those without driver’s licenses did not insure their vehicles; those with the minimum of coverage could not even begin to pay for an accident with the backside of an 18-wheeler—much less with one of those 100 K luxury model cars. So the rest of us had to pay for liability insurance that covered our own backside plus the under coverage for the minimum policies. (And yes, Salina, I realize that an 18-wheeler is MUCH more expensive than a luxury car or pickup.)

Certain places in Texas and California have been doing a nifty little business in what I consider car theft by towing and ticketing vehicles that do not have a licensed driver. Now, to be semi-just, I think it is only fair that everyone should have to play by the same rules—insurance, license, tags, inspections, etc., are all within the rules of the game. They are also an enormous source of income for states—not to mention insurance companies. The biggest problem seems to be that the folks who hand out drivers’ licenses want to give them ONLY to legal residents of the states. Imagine that! That would seem like a bit of a catch 22 if entering the U.S. did not involve some subterfuge on the part of illegal aliens. And those folks should be able to read at least some English since our road signs are mostly in that language. Whoever heard of learning the language of the country you plan to visit or live in? Literacy! Imagine anyone thinking it a necessity!

Someone mentioned to me that if the situations were reversed, I would not even make it across the border without a passport, visa, or whatever documents were required by the Mexican government. Dearly beloved, let me tell you right here and now that I don’t want ANY part of Mexico. Folks disappear down there on a daily basis and bodies show up in strange places. That is not to say that we don’t have some major problems here in the U.S., but let’s face it, most of us know our neighborhoods are relatively safe. No matter how inexpensively one could live in some nice area of Mexico, one would always be a foreigner. In the U.S., we all look a little foreign to me—especially in the morning.

Finally, let’s get back to Dad and his biggest complaint—besides the fact that he can’t sit in his room and smoke one cigarette after another. He thinks that since he HAS a driver’s license, he should be able to drive his car. Dad is only 85 and one of his great-grandson’s is about to get his beginner’s license at only 15. Guess which one I would prefer as a chauffeur! Now even our daughter-in-law makes fun of MY driving, but the reason I stop at least a car length behind the car in front of me has to do with the type of brakes on cars when I was learning to drive. We did NOT have power brakes or power steering. We used our muscles and leaned to get the car in the right position and drug our feet to slow it down. Well, almost! Even so, folks today who actually LOOK to see what is coming, have a tendency to run right up on bumpers or right up to within a hair of the stop signs. And if the little ole grey-headed lady or man in front of them is not doing a fairly good jack rabbit imitation at the stop light, WOE be unto them. Hand signals are NOT necessary.

No, I think logic is just a good stepping stone to imagination. Our dog seems to think that humans have all these noises that they can make with bells, whistles, and sirens so that some things are just overkill and really illogical. HarleyB is a very logical dog, however. He sits up in the back seat of our truck and rests his head on the ledge of the back window and lets out a very profound sigh. See, he trusts my driving. But he wants to climb in our laps when these crazy folks start firing off the rockets for their celebrations. As far as he is concerned, fireworks are the height of stupidity! I think he has a right to his doggie opinion.

Visit Nancy's article archives for all her columns.

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