Talk It Out
with Jodi
Leib
UNABLE
TO BREATH IN
THE CITY
OF ANGELS
Editorial by Jodi Leib
When one thinks of Los Angeles, one thinks of movie stars and beaches, Beverly Hills and Hollywood. These days, I can only think of one thing....SMOG. What a devastating experience to be driving or walking and inhale the dirty exhaust of the car ahead. Most of the time it's a commercial truck, sometimes a school bus, and often times a landscaping vehicle or the like, guzzling gasoline and expelling it out the back, into my lungs.
The reason I am so appalled by air pollution is because for obvious reasons, smog is a carcinogenic. I am told the San Fernando Valley is one the of smoggiest areas in America and has one of the highest cancer rates in the country. What is happening in America is our income levels fluctuate from month to month, due to the increasing number of freelance employees, yet fixed costs like healthcare and auto expenses are rising. Therefore, living in a polluted city like LA (if you're not within 6 miles from the ocean), for me, is scary because I might actually need my health insurance. I'm afraid that I will have to spend money I don't make on repairing the damage the smog is doing to my lungs and other organs.
Yes, I'm the nervous type. And yes, I feel that smog causes cancer, however the real reason I am so neurotic these days is because I can't even get a doctor to see me on the weekends. I work on Saturday, why shouldn't my doctor? I want the lab to be open on Saturdays and Sundays so I don't have to miss work for a check up. How am I to pay for my huge monthly payments for health insurance if I have to miss work to get there? Things don't make sense. The studios expect you to work from 9-7 or later 5 days a week...when am I to get healthy? One nurse told me I have to prioritize and miss work, because my health is more important. Tell that to the Exec. VP of Television at where ever, when I'm new and still a freelance employee. It's a real catch 22. Heath care providers should accommodate the workingman's schedule. I am a workingman...aren't I? I wish I were, because then maybe I would have been hired on a permanent basis for a guy that wanted a guy to buddy up into the ranks...but that's a-whole-nother editorial. Sexism sucks!
Anyway, I decided to write this article to create awareness that our healthcare system needs our help, input and most importantly, our ideas. The bureaucracy in America is getting worse, and more and more people are losing the comfort of what was once the American Dream. Don't let Bush trick you into thinking he cares about your well-being. He profited over $250 billion dollars from 9/11. Yes, my income has increased from 4 years ago, but marginally. This is not the election to focus on economic policy, this is the election to focus on social well-being programs, and Bush has only one plan for you...what is that plan? New World Order. It's true. If you think I'm paranoid, I am and guess what? Paranoia is an intuition that danger is present. Bush is the most loathed man in the world. 250,000 Americans protested him in NY. No other American president has been so despised by the world. The funny thing about America is that Americans think everyone else in the world is stupid. Let me remind you that you are in denial even if you think you're not. Bush is a disgrace to America, and a failure on the War on Terror. In fact, he is the worst leader America has ever known. Please do not forget this fact. He is a born-again failure. Do not let him overthrow what it means to be an American. Save America and vote for Kerry, my hero.
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