Maybe I missed the memo.  I just don’t understand how things work today.  There are programs, charities, and all sorts of help out there for someone with cancer.  A bride gets robbed and people step in.  Kids with terminal illness get wishes granted.  Why is there nothing for an adult who needs help with their teeth?
Ok before I get on my soap box I know there are plenty of low cost clinics for people who can’t pay the cost of a regular dentist.  Yes there are also free programs.  Let me tell you the experiences a good friend of mine has had with those.  Please know she doesn’t live very close to a major city.  A fact I’ve teased her about.  So maybe her situation is unique.  There are two clinics close to her.  One in the next state over.  A hour plus drive.  The other is 30 minutes.  Both clinics want cash before doing work.  The cost of a root canal, which she needs right away, anywhere from $200 to $500.  She and her husband are barely making ends meet.   If there is a free clinic, they don't have time or resources to make new teeth, do root canals, or make a cap.  All of those jobs take time, and time is money.  I went and checked with several local dentists in my town.  I also checked with the Department of Dental Health in my state.  In both cases the response I got was that even when a dentist offers a free clinic they get overwhelmed with the number of people who come in.  Many of whom are like my friend.  Unable to get work done.  They put it off, and when they get to these clinics the best the dentists can do in the time they have per patient is find the tooth they can best fix.
I know there have to be others like her.  Those who serve the country in some function.  I know personally of a cashier who has hardly any of her teeth left.  I’m sure we have all met people who have lost their teeth.  My current dentist has told me that dental health is of primary importance.  According to the  American Academy of Periodontology,  poor dental heath may contribute to a number of very serious conditions like heart disease, stroke, and possibly even cancer.  Despite this, the new health care coming in will not really help those who quilify for medicade or medicare when it comes to teeth.
Is it just me or is there a hole in this great country of ours when it comes to helping the less fortunate.  The funny thing is I bet many of these people are not poor.  They probably work regular jobs, and deal with kids, animals and other responsibilities.  Yet they can not get dental work done that they need.  Instead the option is getting their teeth pulled.  She doesn't want that.  I told her to set up an account with gofundme.  I didn't tell her I was writing this.  She doesn't think that anyone will help.  I want to prove her wrong.  I am sending this into the internet, through Yahoo. and a couple of newspapers.   My goal is to establish a grant, or perhaps a chairty that would pay for dental care.  My request is that if you can help, please do.  You can give anything.  I have a link to the gofundme page.  I will donate all the proceeds of this story to her.  Please help if you can.   http://www.gofundme.com/4wdzh0

Golden

This is a work in progress:


  Nick (the bick) raced down the hall. Bursting into Professor Crabner's office, the  senior Astronomer, looked up startled at his top assistant. 
    "What is the meaning of this interruption, Dr. Spanner?"
     "Sir," he said catching his breath. "I've found one!"
     "A Goldilocks?"
      "Yes, sir!"
Professor Crabner stood up and quickly moved back to the viewing room with his assistant following.
    "Tell me exactly what you saw!"
     "Well as you know sir, Vosh and I have been tracking that star in the Aurora system."
     "Yes, the one you dubbed Sol 581?"
    "Yes sir, that the one."  He corrected his glasses. "Vosh said he had seen some wobbles circling it.  The third one would be the best."
    "Has anyone else confirmed it?"
     "We sent our data to five other astronomers.  They have all confirmed."
The two scientests swiftly entered the room and went to the Giant telescope.  Dr. Crabner focused the eye peace, and looked carefully.
     He counted softly to himself. "I count 8 possibly 9 wobbles.  The first two closest to Sol 581 are small, and to close to properly sustain life as we know it.........hmmm. The fourth seems too small, and far away.  The others are further out, though those are more like our planet.  This third one has possibilities.  Tell me about it, Spanner."
     "The zone it sits in is habitable.  It is smaller than ours, and seems to rotate more.  From our calculations it orbits Sol 581 about 365 days."
     "So unlike our Gillian, all of the planet would be habitable."
      "Possibly sir."
      "Have you figured the distance between it and Sol?"
      "That may be the problem,  it seems to be 93 million miles away."
      "So it's a mere 79 million miles further away, than ours. Well that is a small problem, and as the distance that's about 120 trillion miles away from us, makes it unlikely we will ever know in our life time if anything exists there; the question of what kind of life, will for now have to remain unanswered.
    But you know Spanner not all life will be like ours.  If this planet can support life, it might be a combination of us and the Handilies."  Dr. Spanner looked at the Professor skeptically.  He was about to say more, when he realized that Dr. Crabner was no longer paying him any attention.  He had placed his long scale covered limb up,one finger lifted, one eye was looking at something up near the ceiling.  Instantly a long tongue shot out, and the creature had been captured, and automatically devoured.   Spanner didn't like to watch another eat,and focused on  a Handilie  using it's enormous strength to move some equipment.  It came toward him, it's almost translucent white skin, covered with fine white hairs shimmered. 
     "Sam you are getting over heated, time to go. "
     "Of course. Dr. Sssssss."  He garbled.  and left, moving on his two legs at a stiff gate.
     "A combination of us and them? Impossible."  He swung his tail, and went back to the telescope."

.-'"*"'-.,,..-'"*"'-.,,..-'"*"'-.,,..-'"*"'-.,,..-'"*"'-.,,..-'"*"'-.,,..-'"*"'-.,,..-'"*"'-.,,..-'"*"'-.,,.



    Carnegie  Institution: 


          The young astronomer sitting looking at a newly discovered planet, gave a little jump and seemed to shiver.
      "Problem?" Said his coworker.
      "Your gonna laugh, but for just a second there I thought someone was looking at us."



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     Some say I have a warped mind.  All I can say is, it would be extremely egotistical of we humans to think we are the only intelligent species alive.

A warning to those who are wise

You may have already been a victim of this, a banner "pops" or you see an offer to get a "free" item. Perhaps you even had a good intention, saw or heard of a website that offered lots of "free" things. Whatever the reason, once you entered, you gave your information, and then forgot about it. The company that put those banners, and free things up didn't forget about you. Then sent your information into a main system, that then checked to make sure you hadn't registered before, and set your phone number and information onto a screen that was then given to an agent working for the company. That agent will most likely have a computer calling you, because the company tracks all it's calls. If you receive a call like this you will know, because there will be a small pause, and then the person will be saying hello. The pause is from what the industry calls a predictive dialer. Once you answer the call, you will find a nice person on the other end, and they will ask you to verify your information, or will verify it for you. Once done, they will then go through offers of items that the company wants you to take. These can be very useful things, I've gotten coupons for food, lotions, and so on. However there is a catch, and if your saying, "I thought so." Then you are very wise indeed. Unfortunately there are a lot of people out there who will not care about the catch, or may not know that it's out there. And if the agent handling the call is really good, they can find a way to get the listener so excited about the offer that the listener will want to get it immediately! Which is what the agent wants, and the company that hires the agent wants. What is happening is that these people are using our desire to have things immediately to give us clubs that "can give the receiver incredible gift cards, grocery coupons, or something of that sort that and all for a small shipping and handling fee."



Are these clubs legit? Yes. Are the savings real? There are people that will say that they got enough savings to pay for the clubs. Which on the average run about $20.00 monthly. Is is worth your time to listen to these agents, and have them go through their script in order for you to buy it? Only you can decided. So here are a list of clubs I know about, there monthly cost, and the savings you will get, after you read this then you can decide if it's worth your time to listen, or better to just hang up.



At Home Rewards, this club is offered at the end of many sales calls, those that someone has see a product on TV and decided they want to buy it. What they get is the product and any up sells the agent can get them to agree to, and this club, or another. Sometimes both. At Home Rewards offers savings on home improvement, decorating, entertaining and cooking; at nationally known retailers. According to the agent who talked to me about this club I could save "up to $2,500." In exchange for trying the "free" trial, the customer is offered a $50 Wal-mart gift card. If after the 30 days I decide to keep this card, the monthly charge is somewhere around $20.00 As to getting the gift card, this is not automatically in the club information. instead you have to fill out a claim form, send it in, and then do some other paper work, in order to actually get the physical card in hand. I guess a $50 card is worth that.



Shopping Essentials, sometimes offered with At home rewards, is a club that can save on a wide variety of purchases that you are probably already making on a regular basis, such as movie tickets, restaurants, hotels, etc. According to the agent who offered me this one, my savings on this "free" trial would be "up to $4,400". This has a monthly fee of approximately $20.00



Next is Easy saver, offered with a second card called American Leisure. For a small shipping and handling fee, $1.95 each, you can get these cards in your hot hands. In exchange for "looking over the cards" you get to "claim" a $25 gift card from Babies-R-us, and a $25 gift card from Wall mart. These programs allow you to use the club's "risk free" for 30 days. And after that there is a monthly fee, of approximately $20.00 per card.

Need the services of a doctor? 24/7 Call MD can help, this card along with American True Savings offers the customer a $1000 in grocery coupons to try their program for 10 days. These clubs offer the opportunity to look them over for the cost of $1.95 each shipping and handling. After the 10 days, these clubs cost $19.95 a piece.

The last one is a tug on the pride strings, offering a club called US Patriot card it goes hand and hand with a club called Liberty fun pass. This club offers a free club to members of the military, along with assistance for veterans who have been traumatized during their tour of duty. This club goes for 14 days, and costs $1.95 for US Patriot, and $1.97 for Liberty. The person getting the card gets a $25 Wal-mart gift card, for checking the club out. And of course the knowledge that this club is helping a veteran, or military person. Final cost on this one is almost over $40.00.

I'm sure there is some questions about what to do if your offered one of these clubs. My answer is to go ahead and try them out. Especially if they get you discounts at stores you already shop at, but be careful. The agent who is presenting these clubs has been told to do their best to push the club at you. They will listen to you objections, they will seem to respond in an empathic manner. This however is just something they've been taught to do. They will then represent the offer, answering your objections and retrying the sale. They do this, because every club they sign on is an extra $1.00 in their pocket. The scary thing is, many of these agents are told that we the buying public are lier's. They believe that we really want these offers, what ever they offer, and use every selling method at their fingertips to get us to buy. So though the programs are good, the agents trying to sell it to me often turned me off, by pretending to listen and retrying to sell the club to me again. I learned to not give a explanation, as these agents are trained to perceive that as a buying sign. A one word no, and stick to it. If you really want the club, and don't mind being led into the purchase of it, go ahead and get it, you will be helping the agent who sold it to you get a nice commission.

If though you are like me, and don't enjoy people not listening to you, than get the web address, and sign on without the agents assistance.

Have you ever had one of these clubs? Or maybe you've heard of one I didn't mention here. If so, please post me and tell me about your experience, or the club I didn't mention.