The whole pink ribbon thing really jumped the shark last month when Martin's potato chips made pink bags of potato chips. I mean, really, potato chips and cancer prevention?! And this was in partnership with the PA Breast Cancer Coalition!

I had my first mammo at 39 and only have had one since then, thinking I was way overdue right now. But after reading some of the letters here I am beginning to think I should just wait until later.

My first one was due to a lump found by my doctor and the mammo came back inconclusive so they ordered an ultrasound. I didn't get too upset about it as I figured no sense getting upset until I'm told it's cancer and it wasn't. But yeah, I understand the whole false positive thing. My friends were more upset about my issue than I was.

As for paps though, I do believe women in their late 20s-30s should get them yearly since this is when the problems start. In 2000, when they first noticed severe dysplasia, the doctor thought I hadn't had one done in several years, it had grown so quickly.

I've always gotten them yearly due to being on the pill. Had I been doing this every other year it would have had disastrous consequences for me as I was told I wasn't far away from full blown cancer. Unless the younger women are all getting Gardisil, I do think every two years is a little scary.

I got into a mini-debate on this teabagging nonsense Wed night when one of my friends posted on Facebook that he was attending the rally & did anyone else want to join him. A few other people I knew responded that they either supported him or would go with him. (I never realized I had so many teabaggers in my social network.)

When I posted my standard schtick about my experience with being denied insurance and then denied coverage for basic things once I finally got onto a crappy private plan after 9 months of being uninsured, I was treated with things like "this bill is taking away our freedom, its unconstitutional" and the typical tea bag rant. Not only is it in the constitution to use taxes to promote the general welfare of the nation, I didn't exactly feel free last year fearing that at any moment I could lose everything if I got some terrible cancer. I also didn't ski last season in fear of not being able to afford an accident.

One of my favorite responses was from someone who said they had two friends who had to declare bankruptcy after an unexpected medical emergency and that they "worked real hard to bring themselves back up after that" like a good patriot should, I guess. Just like that idiotic realtor quoted in the article, I realized any response was worthless. When you have people using bankrupting medical bills causing them to pull themselves up by their bootstraps as a rational argument against a public option there is no point in continuing the debate.

I was also told I needed to get a job, the standard line, even though I'm working full time for the state government which also brought about phrases of "whoever heard of government employees belonging to a union" and "ALL employers offer coverage after 3 months, everyone knows that". (I won't see coverage from my employer until Sept. 2010 due to the union writing "temporary" employees out of the contract, to keep their premiums low, unless you meet a certain # of hrs by July 1, which I missed by 4 overtime Saturdays when it was canceled in the spring.) Plus there was the usual nonsense that I just want something for free, even though I conveniently offered that Medicare isn't free, seniors pay monthly premiums that aren't cheap and NO ONE has ever advocated for a completely "free" program. Hell, I said I had no problem paying for my $400 COBRA since it was Cadillac coverage and I knew anything would be covered if necessary. I just resent paying $200 for a plan now that keeps denying me because it "might" be from a pre-existing condition.

Oh, and for her comment on unemployed people, I reminded her that those on welfare are on Medicaid, they aren't the ones fighting for the public option. Uninsured workers being denied coverage are the ones caught in this mess.

Later on, when another posted that she'd be excited to see Michele Bachman that afternoon, that the insurance companies only had a 2-3% profit last year, and linked to a FOX news article stating how the bill really won't really help the uninsured I realized that I just had to move on.

The whole thread just illustrated what I already knew, that these haters literally have no idea what they are talking about.