I have been traveling a lot in the past couple of weeks. It seems everywhere I go, I find things that I think would be good to blog about, then as soon as I think about them, I forget them. But, I definitely remember this, the smell of summer.
I was recently in the Dallas/Ft. Worth airport and I was walking onto the Skylink, a light rail train, and all of a sudden a feeling hit me that was so familiar. The airport was really cold and people everywhere were wearing shorts, tank tops, and flip flops. It smelled like everyone was going to the beach. It actually smelled like sunscreen.
I don’t even like the beach that much, but I had this crazy desire to catch a plane to Florida. That smell reminded me of being a child. It made me think of how awesome it is that I have a child to share my summers with.
We complain about the heat in Texas, but I don’t know if there is anywhere else that I would rather live. There is nothing better than being in the Texas heat, lathering on some suntan lotion, and jumping in a cold pool. Ah, Texas!
I just returned from a long family vacation in Tennessee and it was great. We had a wonderful time and were able to do a lot of relaxing as a family. It was nice. I think we all needed that.
I have to be honest about something. I haven’t been following the Kagan hearings very closely. I mean, I know she would not be my pick, but I haven’t been watching the news about her or following any updates.
However, a friend of mine sent me a link today to a video that I thought was really great. I thought I would post it here so you guys could watch it if you wanted to. It’s from Americans United for Life, a great group!
Video: Yoest Testimony at Kagan Hearings
Today, I went in to go tanning and the owner of the salon I go to said because of Obamacare, anyone who tans has to pay a “tanning tax!” I know this happened over the last week, but I was on vacation and I wasn’t watching the news.
I am so angry about this!! I know this may seem silly, but this is really crazy to me! It’s not as if it’s a lot of money. I think it’s an extra two bucks a month, but it’s the principle. Tanning only affects one group of people.
If Obama wants to tax people, then he needs to tax something that every group of people use, not just one group. It just seems just really crazy to tax tanning anyway. Okay, there is my rant on the “tanning tax.”
My baby started swimming lessons today. She is taking private lessons, which is really great. She is pretty fearless in the water, but she has a slight problem with people telling her what to do… who can really be sure where she gets that from.
The lessons are only 30 minutes long. She did great the first half and then cried the second half, but the teacher is really great. She just kept pushing her even though she was crying. It must have not been too traumatizing, though. I asked her if she wanted to go back tomorrow and she said yes!!
My birthday is coming up on July 10th. I will be turning 30 years old! I am excited, but it also seems as if I’m finally growing up. It seems to me like I have lived in my 20’s for so long. My birthday is my favorite time of year. I celebrate all week. So, I will start celebrating on Wednesday! 🙂
There are so many quotes by Mother Teresa that I love, but I think this may be my favorite because it is SO true. It’s so wonderful that I will end my post with it. Blessings to all of you!
“Abortion kills twice. It kills the body of the baby and it kills the conscience of the mother. Abortion is profoundly anti-women.”– Mother Teresa
Tanning has now been linked to skin cancer (within the past year) and skin cancer costs us all money on medical expenses. If you have health insurance and you later develop skin cancer, the people in your group will share the cost of your care regardless of if they, themselves, tan or not. If we are all on public health insurance, then everyone shares the cost of your care. Since hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, and other aspects of the health care industry are all federally subsidized – we ALL share the costs related to your healthcare.
This is why there is also a tax on cigarettes. If you smoke, you’re only killing yourself and anyone who lives with you and breathes it regularly. However, since the healthcare costs are born by taxpayers to varying degrees, even if you have private insurance, cigarettes are taxed. I see a junk food tax in our future as well though it will be a much harder fight considering how much we subsidize corn and big farms.
That’s not my problem with the tanning tax. My problem is that it only targets one group of people…people who don’t naturally have dark skin. See where I am going here?? Tanning has been linked to skin cancer for many, many years…whether you get it in a tanning bed, or whether you lay by a pool. If you tax people…you tax something that affects EVERYONE, not just one group of people (the people who have white skin).
This isn’t about white or dark skin because you don’t HAVE to tan and, in fact, it is probably better if you do not. More to the point, you are assuming that only people with light skin tone choose to tan and that is not the case. This isn’t pasty vs more melanin. As anyone is free to choose to tan, the tax DOES apply to everyone because no one, of any skin tone, NEEDS to tan AND anyone, of any skin tone, CAN choose to pay for the priviledge of laying in a tanning bed for some amount of time.
It is a free choice (and more to the point it is a choice for the priviledged), just as smoking is, and both actions can come with consequences that are paid for by everyone.
No one is required to tan for any reason regardless of their skin tone. Just as no one is required to smoke for any reason.
Luxury taxes, such as this tax against tanning, are levied against those who can afford them. If the tax makes you stop tanning, you’re not going to die because tanning is simply not necessary. No one is harmed by people discontinuing the practice (just like smoking). And for those who don’t, the taxes collected go toward some collective benefit – such as healthcare costs.
And, tanning in a tanning bed has only recently (May 27) been linked Definitively to skin cancer, specifically melanoma – the deadliest form of skin cancer. For many, many years, indoor tanning was promoted as the “safer” option instead of tanning outdoors.
This is ABSOLUTELY ABOUT WHITE AND DARK SKIN!!! And, it is absolutely about the more affluent having to pay for Obamacare. Which, shouldn’t be a surprise. The actual statistic is this…10% of the population pays for 80% of the taxes paid in this country.
Funny that you say that it has only recently been linked to skin cancer…I have been tanning WAY before May 27th and have always had to sign a waiver stating that there was a link between the two. Maybe they were just guessing.
And, I find that smoking does not seem to be a choice for the priviledged. I see lots of bums on the street smoking cigarettes. While I worked at PP, there were people who claimed to have no income, and were on Medicaid and the food stamp program, but never failed to have a fresh pack of cigarettes in their Coach purse. However, I am not sure they were members of tanning salons!