Text of the Letter from Natoma Canfield to President Obama

Dear President Obama

I am 50 years old.  I was diagnosed with carcinoma in-situ 16 years ago and following my divorce 12 years ago I became self-employed.  After my Cobra ran out I was able to find costly, but affordable health insurance.  As a responsible individual, I have struggled to maintain my individual coverage and have increased my deductible and out of pocket-limits in an attempt to control my cost and keep my health insurance...........continue

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/03/15/im-here-because-natoma-0/letter-text

For Victims of Domestic Violence, Health Care is a Lifeline

Sunday night’s historic vote on health care reform helps women across the board.

A greater percentage of women are more likely than men to be uninsured or underinsured and to struggle to make ends meet. In addition, those women who manage to get coverage are more likely to pay higher premiums than men. Women who suffer from preexisting conditions are often denied coverage altogether.

For all women, the advent of health care reform is a victory. For domestic violence victims, it is a lifeline.
Domestic violence causes 2 million injuries and more than 1,200 deaths every year . These women are not strangers - they are our daughters, our mothers, our sisters, our co-workers, and our neighbors. For victims of domestic violence, access to health care is critical...........continue

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/03/23whats-health-care-bill

Read On Your Lunch Hour

 Every day we wake and drive to work and we see people walking around smiling, giving the appearance of happiness. We envy them. We wish that our lives were like theirs. We drive home and turn on the television and we see people walking around smiling at their friends and spouses and we envy them and we wish we could live a life just like theirs.   These thoughts bring misery into our lives because we believe what our eyes see. We accept what is in front of us as being true. We do not see the make up artist in the background making the final touch ups to the actor’s face. We do not see the diet pills the actors shovel down their throats at night so they can avoid eating. We believe what we see…..continue

http://www.touchedbythelight.us/inspirationmessage.pdf

"YOU NEVER KNOW WHO YOUR NEIGHBOR IS'

If you want to live a long and successful life then you need to know what is going on around you.  You must know what is going on around you so you can protect yourself.   The problem so women have is that they are too busy obsessing over their appearance or family or their job to take time to think about their personal safety.  You must develop a habit of taking time out of your busy day to accumulated information that can help save your life.  You need to read and listening.  To accomplish this you need to reduce the time your spending shopping, cleaning and cooking.  You need to observe the men and women living around you.   Hundreds of single woman and married women are murdered by their neighbors.  You need to observe and give yourself time to think about the people working around you.  Some of your male coworkers may not be the men you think they are.  Thousands of women in this country have been raped during office parties or stalked by male coworkers.   So if you want to live a long and successful life the best habit you can develop is to become more observant.  To accomplish this task you will have to read and accumulate survival knowledge.  

http://www.touchedbythelight.us/TheCareerRapistVolumeThreePartOne.html 

Just Image - Rape and The Military

It takes courage for a woman to leave home at a young age and join the military to serve her country.   It takes courage to try and change one’s life without resources or family support.  Every year thousands of young women who cannot afford college engage their courage and decide the military is one of the best ways to transform their lives.  They board a bus and travel to cities far from home just to be apart of something larger than them.  They seek to become better people.    Leaving home to serve your county is an act that should be admired and applauded because these women made a decision to try and make a difference with their lives.  Yet imagine how these women feel once they have engaged the military and they find out that their contribution to the corp. is not met with respect but met with distain.  Imagine how a young woman feels after she is raped and humiliated over and over again by either her superior or a fellow soldier.  Just imagine!

http://www.touchedbythelight.us/TheInvisibleWar.html 

Women And The Affordable Care Act

For years American women have been at the mercy of the private health care companies. Without insurance, many women are unable to access basic preventive care and often rely on their spouse's employer-provided insurance plan. If these women divorce they lose this health insurance coverage. 

The passage of the Affordable Care Act changed all of that. 

The new law protects the health of women and their families in a variety of ways: insurance companies can no longer charge a woman more just because of her gender; they cannot discriminate on coverage simply because a woman has had a Caesarean section or because she was a victim of domestic violence; it protects women's health by increasing access to preventive services; and children can longer be denied care because of a pre-existing condition. This means women and their families will be able to get the care they need when they need it most.  You should read as many articles as possible to learn how the passage of this law will benefit your family.

http://www.enewspf.com/opinion/34642-supreme-court-decision-upholding-the-affordable-care-act-will-benefit-millions-of-women-plan

The Violence Against Women Act

For centuries violence has been used to control women.   Women still are considered property to be used for the benefit of man.  Women have been beaten, whipped, raped and generally brutalized.  There is not a country in the world where women have not been mistreated.  The cruelty has gone on for year and year after year.  Every day in this country a woman is murdered.  She is murdered because she wants a divorce.  She is murdered because her husband comes home angry and she is murdered because she speaks up for herself.  Young women are being brought into this country and sold to hundreds and hundreds of men over and over again to be used sexually.    These young women are forced to perform unspeakable sexual acts just so a man can make money.  Once these young women have been used up these women are then discarded in trash cans through out the city.  It is now time for women to stand up for one another and take an accounting for their lives.

http://www.touchedbythelight.us/actnowstopviolenceagainstwomen.html