Pistarkle
Pistarkle's JournalPutting an End to Unaffordable Nosebleeds
If an uninsured individual is treated for a severe nose bleed at your local hospital as a result of an automobile accident within the next second, who do you think pays the bill for his/her hospital care - YOU AND THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT!
An article in answers.yahoo.com entitled “Who pays for the medical costs of the uninsured”, states “hospitals PASS THE COST of treating the uninsured off onto PAYING PATIENTS by overbilling their insurance” – “This is where patients find those proverbial $10 Tylenol pills on their bills when they closely inspect them for errors.” A report by the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured entitled “The Cost of Care for the Uninsured: What Do We Spend, Who Pays, and What Would Full Coverage Add to Medical Spending” states: “over two-thirds of government spending for uncompensated care comes from the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT, most of which goes toward payments to hospitals in the form of disproportionate share hospital payments.” The “individual mandate” - which goes into effect in 2014 - will cut the above “hidden” costs you AND the federal government ALREADY dish out to compensate medical services for the uninsured, AND your current insurance premiums will be REDUCED because the overall costs of coverage will be spread among a GREATER NUMBER OF PEOPLE in the new “health insurance exchanges”.
CURRENT BENEFITS all Americans receive as a result of the Affordable Health Care Act (unless you are a woman living in a state where the REPUBLICAN Governor and/or REPUBLICAN state legislators have put laws in place to DENY you coverage) are: 1) insurance companies can NO LONGER deny coverage due to pre-existing conditions like diabetes, cancer, high blood pressure; 2) ALL Americans joining new insurance plans have the freedom to choose from ANY primary care provider; 3) ALL Americans joining a new health care plan can receive recommended PREVENTIVE services, like mammograms, vaccinations, new baby care and well-children visits with NO out-of pocket costs; 4) women CANNOT be charged more for individual insurance policies simply because of their gender; 5) Americans are freed from worrying about losing their insurance, or having it capped unexpectedly if someone is in an accident or becomes sick; 6) now you can add or keep children on your health insurance policy until they turn 26 unless your child’s employer offers health coverage; (healthcare.gov)
SENIOR CITIZENS, also, benefit from the Affordable Health Care Act according to a factsheet published by the Alliance for Retired Americans entitled “Myth Busters: New Health Law & Other Myths”:
MYTH: The New health law is bad for seniors
FACT: The new health law provides seniors under Medicare a FREE yearly medical checkup and FREE preventive screenings for diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and cancer.
MYTH: Cuts to Medicare advantage plans will hurt seniors!
FACT: The new health law ELIMINATES the wasteful overpayments to private Medicare Advantage (MA) plans.
MYTH: The new health care law will bankrupt Medicare
FACT: According to the Medicare actuaries, the new health law EXTENDS the life of Medicare by 7 Years.
MYTH: The new health law has increased Medicare premiums
FACT: The new health law has NOT increased Medicare premiums and, in fact, in some cases, it has REDUCED premiums.”
If Tea Partied Republican Congressional members, Governors, state legislators and state attorney generals get their way after the Supreme Court completes its hearings and deliberations on the Affordable Health Care Act, 28 million adults under the age of 65, 13 million adults eligible for Medicaid, 4 million children eligible for Medicaid, and 44 million people who would be covered through health insurance exchanges (“America Under the Affordable Care Act” at rwjf.org) will be paying through their noses for health insurance coverage IF they can afford it!
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You can get more FACTUAL information about the Affordable Health Care Act at the following locations:
www.healthcare.gov/law/index.html (health care law and you
theobamadiary.com/2012/03/22/the-story-of-the affordable... www.americanprogress.org/issues/2012/03/aca_womens_quiz... interactive quiz: how the affordable care act benefits women
Trayvon Martin: The Tip of the Iceberg
The anguish of Trayvon Martin’s parents along with the international outcry against the brutal, senseless circumstances surrounding his death are rightfully focused on Florida’s ‘Stand Your Ground” law. A report by the California Research Bureau, California State Library entitled “Concealed Handgun Laws and Public Safety” reported that “between 1987 and 1994, the violent crime rate in Florida INCREASED 11.7 percent. According to the FBI Uniform Crime Report, Florida, also, had the HIGHEST violent crime rate of ANY OTHER STATE IN THE NATION.” Sadly, the circumstances surrounding Trayvon’s death are only the tip of the iceberg.
The NATIONAL GUN ASSOCIATION (NRA) is a major player in the passage of RECKLESS gun carry laws in many states as well as in Congress. An article at chicagotribune.com points out the NRA’s influence on the legislative process: “when law enforcement has to be neutral in the discussion of public policy so they (NRA) have a seat negotiating (gun) legislation, clearly something is wrong with the equation.” Another article entitled “NRA Money Influences Police on Concealed-Weapons Prop” points out how the NRA BUYS gun carry legislation. “Even though “70%” of St. Louis police officers polled were “against a right to carry proposition”, a spokesperson for the Missourians Against Crime who supported it, stated that “her organization has most certainly been a beneficiary of NRA money, both from the national office and the 103,000 individual NRA members living in Missouri.” A motherjones.com article entitled “In Re Trayvon Martin: How the NRA Pushed the Right to Pack Heat Anywhere” quotes statistics reported by the Legal Community Against Violence - “in just three years, 22 states have WEAKENED or ELIMINATED laws restricting the possession of concealed weapons.” The article further states “these measures are EASING eligibility and testing requirements for obtaining a permit, OPENING UP public places to concealed weapons, and EXPANDING legal protections for those who put their guns to use.”
REPUBLICAN STATE LEGISLATORS appear to be in a ‘lethal weapon’ contest to see which state can out-legislate the others regarding MINDLESS gun carry laws. A Washington Post article states “backed by the NATIONAL RIFLE ASSOCIATION, first in Florida and then around the country, state legislators have pushed for expanding the right to use deadly force. Twenty-one states now have laws giving citizens WIDE LATITUDE to use deadly force WITHOUT first attempting to retreat.”According to an article in usnews.com entitled “Open Carry Gun Laws Turn the Country Back into the Wild West”, REPUBLICAN majority state legislators have passed laws to “brazenly carry firearms into restaurants, bars, schools and churches”. WISCONSIN REPUBLICAN legislators passed a concealed carry law which “allows weapons on parts of college campuses and churches”. OHIO REPUBLICAN legislators passed a law “allowing permit holders to bring HIDDEN, LOADED handguns into restaurants that serve alcohol”. According to an npr.org article, MICHIGAN REPUBLICAN legislators passed a bill that “WOULDN’T eliminate ‘no carry’ zones such as schools, stadiums and churches.” You would think that the tragic shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and the killing six people would caution ARIZONA REPUBLICAN legislators to pass strict gun carry laws, but they passed a law that “allows its citizens to carry concealed weapons without ANY permit”!
REPUBLICAN HOUSE MAJORITY members have introduced many NRA-SPONSORED BILLS to expand gun carry laws. According to a gunowners.org report entitled “Firearms Legislation in the 112th Congress”, Representatives Boren and Scalise sponsored a bill to “extend interstate” gun purchasing powers. Representatives Jackson and Lee sponsored legislation “making it difficult to LEGALLY TEACH your kids the safe and effective use of firearms”. Representatives Lummis, Donnelly, Rehberg, Broun, Miller, Carter, King of Iowa, Ross, and Bishop sponsored a bill to “allow curios and relics to be imported into the U.S. WITHOUT the approval of the Department of State or the Department of Defense”. Representatives Ross and Jordan sponsored a bill to “REPEAL D.C. gun ban laws”; Representatives Broun, Boren, Ross, Altmire, Metheson, Bishop, Rehberg, Jenkins, and Miller sponsored a bill to “PROHIBIT the Environmental Protection Agency from imposing restrictions on hunting and fishing equipment including firearms”; Representative Gibbs “and 21 others” sponsored a bill to “prohibit the Army Corps of Engineers from banning firearms on water resources lands”; Representative Paul sponsored a bill to “REPEAL the Kohl Amendment, which banned guns within 1,000 feet of a permanent or temporary location of a SCHOOL”; Representatives Tester, Ensign, Begich, Baucus, Burr, Chambliss, Inhofe, Paul, Barrasso, and Coburn sponsored a bill to “PERMANENTLY PROHIBIT the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms from being able to require the reporting of MULTPLE SALES of rifles and shotguns”.
WE HAVE THE POWER TO MELT THE ICEBERG AT THE POLLS IN NOVEMBER. Let’s begin by joining ON-LINE PETITIONS for Trayvon and his family at http://www.change.org/petitions/prosecute-the-killer-of-our-son-17-year-old-trayvon-martin and at www.change.org/petitions/charge-trayvon-martin-s-killer
A “Roadmap” Filled with Pot Holes and Ditches
On Wednesday, TEA PARTIED HOUSE REPUBLICANS will be conducting a SPEEDILY PUBLICIZED vote on a budget proposal entitled “A Roadmap to America’s Future”. The “Roadmap” is FILLED WITH POT HOLES. According to bloomberg.com, it aims to CUT “the top U.S. income tax rate” from 35% to 25%; REDUCE the top corporate tax rate from 35% to 25%, and “seek cuts to federal programs such as MEDICARE”. If you review the proposal, you will find that it, also, includes NUMEROUS sections aimed at “REPEALING” the Affordable Health Care Act.
Simply put, the Tea Partied Republican “Roadmap” is just ANOTHER DETOUR towards previous fiscal proposals aimed at providing the wealthy and big corporations with MORE tax breaks while shoving the rest of us into a ditch.
Don’t let them get away with it!
www.house.gov www.congress.gov
GASeous Emissions!
2012 Republican presidential candidates, Right Wing political pundits, FOXified AND mainstream media and polling outlets are EMITTING A LOT OF GAS blaming and/or implying that the President is the cause for rising gas prices when THEY ALL KNOW that their claims, blames and implications are filled with a lot of HOT AIR!
2012 presidential candidates’ and Right Wing political pundits’ UNSUBSTANTIATED gaseous emissions go from the RIDICULUS - “Obama’s inaction in the Middle East is helping to drive up the prices at the pump”, and “drill baby drill” to the ABSURD - “$2.50 a gallon gas prices.” Mainstream cable networks highlight programming subtitles such as “how the President is handling gas prices” WHILE holding discussions ADMITTING that “there is very little, if anything, the President can do about it.” FOXifers use the president/gas prices subtitle trick too, BUT they don’t even bother to ADMIT anything, they just MAKE UP STUFF like placing the blame on the Presidents “failed green energy policies”??? A huffingtonpost.com article entitled “Another Concern About the Legitimacy of Some Polling Questions” highlighted the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll that asked the “SUPERFICIAL” question “Do you Agree With How The President is Handling Gas Prices?.” The article’s author states “That’s like asking my Mom how she’s handling enforcing my curfew after I moved out and got my own apartment. While you’re at it, why don’t you also ask how the President is handling the migration of the wildebeest because he has just about as much control over that as he does over GLOBAL oil prices?”
The TRUTH is…
1. A bengarrett.net article states that “gas prices are COMPLEX, involve NUMEROUS factors and CANNOT, solely, be attributed to the actions of the President.”
2. A usatoday.com article discredits the “drill baby drill” FALSEHOOD stating that “The U.S. is PRODUCING more oil than ever; we are using LESS oil; vehicles are MORE fuel-efficient, and we are EXPORTING more oil.”
3. An about.com article states that “oil and gas prices tend to RISE EVERY SPRING, in anticipation of increased demand during the summer driving vacation season.”
4. An article in auto.howstuffworks.com states the “price increases, generally occur, when the WORLD CRUDE –OIL MARKET tightens and lowers inventories.”
5. The Energy Information Administration cited an “increased flow of investment money into commodities market.” - money that used to be invested in real estate or the global stock market is now being invested in oil futures.
6. Goldman Sachs & Co. researchers named “excessive speculation” the culprit for inflating oil prices resulting in gas prices being “$20 HIGHER than supply and demand dictate.”
7. An article in americanprogress.org entitled “Oil Roulette: Rising Oil Prices Harm American Families but Enrich Serial Speculators”, states that “there are serious indications that speculators are driving up oil prices. Hedge funds and other speculators have INCREASED their positions in energy markets by 64 percent since June, 2008 to the HIGHEST LEVEL ON RECORD.”
So, the next time you’re bombarded by the gaseous emissions of 2012 Republican presidential candidates, Right Wing political pundits, FOXified and/or mainstream media and polling outlets regarding the President and rising gas prices - recall AND spread the facts!
Why Women Must Take A Stand At the Polls In November
Women MUST register to vote, verify their CURRENT voter registration status, and vote in the 2012 General Election. In ADDITION to electing a President, it’s about electing YOUR state Congressional House Representatives, YOUR state Congressional Senators, YOUR state governors, YOUR state legislators, and YOUR state attorney generals where applicable. Why - because it’s, LITERALLY, a matter of life or death related to women’s COMPREHENSIVE health care services?
REPUBLICAN elected officials at the Congressional AND state levels are passing RADICAL ANTI-WOMEN HEALTH CARE legislation that attacks women’s health care-related freedom and privacy INCLUDING AND GOING BEYOND abortion and contraception. Here’s the deal.
1. REPUBLICAN CONGRESSIONAL HOUSE REPRESENTATIVES, recently, passed the Protect Live Act - H.R. 358. According to rhrealitycheck.org, the bill would a) “FORCE health plans to drop COMPREHENSIVE COVERAGE in state health insurance exchanges, cutting off MILLIONS of women from the benefits they receive today, b) “prevent women from paying for health insurance with abortion coverage WITH THEIR OWN MONEY, c) “ allow health plans to REFUSE to cover women’s PREVENTIVE SERVICES without any regard for patient rights or protections”, d) “override protections for pregnant women under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act which was enacted to ensure public access to emergency services regardless of ability to pay, including women in active labor.”
2. People For the American Way reported that “RIGHT WING POLITICIANS have increasingly pushed through STATE LAWS meant to chip away at the right to choose and undermine the protections of ROE V. WADE.”
3. Thinkprogress.org reported that states across the country enacted 80 abortion restrictions this year – “more than double the previous record of 34 abortion restrictions enacted in 2005 – and more than TRIPLE the 23 enacted in 2010.” (The year REPUBLICANS CAME INTO POWER at the congressional AND state levels as a result of the midterm elections.)
4. An article on pfaw.org outlines the specifics of RADICAL REPUBLICAN STATE LEGISLATORS threatening the ability of women to gain access to reproductive health services. Specifically, “legislation that would require doctors to perform ultrasounds on ALL women seeking abortions, even when NOT medically necessary.” Further stating that “such requirements ALSO risk actively HARMING the fetus.” In addition, “state laws increasingly attempt to INTERFERE with the relationship between a woman and her doctor by FORCING health professionals to provide ERRONEOUS AND DECEPTIVE information about abortion.”
5. Womenarewatching.org has an ONLINE PETITION highlighting 6 states with GOP-sponsored bills designed to UNDERMINE women’s health AND restrict women’s access to ESSENTIAL care…
6. In Pennsylvania the REPUBLICAN MAJORITY STATE LEGISLATURE “has launched a full-scale attack on women’s health with numerous bills aimed at restricting access to vital REPRODUCTIVE services.”
7. In Florida, the REPUBLICAN MAJORITY STATE LEGISLATIRE AND REPUBLICAN GOVERNOR RICK SCOTT “mounted a full-scale, nonstop attack on women’s health” filing 18 anti-choice bills limiting a women’s access to the FULL RANGE of reproductive health services”.
8. In New Hampshire the new REPUBLICAN HOUSE MAJORITY “took aim at lifesaving cancer screenings, birth control and STI testing and treatment provided by Planned Parenthood of Northern New England.”
9. In Ohio GOP ANTI-WOMEN majorities in the House of the STATE legislature introduced “thirteen anti-choice bills”. “Instead of focusing on the economy, the state legislature has decided to spend their time further restricting Ohio women’s access to health care – all while UNEMPLOYMENT hovers around 8 percent”.
10. In Texas GOVERNOR RICK PERRY and his GOP friends in the STATE Legislature “drastically cut access to reproductive health services that will leave Texas women without access to VITAL health care.”
11. In Wisconsin GOVERNOR SCOTT WALKER and his REPUBLICAN legislature majority “wasted no time turning the clock back on sex education, birth control and women’s access to PREVENTIVE CARE at Planned Parenthood.”
12. In Virginia, GOP LEGISLATORS “are working to pass legislation that would slash health care for women, while attempting to give FULL LEGAL RIGHTS to fertilized eggs.”
REGISTER, VERIFY YOUR CURRENT REGISTRATION STATUS, VOTE and join the Women Are Watching ON LINE PETITION at www.womenarewatching.org/state-spotlight
The February Jobs Report
The Department of Labor reported that “employers added 227,000 jobs in February and the “unemployment rate remained at 8.3%”. According to an article on money.cnn.com “job growth was still better than expected. Economists surveyed by CNNMoney had predicted 210,000 jobs added in the month. Additional Department of Labor job statistics follow:
1. Since March, 2010 private businesses have consistently added jobs with 233,000 jobs added in February.
2. Professional and business services added 82,000 jobs.
3. The manufacturing sector added 31,000 jobs.
4. Health care added 61,000 jobs
5. Restaurants and bars added 41,000
Huffington post.com stated that “over the past three months, you get payrolls adding 245,000 per month, a SIGNIFICANT ACCELERATION over the comparable value a year ago of 150,000 per month. Money.cnn.com reported that “the American economy lost 8.8 million jobs during the financial crisis, and has since added back 3.5 million jobs.”
Here’s the part where YOU CAN CREATE MORE JOBS, cnn.com reported that “government job losses have been offsetting some of the private sector gains, with most of the bleeding at the state and local levels." If you’ve been following my posts, you, already, know what my next point will be….
Tell Tea Partied Republican House leaders BOEHNER and CANTOR to allow the PRESIDENT’S JOBS BILL to come to the floor of the House for a vote at www.house.gov and/or www.congress.gov
TARnished!
The Keystone XL pipeline is coming up for a vote in the Senate. When Tea Partied Republican Senators are pushing for a SPEEDY delivery of the pipeline based on DISCREDITED FOX NEWS claims to state their case, YOU KNOW there’s got to be MAJOR problems with the project.
An npr.org article reported on FOX Anchor Martha MacCallum’s claims that “the keystone pipeline would be private-funded; that “it would carry oil from Canada all the way down to the Gulf Coast giving us a massive new resource of energy in this country, and “20,000 jobs would be created, that’s the low-end estimate”.
Here are the FACTS:
1. In a 2010 press release by TransCanada, the company funding the Keystone XL pipeline, TransCanada claimed that they would “create over seven million hours of labor and over 13,000 new jobs for American workers.” A November 5 article in The Washington Post reported that “the 13,000 figure was actually NOT a TRUE job number, but actually accounted for “one person, one year.” The Washington Post article added that “if the construction jobs lasted two years, the number of people employed in EACH of the two years would be 6,500.”
2. The US Department of State’s Final Environmental Impact Statement for the pipeline stated that a “construction work force would consist of approximately 5,000 – 6,000 workers.
3. A Cornell University Global Labor Institute report stated that “based on TransCanada’s numbers, the project will create NO MORE than 2,500-4,600 TEMPORARY direct construction jobs”.
4. The Cornell University Global Labor Institute report states that “the effects of KXL construction could very well lead to MORE JOBS BEING LOST than are created.”
5. The Cornell University Global Labor Institute reported that “KXL’S job creation potential is relatively SMALL, and could be completely outweighed by the project’s potential to DESTROY JOBS through rising fuel costs, spill damage and clean up operations, air pollution and increased GHG emissions.”
6. ThinkProgress revealed a chart that demonstrates “TransCanada’s WILDLY INFLATED jobs promises.”
7. According to tarsandsaction.org research, “tar sand will NOT reduce dependence on foreign oil”.
8. Tarsandsaction.org reported that Keystone XL “will INCREASE gas prices for Americans –especially farmers”.
9. Tarsandsaction.org reported that “a rupture in the Keystone XL pipeline could cause a BP style oil spill in America’s heartland, over the source of fresh drinking water for 2 MILLION people.
10. Corporate Ethics International stated that “tar sands oil means high gas prices”.
11. The National Wildlife Federation reported that “TransCanada predicted that Keystone I pipeline would see one spill in 7 years. In fact, there HAVE BEEN 12 spills in 1 year further stating that “the agency was not adequately accounting for threats to wildlife, increased pollution in distressed communities where the crude may be refined, or increases in carbon emissions that would exacerbate climate change, and a variety of other issues.”
Contact US Senate members and tell them - “DON’T pass the Keystone XL Pipeline bill” at
www.senate.gov
www.congress.gov
The Consequence of Rush’s Rash Judgment
You can sign the following on-line petitions to Rush's advertisers at
campaigns.dailykos.com/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=81
act.credoaction.com/campaign/limbaugh_appalling/index2.html
www.change.org/petitions/advertisers-take-rush-limbaugh-off-the-air...
www.thepetitionsite.com/1/boycott-rush-limbaugh-advertisers/
leftaction.com/action/boycott-rush
www.ipetitions.com › Categories › Other
A Call for Justice!
Politico.com reported that CHIEF FEDERAL JUDGE RICHARD CEBULL OF MONTANA, recently, “admitted to sending a racially charged email about President Barack Obama that seems to compare African-Americans to dogs, but denied circulating the note because it was racist, saying he only did it because it was anti-Obama.”
What do you think was the motive behind CHIEF JUSTICE Cebull’s email?
Under the subject line, “A MOM’S MEMORY” Cebull joked (???) - A little boy said to his mother; ‘Mommy, how come I’m black and you’re white? His mother replied, “Don’t even go there Barack! From what I can remember about that party, you’re lucky you don’t bark!”
Join the ON LINE petition calling for Judge Cebull to resign at:
www.ipetitions.com › Categories › Politics and Government
Silence
Normally, I don’t waste my time commenting on Rush Limbaugh because he is a SLIMEY, VILE, LECHEROUS, RIGHT WING MEDIA MONGREL who is not worthy of SANE commentary! Oh, I’m sorry – was I too harsh? Did I cross the line? Well, for two days LIMBAUGH CROSSED THE LINE WITH RABID RANTS demonizing Democratic witness, Sandra Fluke, the Georgetown University student, who was DENIED the right to speak at Tea Partied Republican Congressman Darrel Izza’s RELGIOUSLY ALL MALE Fabrication Committee contraception hearing. Nevertheless, Democratic House members allowed Ms. Fluke to give her testimony to reporters. According to a huffington post.com article “Fluke told the story of one of her classmates who lost an ovary because Georgetown, a Jesuit University, did not cover the oral contraceptives that she was prescribed for her condition.”
Rush stuffed himself into his radio SLIME show chair and issued the following statement about Ms. Fluke’s testimony: “What does it say about the college co-ed Susan Fluke who goes before a congressional committee and essentially says that she must be paid to have sex – what does that make her? It makes her a slut right? It makes her a prostitute. She wants to be paid to have sex. She’s having so much sex she can’t afford the contraception. She wants you and me and the taxpayers to pay her to have sex.” As if that wasn’t enough, the next day Rush added insult to injury stating ”So Miss Fluke and the rest of you feminazis, here’s the deal. If we are going to pay for your contraceptives and thus pay for you to have sex, we want something. We want you to post the videos online so we can all watch”!!!!
NOT ONE values preaching, morals testifying, holier than thou 2012 Republican presidential candidate, Tea Partied Republican Congressional representative, religious Fabrication Committee testifier or Catholic Bishop issued a statement of rebuke regarding Rush’s VALUELESS, IMMORAL, FILTHIER THAN THOU tirade against Ms. Fluke.
The only sanctimonious decree issued by the morally righteous contraception warriors was - SILENCE!
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