livingwagenow
livingwagenow's JournalBecause of the ACA, we can now remove the quotations from health "insurance"..
Thinking back about my blogging on various political forums over the years, I always used to refer to American health "insurance" as just that. The word "insurance" in quotations. Implying what insurers call insurance. Implying that it is fake.
Because when people made a health insurance claim, their policies often got canceled, or they'd quickly reach a benefit cap, or they couldn't get insured in the first place due to pre-existing conditions.
The ACA has changed all of that. Health insurance is now real coverage, real insurance.
No more fake policies that cancel when people need it the most.
When people tell me they don't support the ACA I tell them that insurance is now real and must pay out when a medical claim is made, no more benefit caps, no more cancellations.
I tell them that the former fake policies basically throw their policyholders to the lions once a medical claim is made for an illness.
I ask them, "Do you prefer being thrown to the lions or do you want real health insurance coverage, when YOU need it most? Are you still opposed to the ACA?"
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In closing, it's nice to actually be able to refer to the subject now as just health insurance. No more quotes.
Made possible by the ACA.
Add this amendment to TPP fast-track to make the starvation and poverty that TPP causes bearable.
Legalized doctor assisted suicide.
Let us choose whether we starve to death or die with dignity.
Sad when suicide is the choice of dignity.
People unemployed years ago by NAFTA have long given up looking for work and are withering.
And still, Pres Obama pushes TPP.
The average 18 wheeler loaded at 80,000 lbs gets about 7 miles per gallon.
Unsustainable. There are millions of 18 wheelers on American highways every day. I am a former long-haul driver 1995-1997.
The death of localization has made us a nation reliant on big trucks to ship everything across America. Food is becoming one of the most shipped items in big trucks. The death of local family farms has made us a nation addicted to one of the worst carbon polluting industries, trucking. This isn't a swipe at DU drivers. I know we have some truck drivers here. I also have a bit of a soft spot for the hardships that American truck drivers go through.
Think for a moment how free trading everything to China etc, has contributed to the problem. Ever seen a big truck pulling a short container? There are full-sized shipping containers as well.
That's a shipping container from a ship that came from China, India, Malaysia etc. Re-importing outsourced made-in-China "goods". Container shipping is a huge and fast growing sector of trucking in America. It's a gigantic contributing factor to carbon emissions. Trucking is one of the largest contributing factors to carbon emissions, both globally and in America.
The TPP, free trade on steroids pact being pushed will exasperate the problem even more. More reimporting, more job outsourcing, more containers being shipped and then trucked across America in millions of trucks that each get 7 MPG.
UNSUSTAINABLE ENVIRONMENTAL DESTRUCTION.
WAGE-Free Trade is a middle class/wage killer but it is also an environmental destroyer and a leading cause of global warming.
See the need to end free trade and bring back localization? Especially local food and farming. But also manufacturing.
Better subsidies for ACA policies will make HC much more affordable and the ACA very popular.
I'm a single-payer-NOW fanboy. But until that happens, the ACA isn't too bad and is a big step in the right direction.
I really like the fact that the ACA sets a standard on health insurance policies that mandates certain standards of coverage. There will be far fewer, if any denials for surgical procedures and treatments and cancellations, like before the ACA. No more coverage denials of pre-existing conditions. There are subsidies in place for those who cannot afford coverage. There is help available for low-income so that everyone can basically get coverage.
Pre-ACA policies cancellations have happened but many due to the fact that said policies often did NOT meet minimum ACA coverage requirements.
IOW, said policies were a rip-off waiting to happen. Once you get sick, they cancel or decline coverage.
The ACA presses the stop button on America's flawed HC insurance system and attempts to reset it with these new policies that include safeguards that ensure coverage standards. These new policies ain't bad. Again, a big step in the right direction.
The point of this OP..
Make the ACA even better by providing better subsidies to help people really afford their health insurance coverage. Single incomes under $40k per year shouldn't have a premium at all. It should be free for them. For $40-70k should get policy premium subsidy assistance. Make their premiums small and affordable.
Better subsidies for low and middle income, as well as unemployed/underemployed will make the ACA much more effective, and thus far more popular with the masses. It'll get more people covered and will improve the health of our nation.
Make it truly affordable and people will really like it.
Test links Winston's DNA to accuser. (Heisman cand FSU QB) This CANNOT stay silent.
(vid at link)
TALLAHASSEE -- A DNA analysis completed by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement on Tuesday confirmed that DNA provided by Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston matched the sample taken from the underwear of a woman who has accused him of sexual battery.
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Police obtained a sexual assault kit on Dec. 7, 2012, when the accuser reported the alleged incident had occurred at an off-campus apartment. Winston's DNA was recently obtained through a buccal swab he provided to authorities investigating the case.
The DNA match alone does not prove that Winston, a leading Heisman Trophy candidate, sexually assaulted the woman, as the accuser's family claimed in a statement released by a Tampa-based attorney on Wednesday. But it does indicate that Winston, who has yet to talk to Tallahassee police or the state attorney investigating the case, had his DNA associated with the accuser on Dec. 7, 2012, when the accuser claimed she was sexually assaulted.
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Nov. 20, 2013:
The Tampa Bay Times releases an explosive report, including a statement from the victim’s family, claiming a Tallahassee detective told the accuser’s attorney that Tallahassee is a “big football town” and her client’s life could “be made miserable” if she pursued a sexual assault case against Winston.
There are accusations of intimidation and threats directed at the victim, (allegedly)coming from authorities.
I say allegedly only because this is an ongoing investigation. But it also appears to be another possible rape by a star athlete that is possibly being covered up by intimidation and threats, coming from local authorities. The victim has claimed that she was threatened by a detective to drop the accusation and be silent or "they would make her life miserable" and that "Tallahassee is a big football town".
Can you believe this shit?
This is why I say it is time to make rape/sexual assault a FEDERAL CIVIL RIGHTS ISSUE. It's time to make it a federal civil rights offense. Too many states sweep these crimes under the rug or under-punish. When a rape/SA is reported it should automatically kick-off a federal investigation or fed oversight of the local police investigation to ensure that said crimes are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
RAPE IS A FEDERAL ISSUE. STATES(usually red states) HAVE PROVEN INCAPABLE OF PROTECTING WOMEN.
It almost seams like red states are pro-rape.
And regarding FSU..
WHERE/WHY no suspension for star QB Jameis Winston while they fully investigate this potentially heinous crime? Rape is a serious felony and one of humankinds worst crimes.
Again, at this point, these are only allegations while this investigation is just starting to heat up.
Eating heirloom raw organic vegan is the ultimate FUCK YOU to corporate America.
Standard American Diet = S.A.D.
The SAD diet is designed to make us sick WITHOUT killing us right away. Its fine if we die several years down the road, after they've milked our sick asses for all we're worth. When we are bankrupt from our ill health brought on by our diet of fake 'food', then corporate America throws us to the lions and we die a miserable death, bankrupted because we're kicked off our for-profit "health insurance". Once we're bankrupt, we're no longer useful, err profitable to the profit scheme known as the modern American 'healthcare' system.
If I were a sociopathic capitalist, I'd pick pharmaceuticals as my profit method. I'd collude with food giants. We'd work together to unleash GMO's laced with toxic pesticides that also are taken up by the roots of the plants that don't just wash off. You can't wash all of the pesticide residue off of a conventionally grow(non-organic) food. Much of the poison is absorbed into the plant from its surfaces or imbedded via root absorption.
Conventional(non-organic) produce is a maker of sickness.
Opt for non-gmo organic produce. Eat it and feel your health and vitality return. Ask a vegan. They'll confirm these facts.
Moving on..
Meat.
Nearly ALL meat types introduce health and vitality killing parasites into our bodies. Parasites can consume almost all of the nutrition ingested by the infected host. Thus leaving the host in a state of malnutrition while the host thinks they're eating a nutritious diet. Parasites ROB their hosts of their health and vitality.
Most new infectious diseases like MRSA, the disease spreading through some locker rooms and gyms(Tampa Bay Bucs anyone?) is likely a result of factory farms and vaccinating farm animals. Diseases are mutating at an alarming rate and the evidence is pointing toward factory farms as the source of said mutations.
Frankenbeef, the cow itself is an unnatural species. The result of crossbreeding and hybridization. Grain fed beef is marbleized with saturated fat, hormoned, and vaccinated. The perfect unholy trinity for destroying health and vitality.
Pork is laden with parasitic worms and/or their eggs. Cooking does not kill all parasitic eggs. Google pork parasites. Populations that eat pork are populations with high parasitic infection rates.
Fish can also be a major parasitic source. Fish are also laden with the very poisonous mercury. Humans are fishing our oceans to death. Tuna could be an endangered or extinct species by 2020.
Common nutrient deficiencies of a meat-based SAD diet.
Magnesium
Silica
Folate
Potassium
Manganese
80+ trace minerals
As a 100% raw vegan, meaning I don't cook anything, I'm often asked, "B-B-But, where do you get your protein?"
My answer is, "Where the fuck do you think cows get their protein?" From the plants that they eat. Plants are by far the best sources of protein.
I then ask said meat-eater, "Where do you get your magnesium, folate, potassium from with your meat-based SAD diet?" Silence.
The best sources of protein
Spirullina (algae)
Chlorella (algae)
Hemp Seeds
Mung Beans(really, most beans)
Quinoa
Goji berries
Almonds
Cashews
Asparagus
Pumpkin seeds(most seeds, nuts are great protein sources)
Tempeh and other soy products
Trust me, protein is not an issue in raw vegan eating.
Transitioning to vegan really wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be. The health benefits come quickly. The feeling of vastly improved health and vitality come quickly. The aches and pains disappear. Indigestion, gone. No more acne or other skin ailments. No more high blood pressure. No more high cholesterol.
Mostly, I never have to look an animal in its eyes and watch the life leave its eyes so that I can eat it. I will never harm an animal for food ever again.
I will never harm my body by ingesting an animal product, ever again.
If humans were meant to digest meat, we would've evolved a stomach similar to a wolf's stomach. The stomach of a wolf produces acid that is 7-10 times stronger than a human's stomach acid. Meat requires that type of acidity to properly digest.
Meat is a human gut bacteria destroyer. We need our gut bacteria. It is quite possibly the most important aspect of our digestion. Any digestive ailment can immediately start the process of malnutrition.
Digestive disorders lead to heart disease, coronary plaque, cancer, diabetes, stroke, inflammation-related disorders, auto-immune disorders like arthritis etc, in other words, the diseases that kill most of us.
Treatment of these ailments is a multi-multi billion, perhaps trillion dollar industrial complex. Put a price tag on the cost of the detrimental effects of the SAD diet, the diseases listed above. How much does that cost our country?
So why is vegan so effective?
Re-mineralization. Vegan diets are high in nutrients/minerals that are deficient in the SAD diet.
Detoxification. Organic vegan foods are powerful body cleansers and detoxifiers.
High fiber. The intestinal cleaner.
Antioxidants. See above detox.
Plant phenols, sterols and other super-nutrient plant compounds.
Probiotic. Supports a healthy gut bacteria population.
Prebiotic. Feeds your healthy gut bacteria.
Anti-inflammatory. Inflammation is one of humankinds worst ailments.
Endless energy.
Increased libido.
Weight loss.
Vitality.
Ask a vegan if they are on any prescriptions. Most will say no. I've cured my pre-diabetes and high blood pressure and restored my health and vitality. I am also HIV positive and living very healthy. My immune system #'s are stronger than most non-hivers. I am not on HIV meds but my doc and I closely monitor my immune system.
Don't believe me about the benefits of raw organic vegan? Ask another vegan. They'll tell you many of the same things that I'm saying here.
We no longer need to be slaves to big pharma. 100% Raw Organic Vegan is my middle finger to the corporate big pharma industrial complex, to factory farms, to GMO and pesticide profiteers. The same big pharma/big food/big GMO/big poisoners that have helped destroy our democracy.
Food is politics. We have to make it a front and center issue in mainstream politics. We are what we eat and the SAD diets feeds us poison.
Food is more political than almost any other issue.
Imagine if we stopped income taxation after $115,000/annual income, America would be dead.
So, why does the FICA/Social Security tax stop at about $115,000?
When we stop taxing the wealthy, we put the resulting burden on those who can least afford to pay.
Seniors, the poor, the youth etc.
Eliminating the $115,000 FICA/SS would make SS solvent(self-funded) for at least the next 75 years.
When the wealthy enjoy near tax-free living, we are asked to foot the bill as a result.
ALL income should be subject to taxation, not just the incomes of poor and middle class people.
The wealthy are not paying their fair share.
The reason Rethugs want to raise Social Security's retirement age to 70 or even higher..
Tealiban Rethugs like Rand Paul are once again trying to raise the retirement age from 67 to as high as they can get it. They'd set it at 90 if they could. They'd repeal SS if they could.
Raising the age of SS makes it very undesirable to the masses. The Tealiban(GOP) knows this and is using this fact to turn the public against SS. If the public hates SS, the GOP has a much stronger case to repeal it. If the GOP has strong public support they are much more emboldened and able to repeal it, or make it nearly unusable by raising the age to a number that most people won't live to anyway.
Raising the age to qualify for SS is a major Tealiban tactic toward repealing SS or making unusable to most. Raising the age is a major stepping stone toward killing SS.
Democrats should be fighting to lower the age to at least 65, if not 62.
Usually the GOP's first tactic is to kill something by first de-funding it. When that doesn't work then they try to make people despise what the GOP wants to repeal.
Raising the SS age is a tactic meant to make people despise SS.
A smart Democratic Party could rally 40, 50, 60-somethings around the banner of preserving SS and the fact that the GOP is fighting to make SS unusable.
A few years back, AARP conducted a poll of thousands of its senior citizen retired members that solely rely in SS for their only income..
AARP asked them if they planned to retire wealthy instead of being totally reliant on SS. 80% said yes, they thought they'd retire wealthy.
Shows how important a real retirement security program, like SS, is.
Have any elected pro-pipeline Dems ever helped clean-up a pipeline related oilspill?
Just so they can experience the toxic pollution firsthand, to see the destruction with their own eyes, to breathe the benzene, to don a chem suit and help clean-up the oil spill?
I wonder if they'd still be pro-pipeline afterward?
There aren't many of these 3rd way Dems that support oil pipelines but there are a few.
This is not a putdown of the entire party. Just those that support the environmental destroyers known as oil pipelines.
So, does anyone know of a third way Dem that's ever helped clean up at a pipeline oil spill site?
ND farmer finds oil spill while harvesting wheat
http://news.msn.com/us/nd-farmer-finds-oil-spill-while-harvesting-wheatBISMARCK, N.D. — A North Dakota farmer who discovered an oil spill the size of seven football fields while out harvesting wheat says that when he found it, crude was bubbling up out of the ground.
Farmer Steve Jensen says he smelled the crude for days before the tires on his combines were coated in it. At the apparent break in the Tesoro Corp.'s underground pipeline, the oil was "spewing and bubbling 6 inches high," he said in a telephone interview Thursday.
What Jensen had found on Sept. 29 turned out it was one of the largest spills recorded in the state. At 20,600 barrels it was four times the size of a pipeline rupture in late March that forced the evacuation of more than 20 homes in Arkansas.
But it was 12 days after Jensen reported the spill before state officials told the public what had happened, raising questions about how North Dakota, which is in the midst of an oil boom, reports such incidents.
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Another oil pipeline environmental disaster..
Hillary, since you support pipelines, will you go help clean up this mess?
