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Grayson introduces Public Option Act
Congressman Alan Grayson, (D-Orlando), today introduced a bill (H.R. 4789) which would give the option to buy into Medicare to every citizen of the United States. The “Public Option Act,” also known as the “Medicare You Can Buy Into Act,” would open up the Medicare network to anyone who can pay for it. Congressman Grayson said, “Obviously, America wants and needs more competition in health coverage, and a public option offers that. But it’s just as important that we offer people not just another choice, but another kind of choice. A lot of people don’t want to be at the mercy of greedy insurance companies that will make money by denying them the care that they need to stay healthy, or to stay alive. We deserve to have a real alternative.” The bill would require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish enrollment periods, coverage guidelines, and premiums for the program. Because premiums would be equal to cost, the program would pay for itself. “The govern
Discuss (161 posts) | West Orlando News Outside link
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Contractors divert Somalia aid, UN report says
21 minutes ago · Up to half the food aid in Somalia is routinely diverted to corrupt contractors, Islamist militants and local UN workers, a UN report says. The report by the UN monitoring group in Somalia is particularly critical of the UN's own World Food Programme and recommends an independent inquiry. It says WFP contracts are awarded to a few powerful individuals who operate cartels that sell the food illegally.
Discuss (0 posts) | BBC News Outside link
Unemployment rises in 30 states in January
26 minutes ago · WASHINGTON – Unemployment rose in 30 states in January, the Labor Department said Wednesday, evidence that jobs remain scarce in most regions of the country. The data is somewhat better than December, when 43 states reported higher unemployment rates, but worse than November, when rates fell in most states. Still, five states reported record-high joblessness in January: California, at 12.5 percent; South Carolina, 12.6 percent; Florida, 11.9 percent; North Carolina, 11.1 percent; and Georg
Discuss (0 posts) | AP Outside link
A Consumer Bill Gives Exemption on Payday Loans
32 minutes ago · Senator Bob Corker, the Tennessee Republican who is playing a crucial role in bipartisan negotiations over financial regulation, pressed to remove a provision from draft legislation that would have empowered federal authorities to crack down on payday lenders, people involved in the talks said. The industry is politically influential in his home state and a significant contributor to his campaigns, records show.... Late last month, Mr. Corker pressed Mr. Dodd to scale back substantially the p
Discuss (8 posts) | NYTimes Outside link
Ex-Christian Coalition head Ralph Reed won’t run for Congress
42 minutes ago · ATLANTA — Former Christian Coalition head Ralph Reed announced Wednesday that he has decided not to run for Congress in Georgia. Reed considered seeking the Republican nomination for Georgia’s 7th Congressional District northeast of Atlanta, but said Wednesday on the social networking site Twitter and his Web site that he won’t. The boyish-looking 48-year-old was clobbered in his first bid for elected office in 2006. Facing questions about his ties to disgraced Washington lobbyist Jack Abramo
Discuss (3 posts) | Boston Herald Outside link
Stimulus Bucks to Start Flying
42 minutes ago · Bulk of Billions in Stimulus Money Will Hit Private Sector in Coming Months What started as a trickle of money into the private sector could soon be a gusher, an analysis of the status of President Obama's $787 billion stimulus plan reveals. A roughly $200 billion chunk of stimulus money  much of it earmarked specifically for projects ranging from highway repairs to alternative energy initiatives  is only just now beginning to wind its way from government agency coffers and into the econ
Discuss (3 posts) | ABC News Outside link
Pakistan officials: Suspected US missiles kill 4
1 hour ago · 1 hour ago PARACHINAR, Pakistan — Pakistani officials say suspected U.S. drones have fired missiles at a house and nearby truck in the country's northwest near the Afghan border, killing at least four people. Local government official Sabir Khan said Wednesday's attack occurred in the Mazer Meda Khel area of the North Waziristan tribal area. Mazer Meda Khel is located some 25 miles (40 kilometers) west of the main town of Miran Shah. Two Pakistani intelligence officials confirmed the de
Discuss (1 post) | AP Outside link
Economists trim 2011 US growth forecast
1 hour ago · 10 Mar 2010, 1056 hrs IST, REUTERS WASHINGTON: US economists raised their forecast for economic growth in 2010 in March, the third straight monthly rise, while trimming their growth forecast for 2011, according to a survey released on Wednesday. Economists surveyed earlier this month in the Blue Chip Economic Indicators newsletter said the economy is expected to grow by 3.0 per cent in 2011, which is 0.1 percentage point lower than estimates made a month ago. But economists raised the
Discuss (2 posts) | Reuters Outside link
US aid group attacked in NW Pakistan; 6 dead
1 hour ago · ISLAMABAD — Suspected militants armed with assault rifles and a homemade bomb attacked the offices of a U.S.-based Christian aid group helping earthquake survivors in northwestern Pakistan on Wednesday, killing six Pakistani employees, police and the organization said. The assault prompted World Vision, a major international humanitarian group, to suspend its operations in Pakistan. Other aid organizations condemned the attack but said it would not lead them to curtail their own activities.
Discuss (3 posts) | AP Outside link
Dispute over candidate disqualifications could mar Iraqi vote's legitimacy
1 hour ago · BAGHDAD -- A controversy over the disqualification of candidates threatened Tuesday to undermine the legitimacy of Iraq's recent elections and inflame supporters of a coalition seeking to topple the alliance led by the prime minister. U.S. officials, who had deemed the elections historic, were growing increasingly concerned by the dispute Tuesday evening, fearing it could lead to violence. The candidates were barred on election eve by a commission -- run by onetime U.S. ally Ahmed Chalabi
Discuss (0 posts) | WP Outside link
Female WWII pilots to receive medals
1 hour ago · Jean Springer was 22 when she joined a new corps of female pilots needed to help the country in World War II. Now 89, the Cincinnati woman is in Washington on Wednesday with about 180 other former fliers finally to receive the nation's thanks. Congress is awarding the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian honor, to members of the Women Airforce Service Pilots, a civilian branch of the Army Air Force. Fewer than 300 of the 1,100 survive. Relatives of those who have died or could n
Discuss (10 posts) | USA Today Outside link
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Mar 09 · FARMERVILLE, La. (AP) - A state judge in Baton Rouge has ruled that the board of Elementary and Secondary Education can take money from local school boards to pay for charter schools in the district. Union Parish Superintendent Steve Dozier says he'd like a more detailed explanation of Monday's ruling by District Judge Todd Hernandez. The judge's ruling rejected a request for a preliminary order to stop local money from going to D'Arbonne Woods Charter School. Hernandez ruled that it i
Discuss (32 posts) | Journal
Mar 09 · The UK spends far less per person than the US Medicare system. Overall UK expenditure on health care is 1/3 less as a percentage spend of the GDP than the US and the UK has a higher life expectancy. Preventative health care is provided. Weight management clinics - check chiropractic clinics - check podiatry clinics (chiropodists)- check smoking cessation (most definitely) free flu jabs for the elderly - check Choice in hospitals. Check. A GP able to visit you in your home. Che
Discuss (104 posts) | Journal
Mar 10 · If the Democrats don't get the youth vote, they're toast. That happened in Virginia, New Jersey, and Massachusetts, where young Obama voters stayed home in droves. It's an ugly conceivable future portended by a new Harvard poll that shows forty-one percent of young Republicans planning on voting in November, compared to 35 percent of young Democrats and 13 percent of independents. A recent Pew poll showed a similarly disturbing pattern: Young voters still prefer the Democrats, but their marg
Discuss (8 posts) | Journal
Mar 08 · That means public money in Florida is going to a private company in Virginia called Imagine Schools. That is taxpayer money profiting an Educational Management Company instead of funding public schools. Two popular Imagine charter schools in Manatee County incurred debts of nearly $900,000 and have been declared in a state of “financial emergency” by the school district. An audit of Imagine School at Lakewood Ranch revealed debts of about $600,000 at the end of its first year. Mo
Discuss (36 posts) | Journal
Mar 09 · l Bernard Weiner l I despise the implicit pro-Iraq War politics of "The Hurt Locker": There is no examination or even mention in the film of why the U.S. might be fighting there, no look at the neo-conservative ideology that sent our troops there, no questioning of the aggressive tactics aimed at Iraqi civilians, no overt politics at all, for that matter. But I cannot deny the movie's aesthetic power. It is a great film, one of the few war movies that really got into my gut. It well deserve
Discuss (37 posts) | Journal
Mar 08 · I don’t want to single out just one anti-science teacher, but Ray Shelton signed his name to a letter that proudly proclaimed his ignorance. So I’ll focus on him. Fortunately, the vast majority of teachers are well above the national average when it comes to intelligence, good demeanor and critical thinking. My mother taught English for twenty years at the high school level and now teaches at a college. And most of the teachers I know socially, the majority of my children’s teachers and most of
Discuss (75 posts) | Journal
Mar 08 · Interesting how Think Progress contrasted Grover Norquist’s involvement in the so called Tea Parties with that of Big Tobacco, which is helping to pay for all that Astroturf. The article may have given some the impression that the two have different motives for opposing health care reform. However, their motives are not so different. Both Grover Norquist and Big Tobacco are dangerous to your health. / We all know about the public health sins of Big Tobacco. But in case you have been living
Discuss (9 posts) | Journal
Mar 08 · Several Southern Baptist Ministers across the nation are leading prayers in their congregations asking God to kill Obama and “leave his children fatherless.” They reference Psalm 109:8 as a biblical commandment for all Christians to pray for Obama’s quick death. John Avlon interviews two of the ministers and reports: Praying for President Obama’s death has become a sick cottage industry for some evangelicals on the lunatic fringe. Bumper stickers, T-shirts, and teddy bears are sold with the w
Discuss (138 posts) | Journal
Mar 07 · Health care is not the same as a wide screen TV. The public option is just that: an option. Real hard working people, ESPECIALLY THOSE WHO OWN SMALL BUSINESSES, are getting screwed by the private health insurance industry...including you. Despite their evil socialist ways, Europe and Canada have plenty of millionaires. You're not hung up on The Gay. you're hung up on gay sex. please keep in mind that when you meet a straight couple, chances are you don't immediately picture them h
Discuss (19 posts) | Journal
Mar 07 · He is of course referring to the Rhode Island school at which all the teachers were fired whether they deserved it or not. This teacher's letter refers back to a moment in time in 2008 when he spoke in the Miami Carol City Senior High School Auditorium, November 10, 2008, about the problems the teachers and community encounter. There are many Central Falls High Schools throughout the country with various names. They appear to be the ones targeted for closing by this administration.
Discuss (50 posts) | Journal
Mar 07 · via MichaelMoore.com: March 5th, 2010 8:14 AM The Cure That Dares Not Speak Its Name By Robert Kuttner / Huffington Post In all of the debates about health care reform, one of the stubborn realities is that neither the Obama plan, nor any of the Republican alternatives, will seriously alter the trajectory of relentless cost-escalation in health care. If you look at the Administration's own projections of federal deficits in the next decade and after 2020, virtually all of the a
Discuss (37 posts) | Journal
Mar 08 · The health insurance bill currently under consideration in Congress would forbid states from providing their residents with healthcare. An amendment correcting that problem was passed in committee last July and then quietly removed. A new campaign is asking the Democrats who voted for that amendment to withhold their votes on the bill until it is reinstated. Several states' legislatures are close to enacting single-payer healthcare bills. This is a complete healthcare solution that elimina
Discuss (11 posts) | Journal
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