tagged w/ Elderly
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What in the world has happened to America? This week two elderly women that are more than 80 years old have come forward with claims that they were strip-searched at JFK Airport in New York. But sadly, this is nothing new. The truth is that there has been a whole string of incidents involving elderly Americans being strip-searched or sexually molested by TSA agents at U.S. airports. When they told us ten years ago that they were going to "beef up" national security, did you think that it would ever come to this? One of the ways that a society is judged is by how it treats the most vulnerable members. Well, instead of honoring our senior citizens, we are treating them like animals. Is this how we are repaying the debt that we owe them for bringing us into this world and raising us? The rest of the world is laughing at us. America is rapidly turning into a totalitarian police state and we have become a global joke. You won't find any other country on earth where senior citizens are being strip-searched and sexually molested before they are allowed to get on to their flights. Not even North Korea does that. This has got to end, because right now the name of America is being dragged through the mud in front of the whole world.What in the world has happened to America? This week two elderly women that are more... more
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For decades we were warned that when the Baby Boomers started to retire that this country would be facing a retirement crisis of unprecedented magnitude. Well, that day has arrived ladies and gentlemen. Back on January 1st, the Baby Boomers began to retire and more than 10,000 of them will be retiring every single day for years to come. Most of them have not saved up nearly enough money for retirement. At the same time, private sector pension plans are failing all over the place, hundreds of state and local government pension plans from coast to coast are woefully underfunded, and the Social Security system is on the road to complete and total disaster. A massive wave of humanity is hitting retirement age at a moment in history when the U.S. economy is coming apart at the seams. We do not have the resources to keep the promises that we made to the Baby Boomers, and most of them have not made adequate preparations for retirement. What we have is a gigantic mess on our hands, and millions of Baby Boomers are going to find retirement to be very bitter and very painful.For decades we were warned that when the Baby Boomers started to retire that this... more
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Something I think is very important and if you could take the time to sign our petition at the end much appreciated.
In April, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives voted to cut Medicare and Medicaid. Even Democrats on the so-called Super Committee are talking about cuts to Medicare and Medicaid.
Essentially Congress is telling senior citizens and the poor that tax cuts for billionaires and millionaires are more important than providing a health care safety net for our most vulnerable.
But did you know that members of Congress get great taxpayer funded healthcare? In fact, they get one of the best health care plans in the world.
It strikes us as the height of hypocrisy to be accepting government-provided, taxpayer-subsidized health insurance while denying seniors, the disabled and the poor the basic coverage that Medicare and Medicaid provide.
That’s why we’re circulating this petition demanding that members of Congress who voted to cut Medicare and Medicaid stop accepting taxpayer-subsidized health insurance for themselves. If they beli eve our most vulnerable citizens should buy insurance on the corporate, for-profit market, shouldn’t they do the same?
Sign the petition. Tell Congress: If you don’t believe in publicly-funded health coverage, don’t accept it.
That's why I signed a petition to The United States House of Representatives, which says:
"If you voted to cut Medicare and Medicaid, you must stop accepting taxpayer-funded healthcare for yourself and your family."
Will you sign the petition too? Click here to add your name:
http://signon.org/sign/congress-if-you-voted?source=s.fwd&r_by=329768Something I think is very important and if you could take the time to sign our... more
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This was definitely worth reading :) I'm tearing up because he led an awesome life and I hope I can make a rage hologram at age 86 as well. That was not only one of the greatest Rage Comics ever made, but also one of the most inspiring stories I've read in my years on this Earth. Thank you sir! Whoever you may be... oh '1925gamer' on Reddit.
Life, Elderly, Veterans, War, Marriage, Family, Relationships, Military, Kids, Technology, Computers, Internet, Reddit, Comic, RageThis was definitely worth reading :) I'm tearing up because he led an awesome... more
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A shocking discovery on a weathered but quiet stretch of Longshore Avenue in the working-class Tacony neighborhood shook Philadelphia on Saturday afternoon: four cognitively impaired disabled adults were found malnourished, chained to a water heater, and locked behind a steel door in a filthy 15-by-15-foot closet in the basement of an apartment complex.A shocking discovery on a weathered but quiet stretch of Longshore Avenue in the... more
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Tips For Long Term Marriage 101, "Whatever you do you do fine." Support each other, love each other and whatever you do together, you'll do fine. Fantastic Video!Tips For Long Term Marriage 101, "Whatever you do you do fine." Support... more
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“I'm one of the best drivers when I smoke.” Sure you are old man. Sure you are.
These old folks are the very definition of groovy.“I'm one of the best drivers when I smoke.” Sure you are old man.... more
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All over America tonight, millions of elderly Americans are wondering if their money is going to run out before it is time for them to die. Those that are now past retirement age are not going to be rioting in the streets, but that doesn't mean that large numbers of them are not deeply suffering. There are millions of elderly Americans that are leading lives of "quiet desperation" as they try to get by on meager fixed incomes. Many are surviving on Ramen noodles, oatmeal, peanut butter or whatever other cheap food they can find in the stores. There are some that are so short on cash that they will not turn on the heat in their homes until things get really desperate. As health care costs soar, millions of elderly Americans find themselves deep in debt and facing huge medical bills that they cannot possibly pay. A lot of older Americans would go back to work if they could, but jobs are scarce and very few companies seem to even want to consider hiring them. Right now caring for all of the Americans that have already retired is turning out to be an overwhelming challenge, and things are about to get a whole lot worse. On January 1st, 2011 the very first Baby Boomers turned 65. A massive tsunami of retirees is coming, and America is not ready for it.All over America tonight, millions of elderly Americans are wondering if their money... more
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WWH – I was listening to NPR the other morning and they were talking with Congressman Barnie Frank (D-Mass) regarding entitlements. They kept interrupting him and frankly I thought quite rude, as I wanted to hear what he had to say. We have been inundated by the Tea Party and Republican message about how entitlements were dragging us downWWH – I was listening to NPR the other morning and they were talking with... more
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– The President tells us that we may not get our Social Security checks if Congress doesn’t act. Obviously, he wasn’t nurtured by the grannies who will revolt if they find that they must live on the streets and eat from other people’s garbage cans because a flock of grown men haven’t learned to act like adults.– The President tells us that we may not get our Social Security checks if... more
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In ways little and huge, it is clear that we live in a nation, a culture and a society that is terminally ill.In ways little and huge, it is clear that we live in a nation, a culture and a society... more
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The New York Times...
PHOTO: Ko Sasaki for The New York Times
Kazuko Sasaki, left, and Masaaki Takahashi are among those who have volunteered in hopes of working at the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant.
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2011/06/28/world/FUKUSHIMA-1/FUKUSHIMA-1-articleLarge.jpg
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The New York Times
June 27, 2011
Elders Offer Help at Crippled Reactor
By KEN BELSON
TOKYO — By any measure, the thousands of people toiling to cool the crippled nuclear reactors in Fukushima are engaged in jobs that the Japanese consider kitanai, kitsui and kiken, or dirty, difficult and dangerous.
Seemingly against logic, Yasuteru Yamada, 72, is eager for the chance to take part. After seeing hundreds of younger men on television struggle to control the damage at the Daiichi power plant, Mr. Yamada struck on an idea: Recruit other older engineers and other specialists to help tame the rogue reactors.
Not only do they have some of the skills needed, but because of their advanced age, they are at less risk of getting cancer and other diseases that develop slowly as a result of exposure to high levels of radiation. Their volunteering would spare younger Japanese from dangers that could leave them childless, or worse.
“We have to contain this accident, and for that, someone should do the work,” said Mr. Yamada, a retired plant engineer who had worked for Sumitomo Metal Industries. “It would benefit society if the older generation took the job because we will get less damage from working there.”
Weeks after the devastating earthquake and tsunami struck, he and Nobuhiro Shiotani, a childhood friend who is also an engineer, formed the Skilled Veterans Corps in early April. They sent out thousands of e-mails and letters, and even set up a Twitter account. On his blog, bouhatsusoshi.jp/english, Mr. Yamada called on people over age 60 who have “the physical strength and experience to bear the burden of this front-line work.”
The response was instant. About 400 people have volunteered, including a singer, a cook and an 82-year-old man. Some 1,200 others have offered support, while donations have topped 4.3 million yen, or $54,000. His blog has been translated into 12 languages.
Although Mr. Yamada, a soft-spoken cancer survivor, started with a simple goal, he has triggered a much wider debate about the role of the elderly in Japan, the meaning of volunteerism and the growing reality that the Tokyo Electric Power Company, which owns the reactors, will face an increasingly difficult time recruiting workers. Some experts expect that Japan will ultimately import laborers to help with the cleanup. More than 3,000 workers, many of them poorly paid part-timers, are at the Daiichi site. Already, several have suffered heat stroke and nine have absorbed more than their legal limit of radiation. Dozens of workers have stopped showing up.
Mr. Yamada and his group have been described as selfless patriots surrendering for the greater good, mindless kooks willing to throw themselves in harm’s way, or pensioners with too much leisure time. The descriptions miss the point, according to Mr. Shiotani, who had a more practical idea in mind.
“Nuclear power plants are the brainchild of scientists and engineers,” he said. “They created this mess, and they have to fix it.”
In conditions this dangerous, wanting to help and being allowed to help are different things. Some lawmakers initially scoffed at the volunteers, including Goshi Hosono, an aide to Prime Minister Naoto Kan, who told reporters last month that the work in Fukushima did not yet require a “suicide corps.”
“It is very precious that they sacrifice their lives and volunteer to resolve this situation,” Mr. Hosono later explained. But “they are at a certain age, so we don’t want them to get sick after working in such a dangerous environment with full face masks.”
But in a country starved for feel-good stories, the Skilled Veterans Corps has captured the hearts of many. Requests for interviews have poured in from around the world. Politicians have slowly come on board. On June 6, Mr. Yamada met Banri Kaieda, the minister of economy, trade and industry, who promised to help the volunteers before their “enthusiasm burns out.”
“I thought, what a brave idea when so many Japanese and non-Japanese are afraid to go to Fukushima,” said Hiroe Makiyama, a Parliament member in Mr. Kan’s Democratic Party of Japan who is helping promote the project. “No one intends to die there. They don’t really want to do this, but they feel they have to do this.”
Mr. Yamada got so busy working from home that he found some office space in a narrow walk-up in Tokyo’s Shimbashi neighborhood. In a spartan room with a couple of computers, a hot water pot and a few folding chairs, Mr. Yamada and his team are applying to become a nonprofit group and awaiting approval of their application to visit the Daiichi plant in July.
Mr. Yamada and Mr. Shiotani say the hardest part of their jobs may be dealing with officials at Tokyo Electric Power, or Tepco, as it is known. As engineers, they understand that their counterparts, who undoubtedly are very busy, likely will have bruised egos, given the scale of the damage and the tumbling status of the company.
But unlike high-paid consultants and vendors, the Skilled Veterans Corps has nothing to sell but ideas and hard work. As volunteers, they do not have a conflict of interest and can speak openly, they say. Still, Mr. Yamada and Mr. Shiotani recognize that they must be humble. Yoshimi Hitotsugi, a spokesman for Tepco, said that the company is “highly appreciative” of the offers of help, but that it is still deciding what the volunteers are capable of doing and how to ensure their safety.
Mr. Yamada, an avid bicyclist, said he did not expect to start working at the Daiichii plant until autumn because of the intense heat and humidity during the summer. Ever the engineer, he said that no one, not even older workers, should do anything hastily.
“We won’t take any reckless or meaningless action,” he said. “We won’t do fruitless work.”
Yasuko Kamiizumi contributed reporting.The New York Times...
PHOTO: Ko Sasaki for The New York Times
Kazuko Sasaki,... more
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We must fight the deficit hysterics' relentless granny-bashing. Most people don't grasp that this group has already been hit hard by budget cuts and the recession.
“We lived very well,” said Norma Hair, 71, over a shaky table at the small pizzeria she runs in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, with 68-year-old Carol Schmidt, her wife and partner of over 30 years. “In 1979, Carol was making $33,000 per year, which was a lot of money back then. Then I rose to the position of supervisor of accounting in a company. So, our combined income [in the early-1980s] was probably about $60,000.”
The two women are sharp, with bright, youthful eyes and a slightly wicked sense of humor. But their bodies betray their years. “The reason we have nothing,” says Hair, “is because we spent everything we could on medical to keep Carol alive when we were in the United States.” Both women suffer from chronic heart problems in addition to other ailments.
“Hospitals have to treat you for life-threatening illnesses,“ explains Hair. “[Carol] got two lifesaving surgeries for nothing. But it was getting harder and harder, so I decided that it was easier if we traveled to different cities.”
So they did. They sold their home, bought an RV and toured the nation's emergency rooms. “We were on the road for three and a half years,” says Schmidt, “just so we could go to a new ER each time and they wouldn't be suspicious -- oh, you're back again?"
The two have lived in Mexico since 2002, in part because of their love for the country, but also because they can live well on their combined income of $2,200 per month – Social Security, a little money from a self-published book and Schmidt's small pension. The health care is cheap, too – Schmidt had what she described as an “atrial fib situation” a few weeks before our interview, and an overnight stay at the hospital cost them $45. The ambulance ride required only a “donation,” and the women offered 200 pesos – about $18 dollars.
They've also got Medicare in the US to fall back on. “I had a serious operation in 2003, and I did go back,” says Schmidt. “My surgeon told me, 'I'm going to operate or you're going to die.'” Even inexpensive health care can add up when the procedures are complicated, and the two women couldn't afford to pay for the surgery out-of-pocket. In other words, Carol Schmidt owes her life to the relatively threadbare social safety-net that their country of birth provides.
They are two among millions of older American struggling to get by. “One out of three seniors in the United States is economically insecure,” Howard Bedlin of the National Council on Aging told journalist Paul Kleyman. “Yet the public perception is that seniors are doing fine and not struggling.”
The GOP may lose control of the House as a just reward for passing Paul Ryan's draconian budget – one that would replace the popular single-payer Medicare system with vouchers the elderly would then fork over to private insurance companies (assuming they'd cover them). It's somewhat of a political mystery why they'd touch that third rail given that the measure has no chances of passing the Democratic-controlled Senate, much less surviving Obama's veto pen. I've argued that it was the result of a party believing its own spin:
For years, the American Right has portrayed itself as representing “real America,” as Sarah Palin put it. They've long characterized the U.S. as a “center-right” nation full of people who hate “big government,” and they've portrayed popular social safety-net programs as somehow being foreign, if not unconstitutional signs of “creeping socialism.” Last year, when they swept into control of the House, they convinced themselves that the American public had enthusiastically handed them a mandate.
But on a more basic level, it's likely they thought they'd insulated themselves from the wrath of seniors – a major demographic for the GOP – by leaving Medicare intact for anyone over 55 years of age. The problem for Republicans is that older Americans know quite well how difficult it can be to live out one's golden years in the United States, and they have no interest in making it much harder for their children and grandchildren when they reach retirement age. This is where ideology – the Right's emphasis on individuals taking care of themselves – meets the real world, one in which people suffer from heart attacks and strokes and require thousands of dollars in prescription drugs to stay alive.
The National Council on Aging did a study earlier this year which found that most people don't grasp the tenuous situation many of our elderly find themselves in today. Among the findings, as summarized by Kleyman:
Less than one-third of Americans knew that low-income elders now pay 25 percent of their incomes for health care out-of-pocket, despite having Medicare.
Only one in six people understood that 40 percent of seniors recently faced such housing problems as being unable to pay their mortgages or living in dilapidated housing.
Only one in five knew that nearly 6 million older Americans are at risk of going hungry.
Fewer than one-fifth of those surveyed knew that average credit-card debt for seniors was $10,000.
Read the rest here
http://www.alternet.org/news/151094/stop_the_granny_bashing%3A_despite_what_you_may_think%2C_our_seniors_are_in_trouble?page=entireWe must fight the deficit hysterics' relentless granny-bashing. Most people... more
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But, with food prices rising, 29 countries needing food aid this year, and budget shortfalls creating cries that foreign aid should be ended, we've got to cut the world's annual growth rate ever more quickly. As was stated at the Earth Summit in 1992 by the then United Nations Under-Secretary General, Maurice Strong, "Either we reduce the world's population voluntarily or nature will do this for us, but brutally." That was when the world had only 5.5 billion people to support. In another six months the number will be a full 7 billion, more than a 25% increase, with yet another 25% increase on top of that expected before 2050. For the foreseeable future, Strong's statement remains 100% correct and more important than ever. Voluntary population reduction remains a "must."But, with food prices rising, 29 countries needing food aid this year, and budget... more
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By Lindsay Beyerstein, Media Consortium blogger
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5z7FiBsR8OQ[/youtube]
How will the next generation of seniors pay for health care if Republicans privatize Medicare? The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) suggests some options in a darkly funny ad featuring a grandfatherly gentleman mowing lawns and stripping for extra cash. The ad will run in 24 GOP-controlled swing districts, Suzy Khimm reports for Mother Jones.
The ad is a riposte to Paul Ryan’s budget, which would eliminate Medicare and replace it with a system of “premium support”–annual lump sum cash payments to insurers. These payments would be pegged to the growth of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) +1%, even though health care costs are growing much faster than the economy at large. That means that real benefits will shrink over time. Seniors will be forced to come up with extra money to buy insurance, assuming they can find an insurer who’s willing to sell it to them.
Josh Holland of AlterNet predicts that the GOP is committing political suicide with the its anti-Medicare budget. The more ordinary voters learn about Ryan’s budget, the less they like it:
A poll conducted last week found that, “when voters learn almost anything about [the Ryan plan], they turn sharply and intensely against it.” And why wouldn’t they? According to an analysis by the non-partisan Center for Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP), the Republicans’ “roadmap” would “end most of government other than Social Security, health care, and defense by 2050,” while providing the “largest tax cuts in history” for the wealthy.
Holland interviews an economist who estimates that the Medicaid cuts in the Ryan budget alone would cost 2.1 million jobs.
Under the bus
The Democratic spin about the deal to avert a budget shutdown was that Democratic leaders held fast against Republican demands to defund Planned Parenthood. However, as Katha Pollitt explains in The Nation, the Democrats capitulated on other reproductive rights issues in order to save Planned Parenthood.
For example, under the budget deal, Washington, D.C. will no longer be allowed to use local taxes to pay for abortions. Democrats also agreed to $17 million in cuts to the Title X Family Planning Program, Planned Parenthood’s largest source of federal funding.
American women aren’t alone under the bus. Jane Roberts notes at RH Reality Check that the budget deal slashed $15 million from the U.N. Population Fund, and millions more from USAID’s budget for reproductive health and family planning. At least Democrats successfully rebuffed GOP demands to eliminate funding for the United Nations Population Agency.
Roberts observes:
And this is at a time when the whole world is coalescing behind the education, health and human rights of the world’s women and girls. What irony!
Blood for oil
Nearing the one-year anniversary of the explosion aboard the Deepwater Horizon oil rig that killed 11 workers, Daniel J. Weiss writes for Grist:
The toll of fossil fuels on human health and the environment is well documented. But our dependence on fossil fuels exacts a very high price on the people who extract or process these fuels. Every year, some men and women who toil in our nation’s coal mines, natural gas fields, and oil rigs and refineries lose their lives or suffer from major injuries to provide the fossil fuels that drive our economy.
Oil rigs are just one of many dangerous places to work in the fossil fuel industry, Weiss notes. Last year, an explosion at the Upper Big Branch mine in West Virginia killed 29 workers. Nearly 4,000 U.S. miners have been killed on the job since 1968.
Natural gas has a cleaner image than coal, but natural gas pipelines are also plagued by high rates of death and injury–892 natural gas workers have been killed on the job and 6,258 have been injured since 1970.
Cheers!
Ashley Hunter of Campus Progress brings you an exciting roundup of the news you need about college and alcohol, just in time for Spring Break. In an attempt to discourage rowdy off-campus partying, the College of the Holy Cross is encouraging its students to drink on campus by keeping the campus pub open later and allowing students under 21 inside as long as they wear different colored wrist bands to show they are too young to be served alcohol.
This post features links to the best independent, progressive reporting about health care by members of The Media Consortium. It is free to reprint. Visit the Pulse for a complete list of articles on health care reform, or follow us on Twitter. And for the best progressive reporting on critical economy, environment, health care and immigration issues, check out The Audit, The Mulch, and The Diaspora. This is a project of The Media Consortium, a network of leading independent media outlets.By Lindsay Beyerstein, Media Consortium blogger... more
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An El Reno grandmother has agreed to a financial settlement in the federal lawsuit she filed after police shocked her in her own bed with a Taser.
“I’m glad it’s over with,” Lona M. Varner, 87, said Tuesday.
“There’s one thing I told them, though. I wish that every person in law enforcement would have to take a full and complete course in paramedics. That way, maybe, they would think first before they shoot.”
Varner and her grandson, Lonnie D. Tinsley, sued El Reno and police officers after she was subdued with a Taser on Dec. 22, 2009, in her apartment. Tinsley, 48, complained police threw him to the floor and handcuffed him when he told officers, “Don’t Tase my granny!”
A civil trial was set to begin April 11. The lawsuit was settled Friday.
Attorneys would not disclose how much the city’s insurance is paying Varner and her grandson in the settlement.
“We settled it with them. We can’t divulge the money end of it. But, you know, I bet they won’t be doing it again,” said Varner’s attorney, Roger Everett, of Yukon.
POLICE OFFICERS REPORTED THEY FELT THREATENED
Police officers said they came to the apartment after being told Varner might be attempting suicide with a drug overdose. She was then 86.
Police officer Thomas Duran reported Varner pulled a kitchen knife from under her pillow.
He reported, “Varner looked me in the eyes and said, ‘If you try and get the knife, I will stab you and kill you.’”
Duran reported he used his Taser first after other officers arrived and Varner continued to make threats with the knife.
He reported his Taser did not make good contact so another officer used a second Taser against her. “The Taser rendered Varner incapable of any further aggressive action,” he reported.
In deposition testimony in January, Varner denied making any threats to police.
She also denied attempting suicide.
She said instead she felt lightheaded on Dec. 22, 2009, because her medication was clashing.
She also said she didn’t at first realize police officers had invaded her apartment.
“They didn’t say who they were. I just told them to get out. They weren’t welcome,” she testified. “I couldn’t see … It was dark in there. … The first thing I heard them to say was to, ‘Tase her.’”
She admitted she had a knife but said she was getting ready to slice up an orange. “I lay in bed, watch TV and eat like that,” she testified.
She also testified that police officers stepped on her oxygen hose after the first attempt to use the Taser on her. “I couldn’t get air,” she said.
She said she thought the police officers were going to kill her when the second Taser was used on her. “I felt it when it hit me,” she said.
Her attorneys said the second officer “pulsed” the Taser three times, shocking her three to five seconds each time. Her attorneys said she suffered large burns on her chest. They said officers also tore the skin on her arms when they took away the knife.
Read more: http://newsok.com/taser-shocked-granny-settles-suit-with-el-reno/article/3555907#ixzz1IqsFpt8AAn El Reno grandmother has agreed to a financial settlement in the federal lawsuit she... more
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http://bit.ly/ggqEBX
By Lindsay Beyerstein, Media Consortium blogger
The Republicans are poised to unveil a model budget on Tuesday that would effectively end Medicare by privatizing it, Steve Benen reports in the Washington Monthly. House Budget Committee Chair Paul Ryan (R-WI) is touting the budget as a strategy to reduce the national debt.
Ryan’s plan would turn Medicare from a single-payer system to a “premium support” system. “Premium support” is a euphemism for the government giving up to $15,000 per person, per year, to insurance companies to defray the cost of a health insurance policy.
As Benen points out, privatizing Medicare does nothing to contain health care costs. On the contrary, as insurance customers weary of double-digit premium increases can attest, private insurers have a miserable track record of containing costs. They excel at denying care and coverage, but that’s not the same thing.
The only way the government would save money under Ryan’s proposal is by paying a flat rate in vouchers. Medicare covers the full cost of medical treatments, but private insurers are typically much less generous. So, after paying into Medicare all their working lives, Americans currently 55 and younger would get vouchers for part of their health insurance and still have to pay out-of-pocket to approach the level of benefits that Medicare currently provides.
Taking aim at Medicaid
The poor are easy targets for Republican budget-slashing, Jamelle Bouie writes on TAPPED. Ryan’s proposal would also cut $1 trillion over the next 10 years from Medicaid, the joint federal-state health insurance program for the poor, by eliminating federal matching and providing all state funding through block grants. Most of this money would come from repealing the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion, which is slated to add 15 million people to Medicaid.
Block grants are cuts in disguise. Currently, Medicaid is an entitlement program, which means that states have to enroll everyone who is eligible, regardless of the state’s ability to pay. In return, the states get federal matching funds for each person in the program. Ryan and the Republicans want to change Medicaid into a block grant program where the federal government simply gives each state a lump sum to spend on Medicaid. The states want to use this new found “flexibility” to cut benefits, narrow eligibility criteria, and generally gut the program.
This is incredibly short-sighted. The current structure of Medicaid ensures extra federal funding for every new patient. So when unemployment rises and large numbers of new patients become eligible for Medicaid, the states get extra federal money for each of them. But with a block grant, the states would just have to stretch the existing block grants or find money from somewhere else in their budgets. Medicaid rolls surge during bad economic times, so a block grant system could make state budget crises even worse.
Ryan’s proposal has no chance of becoming law as long as Democrats control the Senate. The main purpose of the document is to lay out a platform for the 2012 elections.
Fake debt crisis
In The Nation, sociologist and activist Frances Fox Piven argues that the Republicans are hyping the debt threat to justify cuts to social programs:
Corporate America’s unprovoked assault on working people has been carried out by manufacturing a need for fiscal austerity. We are told that there is no more money for essential human services, for the care of children, or better public schools, or to help lower the cost of a college education. The fact is that big banks and large corporations are hoarding trillions in cash and using tax loopholes to bankrupt our communities.
She notes that Republican-backed tax cuts for the wealthy are a major contributor to the debt.
Jesus was a non-union carpenter?
Josh Harkinson of Mother Jones reports on the religious right’s crusade against unions. He notes that James Dobson of the socially conservative Family Research Council tweeted: “Pro-family voters should celebrate WI victory b/c public & private sector union bosses have marched lock-step w/liberal social agenda.”
Harkinson reports that the Family Research Council is backing the Republican incumbent, David Prosser, in today’s Wisconsin Supreme Court election–a battle that has become a proxy fight over Gov. Scott Walker’s anti-collective bargaining bill:
The FRC’s new political action committee, the Faith, Family, Freedom Fund, is airing ads on 34 Wisconsin radio stations in an effort to influence the April 5 judicial election that could ultimately decide the fate of the law. The ads target Wisconsin Assistant Attorney General JoAnne Kloppenburg, who’s running against a conservative incumbent, David Prosser, for a seat on the state Supreme Court. If elected, Kloppenburg would alter the balance on the court in favor of Democrats, giving them the ability to invalidate the recently enacted ban on public-employee collective bargaining. “Liberals see her as their best hope to advance their political agenda and strike down laws passed by a legislature and governor elected by the people,” say the ads. “A vote for Prosser is a vote to keep politics out of the Supreme Court.”
Roger Bybee of Working In These Times argues that recalling Republican state senators in Wisconsin is not enough to defend workers’ rights from Gov. Scott Walker’s anti-union onslaught.
This post features links to the best independent, progressive reporting about the economy by members of The Media Consortium. It is free to reprint. Visit the Audit for a complete list of articles on economic issues, or follow us on Twitter. And for the best progressive reporting on critical economy, environment, health care and immigration issues, check out The Mulch, The Pulse and The Diaspora. This is a project of The Media Consortium, a network of leading independent media outlets.http://bit.ly/ggqEBX
By Lindsay Beyerstein, Media Consortium blogger
The... more
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Give granny a kiss -- or else!
Deputies in Marion County, Fla., say a 92-year-old woman opened fire on her neighbor's home on Monday after the 53-year-old resident refused to give her a kiss.
Investigators claim Helen B. Staudinger paid a visit to Dwight Bettner's Fort McCoy house -- then said she wouldn't leave unless Bettner kissed her, the Star-Banner reports.
Bettner declined, and authorities say the 5-foot, 100-pound nonagenarian returned to her house, retrieved a
semi-automatic handgun and fired four rounds into his residence.
Bettner -- who told officials he was hit with shards of glass during the shooting -- insists his relationship with Staudinger was neighborly but never romantic.
He admits he helped his elderly neighbor run an errand and once gave her a peck on the cheek "trying to be nice to her," but he said he has always rejected her advances.
Staudinger allegedly told authorities she visited Bettner's residence and refused to leave without a kiss, but she later told the paper she was angry at her neighbor because of his "lies" and because he had not been "paying his way" when they went out to eat.
"The more I thought about it, the madder I got," she reportedly said.
Staudinger has been charged with aggravated assault with a firearm and shooting into an occupied dwelling. A judge ordered her to keep her distance from Bettner.Give granny a kiss -- or else!
Deputies in Marion County, Fla., say a 92-year-old... more
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Host Brett Erlich wrings laughs from the latest half-fortnight in "The Week in Everything." Targets include Donald Trump and "Celebrity Apprentice," Bernie Madoff, new reality show "America's Next Great Restaurant," Miley Cyrus' "texting relationship" with the bassist from Kings of Leon, and Subway passing McDonald's as the world's largest fast-food chain. Bonus: The first-ever look at infoMania's house band.
infoMania is a half-hour comedy show that airs weekly on Current TV. Picture the ultimate office water-cooler, only with funnier co-workers who willingly stay up late imbibing all forms of media so you don't have to. Caveat: Bring your own water. Hosted by Brett Erlich and co-starring Sergio Cilli, Erin Gibson, Ben Hoffman and Bryan Safi, infoMania airs on Thursdays at 11/10c on Current TV.
Go to http://current.com/infomania for more, and make sure to check out our Facebook profile for special features at http://facebook.com/infomania.
Current Media, the Peabody-and Emmy Award-winning television and online network founded in 2005 by Al Gore and Joel Hyatt, engages viewers with smart, provocative and timely programming -stories that no one else is telling in ways that no one else is telling them. Current's programming shines a light where others won't dare and boldly explores important subjects -- opening minds, sparking conversations and forming deep connections with its viewers. The channel's audience is comprised of affluent, curious, social and connected adults who crave the kind of entertaining, enlightening, witty and informative programming found on Current's TV and online properties. Current is now available via cable and satellite TV in 75 million households worldwide - 60 million households in the US - through distribution partners Comcast (Channel 107); Time Warner ; DirecTV (Channel 358 nationwide); Dish Network (Channel 196 nationwide); Verizon and AT&T. In the UK and Ireland, Current is available on BSkyB (Channel 183) and Virgin Media (Channel 155), and in Italy, Current is available on Sky Italia (Channel 130). Viewers can also find Current online at www.current.com.Host Brett Erlich wrings laughs from the latest half-fortnight in "The Week in... more
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A shop surveillance video has captured the moment an unmasked man walked into a petrol station shop in Seattle in the US, and politely told store attendant John Henry he was robbing him.
After paying $1.30 (80p) for a cup of coffee, the suspect calmly took out a gun and asked Mr Henry to empty the till.
The suspect, identified by police as Gregory P Hess, stole $300 (£186) but promised to pay the store attendant back if he ever got back on his feet again.
He then apologised for the robbery, saying he was "really sorry to have to do this but [he had] kids".
The man, who was known to authorities after previous robberies, was arrested on Monday by King County sheriff's deputies, according to the Seattle Times.
http://newslite.tv/2011/02/08/worlds-most-polite-robber-hold.htmlA shop surveillance video has captured the moment an unmasked man walked into a petrol... more
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