Clipmarks | deb2012's 'society' clips

Solving Health Care in America

Sat, 07 Jun 2008 16:03:01 GMT

clipped by: deb2012
clipper's remarks: The blend of private insurance and medical services coupled with government standards is a low cost flexible and competitive approach to universal coverage. The use of a two tiered system along with a co pay for visits both gives incentive to the patient to be compliant and helps eliminate unnecessary use of medical services. An escalating co-pay for repeat offenders could also be an incentive to keep costs down. The US under such a system would continue to remain the leader in health care. Giving grants to research centers and training hospitals allows for on going research as well as giving an upward path to those with strange diseases or the need for specialized care. The system in place is a good system. By eliminating the abuses of Medicare and encouraging preventive care the system could operate in a superior fashion at or below what we are currently paying in taxes today.
(All elected officials have to be in the system. They cannot have special treatment. )

Clip Source: tech.groups.yahoo.com

Spending the majority of Medicare funds on the end of life is stupid. There has to be a reasonable approach to dying.

If they want extraordinary measures then they have to assume the financial burden that comes with it.

We have to re-invert the pyramid and put money into prevention and not long term maintenance

Taxing the parts of society that produce disease along with education is very cost effective

Outlawing preexisting exclusions and up rating is a must

Insurance has to be owned by the customer and be non- cancelable with no rate bumps. Age should be the only determining rate factor in rates

reward system for those who take care of themselves

when rates are low enough with mandatory coverage of the young and the step down to the basic coverage there is an incentive to remain insured and to make periodic visits to the doctor. The threat of a step down gets the patient an incentive to take care of themselves and follow advice of the physician.

Tags: healthcare

Robert Bryce Addresses America's Oil Addiction

Wed, 21 May 2008 03:04:01 GMT

clipped by: Eaglewings

Clip Source: features.csmonitor.com

Thomas Edison altered the course of civilization by helping to pioneer a reliable, affordable, and mass-produced incandescent bulb. But, as author Robert Bryce points out, there was a breakthrough that escaped Edison’s grasp: How to build a hyperefficient, long-lived, electric battery capable of powering homes, industry, and transportation – smoke free.

In his new book, Gusher of Lies: The Dangerous Delusions of ‘Energy Independence,’ Bryce, a freelance journalist who specializes in the fossil-fuel industry, tosses out a bold idea: Launch a global competition, called “the Superbattery Prize,” that would award $1 billion to the inventor who successfully produces such a battery.

America’s thirst for oil is so insatiable, and society’s infrastructure so inextricably dependent upon oil, that the prudent course from Capitol Hill should be securing as much from the Persian Gulf as possible and aggressively tapping into all known domestic reserves to keep the economy afloat, he says.

Tags: oil, energy, conservation, alternative energy, anwar, nuclear power

State Economic Conditions worsen

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 13:09:52 GMT

clipped by: deb2012
clipper's remarks: budget deficits affecting my state big time.
Personally felt so far: Funding for advanced (AP, IB) public school courses is being slashed suggesting Florida no longer wants to help fund opportunities for intelligent and motivated children to get a higher level of pre-college education? Let's all just get a crappy public education with our tax dollars. Now that makes perfect sense in a socialist society where we all need to be equally average.

Clip Source: investorshub.advfn.com

The weakening economy is hitting tax revenue in a number of ways: People's discretionary income is being gobbled up by higher food and fuel costs, while the tanking housing market means people are spending less on furniture and appliances associated with buying a house.

The situation is grim in Delaware, with a $69 million gap this year, and bleak in California, with a projected $16 billion budget shortfall over the next two years, the report said. Florida does not expect a rapid turnaround in revenue because of the prolonged real estate slump there.

The NCSL said the news is even worse for the upcoming fiscal year, with 23 states and Puerto Rico already reporting budget shortfalls totaling $26 billion. More than two-thirds of states said they are concerned about next year's budgets.

For energy-producing states, the fiscal situation is strong and the outlook is good," the report said.

cut spending

$1 billion by Florida lawmakers

Tags: economy, education

What does Power Look Like

Wed, 09 Apr 2008 12:20:55 GMT

clipped by: deb2012
clipper's remarks: interesting analysis - which way it goes will shape our future

Clip Source: www.newsweek.com

The top 10 percent of all people, for example, now control 85 percent of all wealth on the planet.

Power is the other currency of any true elite

I have ended up with a core group of somewhere between 6,000 and 7,000 people—meaning that each one is "one in a million."

Clip Source: www.newsweek.com

Some in that leadership are embracing new regulatory proposals mainly because they believe it is the price they must pay to maintain the safety net

And so you have a financial leadership structure that bails out investment bankers worldwide, but not homeowners

Clip Source: www.newsweek.com

In the short term, the only real change we may see is the spread of the superclass—and the tension around it—to new enclaves.

So it is more likely that the superclass itself will change than that it will be contained.

And the more members of the superclass adopt a business-as-usual attitude toward countries that ignore political or social conditions, the less likely the superclass will be to reform itself.

Tags: society, power

over-crowded

Tue, 08 Apr 2008 11:28:16 GMT

clipped by: deb2012
clipper's remarks: photos

Clip Source: www.darkroastedblend.com

Tags: society

Buried Prejudice

Thu, 03 Apr 2008 21:43:51 GMT

clipped by: deb2012
clipper's remarks: even Jesse Jackson admits he has it

Clip Source: www.sciam.com

All of us hold unconscious clichéd beliefs about social groups: black and white, female and male, elderly and young, gay and straight, fat and thin.

Such implicit bias is far more prevalent than the more overt, or explicit, prejudice that we associate with, for instance, the Ku Klux Klan or the Nazis.

Certain social scenarios can automatically activate implicit stereotypes and attitudes, which then can affect our perceptions, judgments and behavior, including the choice of whom to befriend, whom to hire and, in the case of doctors, what treatment to deliver.

"There is nothing more painful to me at this stage in my life,” Jesse Jackson once told an audience, “than to walk down the street and hear footsteps and start thinking about robbery—then look around and see somebody white and feel relieved.”

Tags: society

Top 100 April Fool's Hoaxes

Tue, 01 Apr 2008 12:38:10 GMT

clipped by: deb2012
clipper's remarks: will you be fooled today?

Clip Source: www.museumofhoaxes.com

#1: The Swiss Spaghetti Harvest

#2: Sidd Finch

#3: Instant Color TV

#4: The Taco Liberty Bell

#5: San Serriffe

#6: Nixon for President

again

#7: Alabama Changes the Value of Pi

#8: The Left-Handed Whopper

#9: Hotheaded Naked Ice Borers

#10: Planetary Alignment Decreases Gravity

Tags: society

From the mayor of Newark

Sun, 30 Mar 2008 22:53:44 GMT

clipped by: deb2012
clipper's remarks: A really intelligent interview--watch the video: http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/03282008/watch2.html

Clip Source: www.pbs.org

BILL MOYERS:

"The average black person in America is 447 percent more likely to be imprisoned than the average white person, and 521 percent more likely to be murdered. Blacks earn 60 cents to the dollar compared with whites who have the same education levels and marital status… And because of long standing patterns of inheritance, blacks and whites begin life with substantial disparities in family wealth." That's this week's Washington Post. What do these findings say to you?

CORY BOOKER:

I say simply this: don't look at government to do it, don't look at somebody else, look in the mirror and ask yourself, "I benefit from this nation. I benefit from incredible sacrifices. What am I willing to do different this year to make a difference in the problems in America?"

BILL MOYERS: You're saying that to these black kids who are going to-- being arrested and being sent to prison?

CORY BOOKER: Absolutely,

Tags: society, politics

Neverland Ranch

Fri, 28 Mar 2008 00:42:32 GMT

clipped by: deb2012
clipper's remarks: for those of us who haven't played with Michael

Clip Source: www.terrastories.com

Tags: society

TV in the bedroom

Sat, 22 Mar 2008 13:19:15 GMT

clipped by: deb2012
clipper's remarks: duh

Clip Source: articles.mercola.com

Children with TVs in their bedroom:

Score lower on school tests
Are more likely to have sleep problems
Are more likely to be overweight
May have an increased risk of smoking

Of course, children with TVs in their bedrooms are also more likely to watch more TV. One study of 80 children, found that a TV in the bedroom increased viewing time by nearly nine hours a week.

When researchers put monitoring devices on the televisions that reduced children’s viewing time by half (by not allowing the TV to turn on once the quota was reached), they found that:

Relative body mass index dropped
Children snacked less, consuming more than 100 calories less per day

Tags: society

1 billion without clean water

Fri, 21 Mar 2008 18:26:12 GMT

clipped by: deb2012
clipper's remarks: Beginning Sunday, March 16 through Saturday, March 22, restaurants will invite their customers to donate a minimum of $1 for the tap water they would normally get for free. For every dollar raised, a child will have clean drinking water for 40 days.

http://www.tapproject.org/

Clip Source: www.youtube.com

[Video]

Tags: society

Craig Ventner speaks

Fri, 29 Feb 2008 11:43:08 GMT

clipped by: deb2012
clipper's remarks: a visionary scientist

Clip Source: www.bbc.co.uk

Our planet is in crisis, and we need to mobilise all of our intellectual forces to save it. One solution could lie in building a scientifically literate society in order to survive.

There is a gene that is associated with the ability to degrade environmental toxins, however nearly half of the Caucasian population lacks that gene.

One gene called APO E is responsible for regulating levels of certain fats in the bloodstream.

Fortunately, by reading my own genome, I have a chance to overcome my genetics by making changes in my diet and exercise.

These are just a handful of illustrations that hint at the type of information that will be possible for all of us in the near future.

Being an optimist I believe that we can ultimately solve the health care issue. But the fundamental problem facing our planet - that of climate change - is one that is far more grave.

we have a team at my institute headed by Ken Nealson that has developed microbial fuel cells using naturally occurring bacteria.

Tags: science, technology, innovation

The Little Steps that Matter

Thu, 14 Feb 2008 22:00:19 GMT

clipped by: deb2012
clipper's remarks: a few issues about peak oil , our economic future, and composting!

Clip Source: thearchdruidreport.blogspot.com

Over the last few months, the uncomfortable phrase “peak oil” has started to appear more and more frequently in the mainstream media

For anger, you can hardly do better than watching the current US administration, brandishing its gargantuan war machine and bellowing its rage at Arabs, Venezuelans, and anybody else arrogant enough to think that they have some sort of right to the oil underneath their own territories.

The rush to ethanol and biodiesel has already played a significant role in sending grain prices to record levels

will quite probably cause mass starvation in the Third World within a decade or so if it continues at its present pace.

Attempting to revive the nuclear industry

meant to allow us to continue living our lives in something like their present form

That fantasy, it seems to me, is the single largest obstacle in the path of a reasoned response to the predicament of peak oil.

Tags: society

The Long Emergency

Mon, 11 Feb 2008 16:36:36 GMT

clipped by: deb2012
clipper's remarks: Kunstler's view of this cleanse of the financial system.

Clip Source: jameshowardkunstler.typepad.com

Behind all the blather and bullshit about the Federal Reserve's rescue gambits and the machinations of the ratings agencies, and the wiles of foreign sovereign wealth, and the incomprehensible mysteries of markets, and the various weather forecasts of a gathering "recession" is the simple fact that the USA is a way poorer nation than we imagined ourselves to be six months ago. The American economy has been running on the fumes of "creatively engineered" finance (i.e. new-and-improved swindling) for years, and now these swindles are unraveling.

This new depression, which I call The Long Emergency, will play out against the background of a society that has pissed away its oil endowment, bulldozed its factories, arbitraged its productive labor, destroyed both family farms and the commercial infrastructure of main street, and trained its population to become overfed diabetic TV zombie "consumers" of other peoples' productivity, paid for by "money" they haven't earned.

Tags: economy

Three Cups of Tea

Sat, 02 Feb 2008 22:14:05 GMT

clipped by: deb2012
clipper's remarks: The smartest path to peace....

Clip Source: threecupsoftea.com

Mortenson advocates girls’ education as the top priority to promote economic development, peace and prosperity, and says, “you can drop bombs, hand out condoms, build roads, or put in electricity, but until the girls are educated a society won’t change”.

Tags: peace