Clipmarks | Reform Clips

Hypocrites! The RNC's Health Insurance Covers Elective Abortions

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 03:07:50 GMT

clipped by: DanaGarrett
clipper's remarks: Yet another example of rank GOP hypocrisy!

The Republican National Committee’s health insurance plan covers elective abortion – a procedure the party’s own platform calls “a fundamental assault on innocent human life.”

Federal Election Commission Records show the RNC purchases its insurance from Cigna. Two sales agents for the company said that the RNC’s policy covers elective abortion.

Leading up to passage of the House health care reform bill last week, 176 House Republicans joined 64 Democrats in voting for the so-called Stupak amendment, a measure that prohibits federal funds from being used to buy health insurance that covers elective abortions.

German Translation Workers Report Mass Protests on University Campuses

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 00:48:34 GMT

clipped by: jillsimpson01
clipper's remarks: According a number of outspoken German Translation students, demonstrations began on Monday and are anticipated to continue through the weekend. Apparently, the protests began at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich sparked these new comments from the Education Minister. Other protests are being held simultaneously on 20 different university campuses throughout Germany. However, German students are not alone in their call for academic reform. In fact, the German protests are more of a display of camaraderie for students in Austria who are also demanding changes. In Austria, complaints range from overloaded degree courses, social inequality within the educational system, chronic funding shortages, and the introduction of tuition fees and the bachelor and master system into German universities problems in restructuring bachelors and masters degree programs. More specifically, student tend to be protesting most for publicly funded education.

Clip Source: www.articlesbase.com

Throughout Germany, more than 10,000 students are protesting and demonstrating in 70-cities over university programs

, rising costs and numerous other conditions. As a result of their demands for government intervention and immediate action, the Education Minister in Berlin has called for the immediate enactment of reforms that have already been agreed upon. According to German Translation workers covering the protests, there have been a number of mixed signals from school and government officials concerning the streamlining of academic programs, changes to degree programs, school policies, financial aid, age limits and national grant programs.

Tags: german translation, protests, university

Rabbi Carlebach Inspires “Return Again” at Sufi Camp

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 18:58:32 GMT

clipped by: Gul Agha

Clip Source: www.forward.com

Warshauer’s exploration of the shofar mirrors her own journey through Judaism. Raised in North Carolina in a Reform Jewish home, she experimented with Eastern religions and meditation. She found comfort in the universal teachings of Sufism, which focuses on the healing vibrations of sound. At a Sufi music camp, she encountered a melody by Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, “Return Again,” which motivated her to return to her own tradition. “I had never heard of Carlebach,” Warshauer said. Now, she said, she “sees the world through Jewish eyes. That’s the spiritual door for me. Music is the way I can communicate the wisdom of our tradition both for Jews and non-Jews. I can do that in an honest and enriching way because it is my tradition, I haven’t borrowed it.”

Tags: sufism, judaism, music

Private Health Insurance is a Defective Product

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 14:29:32 GMT

clipped by: katsteevns
clipper's remarks: DR. STEFFIE WOOLHANDLER: Right. Well, the private insurers are getting millions of mandatory new customers. The taxpayers are going to give subsidies. It’s not going to make healthcare affordable, but it’s going to cost the taxpayers a lot of money to give these subsidies.

Private health insurance is a defective product. We know from our studies of bankruptcy that the majority of Americans who face medical bankruptcy start their illness with private health insurance but are bankrupted anyway by gaps in coverage, like co-payments, deductibles and uncovered services.

Clip Source: www.democracynow.org

Study: Over 2,200 US Veterans Died in 2008 Due to Lack of Health Insurance

Dr. Steffie Woolhandler,

DR. STEFFIE WOOLHANDLER: Well, we think that the Congress needs to start from scratch on this bill. The reform process in Washington has been hijacked by the private health insurance industry. If you look at the Baucus framework, which was the basis of the Senate bill—it’s on the Senate Finance Committee website. Just right-click on that document, and it turns out the author of the document was Elizabeth Fowler, who’s a former vice president of Wellpoint, the nation’s largest private insurance company, covering 35 million people. So the private insurance industry has hijacked the process. What’s come out of the House, what’s likely to come out of the Senate, is a completely inadequate bill that takes about $500 billion in taxpayer money and hands it over to the private health insurance industry.

the fall of the wall Berlin now and then ..

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 03:59:34 GMT

clipped by: syncopath
clipper's remarks: the wall persistenced from 1961 till 1989.

many of the pics got some stories besides..

Clip Source: news.yahoo.com

Thousands cheer 20 years since fall of Berlin Wall

Angela Merkel — Germany's first chancellor to be raised in the former communist east — called the events of Nov. 9, 1989 an "epic" moment in history.

"We remember the people of the Baltics who joined hands across their land ... we remember the students of Prague who propelled a dissident playwright from a jail cell to the presidency," she said. "And tonight we remember the Germans, and especially the Germans in the East who stood up to say 'No more.'"

Merkel also recalled the tragic side of Nov. 9 for Germans — the Nazis' Kristallnacht, or Night of Broken Glass

"Both show that freedom is not self evident," Merkel said. "Freedom must be fought for. Freedom must be defended time and again."

She lauded Gorbachev, with whom she shared an umbrella amid a crush of hundreds, eager for a glimpse of the man many still consider a hero for his role in pushing reform in the Soviet Union.

Clip Source: guides.library.msstate.edu

Clip Source: www.europelifeofluxury.com

Clip Source: www.pagefarm.net

Clip Source: www.rnw.nl

Clip Source: www.dailymail.co.uk

Clip Source: www.latimes.com

Clip Source: www.idsnews.com

Clip Source: www.charter97.org

Clip Source: www.timeslive.co.za

Clip Source: gulaghistory.org

Clip Source: www.bbc.co.uk

Clip Source: www.saak.nl

Clip Source: www.germany.info

Clip Source: www.typicallyspanish.com

Clip Source: blogs.boards.ie

Clip Source: www.listzblog.com

Clip Source: www.ynetnews.com

Clip Source: media3.washingtonpost.com

VIOLATION of the 14th Amendment

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 20:20:54 GMT

clipped by: mountainpalm
clipper's remarks:
Judge Napolitano deems ObamaCare "unconstitutional at its core"

Clip Source: www.americanthinker.com

To Hell with the Constitution?

Much has been made recently of the unconstitutionality of federal health care reform, especially a government-run system (the "public option") that could devolve into a "single-payer" system. The main objection is that the federal government has no authority to operate a health care system. Indeed, the 9th and 10th Amendments forbid it, according to Larrey Anderson of American Thinker.

In The Wall Street Journal, Judge Andrew Napolitano writes that Congress has been getting around such constitutional bans by invoking its Commerce Clause, "the favorite hook on which Congress hangs its hat in order to justify the regulation of anything it wants to control." Perhaps the most outrageous abuse of this tiny clause is the case of Wickard v. Filburn (1942), where the Supreme Court cited the Commerce Clause in denying a man the right to cultivate his own land for the purpose of feeding his family.

ObamaCare endorsements: What the bribe was

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 18:38:44 GMT

clipped by: billpar
clipper's remarks: The AARP got a financial windfall in return for its support of the healthcare bill. Over the past decade, the AARP has morphed from an advocacy group to an insurance company (through its subsidiary company). It is one of the main suppliers of Medi-gap insurance, a high-cost, privately purchased coverage that picks up where Medicare leaves off. But President Bush-43 passed the Medicare Advantage program, which offered a subsidized, lower-cost alternative to Medi-gap. Under Medicare Advantage, the elderly get all the extra coverage they need plus coordinated, well-managed care, usually by the same physician. So more than 10 million seniors went with Medicare Advantage, cutting into AARP Medi-gap revenues.

Presto! Obama solved their problem. He eliminates subsidies for Medicare Advantage. The elderly will have to pay more for coverage under Medigap, but the AARP — which supposedly represents them — will make more money

Clip Source: thehill.com

ObamaCare endorsements: What the bribe was

As the suicidal Democratic congressmen proceed to rubber-stamp the Obama healthcare reform despite the drubbing their party took in the ’09 elections, the president trotted out the endorsements of the AMA and the AARP to stimulate support. But these — and the other endorsements — his package has received are all bought and paid for. Here are the deals:

· The American Medical Association (AMA) was facing a 21 percent cut in physicians’ reimbursements under the current law. Obama promised to kill the cut if they backed his bill. The cuts are the fruit of a law requiring annual 5-6 percent reductions in doctor reimbursements for treating Medicare patients. Bravely, each year Congress has rolled the cuts over, suspending them but not repealing them. So each year, the accumulated cuts threaten doctors. By now, they have risen to 21 percent. With this blackmail leverage, Obama compelled the AMA to support his bill … or else!

Tags: healthcare, politics

How Out of Touch Is This White House?

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 19:54:45 GMT

clipped by: ColoradoRight
clipper's remarks: Two possible explanations: (1) Gibbsy was trying to say something else and it came out very wrong; (2) Gibbsy was in a deep, deep coma for much of the past decade. Either way, maybe "White House press secretary" isn't the optimal line of work for him. I'm stammering at the moment myself from sheer frustration at deciding where to begin to answer him, but thankfully [Mary Katherine Ham] has pulled the necessary links together to do the job.

Clip Source: wizbangblog.com

So out of touch that they claimed no knowledge of the Tea Party movement?

So out of touch that President Obama had no interest in watching Tuesday evening's election results?

And now we have this absolute gem, courtesy of White House press secretary Robert Gibbs, who was asked about the handful of distasteful signs that appeared at Thursday's impromptu "Tea Party" gathering in DC to protest the Democrat health care reform bill :

"I will continue to say what I've said before. You hear in this debate, you hear analogies, you hear references to, you see pictures about and depictions of individuals that are truly stunning, and you hear it all the time. People -- imagine five years ago somebody comparing health care reform to 9/11. Imagine just a few years ago had somebody walked around with images of Hitler.

Yes, imagine! Just imagine!!

The only question I have is, what will they screw up next?

Tags: white house, comatose, ignorant, clueless

MSNBC Goes Into Astroturf Mode: Organizes Grassroots Effort of Free Clinics as Gesture to 'Shame' Se

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:37:53 GMT

clipped by: billpar

Clip Source: newsbusters.org

MSNBC Goes Into Astroturf Mode: Organizes Grassroots Effort of Free Clinics as Gesture to 'Shame' Senators

Remember back just a few short months ago - when thousands, if not millions, of Americans were protesting out-of-control government spending and other policies favored by President Barack Obama's administration?

Surprised by the resounding turnout, the usual lefty talking heads on MSNBC, specifically on "Countdown with Keith Olbermann" and "The Rachel Maddow Show," explained the protests away as being fake grassroots aka AstroTurf.

Fast forward to Oct. 7, when both Olbermann and Maddow started laying down AstroTurf of their own. They encouraged free health care clinics to be held in the states of six Democratic senators that are not in lockstep with the left-wing agenda on health care reform.

The Joe Lieberman Show

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:32:07 GMT

clipped by: zizzy
clipper's remarks: more @ clip source

Clip Source: www.huffingtonpost.com

Lieberman Pledges To Filibuster House Bill "As A Matter Of Conscience" (VIDEO)

Quick Read |
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Top 15 Lieberman Betrayals: Joe's Worst Double-Crosses

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No Men: The Most Ornery, Obstructionist Senators

Kyl: I've Talked With Lieberman About His Filibuster Threat

Nine Arrested Protesting Lieberman's Healthcare Stance

REPORT: Health Care Reform Advocates Arrested After Occupying Senator Lieberman's Office

Harry Reid Reassures Democrats That Joe Lieberman Is On Board With Health Care Bill

Lieberman: "Nothing" Better Than Public Option (VIDEO)

Congress Assists In Torture Photo Cover-Up, Lieberman At Center Of Controversy

Lieberman Aiming To Weaken Climate Change Legislation

Tags: politics, joe lieberman, us senate, torture, healthcare reform, climate change

Shut Up or We'll Shut You Down

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:04:30 GMT

clipped by: dl211
clipper's remarks: No longer able to sit idly by while the President and his chief minion in the House amateurishly try to revamp one-sixth of the U.S. economy, the health insurance industry released a study they commissioned that analyzes the costs of the Obama-Pelosi plan. The results are quite sobering. The study shows that "between 2010 and 2019 the cumulative increases in the cost of a typical family policy under this reform proposal will be approximately $20,700 more than it would be under the current system." (Emphasis mine.)

Clip Source: www.americanthinker.com

Obama-Pelosi to Health Insurers: Shut Up or We'll Shut You Down

President Obama, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and their Democratic followers in Congress have a rather draconian message for the private sector: Speak now, and we'll make you forever hold your peace.

Up until a few weeks ago, America's health insurers were sheepishly on board with the Obama-Pelosi health care reform plan. Perhaps the industry feared that voicing any concern about the plan would unleash the ire of an increasingly rabid Democratic majority on Capitol Hill. As it turns out, the health insurers were right.

Tags: obama, pelosi, healthcare

Boehner: Speaker Pelosi's Government Takeover of Health Care Will Dim the Light of Freedom

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 11:10:52 GMT

clipped by: Normn8or
clipper's remarks: Rest of the write-up on video, on the video page..... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FGuYpMI6iI&feature=channel

Clip Source: www.youtube.com

Boehner: Speaker Pelosi's Government Takeover of Health Care Will Dim the Light of Freedom

[Video]

GOP Leader: Americans asking where are the jobs are getting more the same from out-of-touch Washington Democrats: more spending, more debt, and more government.

Washington, Nov 7 - WASHINGTON, D.C. House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) issued the following statement shortly after Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and House Democrats passed a 2,032-page, $1.3 trillion government takeover of health care:

I came here to renew the American Dream, so my kids and their kids have the same opportunities I had. I came here to fight big-government monstrosities like this bill that dim the light of freedom and diminish opportunity for future generations.

Americans want a common-sense approach to health care reform, not Speaker Nancy Pelosis 2,032-page government takeover that increases costs, adds to our skyrocketing debt, destroys jobs with tax hikes and new mandates, and

Tags: news, politics, government, health care, news & politics

An opportunity to look in the mirror, to more clearly see America

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 01:22:43 GMT

clipped by: drummond1999
clipper's remarks: A look at the make-up of the US prison population and justice system more generally. Who really is being served by this ongoing situation?

Clip Source: fabiusmaximus.wordpress.com

With approximately 2.3 million people in prison or jail, the United States incarcerates more people than any other country in the world — by far. Our per capita rate is six times greater than Canada’s, eight times greater than France’s, and twelve times greater than Japan’s. Here, at least, we are an undisputed world leader; we have a 40 percent lead on our closest competitors — Russia and Belarus.

The very fact that the US record is so much worse than that of the rest of the world should tell us that we are doing something wrong, and the sheer waste of public dollars and human lives should impel us toward reform. But as the authors of these three books make clear, we will not understand the problem fully until we candidly confront the fact that our criminal justice system would not be tolerable to the majority if its impact were felt more broadly by the general population, and not concentrated on the most deprived among us.

Tags: fabius maximus, prison, race, usa

How come we seldom get it right?

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 23:36:53 GMT

clipped by: patden
clipper's remarks: This excellent list of recommendations will ALSO be ignored, unfortunately.

Clip Source: www.huffingtonpost.com

Marcia Angell, M.D.

Physician, Author, Senior Lecturer, Harvard Medical School

Posted: November 8, 2009 08:02 PM

Is the House Health Care Bill Better than Nothing?

Is the House bill better than nothing? I don't think so. It simply throws more money into a dysfunctional and unsustainable system, with only a few improvements at the edges, and it augments the central role of the investor-owned insurance industry. The danger is that as costs continue to rise and coverage becomes less comprehensive, people will conclude that we've tried health reform and it didn't work. But the real problem will be that we didn't really try it. I would rather see us do nothing now, and have a better chance of trying again later and then doing it right.

Here is my program for real reform:

Recommendation #1: Drop the Medicare eligibility age from 65 to 55.

Recommendation #2: Increase Medicare fees for primary care doctors and reduce them for procedure-oriented specialists.

Tags: health care

Obama and The Democrats Want You to Know They Had a Good Week

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 23:23:25 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: During his campaign, in effect, Mr Obama promised to be the constraint: to oversee Congress and guide it with a moderating hand. That was the difference he promised to make. There were always going to be limits to what he could do, but his failure so far even to try has been total.

He has let nearly every agenda be set by the Democrats’ left-leaning congressional leadership. This comes in a country in which 40 per cent of voters call themselves conservatives, 36 per cent moderates and 20 per cent liberals.

Voters are confused and concerned about the policies coming forward " above all by their mounting cost " but he has made little effort to explain or reassure, let alone influence. He has chosen to act as cheerleader for whatever congressional Democrats cook up.

On healthcare, Mr Obama stood aside during months of chaotic haggling in Congress. By the summer, unsurprisingly, voters opposed to reform outnumbered voters in favour " again, above all, expressing worries . . .

Clip Source: www.ft.com

Barack Obama and the Democrats want you to know they had a good week.

What’s that, you say? Oh, yes, Democrats did lose the governorships of New Jersey and Virginia, with huge swings to the other side, but this was to be expected with the economy in such bad shape. Read nothing into that, say Democratic strategists.

Still joyous over this electoral affirmation, Democrats in the House of Representatives then made history over the weekend, with passage of their health-reform bill

Last week’s elections went badly for the Democrats.

The lesson for the Democrats was almost as clear, but their learning disability is more severe. The centre of the US electorate – loosely attached Democratic voters, self-declared independents and loosely attached Republican voters – decides elections.

Democrats should be worried about what voters think of them right now. The lesson for Mr Obama and his party is simple: listen to the centre. They are not listening.

Tags: ny 23rd bob owens, voters opposed to pelosicare