October 26, 2013

I could have *forced* an insurer to cover me since I had had continuous coverage

If one had been "continuously covered" through an employer, COBRA, or a private policy, one could have "forced" an insurance company to cover you. That was how I understood it four years ago. I looked into it, but never had to use it. I spent a huge amount of time at Ohio and federal websites.

I was terrified that I would be laid off. I had a diagnosis that might have meant huge premiums. I will never know, since policy has changed. I agree with your last paragraph.

July 22, 2013

Obama to begin new series of economic addresses

Source: Yahoo.com

The address Wednesday at Knox College in Galesburg, Ill., will be the first in a new series of economic speeches that White House aides say Obama intends to deliver over the next several weeks ahead of key budget deadlines in the fall. A new fiscal year begins in October, and the government will soon hit its borrowing limit.

The speech comes just a week before Congress is scheduled to leave for its monthlong August recess and is designed to build public pressure on lawmakers in hopes of averting the showdowns over taxes and spending that have characterized past budget debates.

In his economic pitch, President Obama will talk about efforts to expand manufacturing, sign up the uninsured for health care coverage, revitalize the housing industry and broaden educational opportunities for preschoolers and college students. He will also promote the economic benefits of an immigration overhaul.
...
President Obama's focus on the economy comes as he has experienced a degree of success with the Senate, which passed an overhaul of immigration laws and unclogged a Republican blockade against several presidential nominations. It also reflects a belief at the White House that the administration has been able to manage a series of confrontations with Congress over the Internal Revenue Service, phone surveillance of Americans and the deadly attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-begin-series-economic-addresses-000143541.html

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USA Today-- President Obama will kick off a several-weeks long effort Wednesday to barnstorm the country and press resistant Republicans to work with him to bolster the economy.

In the campaign, President Obama will lay out his vision directly to Americans for how Washington and the private sector can put a charge into an economy that is improving only in fits and starts.
...
White House senior adviser Dan Pfeiffer said in an e-mail that President Obama believes Washington "has taken its eye off the ball on the most important issue facing the country." Among the specific topics related to the economy that President Obama will address in the coming weeks are job security, education and health care.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2013/07/21/obama-major-speech--midwest-economy/2573369/
***
WKYC news in Cleveland said that President Obama will be speaking in Ohio. The executive department will implement policy that does not require the cooperation of the obstructionist pin heads in Congress. That is what has already been done for climate protection.

June 26, 2013

Gives me hope

Dear member,

I just had a short meeting with the president this morning before his climate speech and I'm more convinced than ever that he is ready to tackle climate change.

In his speech, he announced that he's directing his administration to crack down on climate-disrupting carbon emissions from power plants, scale up renewable energy, and boost energy efficiency for commercial, industrial, and federal buildings.

He also said he will reject the Keystone XL pipeline if it is bad for the climate. (Hint: it is.)

Today's announcement is a big deal, and it's happening because you, your neighbors, and hundreds of thousands of others helped show our country and our president the way forward.

Thank President Obama for making climate a priority, and let him know you're ready to fight back against the big polluters who are going to try to stop this plan dead in its tracks.

By putting his administration to work on the climate crisis -- and especially by tackling climate-destroying carbon emissions from coal plants -- President Obama is showing that he understands the seriousness and urgency of climate disruption and is ready to lead the way with immediate and decisive action.

And that gives me hope.

To cement his climate legacy and protect future generations, the president will need to keep taking big, bold steps like this -- things like rejecting the Keystone XL pipeline, ending destructive oil drilling in the Arctic, halting mountaintop removal, protecting public lands from fracking, stopping the rush to export fossil fuels, and abandoning dirty fuels for a clean energy future. Today he's shown that all those things are still on the table because he understands how important this fight is.

Join me in showing the president that there's a groundswell of support for bold climate plans like this. Let's send 50,000 letters and make sure he knows we're ready to do this -- and more.

The president is going to have to tackle this crisis without Congress, but that doesn't mean he has to fight alone. He needs to know that activists like you will have his back when big polluters try to stop him. He needs to see that the climate movement is energized, growing, and ready to win.

This past February, 50,000 activists like you took to the streets in Washington, D.C., and more marched all across the country. You joined climate conversations, took more than a million actions online, helped support and build the movement, and made the first 100 days of President Obama's second term a turning point in the climate fight. And together over the past decade, you've stopped 179 new coal-fired power plants and won the retirement of 147 existing coal plants -- the nation's number one source of carbon pollution.

Even more than the president's plan, that gives me hope that our nation will continue to confront the climate crisis, and continue to win a clean, healthy, and safe future for our children and future generations.

So let's show the president our hope and our strength. Send your message now!

Thank you for all you do,

Michael Brune
Sierra Club Executive Director

http://action.sierraclub.org/site/R?i=3gxSpGtdgm6UQ-czK6ZvhA

June 25, 2013

Our trolls don't act moderate; they are *purist poseurs* who protested every war since Vietnam

Collected signatures for McGovern, tried to get local progressives elected, and just wrapped up a long activist endeavor to pass "single payer". Hence, they have earned the right to be an insulting extremist, second guessing what every elected Democrat does.

June 12, 2013

N.Ridgeville cop shoots kittens to death mere steps from family with young children

Ohio SPCA Director Teresa Landon, who took a call from the woman who lives in the home, said the woman was distressed when Accorti killed five kittens in front of her while her children were inside the home. She said the youngsters began screaming and crying.

“He informed her that shelters were full and that these cats would be going to kitty heaven,” Landon said of Accorti. “She assumed he would be trapping them or something and taking them to a shelter and they would be humanely euthanized if they were not adopted.

“Instead, he went to his truck and got a gun, which she thought was a tranquilizer gun, and walked around to the back of the house and approximately 15 feet from her back door shot and killed the 8- to 10-week-old kittens . . .

“She was very distraught when this happened. He started shooting them right in front of her. Her children were upstairs in view of the windows. They started screaming and crying because they heard the gunshots. They started screaming, ‘Mommy, he’s killing the kittens,’ ” Landon said.
..
http://www.cleveland.com/north-ridgeville/index.ssf/2013/06/north_ridgeville_humane_office.html#incart_river

Ohio Junior Fascists department:

Lieutenant Barry Accorti, a man who admitted to us he’d maybe pushed the envelope a little too far with a subject’s rights at one point in his career, outlined citizens’ rights so thoroughly that his presentation was akin to an American Civil Liberties documentary.

http://blog.cleveland.com/thesun/2009/10/an_arresting_inside_look_into.html

June 2, 2013

A BIG WIN FOR CLEAN AIR IN PENNSYLVANIA--AND NATIONWIDE! -Sierra Club Beyond Coal & Earthjustice

Coal pollution contains all sorts of nasty, dangerous things, but one of the worst pollutants is sulfur dioxide. Just five minutes of exposure to sulfur dioxide can lead to respiratory problems, difficulty breathing, and contribute to lung disease.

So you can imagine the sigh of relief from Pennsylvanians with this major news: The Homer City Generating Station -- the largest source of sulfur dioxide pollution in the U.S. in 2010 - will now be subject to new, strong limits for this particularly dangerous pollutant. Up until now, only one of the coal plant's boilers had any ability to limit sulfur dioxide pollution!

According to the Clean Air Task force, pollution from Homer City causes 43 premature deaths every year.

This new agreement comes after a year of litigation from the Sierra Club and Earthjustice and sets a national precedent in the fight to secure the health and safety of families in coal-dependent Pennsylvania and beyond: These new conditions of the Homer City permit makes it among the first in the nation to set hourly limits on sulfur dioxide emissions.

What's more, these limits also apply to times when the coal plant is shut down and restarted, which facilities do from time to time (for maintenance, etc..) and frequently causes excessive pollution to be released.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) expects these new standards will especially benefit children, the elderly, and people with asthma.

This victory sets an important standard for other clean air fights across the country. As we continue the fight to replace old dirty energy sources with clean renewable ones like wind and solar, we must make sure to limit the dangerous pollution from our remaining coal-fired power plants.

And the fight will continue against Homer City's coal plant, too. Local activists have long fought the big polluter, repeatedly noting that the facility is a filthy money-waster - one that repeatedly violates Clean Air Act standards.

Sierra Club Pennsylvania released monitoring and modeling last year showing that the plant wasn't even being monitored for its downwind pollution until 2010, which helped plant owners avoid being cited despite it repeatedly violating state air quality standards.

Meanwhile, plant-owner Edison International continues to sink money into the 43-year-old fossil. Just last year the state Department of Environmental Protection approved a $725 million pollution control unit for the coal plant. This money could be much better spent on clean energy investment for the community.

"Some of the best economic analysts in the region have repeatedly shown that this plant simply isn't economically viable...and it's certainly a bad investment for the people of Indiana County. Rather than let $725 million go up in smoke, it's time for this plant to retire," said Randy Francisco, of Sierra Club Pennsylvania.

"Pennsylvania has the opportunity to become a national leader in clean energy manufacturing and production, and Indiana County (where Homer City is located) is well-positioned to take advantage of this clean energy economy."
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Press release: http://sierraclub.typepad.com/compass/2013/05/a-big-win-for-clean-air-in-pennsylvania-and-nationwide.html

March 21, 2013

Connie Schultz: Resist the Chardon Killer's Taunts

I think this is her best column, ever.

On Tuesday, a year after he murdered three Chardon High School students and injured three others, 18-year-old T.J. Lane walked into his sentencing hearing and made it virtually impossible for most of us to summon even a shred of sympathy for his condemned soul.

But summon we must. If we are good people — and most of us want to believe we are — we are called to dig deeper for compassion that eludes us, lest our own souls wither.

Bear with me, please. I've worked hard in the past 24 hours to find this patch of my heart. It's a tenuous grasp, and I'm trying to hold on tight.

On the morning of Feb. 27, 2012, Lane walked into the high school cafeteria in Chardon, Ohio, and started shooting.

By the time he was done, three students were dead: Daniel Parmertor and Demetrius Hewlin, who were 16, and 17-year-old Russell King Jr. Three other students were injured: Nate Mueller, 17, Joy Rickers, 19, and Nick Walczak, who is now in a wheelchair. One of the more heartbreaking video images of Tuesday's hearing — and there are so many — is of Walczak's shy smile as he rolled his chair into the courtroom. He later strained to catch a glimpse of his shooter.

...more...
http://www.creators.com/opinion/connie-schultz/resist-the-chardon-killer-s-taunts-13-03-20.html

February 25, 2013

Slavery was the other fatal flaw in our 18th century Constitution

...Who or what were the framers of our government, that they should dare confirm and authorise such high-handed villany—such flagrant robbery of the inalienable rights of man—such a glaring violation of all the precepts and injunctions of the gospel—such a savage war upon a sixth part of our whole population?—They were men, like ourselves—as fallible, as sinful, as weak, as ourselves.

By the infamous bargain which they made between themselves, they virtually dethroned the Most High God, and trampled beneath their feet their own solemn and heaven-attested Declaration, that all men are created equal, and endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights—among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. They had no lawful power to bind themselves, or their posterity, for one hour—for one moment—by such an unholy alliance. It was not valid then—it is not valid now. Still they persisted in maintaining it—and still do their successors, the people of Massachusetts, of New-England, and of the twelve free States, persist in maintaining it. A sacred compact! A sacred compact! What, then, is wicked and ignominious?

William Lloyd Garrison

http://fair-use.org/the-liberator/1832/12/29/on-the-constitution-and-the-union

February 19, 2013

Mandiant's complete report is linked *here* from Business Insider

Mandiant says it felt compelled to expose this hack despite possibly compromising its ability to collect information. Here's why:

"The decision to publish a significant part of our intelligence about Unit 61398 was a painstaking one. What started as a “what if” discussion about our traditional non-disclosure policy quickly turned into the realization that the positive impact resulting from our decision to expose APT1 outweighed the risk to our ability to collect intelligence on this particular APT group.
It is time to acknowledge the threat is originating in China, and we wanted to do our part to arm and prepare security professionals to combat that threat effectively. The issue of attribution has always been a missing link in publicly understanding the landscape of APT cyber espionage. Without establishing a solid connection to China, there will always be room for observers to dismiss APT actions as uncoordinated, solely criminal in nature, or peripheral to larger national security and global economic concerns.

...MORE...



http://www.businessinsider.com/mandiant-report-chinese-hacking-explained-how-it-really-works-full-report-downloaded-highlights-2013-2