SoCalDem
SoCalDem's JournalDinner vs a dinner invitation
I am endlessly peeved as I watch so-called "news" people wonder endlessly about the popularity of ACA, and about why people don't seem so excited about the benefits they will get.
It's like getting an invitation to a fancy dinner, months away. There is a small fee, but it sounds like a really great dinner for the price, so you sign up.
If that meal gets cancelled, you might be a little bummed, but you would surely not miss a meal because you would have months to plan for that individual evening's meal.
but
If you are sitting down to eat, today..right now..and you are famished, and after a few bites, someone comes along and takes your plate, and you have no other options for a meal, you are going to be pissed.
Not enough people (people who have been polled) have sat down to the meal, so their future plans are still somewhat "fuzzy".
The polls also do not poll correctly.
The "against" answers do not discriminate between the "We hate everything Obama touches" , and the "Dammit, we wanted Medicare for all" people.
If media started doing proper polls with only 3 possible answers, the truth would be inescapable.
Correct question:
Choose ONE
1) health care we had before Obama changed it
2) Medicare for all
3) Obamacare as it evolves over time.
2 and 3 combined would be the important number, as #1 would probably NEVER go beyond 20%
A better poll on health care would be
Which do you prefer?
1. What we have now
2. Obamacare
3. Medicare for all
EVERYONE has an opinion, so NO option for "no opinion"
That poll could easily deliver a TRUE public reaction
2 & 3 added together would show that people really think, since we pretty much know that the "dirty-thirty" ALWAYS votes against anything that would benefit the un-rich.
What benefit, citizenship?
Citizenship, in actuality carries more of a burden than benefit. At least in the USA, it seems to be that way.
Citizenship in many other advanced countries has some pretty decent benefits attached to it.
Voting seems to be the Numero Uno benefit here. I searched many websites for naturalization and it was always at the top.
It's odd indeed, to note that in America, just BEING a citizen will not get you far when you plan to vote. Here, you must jump through many flaming hoops, and fill out paperwork, and then hope and pray that IF you get to vote, it will be counted, and that the results can be trusted.
Right wingers rant & rave about Socialism, but in Europe what they have is Socialism-Lite, and it looks pretty darned good from across the pond.
Parental leave
True universal health care
Educational assistance that does not bankrupt students/families
Old Age pensions that are not necessarily tied to a particular job/company
Unionized labor that has decent wages
Public amenities like libraries/museums that are not threatened with closure every few months..rail/subway service that is truly a service, and seems affordable to most people
Unemployment benefits that are more tied to need, than a timer ticking down
It's true that these things "cost money", but we seem to be paying MORE for a LOT less of the above, and while doing it, are constantly told that we don't deserve what little we GET from our citizenship..
Some literati once described America as a beautiful young woman, who when studied up close, is wearing a tattered garment & has a dirty neck.
We have an elevated opinion of ourselves, and refuse to look inward at all when it comes to trying to truly better ourselves.
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http://resources.marshalladulteducation.org/citizenship.htm
Every year many people become naturalized, or are given rights, as U.S citizens
What Are The Benefits of Citizenship?
The most important benefit is the right to vote in elections.
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Having a U.S. passport allows citizens the freedom to travel. You can travel for long periods of time. You can also live outside of the United States. In addition, citizens receive U.S. Government protection and assistance when abroad.
snip
Citizenship Includes Some Responsibilities
Support and defend the Constitution and the laws of the United States;
Swear allegiance to the United States; and
Serve the country when required
Citizens have many responsibilities other than the ones mentioned in the oath. Some of the key points of good citizenship are summarized on back. This is not a definitive list, but if citizens pledge themselves to doing each of them, this generation and generations that follow will continue to enjoy the American heritage of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
Serving Jury Duty
The obligation to serve on a jury is the other side of the right of trial by jury, one of our most powerful freedoms.
Respecting others
Tolerance is not only "putting up" with other people who are different from ourselves, it's the spirit of trying to understand them. It is the judgment of people as individuals rather than of classes. The best advice for living peacefully with our fellow citizens is: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."
Supporting education and schools
A Massachusetts law enacted in 1647 founded the first system of public education in the American colonies. Today every stated has a compulsory education law and publicly controlled schools that, are free and open to the public. Our nation's future depends on educated citizens who acquire skills to enhance our economy and who keep themselves informed so leaders will not influence them or philosophies that weaken rather than strengthen our nation.
Giving Back To Your Community
Working together as a community cue can accomplish much more than we can ever hope to achieve alone. As citizens each of us has an obligation to make our community a little better place. Giving back means giving of your time and ability rather than money. Another word for this is volunteering.
Paying Taxes
If you work, you pay taxes. Taxes provide highways, police and fire protection, military forces, clean water, and safe food. They make possible the public schools, libraries, parks, and everything public (Streetlights etc.). You pay city, state and federal taxes. Taxes represent the cost of our government doing business. As unpleasant as paying taxes may be, taxation with, representation is a vast improvement over a government that taxes and takes your assets without you having a say about it. It is very important that you pay your taxes. Many of the financial benefits people receive come from taxpayer's money. It is a law that you file income taxes!
"Here’s your check, go away.’
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-06-27/u-dot-s-dot-automakers-cut-retirees-loose#r=elsewhere-img
Patricia Roberts, GM retiree, age 63
U.S. Automakers Cut Retirees Loose
By Keith Naughton on June 27, 2012
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GM is offering buyouts to 42,000 pensioners, or about 36 percent of its salaried retirees, who left from Oct. 1, 1997, to Dec. 1, 2011. Those who refuse the lump-sum buyouts will find their pension plan shifted to a unit of Prudential Financial (PRU) along with those of other retired U.S. salaried workers. GM will spend $3.5 billion to $4.5 billion to create a group annuity at Prudential and to offer the buyouts. The moves will excise its 118,000 salaried retirees from its books, though the company will continue to cover the pensions of about 400,000 hourly retirees. GM says the lump-sum payments and annuity will together cut $26 billion from its pension load.
“The market is willing to give a very positive reaction to pension-risk reduction,” says Mick Moloney, a partner in the insurance practice of consultant Oliver Wyman, which advised GM on its plan. “As soon as the press release came out, the share price went up,” he says. Some retirees, though, feel betrayed. “GM is simply abdicating its promise to salaried retirees for a lifetime pension to balance the books by unloading the obligation,” Jim Shepherd, president of the GM Retirees Association, said in a June 21 letter to a GM executive. “They’re throwing everybody under the bus,” says Vern Henderson, 79, a 1987 GM retiree not offered the buyout. “They’re targeting people who are the biggest liability to General Motors because they’ll live longer.” (GM says it will still offer retirees life-insurance benefits, discounts on cars, and regular updates on its business plans.)
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Colorado fire statistics through the decades ( CO is becoming CA)
http://csfs.colostate.edu/pages/documents/COLORADOWILDFIRES_reprt_table_cb_000.pdfhttp://csfs.colostate.edu/pages/wf-historical-facts.html
These charts are interesting when you look at 1990's & beyond.
From the 90's on, rampant building (over-building?) in sensitive foothill & mountain areas has happened in both states.
Everyone wants to live in a pretty area, but a housing boom integrates housing into areas that perhaps should not be built on.
When fires break out, superhuman efforts to save homes becomes the first priority.
The ecosystem takes a huge hit too, because 30-40 years ago, when fires broke out, the woodland critters fled to the foothills for safety, but they can no longer do that because the people are there now.
No one has determined the cause of this fire yet, but regardless of the cause, the fire is in an area that 30-40 years ago would have probably been uninhabited or at the very least, sparsely populated.
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and this from The Denver Post
http://www.denverpost.com/opinion/ci_20954884/editorial-tough-questions-colorado-homes-burn
Editorial: Tough questions as Colorado homes burn
As more and more homes are built in fire-prone areas, Colorado must consider the implications.
Posted: 06/27/2012 05:41:48 PM MDT
Updated: 06/28/2012 08:55:01 AM MDT
By The Denver Post
Like many of you, we watched in horror Tuesday night as cameras captured the stunning images of the firestorm swallowing homes in the foothills near Colorado Springs. Amid the gruesome backdrop, there was thankfully no loss of life. But there was significant loss of property. And while it is still too soon to tally the damage, the Waldo Canyon fire has added to what is already the most devastating fire season in Colorado history. Given the increase in building in the so-called wildland-urban interface, or WUI, in recent years and the expected boom in coming decades, it's imperative that we use this moment to ask whether we have done enough to confront the difficulties of building homes in or adjacent to forests that are loaded with fuel.
We do not mean that as criticism of any of the victims of this year's fires. But this fire season serves as a wake-up call to an increasingly troubling issue confronting Colorado. The total of at least 450 homes destroyed by wildfires since 2010 exceeds the 387 homes lost between 1976 and 2006, according to data from the Colorado State Forest Service. A U.S. Forest Service analysis found that 40 percent of homes built in the U.S. between 1990 and 2000 were in the WUI. In Colorado, the figure in that time was 50 percent.
A CSU analysis expects a 300 percent increase in WUI acreage in the next couple decades — from 715,500 acres in 2007 to 2.16 million acres in 2030. At the same time, hundreds of millions of dollars have been cut from the federal firefighting budget.
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Note to media... It's a LAW (upheld by SCOTUS) not a BILL
All morning long the spokesmodels on MSNBC have repeatedly called it a bill, and are oh-so "concerned" about what can be done to overturn it..
Even if the mad-hatters in the House do "repeal" it on July 11, it's not likely that the Senate would concur..and even if they did, would Obama sign it? 
Is there a 2/3 majority to override a presidential veto?
Worst-Week-Evaaaah for the crybaby Goopers
They had their shriveled, blackened, little hearts all set for a "3 Strikes Yer Out"-A-Pallooza to be delivered to Obama..
But then:
1) Arizona's papers-please rulings got pretty much gutted, and what's left will be lawsuit-magnets which will cost Arizona a lot of money they probably cannot afford, and may eventually get tossed out when SCOTUS gets another go at it.
2) The Holder Inquisition finally woke the media up enough to start to relay some facts that contradict a LOT of what Crybaby Issa has been saying..the whole debacle has made the lot of them look even more foolish than usual.
3) and the Coup de grâce was the upholding of Obama's health care law
Their supposed wonderful week of home runs delivered from God on a silver platter, turned into a nightmare for them.
They will squeeze more money from their teabag brigade, but those folks were already on the bus, and the bazillionaires will still give what they always planned to.
What happened this week will probably just cause people to finally start looking at the details, and it may have shamed the media into reporting on what it IS, instead of what some yahoo in a tri-corner hat SAYS it is...or what Sarah Palin says it is.
It has condensed the dem "message" into a pretty concise package.
Dems are FOR:
trying to fix health care (it will take time..this is only the start)
trying to fix immigration
trying to fix the economy
trying to enhance fairness for all
Facts tell us that republicans are AGAINST all of the above, so if people want these issues addressed, they just need to start throwing republicans OUT OF OFFICE, so that a sure majority of dems exists in congress so these things can actually be done.
It can be said that dems did not "succeed", but their success or failure was at whim of the republicans who were more than willing to sabotage anything and everything proposed, and they were happy about it.
So, either deliver the smack-down they deserve, or forever hold your tongue.
You cannot be FOR fixing these problems, and still "like the idea" of a mixed party control of congress.
That produces gridlock and anxiety and gets NOTHING done .
This just in:.. Kaiser emailed me
Moving forward with your health in mind
About the Supreme Court Ruling on the Affordable Care Act
The Supreme Court decision on the federal health care reform law has settled much of the legal uncertainty over how the law will be carried out.
As a Kaiser Permanente member, you need not be concerned about any disruption to your coverage and care resulting from the court's decision.
snip
We are also reviewing the court's decision to determine how it may affect the law's expansion of Medicaid coverage to millions of Americans, which is planned to begin in 2014.
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They left a reply box..so I DID:
I am THRILLED to see that the bastards in the republican party did not manage to sink this wonderful plan we have needed for DECADES.
Perhaps in my lifetime, I will eventually be able to CHOOSE my medical facility and my doctors and not be compelled to choose between Kaiser or nothing.
Thanks for your "concern"..
The Lost Generation
http://www.reuters.com/news/pictures/slideshow?articleId=USRTR33OC8#a=13Powerful Slideshow from Reuters.
sample:
(photo would not copy since it's a slideshow)
It's got young people all over the world, and their "menial" jobs they all do to just get by..
Photo 13 / 17
Steffen Andrews, a 24 year-old waiter, serves a customer at Sunny Blue restaurant in Santa Monica, California, April 24, 2012. Andrews studied for four and a half years at Cabrillo College where he received a degree in communications. He came to Los Angeles to work in the film industry but is now unsure what career he wants to pursue.
REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson
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