Question about ACA and its impact on me and others like me:

I currently have no health insurance.
I currently am unemployed and no longer receiving unemployment insurance.
I cannot afford to pay for private health insurance, since I am unemployed.

I figure the 'mandate' ('tax') is irrelevant to my situation because I have so little income.

So here's my question:

how and when does ACA help (or hurt) me and others like me? Today? In 2014?

I'm a resident of California, in case that's germane.

Great! NBC (and many on DU) are just fine with calling

inmates 'Bubba' now, no matter what that name might denote or connote. And I'm shocked, SHOCKED I tell you, that my opposition to prison rape translates into a failure to show 'compassion'. But not surprised. This place fucking disgusts me some times. But, thank you, Juror #2.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=850534

At Mon Jun 25, 2012, 11:39 AM you sent an alert on the following post:

Here's what the inmates did for Sandusky on his first night in jail:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002850534

REASON FOR ALERT:

This post is disruptive, hurtful, rude, insensitive, over-the-top, or otherwise inappropriate. (See <a href="http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=aboutus#communitystandards" target="_blank">Community Standards</a>.)

YOUR COMMENTS:

Calling inmates 'Bubba' is a dog whistle for prison rape. Unacceptable.

JURY RESULTS

A randomly-selected Jury of DU members completed their review of this alert at Mon Jun 25, 2012, 11:47 AM, and voted 1-5 to LEAVE IT ALONE.

Juror #1 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE and said: No explanation given
Juror #2 voted to HIDE IT and said: Bubba has been a problem....
Juror #3 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE and said: Why not read the article?? It's "IN" the article. How about some compassion for what he did to those little boys? WOW.
Juror #4 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE and said: I can handle it.
Juror #5 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE and said: No, it doesn't have to be a 'dog whistle for prison rape'. In this case, it means 'prison inmates', because it describes what happened (singing to let him know he's hated) and says 'Bubba' "has it in hand" - ie this is already the 'justice'. The word Bubba also comes from NBC, not the DUer.
Juror #6 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE and said: No explanation given

Thank you.
0

Re-posted from GD, per Skinner's suggestion.

Great! NBC (and many on DU) are just fine with calling

inmates 'Bubba' now, no matter what that name might denote or connote. This place fucking disgusts me some times. But, thank you, Juror #2.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=850534

At Mon Jun 25, 2012, 11:39 AM you sent an alert on the following post:

Here's what the inmates did for Sandusky on his first night in jail:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002850534

REASON FOR ALERT:

This post is disruptive, hurtful, rude, insensitive, over-the-top, or otherwise inappropriate. (See <a href="http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=aboutus#communitystandards" target="_blank">Community Standards</a>.)

YOUR COMMENTS:

Calling inmates 'Bubba' is a dog whistle for prison rape. Unacceptable.

JURY RESULTS

A randomly-selected Jury of DU members completed their review of this alert at Mon Jun 25, 2012, 11:47 AM, and voted 1-5 to LEAVE IT ALONE.

Juror #1 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE and said: No explanation given
Juror #2 voted to HIDE IT and said: Bubba has been a problem....
Juror #3 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE and said: Why not read the article?? It's "IN" the article. How about some compassion for what he did to those little boys? WOW.
Juror #4 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE and said: I can handle it.
Juror #5 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE and said: No, it doesn't have to be a 'dog whistle for prison rape'. In this case, it means 'prison inmates', because it describes what happened (singing to let him know he's hated) and says 'Bubba' "has it in hand" - ie this is already the 'justice'. The word Bubba also comes from NBC, not the DUer.
Juror #6 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE and said: No explanation given

Thank you.

The origins of modern conservatism:

Is forced prison labor 'slavery' under color of the law?

A thread on DU asked whether Repigs would bring back slavery if they gained full control of all 3 branches of government.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002841902

Several DUers responding to that thread argued that the current prison system with forced labor constitutes a new version of slavery (under color of the law).

This is an issue that I don't know much about, probably out of only having so many hours in the day and only so much capacity for outrage. But I would like to get a sense of the broad DU community's thoughts on the issue.

I remember asking someone awhile back what happens if you refuse to work and apparently the prison authorities can then put you in 23-hour-a-day lockdown.

I will attempt to reply to all serious responses to this OP.

Thanks in advance.

Please stop and take a breath. Do we really want the first shot in the 2nd Civil War to

be this moron's heckling of the President at a Press Conference?

Somehow it just doesn't have that Fort Sumter feel to it.

I've seen a couple OPs and numerous posts openly advocating violence and extra-judicial vigiliantism in response to this act of boorish behavior. If we are going to descend to those depths, shouldn't it be for something like the attack on Gabby Giffords and not simply in response to words?

I think Obama handled it perfectly and my respect for him has shot up 1000%. Can't say the same about some of the posts on DU in response to it. I understand the anger and it is not, imo, mere posturing or 'poutrage'. This was a grievous breach of protocol and there should be serious consequences for Munro and for the Daily Caller, no question, up to and including revocation of press privileges.

That said, I felt compelled to weigh in strongly against descending to their level even when the anger is so righteous.

Career advice needed\question about polls and pollsters

I have been toying with the idea of pursuing a career in politics for what I hope is the final phase of my working career. I am interested in public opinion polling and surveys but don't really know where to start my investigation.

Some questions:

Do polling firms recruit out of poli sci and sociology departments primarily? Or do they tend to look at marketing\biz majors?
Is the best way to enter the field primarily from an academic background or can one easily enter it through another avenue?
How could a humanities major (English and History) break in to the field?

I have job experience in teaching, IT, writing and editing and customer service\technical support. I'm reasonably sure that I have transferable skills that would fit right in to the polling segment of the economy but I have no idea where to begin.

Any advice\insight (or even recs about books to read) would be greatly appreciated. I'm located in Southern California on the west side of Los Angeles and currently am not in a position to relocate, barring some miraculous recovery in real estate.

I considered putting this in the Career Help and Advice forum, but that forum seems relatively lightly travelled and I thought some of the political junkies who actually do the work would be more likely to frequent GD.

Barack Obama and Me: A Tale of Two Americas

"It was the best of times. It was the worst of times." When Charles Dickens wrote those words to begin A Tale of Two Cities, he might have been describing the United States of America in the first two decades of the new millennium. Barack Obama, a black American risen from humble conditions, is President of the United States when just 50 years earlier he would not have even been allowed to eat at the same lunch counter as many of the whites whose children would subsequently vote for him.

Wow. That is one big WOW!

But . . .

50 years ago it would have been unthinkable that 6 Americans (heirs to the WalMart family fortune) would control as much wealth between them as the bottom 30 million Americans combined. 50 years ago it would have been unthinkable that 1% of the population would control 40% of the wealth of this country and that 10% would control 80% of the wealth. 50 years ago it would have unthinkable that 50 million Americans would be living in poverty.

Wait. Cancel that last statement. Strike a line through it. For the fact is that, 50 years ago, before the advent of LBJ's Great Society programs, 50 million Americans probably did live in poverty. And today, in 2012, 50 million Americans are living in poverty. So some things have not changed much.

I have been unemployed now for over 18 months. My unemployment compensation had been keeping me afloat. I was in the final 20-week extension, the so-called FED-ED extension, when my unemployment compensation was abruptly terminated as of May 12, because California no longer qualifies for the FED-ED monies. The termination was abrupt with very little advance warning and now I am having to use up my meager savings to stay afloat while desperately casting about for other ways to secure an income. Once those savings run out, I will have no choice but to start tapping my retirement accounts and watching any hopes I might have had for a reasonably comfortable retirement vanish into the Dickensian future that awaits.

And that's not even to mention healthcare. I have no health insurance. Two dental procedures for my wife and me were put on an installment plan with no interest, but that's $75/month of cash going out while none is coming in. My wife and I are walking around with loaded guns to our heads. Should catastrophic illness strike either of us, we will face lives of penury and ruin.

I can't help feeling that my government has abandoned me, that I am like those hapless survivors of Katrina who remained behind, waiting for aid that never seems to come. Over 50 now, I have come face to face with age discrimination that, while technically illegal, is openly practiced with wild abandon by employers who want only people willing to work for peanuts or in unpaid internships. I have sent out over 2,000 resumes in the past 18 months, had numerous interviews, none of which resulted in an offer. And California's unemployment rate is still over 10%, maybe not high enough to keep people like me receiving unemployment compensation, but high enough to ensure that employers need not comply with the law nor hire anyone not young and beautiful.

So I am happy for Barack Obama. I am happy that he, a black man from modest origins, has become President. I am happy for his wife and daughters too, happy they will never have to worry about where their next meal is coming from, happy that, should they get sick, they will not have to go without medical care due to a lack of resources or insurance. I am happy their father will never have to worry about losing his home to foreclosure or his car to repossession.

I am happy for Barack Obama.

But I live in a different America than the one he inhabits. In my America, people stay with jobs they hate or where they are mistreated, because they are one paycheck away from homelessness. In my America, people are losing their homes, their cars, their health, their livelihoods and their self respect. Every day. No hope in sight.

Barack Obama does not live in my America. I am happy for President Obama but he does not even know or care that I exist.

Keep reading: http://ayearatvenicebeach.blogspot.com/?view=classic

Please feel free to leave me a comment here or at the blog.

I'm getting repeated jury *summons* tonight, only to be repeatedly

told that the Jury is 'full.' First and second times I could believe, but after a 3rd and 4th isntance, I'm smelling a bug.

Not sure if this is the best venue to post. Perhaps if someone knows how to contact the DBA or site admin, they could do so.

Thanks.

Analysis: Why did Barrett lose and Walker win?

I frequently come to DU to read my fellow DUers' opinions before forming my own, especially on matters of close electoral combat. So it is with the recall election in Wisconsin yesterday and the reasons for Walker's victory and Barrett's defeat.

Selecting a poll option is of course useful, but even more useful to me personally and to DU at large will be an explanation of the reasons for your choice, provided you have the time and are so inclined.

Thanks ahead of time to all who participate. This is only my second DU poll, so please let me know if I need to tinker with the choices and\or their wording.

Charles

ETA: I chose option #8 ("I don't know why&quot , because I'm still gathering information.

ETA: I added a new option #7 ("Wisconsinites felt a recall was inappropriate&quot to give voice to several responders' choice of "Other" as explained.