Seedersandleechers
Seedersandleechers's JournalI've been working at a new job for 9 weeks and tonight
I've just witnessed a third person getting fired. These were nurses with small children and families to take care of. For each firing it happened all the same - they came into work their shift and before they could clock in the Admin Nurse said I need to talk to you and the next thing you see is her walking them out the door. And for what? I do not know - no one talks about it. I have never seen so much incivility from a nurse admin in all my years, and I'm 59. I come home from work and I can't open the wine bottle fast enough. (No I'm not a heavy drinker). I took off a year and half and moved to England after my partner died and this is what I came back to. Is this a precedent?
Ripped Off By A Mac? Why Apple Users May Pay More For Booking Hotels With Orbitz
Online travel site Orbitz Worldwide [NYSE: OWW] is testing a system that offers Apple [NASDAQ: AAPL] Mac users pricier hotels than their Windows counterparts, it was revealed Tuesday.
The controversy results after Orbitz found that Mac users spend on average 30 percent more on hotel rooms than Windows users visiting the site and decided on the profiling trial, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The system works by offering Mac users more expensive "recommended" hotels at the top of searched for suggestions.
Usually Mac or Windows users would see the exactly the same list of "suggested" hotels, but with the new system Mac users will be shown a modified list of plusher options.
http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/356448/20120626/apple-orbitz-hotel-pricier-expensive-tracking.htm
Missouri town welcomes horse slaughter plant, jobs
ROCKVILLE, MO. -- People here don’t have anything against horses.
Or slaughtering them.
In fact, they’re fairly delighted at the prospect of transforming horses into export-ready steaks in a building that sits across from their local convenience store. They’re even praying for it.
“The town is all for it,” said Rockville Mayor Dave Moore. “I think it’s great.”
http://www.kansascity.com/2012/06/12/3659273/rockville-mo-welcomes-horse-slaughter.html
This is just 100 miles from where I live and it turns my stomach just thinking about it. 
Western Hebrides and the Shetland Isles
I'm planning a trip to the Western Hebrides and the person I'm going with wants to visit the Shetland Isles also. Is there much to do there? (Shetland). Thanks in advance.
US healthcare system a haven for many, but sick Americans are often jilted
The NHS is sending patients abroad for advanced treatments, but that same care is hard to come by for many living there
Ethan Fidler is a 10-year-old from England who has spent six weeks in Florida and by now is missing football. Many would think him a lucky boy, and indeed he is – not because of Disney World or the beaches but because the the British national health service was willing to fly him four thousand miles and pay upwards of £50,000 for specialised radiation treatment for his brain tumour.
The NHS – often derided in the US as "socialised medicine" – sprang into action for Ethan and there is every likelihood he will be cured. His doctor at the University of Florida institute of proton therapy in Jacksonville, Danny Indelicato, is delighted with him. His mother, quantity surveyor Julia Fidler, who has been in Florida with Ethan throughout, while his dad, Mark, stayed home with their daughter, is astounded.
"I was amazed. To be told that this was something that could happen for Ethan – I was staggered," Fidler said. "To just be told that all this is going to be available for your son. It gives you a massive sense that they must really feel they can cure Ethan or they wouldn't go to these extremes. Every parent must feel that. It does give you confidence."
Ethan is in the US because the NHS as yet does not have proton therapy machines, although the UK government has just agreed to fund two of them, in London and Manchester. But while the British boy is getting cutting-edge cancer treatment here, others who live in America are struggling to obtain the medical care they need. And when they are seriously ill or have a long-term condition, many will not be able to pay the bills that pile through the door. Two-thirds of personal bankruptcies in the US are related to healthcare costs.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/jun/06/us-medical-care-haven-nhs
Women raped while in the US military are denied abortions. End this now
"A female solider in Iraq is more likely to be attacked by a fellow soldier than killed by military fire," declared a piece on rape in the US military in the Guardian last December. As if the details of ensuing isolation, lack of psychological support and risk of homelessness weren't enough, one travesty was left out: unless life is at risk, military medical insurance does not fund abortion for women who are left pregnant after such attacks. Period.
Even if a woman can afford to pay for her own termination, military hospitals are currently outlawed from performing the procedure. The March Act, proposed by senators Kirsten Gillibrand, Barbara Boxer, Jeanne Shaheen, Patty Murray and Frank Lautenberg, seeks to change that. Endorsed by the Department of Defence, and given its appeal to patriotism as much as its pinpointing of this grievous human rights violation, can this be the law to finally persuade America's anti-choicers of the compassionate abortion argument? Or will it merely be the exception that proves the rule?
Much of the current legislative restriction on civilian abortion in the US relates to the 1976 Hyde amendment, which declared that federal funding should not cover abortion (initially relating to services offered by the low-income healthcare provider Medicaid), except in cases of rape, incest or where the life of the mother was at risk. Its relevance was alarmingly renewed in March 2010 when Barack Obama signed an executive order reiterating that protection of federal funds to save the $940bn healthcare bill.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2012/may/28/women-raped-us-military-abortions
Brownback signs big tax cut in Kansas
Source: Kansas City Star
Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback took a grand gamble Tuesday with a monumental tax plan that he hopes will spur an economic revival and not an unparalleled budget crisis that leaves state services in ruins.
While it wasn’t the plan Brownback quite wanted, the bill he signed Tuesday slashes state income taxes by roughly $3.7 billion over five years, with state fiscal analysts projecting budget deficits reaching $2.5 billion in 2018.
It’s described by one lawmaker as the “worst tax bill” to come out of the statehouse. Brownback, in contrast, saw it as a chance for the state to remake its business climate.
“We’re going to move this forward and make it work and take care of our fundamental services,” said Brownback, whose original plan for cutting taxes did more to pay for itself.
Plenty of skeptics believe that the governor’s approach will decimate state services. They point to forecasts showing that the tax plan will drown Topeka in billions of dollars in red ink.
Read more: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/05/22/3622893/brownback-signs-tax-cuts-that.html
I don't live in Kansas but I work in Kansas and therefore pay Kansas state taxes. I feel sorry for all people who will lose out on much needed services while the Koch brothers will have more money to spend on elections.
I'll Have Another wins Preakness, Triple try next
BALTIMORE (AP) — I'll Have Another waited a little longer to catch Bodemeister in the stretch this time, and now that he's done it twice in a row it's time for a Triple Crown try in the Belmont Stakes in three weeks.
With a breathtaking closing rush, the smooth-striding colt won the Preakness Stakes by a neck at Pimlico Race Course on a sunny Saturday, a dramatic finish that topped his win two weeks ago in the Kentucky Derby.
The race unfolded the same way as the Derby, with the speedy Bodemeister moving to the lead under Mike Smith, with I'll Have Another hanging back in fourth in the 11-horse field. The early fractions were slower than the Derby, but when it came time for Bodemeister to hang on, I'll Have Another found another gear under young jockey Mario Gutierrez and ran down trainer Bob Baffert's horse in the shadow of the wire.
"We're thinking Triple Crown, baby," an elated trainer Doug O'Neill said. "He's a special horse. We'll see how he comes out of it, and if he comes out of it in good shape, we're heading to New York, baby."
http://www.seattlepi.com/sports/article/I-ll-Have-Another-wins-Preakness-Triple-try-next-3571311.php
Kansas lawmakers pass ‘Sharia’ law bill
Source: Kansas City Star
TOPEKA -- A bill that would ban the use of foreign legal codes in Kansas courts — broadly written but particularly aimed at Islamic “Sharia” law — is on its way to the governor.
The 33-3 Senate vote came after a long and at times emotional debate Friday.
Opponents, including two senators who signed the committee report to bring the bill to the Senate floor, called it intolerant and unnecessary.
Proponents fired back that the bill would protect the U.S. and Kansas constitutions and prevent the use of foreign law to take away fundamental rights enjoyed in American courts.
Sen. Tim Owens, an Overland Park Republican who is the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, apologized for putting the Senate in the position of having to vote on the bill, which passed the House 120-0 earlier in the week.
Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/05/11/3607044/kansas-lawmakers-pass-bill-that.html#storylink=cpy
Read more: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/05/11/3607044/kansas-lawmakers-pass-bill-that.html
This really pisses me off. I don't live in Kansas, but I started working in Kansas so I am paying Kansas state taxes. Is Missouri any better? I think so - at least Emanuel Cleaver is my rep (the satan sandwich guy), and at least my Governor is a Dem (last name Nixon though). Shit I dunnno.
Profile Information
Member since: Tue May 3, 2005, 10:29 AMNumber of posts: 3,044
