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The 25 GOP-led states that are refusing to expand Medicaid as part of the Affordable Care Act are not just turning down an estimated $42.6 billion in 2014 alone, they’re also missing a chance to save 27,000 lives — according to a new study from the pro-expansion group Health Care for America Now (HCAN).
HCAN’s projection is based on a Harvard School of Public Health study published in 2012 in the New England Journal of Medicine that compared states that had expanded Medicaid to childless adults to those who hadn’t:
The mortality rate in expansion states was 6.1 percent lower than in the neighboring expansion states. For every 500,000 adults gaining Medicaid benefits, 2,840 deaths would be prevented each year, the researchers found. Put another way, for every 176 people added to the Medicaid rolls, one life would be saved.
An estimated five million residents of states that haven’t expanded the program will find themselves in a “coverage gap,” where they will neither qualify for Medicaid nor be able to afford a policy in the insurance exchanges. Applying that 1-in-176 formula to five million uninsured, HCAN comes up with the 27,000 lives that may be lost.
The report also estimates how many jobs would be created by the expansion, which is entirely funded by the federal government for three years, tapering down to 90 percent by the end of the decade. In Texas, where 1 in 4 residents are uninsured, not only could nearly 6,000 lives be saved by expansion, but 300,000 jobs could be created by adding $67.9 billion a year in economic activity.
Instead of accepting new economic growth, states are putting their most vulnerable hospitals at risk of closing.
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Far be it from me to argue with one of the greatest historical minds of the 20th century, but we essentially have an executive that serves a six year term, even if we get two extra bonus lame duck years for our efforts. So it has been with most other presidents, and so it probably shall be with Barack Obama. This is his sixth year; if it doesn’t happen this year, chances are that none of his high priority agenda items will become law in 2015 or 2016.
That’s why 2014 represents the final push for immigration, tax reform, a higher minimum wage, climate policy and every other item on the left-wing wish list. But this is not necessarily a bad thing. History has taught us that the first push rarely results in success when it comes to big change. Look how long it took to get healthcare reform. Sometimes the push is necessary if for no other reason than to get an idea in the public’s mind and to prepare them, or to follow their lead, when it comes to legislation.
Like marriage equality, which coalesced into a major civil rights issue in a short amount of time, the push for rights for all people goes as far back as Stonewall in 1969 and the Supreme Court’s ruling for and then reversal on, anti-sodomy laws in 1986 and 2003. Progressives have been highlighting income inequality and the rising gap between wealthy and not for decades. Now that cry is becoming a major force in calling for a higher, livable minimum wage that just could pass this year. After all, most people, even Republicans, support it.
The same will most likely be true of climate legislation, immigration, privacy and energy. More and more younger people realize that their world is changing and that the United States either has to catch up to other countries who are already addressing the problems or fall behind to our economic and social detriment. The far right is beginning to lose its grip on the Republican Party, and while I don’t see a more moderate wing surging anytime soon, I do see a less strident GOP in our future. That’s good news.
This year will see one or two major pieces of legislation, with the rest of Obama’s agenda left to the next Democratic president and a more willing population. I think we are moving in the right direction, but like anything done well, this will take time.
For more please go to:
www.facebook.com/WhereDemocracyLives and Twitter @rigrundfest
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If I lived in Texas, that statement alone would be all I need to vote for Davis in the upcoming elections.
Presently in the Texas Senate, Davis gained national recognition when on June 25, 2013, she began an 11 hour filibuster to block Senate Bill 5, a bill written by Republicans to create new abortion regulations in Texas.
Davis is now running for Governor of Texas.
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John McCain and Lindsay Graham need to get a room already. They’re once again criticizing the Obama administration for violence erupting in Iraq between the Iraqi government and its opposition.
In a joint statement denouncing the violence that erupted last week, when Iraq’s Shiite-led government sent military forces into Sunni-dominated Anbar province to end anti-government protests, McCain and Lindsay cast blame squarely on the back of the Obama administration.
The ensuing violence that sparked continued the long fighting tradition of Shiite against Sunni, but these Republican congressmen say it’s Obama’s fault.
“While many Iraqis are responsible for this strategic disaster, the administration cannot escape its share of the blame. When President Obama withdrew all U.S. forces from Iraq in 2011, over the objections of our military leaders and commanders on the ground, many of us predicted that the vacuum would be filled by America’s enemies and would emerge as a threat to U.S. national security interests. Sadly, that reality is now clearer than ever.
“The Administration must recognize the failure of its policies in the Middle East and change course. America has lost time, options, influence, and credibility over the past five years, and we cannot afford to remain disengaged any longer.”
In a briefing on Friday, the State Department addressed the Iraqi violence and denounced any suggestion that the administration was at fsult.
“Let’s be clear who’s responsible for the violence. It’s the terrorists who were behind it,” said State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf. “That’s why we are partnering with the Iraqi government very closely to fight this shared threat. At the end of the day, we can certainly help them fight it, but we also want to help them build their own capability to do so themselves.”
Besides a private room, what do McCain and Lindsay want?
They of course voted for the Bush led invasion of Iraq in the first place, an invasion based on a lie. And they were both against Obama’s effort to end the conflict a decade later.
But what would make these two happy, would be a continued American military presence in Iraq indefinitely, irregardless of the financial costs or the American lives that would be lost.
Well guys, that’s not going to happen. The decade long war is over. American troops are home with their families and we are not spending another trillion dollars to continue the unnecessary war you both approved.
Go get a room and work out your issues in private. Leave the administration, the American military and the American tax payers out of your fantasies.
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One evening around Christmas in 1986, Terry Young heard a noise outside his home in Redington Beach.
He opened the door to find his father, Rep. C.W. Bill Young. The congressman had come bearing gifts for Terry, his wife and their four young children.
Terry Young said he relished the opportunity to share such a moment with his father. The two had been out of touch for more than a year after Bill Young divorced his wife of 36 years — Terry’s mother — and married his former secretary eight days later.
The son had called and left messages with his father, but they weren’t returned. So he backed off.
That December night, Terry asked his father to come inside. The kids were giddy to see their grandfather, who had thrilled them on Christmases past by playing Santa Claus.
“I’m sorry, Terry, I just can’t,” Bill Young said.
The Republican congressman returned to his car, where his new wife, Beverly, was waiting.
According to Terry, Bill Young never tried to contact him or the grandchildren again.
After Bill Young died Oct. 18 at 82, he was given a funeral befitting a legend. Speakers — including House Speaker John Boehner and high-ranking military officials — praised his skills at crafting legislation and advocating for his constituents.
There was a second theme amid the accolades: Bill Young, family man.
A lengthy photo montage showed the congressman with the three sons (one adopted) and eight grandchildren who resulted from his marriage to Beverly.
But no one mentioned the three children, seven grandchildren and five great-grandchildren from his marriage to the former Marian Ford. Nor were any of those family members included in the photo presentation.
Then an unscripted moment changed the tenor of the service. It happened 1 hour and 39 minutes in, after speeches from two of Young’s sons and a Marine corporal close to the family.
One son stayed behind at the lectern.
“I would also like to say that he also has three other children who are adults,” Robert Young announced. He gave their names — Pam, Terry, Kimber — and said that they are “not really speakers” and that he “didn’t want to put them on the spot.”
“Actually, I don’t know what their last names are,” he added, eliciting nervous titters from the section closest to the stage reserved for family and friends, including more than 30 members of the U.S. House of Representatives.
Afterward, questions swirled about the congressman’s first family. Why were they absent from the service and why were their names not included in most obituaries?
Hardly anyone knew it, but two of Bill Young’s children mentioned in Robert Young’s statement — Pamela Ernest, 63, and Kimber Butts, 59 — were actually seated seven rows from the front during the funeral.
Terry Young watched it on television from home.
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Republican congressman from Illinois Aaron Schock is the darling of the Republican party. He is anti-gay and they love it! He is against everything gay and his voting record in congress reflects that.
Schock has voted against the repeal of DOMA – the Defense of Marriage Act, he has voted against the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, he is against gay marriage and is for a federal amendment to the constitution describing marriage as between a man and a woman. So yea, Republicans love him.
Then there is this: A Facebook post outing Schock as a gay man. The post claims that Schock was caught in the shower with another man and that TMZ has followed Schock into gay bars.
here’s a hypothetical: what if you know a certain GOP congressman, let’s just say from Illinois, is gay… and you know this because one of your friends, a journalist for a reputable network, told you in no uncertain terms that he caught that GOP congressman and his male roommate in the shower… together. now they could have been good friends just trying to conserve water. but there’s more. what if this congressman has also been caught by tmz cameras trolling gay bars. now what if you know that this very same guy, the darling of the gop, has also voted against repeal of don’t ask don’t tell, opposed the repeal of doma, is against gay marriage; and for the federal marriage amendment, which would add language to the us constitution banning gay marriage and would likely strike down every gay rights law and ordinance in the country?
Are we still not allowed to out him?
let me ask another question… doesn’t the media have an OBLIGATION to expose his hypocrisy? if he had done something so hypocritical and he wasn’t gay, wouldn’t we demand journalists do their job? but they can’t… because we won’t let them. you’re not allowed to out ANYONE, we tell them.
we’ve created a situation where even though news organizations know this guy is gay, they can’t report it because he hasn’t said so on twitter.
if we keep saying that being gay is genetic; ergo, it’s no different than having blue eyes or blonde hair… than why are not allowed to mention it? why do we need anyone’s consent to talk about their sexuality? are we not allowed to say someone has blue eyes until they post a fb message telling us they are in fact blue?
we’ve been so effective at convincing everyone that outing people is a crime against humanity, that we’ve made it impossible for any network or news organization to talk about this “hypothetical” gay republican congressman and his hypocritical vote against gay rights. they won’t touch it for fear of retribution from GLAAD or HRC. (in fact when my friend’s network interviewed said hypothetical republican, he talked about wanting to find a nice woman to marry… and the network aired it… knowing it was a lie…
so, forgive me if I don’t subscribe to the notion that you’re not allowed to out anyone… in fact in some cases, i’d celebrate it. but I’m crazy that way.
At the end of the piece, the author Itay Hod shared a link to American Blog, detailing the 7 gayest Instagram pictures of Aaron Schock! Schock’s instagram account was set to “Private” after the post was written.
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Bedtime Yoga
Practicing yoga before bed will benefit your sleep in many ways. The mind and body are working every minute of the day. As bedtime approaches, it is beneficial to release the stress and tension from the body, relax the mind and enjoy quiet yoga, because of the stimulatory effect yoga has on the nervous system, and in particular the brain.
Often, we have trouble falling asleep because the mind is still going, but the practice of breathing allows for more oxygen in the body providing clarity in the mind. A relaxed session of yoga helps to calm the body, mind and spirit. This helps to quiet the constant thought patterns that can rob you of sleep.
You will have a more restful sleep because of the relaxing aspect of yoga and the subsequent relieving of stress, tension and fatigue and you will wake up every morning ready to go instead of wishing you could stay in bed. Combine yoga with a short meditation practice to enhance this benefit.
h/t – positivemed
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The family of a teenager killed in 2012 after an argument with an older man over loud music at a Florida gas station has settled their civil suit against the shooter for an undisclosed sum.
The Florida Times Union reported Friday that defendant Michael Dunn, a 47-year-old software engineer accepted a civil settlement offer made by the family of Jordan Davis, a 17-year-old student from Marietta, Ga., who had been living in Jacksonville with family at the time he was killed.
Dunn’s criminal trial is scheduled to begin Feb. 3.
The case carries echoes of the Trayvon Martin affair: both victims were black teenagers shot by older white men claiming fear for their lives. In the Dunn case, however, the defendant appears to be preparing a formal Stand Your Ground legal defense, claiming that Davis and his friends had pointed a weapon at him before he opened fire. No weapon possessed by the teenagers has been recovered by police.
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People like the Koch brothers are accustomed to having their own way. The right winged media bows to their every command, so they obviously have some pull in those media outlets. But the brothers apparently got carried away when they sent Rachel Maddow some talking points an expected the MSNBC host to read their demands on air, to her audience.
Needless to say, Rachel happily put them in their place. “NO, I won’t read your script,” Maddow said in last night’s show.
Maddow previously highlighted a failed policy in Florida where the Republican governor tried to drug-test poor people applying for assistance from the state. This failed policy was funded in part by the Koch brothers and they were not happy hearing how Maddow covered their involvement. So they sent her a script expecting her to read their defense on her show.
Maddow of course, refused.
Video.
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President Obama used his first weekly address of 2014 to urge Republicans to joint Democrats in doing what they should for the unemployed – extending unemployment insurance.
For decades, Republicans and Democrats put partisanship and ideology aside to offer some security for job-seekers, even when the unemployment rate was lower than it is today. Instead of punishing families who can least afford it, Republicans should make it their New Year’s resolution to do the right thing, and restore this vital economic security for their constituents right now.
After all, our focus as a country this year shouldn’t be shrinking our economy, but growing it; not narrowing opportunity, but expanding it; not fewer jobs, but doing everything we can to help our businesses create more of the good jobs that a growing middle class requires.
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They may look like perfectly crafted sculptures or delicately etched pictures – but a father-daughter team say these images took far less effort.
Photographer Nelson Jones and his daughter Hillary told MyFoxDC that the pair created the pictures by pressing their faces in the snow and then taking snaps of the indents.
Speaking with Fox, Jones explained that the pair had been shoveling snow outside their Washington D.C. home on Friday morning and commented on how fresh it looked.
His daughter suggested that they stick their faces in the snow on the roof of the car, so they gave it ago, ‘and so the crazy, 3D snow face plant pic was born!’, Fox reported.
Jones said that the resulting image on his daughter’s iPhone surprised them as the dents did not look 3D to the naked eye.
While Fox insisted that the images were real, others expressed their skepticism at the level of detail.
‘I take extreme issue with the very fine detail of Jones’ face, one wrote on Facebook. ‘You realize how clay like the snow would have to be, how firm yet soft? How much pressure would need to be applied and depth to get into the lines?’
He also asked why there were no indents from items such as hats or coats. But Fox insisted the images were created with nothing but their faces, adding of Jones: ‘He was as suprised as we are!’
The images come after the area was blanketed with snow throughout Thursday night, with residents seeing anything between two and four inches.
They also suffered bitterly cold temperatures, with the mercury plummeting to its lowest level so far this season of 16 degrees. Forecasters said it felt more like -1 degree due to the wind.
Snow hit other areas across the Northeast even harder; there were between six and 10 inches reported around New York City, nine inches in Philadelphia and nearly 14 inches in Boston.
Read more: Here
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