40th Times’s the Charm?

Instead of passing a jobs plan or doing something else even mildly useful, Republicans the House of Representatives spent today on another pointless vote to repeal Obamacare — the 40th such vote to deny the security of quality, affordable health coverage to millions of Americans. This dead-end effort has cost taxpayers more than $50 MILLION and wasted countless hours of time that could’ve been spent focusing on creating jobs or helping the middle class.

Meanwhile, our colleagues put out a report this week that looked at all 3,100+ counties in the United States and identified those that will benefit the most from Obamacare. Sadly, many of these districts are represented by Republicans who have been fixated on repealing Obamacare and denying their constituents badly needed health coverage and other benefits.

Check out the full report HERE. In the meantime, here’s a handy infographic summarizing the report’s findings.

ACA_repeal_gfx-021-555x881

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

The Affordable Care Act 101 With SBA and Small Business Majority

08/04/2013 Nativegrl77

As part of a robust education and outreach effort, the Small Business Administration and Small Business Majority are launching the Affordable Care Act 101 weekly webinar series. Small business owners can learn the basics of the Affordable Care Act and what it means for their company and employees, including insurance reforms, the small business health care tax credit, the new health insurance marketplaces, and employer shared responsibility provisions. Each week, SBA representatives will walk through the key pieces of the law so that small business owners can understand the facts and make the best, informed decisions they can about providing health insurance for their employees.

The Affordable Care Act 101 will take place every Thursday from now through the opening of the marketplaces in October. Below are the registration links for the next three presentations. Registration for later webinars will be available shortly.

Thursday, August 1 at 11:00 AM PDT: Click to Register Thursday, August 8 at 11:00 AM PDT: Click to Register Thursday, August 15 at 11:00 AM PDT: Click to Register

If you have any questions, please contact Chris Van Es at Christopher.vanes@sba.gov. Please forward this announcement to any interested stakeholders.

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Fact Sheet ObamaCares

08/04/2013 Nativegrl77

GET THE FACTS ON HOW OBAMACARE IS ALREADY WORKING:

THE 80/20 REBATE RULE:

If insurance companies

aren’t spending your premium dollars on your health

care — at least 80% – they’ve got to give you money

back. Insurance companies returned $1.1 billion last year,

benefiting 13 million Americans.

YOUNG ADULTS STAY COVERED:

Children can

stay on their parent’s insurance plans until the age of

26. Already, 3.1 million previously uninsured young

adults have gained coverage.

Good health care is a vital piece of every American’s

daily life, and decisions about health are some of the

most personal and individual decisions anyone makes.

But too many Americans are left to struggle each

and every day with a system that works better for the

health insurance companies than it does for them.

The Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, builds on

what works in our health care system, and it fixes

what is broken, so that Americans can have access to

insurance plans that fit their budgets and are there

when they need them. It is a key piece of strengthening

the middle class in this country.

Obamacare is already making America’s health care

system work better for everyone. And that’s even for

those who have health insurance, because if you like

your plan, you can keep your plan. Over 70 million

children and adults with private insurance have been

able to receive preventive care – like annual checkups,

blood pressure screenings, and mammograms – for

free. When insurance companies overcharged for

care, Americans received a total of $1.1 billion in

direct rebates.

Lifetime limits are banned: no longer will Americans

go bankrupt because they fall seriously ill. More than

3 million young adults continued to have health care

coverage because they can stay on their parents’

insurance until the age of 26 and children with

pre-existing conditions can no longer be locked out

by insurance companies. States like New York,

California and Oregon have announced that monthly

premiums for their residents buying plans on their

own are set to decrease once the health insurance

Marketplace opens in October.

This is the kind of security that Americans deserve

and need to build a future for themselves and their

children. But there remains a concerted effort to

dismantle the law and move our country backwards.

Some members of the House have voted nearly 40

times to repeal the legislation – and have promised

to continue – while conservative groups have funded

$385 million in misleading advertising since 2010 –

outspending proponents 5 to 1. In the name of petty

politics, these groups are threatening the stability of

hard-working families.

OFA and its volunteers are taking action now to

combat these attacks. We will inform and empower

Americans to receive better care at a lower cost.

Starting October 1, millions more Americans can see

the benefits of Obamacare – and it’s our job to show

them how.

OBAMACARE FACT SHEET

BETTER COVERAGE, LOWER COSTS

PRINTED BY VOLUNTEERS

ELIMINATING LIFETIME LIMITS:

Insurance

companies are no longer allowed to place an arbitrary

lifetime cap on your coverage, so if you or a family

member gets sick you won’t be billed into bankruptcy.

Already, 105 million Americans have seen this benefit.t

RECEIVE FREE PREVENTIVE CARE:

Obamacare

ensures that you can receive preventive care services,

like vaccinations, mammograms, cancer screenings,

annual checkups, blood pressure and cholesterol tests

at no cost to you. Already, over 70 million Americans

have received free preventive care

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Joshua Young Tried As An Adult For Father’s Crime

08/03/2013 Nativegrl77

Social Action 2014

Joshua Young is on trial for taking part in the murder of his step-brother with his father. Is it inappropriate for the prosecutor to charge Joshua, who was only 15 years old at the time? Looking at the trial footage, we discuss the decision to put him on trial with defense attorney Mike Cavalluzzi, and former prosecutor and retired FBI agent Jim Clemente on this clip from Crime Time.

Watch the Full Episode Here:

Crime Time Short Clips Playlist:

Crime Time Full Episodes Playlist:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RV4DKV…

View original post

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Detroit Can’t Catch a Break

08/02/2013 Nativegrl77

How the Tar Sands & the Koch Brothers Are Polluting Detroit

Detroit has not been having an easy time of it lately, but now the Canadian tar sands and the Koch Brothers are making things even worse.

Check out this video of a giant dirty cloud that was filmed drifting over the city last weekend:

It turns out this dirty cloud was made up of petroleum coke or “pet-coke” being illegally stored on behalf of Koch Carbon.

Climate Progress’s Kiley Kroh explains:

The petroleum coke is a high-carbon, high-sulfur byproduct of Canadian tar sands that are shipped from Alberta to Detroit to be refined. The uncovered black pile began building up along the river this year and drew outrage from residents of Detroit and nearby Windsor, Ontario as it grew to over three stories high and a block long.

The pet-coke was produced by Marathon Refinery but is owned by Koch Carbon which is controlled by Charles and David Koch — billionaire industrialists and major backers of a host of ultra-conservative efforts, including several aimed at obstructing action on climate change and impeding progress on clean energy.

According to WXYZ-Detroit, “Detroit Bulk Storage has been receiving shipments of the oil by-product and storing them near the Detroit River but a recent investigation by the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality says the company broke the law by not getting a permit first.”

And here’s why we should all be concerned about this:

The dangers of petroleum coke — both as a waste product gathering in communities and as an extremely dirty energy source — will only be compounded as increasing amounts of Canadian tar sands are brought into the U.S. to be refined. If, for example, the Obama administration approves the controversial Keystone XL pipeline and facilitates the transport of more tar sands into the country, it will exponentially increase the amount of pet-coke building up around the refinineries — leaving cities like Detroit wondering what to do with the mess it leaves behind.

This single dirty cloud is a good reminder that the tar sands are, well, really, really dirty, whether it’s where they are extracted (a process that produces huge amounts of carbon pollution and other toxic pollutants), in pipelines they spill from, where they are refined, and, of course, when they’re ultimately burned in our cars and trucks and release yet more climate-changing carbon pollution into the atmosphere.