Tag Archives: Philadelphia

Campaign for a Fair Settlement
a project of Action for the Common Good

On Wed Oct 16th at 8pm EDT/5pm PDT interact in a discussion about communities around the country undoing corporate public school “reform”

Dear Carmen —

Wall Street bankers are stealing hundreds of millions of dollars from our kids every year. [1]

That’s not a misprint. As part of all the financial shenanigans they engaged in that broke our economy, they managed to entrap school districts around the country in “interest rate swaps” that were sold as ways to guarantee steady income for the critical job of educating our kids. Instead they turned out to be massive drains on school budgets, for example, costing Philadelphia $331 million [2] and Chicago $150 million (and another $36 million every year). [3]

In turn, that financial pressure on school districts (exacerbated by the drop in tax revenues from the Great Recession) has opened up opportunities for Wall Street banker-funded corporate takeovers of our public schools. For-profit charter schools, often online-only, have cropped up nationally, siphoning off critical public school investments, short changing our children’s future to line the pockets of private, usually out-of-state, corporations dedicated primarily to the bottom line.

Parents and teachers around the country have been desperately fighting back against this tidal wave of Wall Street-backed education “reform”. They know we need investment in our public schools so that every child has a quality teacher and access to a well-rounded education that includes history, music, arts, PE and vocational training, NOT investment in Wall Street corporations whose motivations have little to do with kids and everything to do with manipulating state regulation to protect their interests.

A key figure in this fight is prominent public school advocate, Diane Ravitch, whose new book, Reign of Error: the Hoax of the Privatization Movement and the Danger to America’s Public Schools, shows how people are fighting back and winning. YOU CAN HEAR AND INTERACT WITH HER LIVE in a forum sponsored by the Our Schools network on Wednesday Oct 16th at 8pm EDT/5pm PDT. RSVP here.

Actor Matt Damon, the son of a public school teacher, says,

“[Diane is] America’s foremost historian in the areas of education policy, she’s a champion of public education, she’s a courageous speaker and she’s a truth-teller.”

She’s keenly aware of the impact that Wall Street’s stolen money and increased investments in for-profit education are having on our schools.

“We cannot have great, education by having one set of publicly funded schools (charters and vouchers) that pick and choose their students, kicking out the losers, excluding students with disabilities and English learners, and operating free of state laws, and a second publicly funded system, required to take all students, including those rejected or ejected by the other system. Great school systems aim for equity, as the Finnish scholar Pasi Sahlberg says, and get excellence.” [4]

Join a discussion with Diane Ravitch on Wednesday October 16th at 8pm EDT/5pm PDT and hear how communities around the country are undoing corporate “reform” and creating equity and justice in their public schools.

It’s time we started getting those hundreds of millions back.

In Solidarity,

Brian Kettenring, Executive Director, Action for the Common Good

[1] “Riding the Gravy Train: How Wall Street is Bankrupting Our Public Transit Agencies by Profiteering off of Toxic Swap Deals”, ReFund Transit Coalition, June 2012, page 4.
[2] “Too Big to Trust? Banks, Schools, and the Ongoing Problem of Interest Rate Swaps”, Sharon Ward, PA Budget and Policy Center, January 2012, page 1.
[3] http://www.suntimes.com/news/otherviews/19251143-452/amisha-patel-banks-soak-cps-as-schools-close.html
[4] http://dianeravitch.net/2013/10/10/today-the-blog-has-had-7-million-page-views/

http://www.campaignforfairsettlement.org/

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Beware: The Scooter Store

02/23/2013 Nativegrl77

David Sell, Inquirer Staff Writer

Posted: Friday, February 22, 2013, 3:01 AM

In TV ads, the Scooter Store suggests to seniors and others needing motorized scooters and wheelchairs that they can be had for almost no cost because the company will handle all the messy paperwork with insurers, particularly Medicare.

Wednesday and Thursday brought another example that nothing is free. Somebody – often taxpayers – has to pay.

About 150 state and federal law enforcement officers raided the company’s headquarters in a San Antonio suburb. The action was another phase in an ongoing health-care fraud investigation of the Scooter Store, which has an outlet in the Philadelphia region.

A spokesman for the Office of Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services, which administers Medicare and Medicaid, would say only that the agency “executed a search warrant at several locations of the Scooter Store and that we were part of a multiagency task force.”

The San Antonio Express-News reported that OIG was joined by the FBI and the Texas Attorney General‘s Medicaid fraud unit.

The Scooter Store’s Philadelphia outlet is in Trainer, Delaware County. The manager declined to give his name and referred a reporter to the national office, which did not respond to phone and e-mail requests for comment.

“This raid is a welcome step toward cracking down on waste and fraud in Medicare payments for motorized wheelchairs involving the Scooter Store,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D., Conn.) said in a statement. “I have urged action to stop abusive overpayments for such devices – costing taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars and preying on seniors with deceptive sales pitches.”

The cost of health care is a huge component in local, state, and national debates about how to solve budget challenges. In recent years, the federal government has increased efforts to scrutinize billing practices and thwart fraud, with durable medical devices being one area of particular concern.

Blumenthal is among the congressional leaders who have urged federal authorities to crack down on what they view as deceptive advertising that results in some angry seniors and bills for all taxpayers.

As Blumenthal noted, this is not the first time the Scooter Store has faced allegations of fraud.

In 2007, the company settled a civil suit with the Justice Department by paying $4 million and forgoing $13 million in Medicare claims after the government alleged the company submitted false claims for power wheelchairs that, among other things, beneficiaries did not want, did not need, or could not use.

The company’s five-year corporate integrity agreement with the government was due to expire in 2012 but remains open. The company was also supposed to reimburse the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) $19.5 million for overpayments between 2009 and 2011, according to the San Antonio newspaper. However, senators criticized the CMS for not pushing for more reimbursements, based on an outside audit of the company’s operations.

The company’s website has a specific category of products called “Medicare-Reimbursable Power Chairs,” with several listed for $3,699. It posed the question many seniors would ask: Is the power chair or scooter entirely covered by my insurance?

The answer had a few caveats, including the Medicare requirement to meet with a doctor to determine mobility needs. It also said: “If you qualify, Medicare may cover up to 80 percent of the cost of your power chair. Your supplemental insurance may pay the remaining 20 percent. In most cases, our customers pay little to nothing for their power chairs.”

~ my 2cents ...

TGIF …

07/27/2012 Nativegrl77

image from Alternet/GeneH.Bell article

In response to folks willing to comment on my blog about gun control … an attitude formed way before 2009

an article i posted about guns in – 10/2011 by mayor nutter

On 7/22/09 Congress decided to vote down this effort by 2 votes !!!!!

— It is only my opinion, but Congress should not be voting yes to allow people to carry guns across state lines … the Police should be the only people being able to cross state lines with a gun !!! and assault weapons should never never be in the hands of civilians at all

no civilian should be able to carry a gun across state lines … legally or not … this is just an absurd idea !!!

— Well, I am against hand guns because of incidents my family and friends have experienced. I am against automatic weapons because i don’t think we civilians need to have them at all. I definitely understand states rights but after the Giffords attack and what may have been said or done that led up to it is another issue to be considered . I am not an expert but i do receive newsletters and interesting articles that are meant to start a dialogue. I will admit i cringe anytime I hear states rights and while I did post an article by a Mayor I did not say he was speaking up for any citizen but what he has experienced as a Mayor. Your 2nd Amendment rights? will stay intact but the facts are what they are guns in the wrong hands kill innocent people. I don’t think the rules laws or policies State by state should be different unless there are statics to back maybe a strict process. i just feel a dialogue is needed now not later and all guns should be registered and the owner vetted …everyone. I respect your rights though i don’t understand “Government is damaging the whole country.”

— First, you assumed i wrote the article, yet the title has the Mayor’s name on it, did you even bother to read it? NO … don’t be so willing to be nasty to people unless and until or before you try and convict folks -try to get the facts … That article was written by Mayor Nutter – It says … “Listen to Philly’s top Cop Mayor Michael Nutter” …So, write a nasty letter or whatever to him. FYI – I get information that i share from various newsletters, email and subscriptions… I post most because I think some are very informative others are of topics close to me and feel need more PR , i get Petitions and some articles are meant to produce a dialogue but i find it interesting that folks feel like they assume this that or the other … don’t . I get it, you do not agree with what he wrote but it was his opinion as a Mayor. I have to say your comment was just rude and if you had read it all the way to the end, you would have seen he signed off with his full name and position.
I do not believe in concealed weapons because i (had) friends and relatives who were victims of concealed handguns and I will admit i totally want automatic weapons out of the hands of civilians.

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The article … Tell President Obama: Listen to Philly’s Top Cop … by Mayor Michael Nutter

Richard Tipton⋅

10/14/2011 at 1:19 PM ⋅ Edit

American Mayors, Police Chiefs and Sheriffs do not speak for the Citizens of this country.
The ability to carry a weapon for non-felonies and non-adults is our rights. We are more afraid of the Government (local, state and federal) than we are of criminals. Criminal damage is usually local. Government is damaging
the whole country.

educateyourselfbeforeblogging⋅

10/12/2011 at 5:26 PM ⋅ Edit

According to you, “dangerous people, including sex offenders and domestic abusers, could get a permit in one state and then carry hidden, loaded guns nationwide.” Now, read the facts for yourself:

Congress passed the first blanket prohibition on felons carrying guns in the Gun Control Act of 1968, which made it illegal for felons to possess a gun any under circumstances. The Firearm Owners’ Protection Act, passed in 1986, reinforced the ban on felons carrying guns, and also banned people who have been convicted of a crime punishable by more than one year of imprisonment from possessing guns.

Congress later expanded federal gun control laws by passing what is commonly known as the Lautenberg Amendment, which prohibits persons who are subject to protective or restraining orders as a result of domestic violence, or who have been convicted of misdemeanor crimes involving domestic violence. Incidentally, these federal laws not only ban felons from possessing guns, but also from possessing any type or amount of ammunition.

In addition to the long-standing federal prohibition on felons possessing guns, there are also many state laws that limit the ability of a felon to legally carry a gun, some of which even predate the federal law. At one extreme, some states prohibit anyone who has been convicted of a felony, and even of certain misdemeanor crimes involving violence, from ever legally carrying a gun.

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

thirsty Thursday &some News

10/13/2011 Nativegrl77

just another rant … but it’s not all mine!

First, a plug for Supporting the Jobs Bill and then the rant … People need to realize this Jobs bill will help almost 1.9 million people and that is a number that cannot be ignored though Socially Conservative Republicans choose to attack the rights of Women instead Teapublicans continue holding our Democracy hostage near the edge of disaster. It is important that people get the facts which show that President Obama is the best choice for Americans among any Teapublican on that stage claiming they can govern as President of this great Nation… There is not one Teapublican i would trust if that 3am call comes or one that believes in real freedom and or liberty … think about it

Reports are that only 30% of Americans support the President’s JOBs bill until they are given all the details then the support
rises to over 60% support … It is upon all of us who support #theAmericansJOBsAct to spread the word about what is in this bill … Print
out the President’s JOBs bill and pass it out to friends and relatives. It is clear to me that the surrogates to get our Fellow Americans back to work are WE
THE PEOPLE so just do it. It has not been lost on me that the media has proven themselves to be the purveyor of limited information especially if it is positive and gives President Obama a chance of
winning … therefore, read the Bill, copy it and hand it out >> http://www.whitehouse.gov/jobsact/read-the-bill

Below is a comment about concealed weapons by Mayor Michael Nutter and my response … but of course! ( :

HIM: educateyourselfbeforeblogging
educateyourselfbeforeblogging.wordpress.com

x
xxxlorddantexxx@aol.com
74.101.107.210

ME: First, you assumed i wrote the article, yet the title has
the Mayor’s name on it, did you even bother to read it? NO … don’t be so
willing to be nasty to people unless and until or before you try and convict
folks -try to get the facts … That article was written by Mayor Nutter – It
says … “Listen to Philly’s top Cop Mayor Michael Nutter” …So, write a nasty
letter or whatever to him. FYI – I get information that i share from various newsletters,
email and subscriptions… I post most because I think some are very
informative others are of topics close to me and feel need more PR , i get
Petitions and some articles are meant to produce a dialogue but i find it
interesting that folks feel like they assume this that or the other … don’t . I
get it, you do not agree with what he wrote but it was his opinion as a Mayor.
I have to say your comment was just rude and if you had read it all the way to
the end, you would have seen he signed off with his full name and position.

I do not believe in concealed weapons because i (had) friends and relatives who
were victims of concealed handguns and I will admit i totally want auto-mastic
weapons out of the hands of civilians.

Educateyourselfbeforeblogging … you owe me an apology

Other News …

Transportation Secretary LaHood on Jobs and Transportation

Press Secretary Jay Carney conducts a daily briefing at the White House. Topics of discussion include free trade agreements, President Obama’s jobs plan and the disruption of an assassination attempt on the Saudi Ambassador to the U.S.

More Info »

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