Tag Archives: United States Constitution

HHS awards $83.4 million to train new primary care providers


Dept. of Health & Human Services

HHS awards $83.4 million to train new primary care providers

Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell today announced $83.4 million in Affordable Care Act funding to support primary care residency programs in 60 Teaching Health Centers across the nation. The funding will help train more than 550 residents during the 2014-2015 academic year, increasing the number of residents trained in the previous academic year by more than 200 and helping to increase access to health care in communities across the country.Read more about today’s announcement.

6 Right-Wing Lunacies This Week: I’m Not A Scientist But I’m Going to Wage War On Science Anyway


AlterNet / By Janet Allon

“Carbon dioxide is good for plants, why do we have to limit it?”

1. Gavin McInnes: White liberals love Neil deGrasse Tyson so much he could defecate on them.

Gavin McInnes, ousted founder of Vice, now noted for racist, homophobic and misogynistic comments, obviously has all the right credentials to be invited onto Fox for some sober commentary about important things.

Just kidding. He was invited on the show to spew hateful and vile things and that’s just what he did. In a segment devoted to picking apart an interview with “Cosmos” host Neil deGrasse Tyson and Chris Hayes, McGinnes did not disappoint.

While talking to Hayes, Tyson had the audacity to make a joke, about his “greatest fear” being that intelligent life would steer clear of making contact with Earth because of the signals we unwittingly put out into space — including past TV and radio programs.

Pretty funny, right? Maybe a little science nerdy, but he is a scientist after all.

“I hate this guy,” McInnes blurted out. “I remember hearing Chris Hardwick on a podcast talk about Neil deGrasse Tyson and he was just salivating. White liberal nerds love this guy so much, he could defecate on them like Martin Bashir’s fantasies and they would dance in the streets.”

Little surprise he then segued from not very veiled racism to out-and-out racism saying that Tyson deserved whatever racial profiling he got when he was young because he “looked the part.”

“He talks about things like, ‘when I was young in New York I would get racially profiled when I’d go into stores,’” McInnes said. “Back then he looked like he was in the Warriors. He had a huge afro and a cutoff shirt and New York was a war zone. Sorry, you fit the profile.”

Meaning of course, being black.

2. Virtually every Republican after new EPA rules came out: I’m not a scientist but… here’s a bunch of idiotic stuff I learned in grade school.

The “I’m not a scientist, but” statement of faux humility was the most popular refrain this week in Republican circles, Facebook pages, Twitter feeds and press conferences. It was almost always followed by either second-grade level science like, “but carbon dioxide is good for plants, why do we have to limit it?” Or some other nonsensical argument against the new, much needed regulations.

There is, of course, only one retort to, “I’m not a scientist, but ….”

It’s, “That’s right, so shut up and listen to what actual scientists have been saying about this for, like, ever.”

We know, we know. We live in dreamland.

The stupid reactions to Obama’s announced coal restrictions ran the gamut.

You can read about them here.  And here. But if we had to pick a favorite, just on the grounds of moronic immaturity, the prize has to go to this pathetic imbecile:

“Thanks to the Obama administration’s EPA and the new regulations released today, America is poised to become the ‘no pee’ section of the global swimming pool,” said Marita Noon, executive director of some bogus right-wing group called Citizens Alliance for Responsible Energy. “Just because we declare that we won’t pee in the pool, won’t stop the others.… We’ll be stuck in our little no-pee section with a crippled economy while the rest of the world will be frolicking in unfettered growth.”

Well now, that is a terrific way of deciding on matters of vital national (and international) interest. C’mon everybody, let’s keep peeing in the pool, until, well, the pool is entirely urine, and no longer any water whatsoever. Or, they catch us, whatever comes last.

3. Glenn Beck: God speaks to me about destroying people’s political careers.

Hoo boy, Glenn Beck piled crazy on top of crazy this week reaching new paroxysms of crazy. First he told listeners to the Blaze that God told him to destroy Van Jones’ White House career. Holy moly. Yahweh himself. “I don’t know how we figured out Van Jones,” Beck said. “I really don’t know how we figured out Van Jones,” he said. “That was really — that was not from man.”

Cue spooky music.

“Because I didn’t even know who he was, and there was two conversations happening in my office. I have two producers talking about Van Jones, and they were getting ready to talk to me about something, and I was talking to another two producers. And as I’m listening and I’m engaged in that, I just hear the name ‘Van Jones,’ and I said to those producers, ‘Stop.’ I turn around and said, ‘What was the name you just said?’ They said, Van Jones.”

Okay, so hearing voices. Makes sense.

4. Brian Kilmeade: Bowe Bergdahl’s father’s beard strikes me as Taliban-ish.

A precondition to being a buffoon is blindness to your own buffoonery, and hypocrisy. And nothing beats the hypocrisy of the Republican response to the release of the American soldier Bowe Bergdahl. Initial cheers and tweets were immediately taken down and the distorted memory of Ronald Reagan as master-hostage-negotiator-with-terrorists has been resurrected. Iran/contra player Oliver North is making the rounds on conservative media, as if anything the convicted perjurer had to say was in the least bit relevant.

But the commentary on the release of Bergdahl from his Taliban captors reached its nadir when the right-wing commentariat decided to make the soldier’s father’s beard an issue. Brian Kilmeade told Fox & Friends that the beard, which Bergdahl’s father had been growing as a symbol of his son’s captivity, made the soldier’s father look like he was in the Taliban.

“I mean, he says he was growing his beard because his son was in captivity,” Kilmeade blathered. “Well, your son’s out now. So if you really don’t — no longer look like a member of the Taliban, you don’t have to look like a member of the Taliban. Are you out of razors?”

So, here’s the deal with long beards. They are copacetic with Fox & Friends as long as you say racist and homophobic things and declare Jesus Christ as your lord and savior, a la Phil Robertson and the Duck Dynasty clan. Otherwise, they’re a no-go. Especially if you speak a word of Arabic. Then you’re obviously in cahoots with suspiciously clean-shaven Obama for the Muslim takeover of America.

5. Ben Carson: Obamacare is worse than 9/11.

It’s hard to top calling Obamacare worse than slavery for crazy and offensive comparison. But neuroscientist-turned-right-wing crackpot Ben Carson has a restless mind. During an interview with the Daily Beast this week, Carson defended his position that Obamacare was sooooooo bad, it was worse than 9/11.

Carson pointed out that he thinks “9/11 is an isolated incident,” and of course, Obamacare is this ongoing catastrophe where millions of previously uninsured people now have access to healthcare.

When his questioner asked repeatedly what had done more harm to America, Obamacare or Osama bin Laden, Carson lost his cool.

Carson: “Will you listen? You have to take a long-term look at something that fundamentally changes the power structure of America. You have to be someone who reads. Who is well read.”

And if you read the same kinds of things Carson does —and believe them—you too can come up with crazily ridiculous comparisons.

6. Elisabeth Hasselbeck cheers on homophobic baker.

Haters gonna hate. Sometimes haters gonna pretend their hating is love. And so the right-wing has taken up the cause of the oh-so principled Colorado baker who courageously refused to sell cakes to same-sex couples. Well, now Masterpiece Cakeshop owner Jack Phillips has been ordered by the Colorado Civil Rights Commission to stop discriminating against people whose sexual preferences are different from his.

Fox Newsian Elisabeth Hasselbeck thinks that freedom is under assault here. Religious freedom, that is. Religious freedom to discriminate against others, as long as that religion is Christian.

“Keep going strong there,” she told the brave baker.

But the brave baker has taken his baking toys and is going home. He won’t bake if it must be for the kind of people he does not wish to eat his cake.

Strike another blow for freedom!

h/t: rawstory

the judicial system caused a clerical error! Now he is back in prison for 90yrs


John W Suthers: Release Rene Lima-Marin

Jasmine Lima-Marin
Aurora, Colorado

My husband Rene Michael Lima-Marin was incarcerated in 1998 at the age of 19 and served 10 years of his 16 year sentence for robbery in which he used an unloaded gun and no one was hurt. He was released in 2008 and placed on parole which he successfully completed in 2013. But in January 2014 it was determined that a clerical error had been made and he was sent back to prison for an additional 90 years.

During his six years of freedom, Rene strived to be a productive member of society.  He had been rehabilitated and took full advantage of this second chance; we had a child, purchased a home, and got married. He coached his step-son’s soccer team, mentored other youth to stay out of trouble, and maintained full time employment so he could support our family.

To take him away from our family and lock him up for the rest of his life is unjust.

I certainly do not want to make light of the mistakes that Rene made as a teenager but I do call into question the life sentence Rene and our family faces. Does a man that was formally released from the penal system, met all the conditions of this release, and turned his life around deserve this type of justice? Are we as a society really willing to accept that a clerical error is enough justification to rip apart a family?

Rehabilitate means to help re-adapt, as to a former state of health or good repute. The entire penal system was created to rehabilitate and restore individuals to be productive members of society.

Please sign my petition asking Attorney General John Suthers, Arapahoe County Chief Judge William Blair Sylvester, and Colorado Appeals Chief Judge Alan Loeb to release Rene from this unjust sentencing. I ask for this so he may return home where he can continue to be a tax paying model employee, an engaged and loving father and a supportive husband.

Mark Miloscia Vs our Democratic candidate: Shari Song


Washington state … Rodney Tom is out of the picture, but we inherited another politician cut from the same cloth – Mark Miloscia.

This spring, Mark Miloscia, a former Democratic State Representative, stuck his thumb in the air to test the political winds.

Miloscia decided to help the Republicans keep control in the State Senate. He is now running as a Republican for Senate in the 30th Legislative District.

Shari Song is running for State Senate in the 30th District

Click here and say:
I’m with Shari

We need elected officials who stand up and fight for the values we believe in, not shift their principles for political gain.

We need elected officials who will work together to pass a transportation package and fully fund our children’s education. We need Shari Song.

Shari Song is running for State Senate in the 30th Legislative District. Will you sign our petition and show your support for Shari Song?

Shari is a community leader who founded a Korean American preschool. She served on the Diversity Commission for the City of Federal Way, was recognized by Soroptomist International with their Woman of Distinction award, and received a King County Recognition Award for Community Service from former Executive Ron Sims.

Learn more about Shari at www.votesharisong.com.

Shari’s campaign has already earned early endorsements from the King County Democrats, the International Aerospace Machinists, and FUSE Washington. These groups have added their names to a growing coalition of broad and diverse backers.

This race is critical to our mission to take back the State Senate. Join us and stand behind Shari Song – sign on as a supporter today.

Thank you for your support,

Jaxon Ravens
Washington State Democrats Chair

Charles and David: Our nation is not for sale


The self-interested, ultraconservative Koch machine is undermining and corrupting our democracy by drowning out the voices of the rest of us.

That’s why I’ve made a video to help explain America’s giant Koch problem—and explore what we can do about it.

I hope you’ll take a look.

Charles and David Koch personify everything that’s wrong with big money in politics. This summer, MoveOn is working to ensure that the hundreds of millions of dollars they plan to spend in the upcoming election cycle becomes a searing political liability.

If you agree that it’s high time America told the Koch brothers that our nation is not for sale, please share the video with your friends.

Thanks for standing up for democracy.

–Robert Reich

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