Tag Archives: United States

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It’s Time to #GetCovered

10/02/2013 Nativegrl77

Obamacare is Open for Business

Today marks a huge milestone in the implementation of the Affordable Care Act. Health insurance marketplaces opened this morning and millions of Americans, many of whom are currently uninsured and may never before have had access to coverage, began shopping for a quality, affordable health plan.

CREDIT: Healthcare.gov

In fact, President Obama said today that interest in the insurance marketplaces had exceeded all expectations. While this enormous amount of interest has led to some glitches (which the president said officials were working to address as quickly as possible), things are moving along in states across the country:

National website: A senior Obama administration official reported that just three hours after Obamacare’s open enrollment period launched, the national Healthcare.gov site had one million visitors. That’s five times more users on the site than the number of users who have ever visitedMedicare.gov at the same time.

California: The Golden State celebrated its first Obamacare enrollee at8:45 am Pacific Standard Time. Since then, state residents have tweetedthat they’re “impressed” with how easy it is to use the exchange’s app, and the site is “working like a charm for Californians.”

Colorado: In Colorado, the exchange site opened for business at 8:00 am Mountain Standard Time. Three hours later, state officials hadcompleted the first enrollments and the site had logged over 34,500 unique visitors.

Connecticut: Despite a few initial glitches with its website, Connecticut signed up its first Obamacare enrollee by 9:30 am. And at that point, 764 other people had active applications for the state’s exchange. “For a site that’s been up for 25 minutes, it’s not bad,” the CEO of Connecticut’s new insurance marketplace, Kevin Counihan, noted. By about 11:30 am, the state had logged 10,000 visitors to its website. By about 2:00 pm, state officials reported that they had fielded 17,000 phone calls from residents and enrolled 44 people for coverage.

District of Columbia: DC’s exchange opened for business at 8:00 am. By noon, about 1,500 DC residents had created accounts, according to a spokesperson for the exchange. Creating an account is the first step for people who want to shop for coverage and eventually buy a new plan under Obamacare. The District hasn’t yet experienced any issues with its website.

Florida: MSNBC reports that community health care clinics in Orlando are experiencing long lines as low-income people are visiting to learn more about their options under Obamacare. The CEO of a community clinic in Miami that primarily services uninsured Floridians told MSNBC that Tuesday represents a “new day” for low-income patients who can now gain affordable coverage.

Illinois: By noon on Tuesday, more than 42,000 people had visited the website for Illinois’ exchange.

Kentucky: Kentucky is the only Southern state that’s chosen to participate fully in health care reform by both expanding Medicaid and operating a state-level exchange. So far, it’s paying off. Between midnight and 10:30 am on Tuesday, Kentucky’s website had more than 24,000 visitors. The employees working to manage the exchange processedmore than 1,000 applications for health insurance by 9:30 am.

New York: In the first two hours that New York’s exchange website was open to the public, 2 million people visited the site. That’s a huge chunk of the population that stands to benefit from Obamacare. Approximately 2.6 million New York residents are currently uninsured, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Rhode Island: After Kaiser Health News solicited feedback from people trying to sign up for Obamacare, a Rhode Island resident responded with a positive experience. “Rhode Island site working fine. So many choices at so many price points! Something 4 everyone. I’m ecstatic,” Annabelle Leigh tweeted.

Virginia: Paula Thornhill, a 31-year-old mother of seven, was the first person to apply for a new plan in Prince George’s County. Her husband has health insurance through his job, but they couldn’t afford to pay the extra premium costs to cover her as well. “I’m relieved that they did come out with this affordable health care,” she told the Washington Post. “I’m relieved.”

All of this comes in spite of the GOP’s multi-year effort to derail, delay and destroy Obamacare, which has now culminated in Republicans shutting down the federal government in a spiteful and desperate bid to stop millions of Americans from gaining the security of quality, affordable health care.

Want to get in on the Obamacare party? Here’s four things you can do right now:

Visit HealthCare.gov: This is the central hub for all things health care and will help you locate more information and sign up for coverage through one of the new marketplaces. As President Obama said today, check it out and “then show it to your family and your friends and help them get covered, just like mayors and churches and community groups and companies are already fanning out to do across the country.”

Call the Obamacare hotline: Trained counselors are standing by at1-800-318-2596 and can help callers in more than 150 different languages.

Help educate yourself and your friends, family and coworkers:ThinkProgress put together 20 questions you have about Obamacare and are afraid to ask. Find answers to your own questions and then share this post on Facebook and Twitter.

Show your support on social media: Visit GetCoveredAmerica.organd change your avatar on Twitter or your profile picture on Facebook to help spread the word that Obamacare is open for business and it’s time to #GetCovered.

BOTTOM LINE: Obamacare is the law of the land, isn’t going anywhere, and is working. Republicans may have closed down the government but the Obamacare insurance marketplaces are open for business and it’s time to get covered.

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Be healthy, eat local

10/02/2013 Nativegrl77

Did you know that most fruits and vegetables have lost up to 45% of their nutrients by the time you buy them at the store? 45%!

Join us in pledging to buy local produce!

There are a couple reasons for this problem. First, produce loses its nutritional value quickly – just three days after being picked, most fruits and vegetables have already lost a third of their nutrients. And second, most produce has to travel several hundred miles before it reaches the store – an average piece of produce takes seven days to get from the farm to the produce aisle.

Fortunately, there’s a simple solution to this problem. By buying local produce, you can maximize the nutritional value in the fruits and vegetables you buy. Plus, since the produce doesn’t have to travel as far, you’re cutting the carbon emissions associated with transporting your food across the country.

Wondering where you can find local produce near you? Take the pledge to buy more local produce and we’ll help you find a local farmer’s market in your area.

Switch to local produce today! It’s good for your health and the planet’s.

– The Earth Day Network Team

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

The Arctic 30

10/02/2013 Nativegrl77

Shots fired so close they felt the splash in the water. Knives bared to slash their rubber boats. Russian special forces storming their ship from a helicopter. Five days incommunicado at sea under armed guard. And now, two months of detention in Russian jails. All for a peaceful protest to protect the Arctic.

It’s now been 13 days that our activists have been detained in Russia. Please click here to email your local Russian embassy demanding their immediate release.

If you have already sent a message, please share this page with your friends and family today.

You already know that 28 Greenpeace International activists and two freelance photojournalists were detained by Russian authorities after attempting a peaceful protest at a Gazprom oil platform in the Russian Arctic to protect the fragile region from the disastrous consequences of reckless drilling.

Now our brave activists and crew, along with two freelancers that accompanied them, are to be held without charge for two months pending an investigation into potential piracy charges – an unfounded accusation that even Russian President Putin has dismissed.¹

Since then, over half a million people have written letters to their Russian embassies, demanding the immediate release of our activists, and the call to #FreeTheArctic30 has spread like wildfire all over the world. From governments to NGOs and independent legal experts,² there’s been a ringing global cry to free the Arctic 30 that the Russian authorities will find it hard to ignore.

Gazprom just signed a massive deal with Shell, and together they are leading the mad rush to drill in the melting Arctic for more of the stuff that is causing devastating climate change. Just last week, Arctic sea ice reached its lowest point all year — the sixth lowest in recorded history. Last Friday, the IPCC released a report stressing the urgent need for action on climate change.

This moment is critical. The time is now to raise our voices to protect the Arctic, to speak out for those who are being silenced by the authorities for protesting against the destruction of our planet, and to stand up against the collusion of governments and companies in crimes against our future.

Are you in? Send a message to your local Russian embassy now.

In solidarity,

Ben Ayliffe
Arctic Campaigner
Greenpeace

¹On September 25, President Vladimir Putin said “It is absolutely evident that they are, of course, not pirates” in reference to the Greenpeace activists arrested by the Russian authorities http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/25/us-russia-greenpeace-idUSBRE98O09I20130925
² What independent legal experts have said about the Russian authorities’ seizure of our ship: http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/news/features/legal-experts-on-arctic-sunrise/

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Sea Change … Pacific Ocean takes perilous turn

10/02/2013 Nativegrl77

Story by Craig Welch

Photo’s by Steve Ringman/ The Seattle Times

Click on Photo below for the full Story & Video

Walleye pollock show some behavioral problems when exposed to high levels of carbon dioxide.

~ my 2cents ...

twisted Tuesday … a Govt shutdown?

10/01/2013 Nativegrl77

just another rant

Will somebody tell Republicans it is time to pay the bills? The media keeps reminding us that thousands of people will be out of jobs, as if anyone needs to be reminded. In what was/is considered the worse economic collapse, Republicans voted against the stimulus package in 2008, but they acted as if they voted for it when the money came in. While they were handing out checks left and right they continued to bad mouth PBO and the big government behavior, some Republicans asked for more money others said the money really did help but would deny it if asked. The fact is, even more tried to give the money back which not only hurt their constituents it put Teachers, Police and other first responders at risk of losing their jobs.

Yet, here we are in the year 2013 with Republicans deciding that holding America hostage in the 11th hour is the best way to do “The Peoples Business.” Apparently, they are still pissed that #ACA passed through Congress ~ became a law (ACA) which was then deemed constitutional by SCOTUS but they do not care so #ACA has been on the floor say 43 – 46 times. The Republican Party talks about how unfair the Democrats have been while wasting tax payer money and looking quite stupid at the same time. So, after hours and hours of legislative ping pong, Republicans continue to say NO to just about everything to people/voters who might otherwise be unemployed before the November elections. It baffles me and got to wonder how does this 1% behavior look to their constituents, not to mention it seems reckless and inadvisable but given the last few months of The Political Party of NO does not disappoint. They have proven not to be honest players, have not voted on any jobs bills and call unemployment bailouts; listen if this does not open your eyes what Republicans can do to let the public realize they are willing to use Americans as pawns to gain control of Congress. Though PBO is in his 2^nd term, Republicans continue to play political games, the governing party is in place and the fix needed is not.

Congress knows what to do to fix the problem, yet Republicans do not seem to care

The month of September has so many memories, good bad and the really ugly. It is a time when summer ends a time to remember history and is yet another step to move the debt deficit and new bills forward, not to experience past acts or behaviors. It is a month to invoke compassion, peace, love and cooperation, we all know the weather and the NFL won’t

Republicans seem to say one thing and do anther on the floor of Congress. If the economy had been ok prior to the election of President Obama, the amount of spending would be next to nothing …people just seem to have amnesia … but we cannot let Republicans gain control of what will be not only a correction but a move toward the 21st Century. It may cost a little more but what better way to spend money …on All Americans not a select few not for a group who practices exclusion. The notion that the collapse of our economy just happened is stupid and people need to realize the sad reality that the last guy could have fended off this but opted to pass the buck on the next President. I remember Bush saying this guy has no clue, it was an offensive comment then, and now 5.5 yrs. later, it does not take a rocket scientist to know that the state of our economy was a lot worse than we will ever really know. I would like to know whom among us is that stupid to think it would be corrected in 20 months when the fix is for about 30 years of errors that got us into this financial crisis?

I blame the Republican Tea Party for our current lack of improvement with all their no votes, blocking major legislation and using Americans as pawns to gain back control by any means necessary. Conservatives continue invoke fear, promote hate toward people considered to be in the Protected Classes and that is not just scary but should be a red flag for those who expect Politicians to speak out and up for All Americans; clearly The Republican Tea Party is not for everyone.