Boyfriend President: How Both Parties Try To Woo
Women By Linking Voting To Sex

post from ThinkProgress on 26 October 2012 12:11:46 PM. © ThinkProgress

Twenty six year-old director Lena Dunham sparked a conservative backlash Friday with her new Obama campaign ad, ?Your First Time,? which plays on the idea of having sex for the first time to talk about voting for Obama in 2008. Your first time shouldn?t be with just anybody. You want to do it with a [...]

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gress0Borg0Celection0C20A120C10A0C260C10A971710Csexualizing0Ewomen0Evoters0C/story01.htm

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Six Important Things To Know Before Romneys
Closing Argument On The Economy

post from ThinkProgress on 26 October 2012 12:05:40 PM. © ThinkProgress

Mitt Romney will deliver what’s being billed as his “closing argument” in Ames, Iowa today, focusing his speech on the economy. Here are six important things to know before Romney takes the stage. 1) ROMNEY’S BOGUS 12 MILLION JOBS: Romney consistently promises that his policies will create 12 million jobs over his first term. But [...]

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gress0Borg0Ceconomy0C20A120C10A0C260C10A950A910Cromney0Eecon0Espeech0Epreview0C/story01.htm

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Lena Dunham, Lesley Gore, And The Importance Of
Voting On November 6

post from ThinkProgress on 26 October 2012 12:01:14 PM. © ThinkProgress

Whatever you think of Lena Dunham, or the actual efficacy of the playful voter turnout ad she cut for President Obama in which she compares voting for the first time to losing your virginity?which, if you’re a civics nerd, may be a more valid comparison than even she intended?it really is kind of amazing to [...]

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gress0Borg0Calyssa0C20A120C10A0C260C10A943510Clena0Edunham0Elesley0Egore0C/story01.htm

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Look, Ma, I'm Tied!

post from Talking Points Memo on 26 October 2012 12:01:09 PM. © Talking Points Memo

Not a good sign when the internal poll your campaign releases publicly shows you're tied. But then it's been that kind of week for Richard Mourdock. [...]

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.php

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It's Tough Out There

post from Talking Points Memo on 26 October 2012 12:01:08 PM. © Talking Points Memo

You try to be a pro-GOP, pro-same-sex-marriage super PAC, then a candidate you gave a few hundred thousand dollars to equates same-sex marriage with bigamy and polygamy. [...]

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here.php

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News Desk: Panetta Comments on Benghazi Response,
as Slain Navy SEAL’s Father Speaks Out

post from Taylor Marsh on 26 October 2012 12:00:54 PM. © Taylor Marsh

Your browser does not support iframes.HOW DO you cover an ongoing story without also offering a voice that you believe is part of the right-wing freak show? The father of one of the Navy SEALS called up Glenn Beck, being the first family member to vent,[...]

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slain-navy-seals-father-speaks-out/

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National Geographic Under Pressure to Delay
“SEAL Team Six: The Raid on Osama bin Laden” Movie [Video]

post from Taylor Marsh on 26 October 2012 12:00:54 PM. © Taylor Marsh

National Geographic Channels CEO David Lyle says the film was indeed recut ? but to show less footage of the president than an earlier version of the film. “I think the end titles run longer than Obama’s time on screen,” Lyle said.[...]

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http://www.taylormarsh.com/blog/2012/10/national-geographic-under-pressure-to-del
ay-seal-team-six-the-raid-on-osama-bin-laden-movie-video/

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Troubled Children Adopted by Homo/Heterosexual
Parents Flourish Equally Well by Thomas Riggins

post from Thomas Riggins' Blog on 26 October 2012 12:00:50 PM. © Thomas Riggins' Blog

Anyone who googles "anti-gay adoption" will find scores of websites dedicated to the proposition that gay couples should not be allowed to adopt children. These range from commentators equating gay adoption to "sexual abuse'' to news headlines concerning Mitt Romney's flip flops (he was for it and now is against it) and the battles going on in state legislatures to ban it: all in the name of "concern for the children."

Well, we should all be concerned for children and if being adopted by gay couples was injurious to children we should oppose it. But children should also be protected from the actions of ignorant, bigoted, religious fanatics and hypocritical political demagogues who don't give a hoot about children and families (other than their own.)

Fortunately there is some scientific evidence available to decide if children are helped or harmed by gay adoptions. Unfortunately bigots, hate mongers and hypocritical right-wing politicians are completely immune to being influenced by science.

For those more influenced by facts than fantasy, ScienceDaily on October 18, 2012
published the following article: "Foster Kids Do Equally Well When Adopted by Gay, Lesbian or Heterosexual Parents, Study Suggests." SD always adds "suggests" because science should not be dogmatic.

Here's the deal. UCLA psychologists studied the cases of 82 high risk foster care children who were adopted by heterosexual parents (60), lesbian parents (7) and gay male parents (15). The children had an average age of 4 and the parents of 41.

The psychologists assessed the children three times after their adoption-- at 2 months, one year and two years and also questioned the parents about any problems. What they found out was that , on average, the children had made real progress in their mental development, their behavior issues (these were high risk foster children, remember) were stable and the their IQ measurements went up an average of 10 points-- "a large increase."

The lead author of the study said "The children showed meaningful gains in heterosexual, gay and lesbian families. Their cognitive development improved substantially, while their behavior problems and social development were stable."

If the opponents of gay adoption had had their way 22 of these children would not
have been adopted and would have remained in foster care institutions (not enough heterosexuals to go around, sorry about that). Those high risk children may have been denied the positive changes in their lives that they received by means of gay adoption. It is not the children the bigots are interested in. They are only interested in their own sleazy agenda and hope to gain their ends by creating and appealing to the prejudices of a misinformed public.

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http://leninlives.blogspot.com/2012/10/troubled-children-adopted-by_26.html

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The LiberalOasis Radio Show: Make Some Calls,
Knock On Doors

post from LiberalOasis : The Blog on 26 October 2012 12:00:47 PM. © LiberalOasis : The Blog

Can Romney tie the Stabby Five record after the second debate? Plus, we take you on a journey of Romney's website in a desperate search for his jobs plan.

You can download the podcast at these links: (iTunes / XML feed / MP3).

Or watch us on the YouTube machine! (Click here to subscribe to our YouTube channel.)

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http://www.liberaloasis.com/2012/10/the_liberaloasis_radio_show_ma_5.php

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Cold-Hearted Conservatism In Action: One Man's
Fight For Healthcare

post from Crooks and Liars on 26 October 2012 12:00:27 PM. © Crooks and Liars

enlarge

The first email I saw today was written in an anguished tone by an anguished person. A friend who had been putting off seeing a doctor for what he knew to be a hernia finally became so wracked with pain he made the decision to go to the emergency room. He hoped they'd have a look and tell him they'd have him fixed up in no time. That didn't happen. This did:

The emergency room......put me on the street with a prescription & a referral.

I was afraid of this. He's been in pain for awhile, and we'd been urging him to get to a doctor or even the emergency room. Hernias aren't life-threatening unless they become strangulated. If that happens, immediate surgery is necessary to prevent gangrene from setting in.

I suppose my friend can take some solace in that, but he doesn't because he is still suffering. In a series of follow-up emails, I asked him to tell his story, not only about where he is in this whole stupid process, but how he got to this place. He's not the type to open up, so it took a series of questions and answers. Here are the high points about where he is in the process.

The ER gave me the WRONG number for Community Health Net. I had to call [them] back for the right number.

Community Health Net won't give me a "sliding-fee" appointment until I've applied for Medical Assistance & been denied.

Community Health Net is a community health clinic funded with federal dollars. Those are the clinics Bernie Sanders fought so hard for in the middle of the health care reform battle, and he won. Funding was stepped up considerably for those clinics, though Congress has tried very hard to pull that funding back in the last two years. According to their website, anyone who is uninsured can apply for reduced payment on a "sliding fee" scale according to their income and ability to pay.

But as you see from his response, there appears to be an additional requirement. It seems that he first must apply for insurance and be denied before they will see him on an "ability to pay" basis. Unless, of course, they are homeless and have joined the "health care for the homeless" program. Then they pay nothing.

My friend has a full-time job which requires him to spend long hours on his feet. His payscale is what one might expect for this kind of job, between $9 and $10 per hour. As his condition has gotten worse, he's found himself in a situation where he has to take short breaks and lay down on the floor to, as he says, "let everything slither back in."

Otherwise, he's in pain from the moment he stands up to the moment he sits down. Searing, debilitating gut pain. In his words:

I can't stay on my feet longer than half an hour or so due to the pain. I can't walk properly. I can't work without risking my guts tearing loose. I am disabled.

His job, of course, depends on him being able to stand up for more than 30 minutes at a time, and when he says he's disabled, that doesn't mean he's regarded as disabled for employment purposes.

Caught in the margins

This is the hole in our safety net that Obamacare seeks to close. This is the hole that people living in the margins -- employed but making hardly enough to keep a roof over their head and food on their table -- cannot close on their own.

The right wingers would say "Let the charities help him!"

There are no charities to help this man. There is only a government-funded health clinic which will not see him without immediate payment unless he applies for insurance and is denied. He doesn't know where to go to even apply to be denied. His employer does have health insurance available, but for him it would cost more than 15 hours of work every two weeks, leaving him short of what he needs to pay his rent, utilities, and bills. From the numbers, it sounds like that cost is even after the employer puts something toward the cost.

In red states, it's complicated. Intentionally complicated.

Pennsylvania used to have a plan called adultBasic, where people with very little means could get insurance for about $36/month. It was very popular, so popular people were on waiting lists until their number came up on a state lottery. Until they hit that lottery jackpot, those same people could opt to buy coverage for about $700/month. (Please don't laugh so hard you forget to read the rest.)

Obamacare created federal high risk pools, which the state of Pennsylvania saw as their opportunity not to expand their existing adultBasic plan, but to terminate it instead. They sent a letter out to everyone on the plan which said they could opt into a BlueCross/BlueShield plan that would cost them nearly ten times what they were paying, or they could enroll in a Blue Cross/Blue Shield plan called "SpecialCare", which would cover people (excluding pre-existing conditions) who did not have access to employer-sponsored health insurance.

My friend would probably qualify for SpecialCare. Or he would have qualified, except that he went to the ER today, and so that hernia that he needs to have treated is now a pre-existing condition. That leaves the federal high risk pool as his sole option, which is about $280/month, has a $1000 deductible and a $5,000 maximum co-payment. That's about what he earns in six months!

For a surgery that costs (on average) $7,000, they would like for him to pay as much as $6,280 in order to have "coverage." That's insane. I say "as much as" because when I was looking around for the average cost of hernia surgery, some hospitals charged as much as $112,000. Presumably it was not the laparoscopic surgery, but open abdomen surgery and presumably there were complications that kept the patient in the hospital. However it seems reasonable to me to assume that the longer he lets this go, the higher the odds that it will cost more than it would if they could have done it tomorrow.

This is what it means to be on the margins. A hard-working, full-time employee faced with a choice between keeping the lights on or health insurance doesn't really have difficulty making that choice.

If his hernia could have waited one more year, he would be eligible for fully subsidized insurance and co-payments under the Affordable Care Act. But you know, sometimes things just don't work that way, and in red states, they really don't work that way.

Republican administrations are hazardous to your health

I loved this little mission statement on their Health and Human Services page:

Welcome to the Department of Public Welfare
Our mission is to promote, improve and sustain the quality of family life; break the cycle of dependency; promote respect for employees; protect and serve Pennsylvania's most vulnerable citizens; and manage our resources effectively.

Oh, I see. Break the cycle of dependency. Who does that sound like? Why that's right, Paul Ryan!

Is it a cycle of dependency to need health care and have no access to it?

Is it a cycle of dependency to work full-time and still not make enough to afford health insurance through one's employer?

Is it a cycle of dependency to be human, subject to human frailty, and in need?

Of course it's not.

In the ultimate irony, my friend is now in a bureaucratic Catch-22, because he's employed, can't afford his employer's insurance plan, can't afford the state high risk pool plan, but isn't indigent. That leaves him with the option of applying for the SpecialCare plan and being turned down in order to qualify for treatment at the Community Health Clinic.

Meanwhile, he's got the meds and a brace, and a maybe appointment on November 29th with the clinic of last resort, assuming he's turned down for insurance in the interim.

I fully expect this to happen: He applies and his ER visit isn't yet in the system, so they accept him to an insurance plan (SpecialCare). He will go to the surgeon and it will be covered, he will have the surgery, and then his claim will be denied because they didn't know he had the hernia when he applied for the insurance.

This is how Mitt Romney wants us all to live. This is how all Republicans want us to live. Forcing down wages, making it impossible to access health care, and removing the only safety net we've ever managed to put in place by repealing Obamacare.

I leave you with this quote from an article this morning in the New York Times:

When cancer is diagnosed among the uninsured, ?the system simply ignores them,? Dr. Syrigos said. He said, ?They can?t access chemotherapy, surgery or even simple drugs.?

In case you thought that quote was about the United States, guess again. That is a Greek doctor talking about the horrible situation in Greece brought on by forced austerity foisted on them by Germany, et al. Greece never had a debt problem. Greece had a revenue problem. But thanks to those who wish to "break the cycle of dependence", Greece now has serious health problems going untreated among nearly 25 percent of its population.

Conservatives built that. They own it. Speaking for me, I'll take the better alternative.