The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s shocking documentary about the Toronto G20 protests:
Category: Class War
Wheee
Well, there goes what’s left of my health care! Oh, wait, I just know the Senate Democrats will stand up for this, right? RIGHT?
The proposed federal budget in the U.S. House of Representatives would cut $1.3 billion in funding for community health centers from President Obama’s budget proposal.
According to the National Association of Community Health Centers, the measure would deny health centers the ability to serve at least 3.3 million patients within the next few months and 11 million over the next year. The budget is less likely to pass the Senate, where Democrats are the majority, and then would be subject to negotiations between the chambers.
“Fiscal responsibility may be the intent of the proposed costs, but what they will accomplish is precisely the opposite,” said Tom Van Coverden, president and CEO of NACHC. “This shortsighted proposal will force millions of Americans to seek non-emergency care at already frequently overcrowded hospital ERs.
“Thousands more will have to put off primary and preventive care and management of chronic conditions like hypertension, diabetes and cardiovascular disease — with the end result being much higher healthcare costs to our overall system. These substantial costs will be passed on to taxpayers, employers and employees alike through increased premiums.”
According to an analysis by a collaborative at The George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services, affected patients will include: 10 million patients with incomes less than 200% of the federal poverty level, 7.4 million racial/ethnic minority patients, 1.4 million low-income children under age 6, 2.3 million low-income patients with cardiovascular disease, 2 million low-income uninsured patients who will likely forgo care, and nearly 1 million uninsured patients whose spending on essential healthcare services will require them to spend less on food and other basic needs.
The policy research brief also notes that the affected patient population is at elevated risk for serious and chronic health conditions, which can result in higher national healthcare costs.
“Health centers provide cost-effective care for high-risk patients,” said co-author Peter Shin, associate professor in the Department of Health Policy. “Reducing health center funding impedes improvements in population health and limits the potential for significant savings in healthcare costs.”
Trenton rally
I wasn’t there because of the heavy rain, but lots of other people were:
TRENTON — In front of a crowd of thousands of protesters, the president of the state’s largest teachers union accused Gov. Chris Christie of trying to foment a civil war within the middle-class.
“All of New Jersey’s middle-class is hurting, but this governor and his right-wing supporters are trying to start a middle-class civil war,” said New Jersey Education Association President Barbara Keshishian.
As she spoke, thousands of public workers filled the street in front of the Statehouse, wearing ponchos and holding umbrellas to keep as dry as possible in the pouring rain. State Police estimated the crowd at 3,100.
The rally, organized by the state AFL-CIO, was both aimed at pushing back against benefit concessions demanded by Christie, and in support of Wisconsin public unions, who are fighting Gov. Scott Walker’s attempt to roll back their collective bargaining rights.
In his budget address earlier this week, Christie said private sector workers “support the rich benefits of public employees.” He’s pushing for major givebacks from the workforce, including paying more towards their health premiums and downgrading future pension benefits.
Local union officials spoke one after another at today’s rally, each handing over checks to Wisconsin AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Stephanie Bloomingdale, who told the crowd “our fight is your fight, and our fight is for the middle-class.”
The featured speaker, national AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, compared Christie to Walker and other Republican governors, saying “they were not elected to dictate.”
“They were elected to solve problems, not create conflict,” Trumka said.
About half a block away from the rally was a counter-protest led by Americans for Prosperity New Jersey Director Steve Lonegan.
“Here’s our message to our friends down the block: Go back to work. We’re paying you,” said Lonegan, who told the crowd that “the battle that you’re seeing today is a war against the taxpayers.”
Oh dear
After being booed by the other patrons, the owners asked WI Gov. Scott Walker to leave a Madison restaurant. (And the blogger who wrote about it took down the name of the restaurant after the owners started getting threats. Guess one of the wingnut terror monkeys smelled liberal prey!)
Beck, Limbaugh, Hannity, Coulter, Palin
What do they have in common? They all speak out against unions — and they’re all union members.
Foreclosures
Arizona may become the first state to require lenders to prove they have the right to foreclose by providing a complete list of any previous owners of the mortgage, under a bill passed yesterday by its Senate.
The legislation, which is headed to the House after being approved 28-2 in the Republican-dominated Senate, would allow foreclosure sales to be voided if lenders that didn’t originate the loan can’t produce the full chain of title. Arizona permits nonjudicial foreclosures, meaning property can be seized from the homeowner without a court order.
Lawmakers in states including New York, Oregon and Virginia also have proposed legislation to address concerns among consumer advocates that lenders or mortgage servicers are using incomplete or false paperwork to repossess properties in default. The attorneys general of all 50 states are jointly investigating how the mortgage-servicing industry operates.
“If you foreclose on somebody you should have to tell them who owns the property,” Michele Reagan, who sponsored Senate Bill 1259, said in a telephone interview. “People have the right in this country to face their accusers.” The Republican lawmaker is in litigation with her mortgage servicer, which she said won’t identify the owner of the loan.
First Draft
Please continue to read Scout Prime’s wonderful updates from the front lines in Wisconsin.
Self defense
I don’t know if it’s from growing up with three brothers, but my responses to attack are much more typically male than not.
The first time someone tried to rape me, I was 15. I was in the subway, walking through a tunnel toward the stairway up to the street when a man pushed me up against the wall, holding my neck with his forearm (which was holding a knife).
I remember thinking to myself, “It’s 10:30 in the morning in the subway, and this guy’s trying to rape me?” Fortunately for me, I’m good at multitasking, because while I was being incredulous, my body just dealt with it; without even thinking, I kneed the guy in the groin with all my might. The guy crumbled, and I walked away, fast.
I remember he was lying on the ground, shouting as I left, “I thought your kind liked that!”
I never did figure out what kind he meant. Just women in general, I guess. We’re all asking for it.
Don’t make me hurt you
Republicans want Dems to stop them from shutting down the budget!