MindMover
MindMover's JournalHealth Care: We’re All in This Together
I went into teaching not because I enjoy it—though I do—but because I needed a health plan. I was a lucky man to have skills, particularly writing, that were in demand at universities.
For years as a freelance writer, that is, working for myself, I carried only “catastrophic” coverage with a large deductible. I figured I was a pretty healthy young guy who could handle the bills that came with the ordinary maladies of the day. Also, for years, because my wife has Irish citizenship, we lived outside of the United States. We and our children were eligible for the “free” medical care that is part of life in Europe and other foreign countries, where health care is considered a human right, rather than a bidder’s delight.
But, like anyone, as I got older I worried about the big ones—cancer and heart trouble—knowing that there was no way I could ever earn enough money to bid for and pay medical bills in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. I realized that I had to be attached to a corporation or institution to live safely in the United States.
It is interesting to me that here at home, gatherings of my generation inevitably end up with deep conversations about aches and pains and medical insurance. Sad. In France, where we lived for years, the subject never came up. People talked about food and wine.
When my wife’s life was saved by brain cancer surgery at the Institute Rothschild in Paris, I told the surgeon I would like to pay him something, as much as I could. “Monsieur,” he said, “I am a government employee and a socialist. I have never taken a franc or a dime for my work, and I don’t intend to start now.”
Read more here: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/health_care_were_all_in_this_together_20120328/?
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We are all on this spaceship together and if we don't start acting like it soon, we are all gonna go down in flames...........
Gigantic Solar Tornado Is 5 Times the Size of Earth
This enormous tornado erupting from the surface of the sun is big enough to swallow the Earth. In fact, it could swallow five Earths.
Discovered using NASA’s Solar Dynamic Observatory satellite, this colossal twisting mass is made up of superheated gas at a temperature of between 90,000 and 3.6 million degrees Fahrenheit.
Over the course of three hours, this behemoth reached up from the sun’s surface to a height of 125,000 miles, or roughly half the distance between the Earth and the moon. The hot gases were whipped up to nearly 186,000 miles per hour. In comparison, the wind speed of terrestrial tornadoes generally reaches a paltry 100 miles per hour.
Scientists have previously seen smaller solar tornadoes with other sun-observing satellites but this one — spotted in September 2011 — is thought to be the first one ever filmed (left). Since then, researchers have seen at least one more solar tornado, an Earth-sized twister seen in the video below.
Read more here: http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/03/gigantic-solar-tornado/?
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Fascinating.........
Court Strikes Down Okla.'s Ultrasound Abortion Law
Source: NPR
An Oklahoma judge on Wednesday struck down a state law requiring women seeking abortions to have an ultrasound image placed in front of them and to listen to a detailed description of the fetus before the procedure.
District Judge Bryan Dixon ruled the statute passed by the Legislature in 2010 is an unconstitutional special law because it addresses only patients, physicians and sonographers dealing with abortions and does not address them concerning other medical care.
Former Democratic Gov. Brad Henry had vetoed the bill after it passed the state's Republican-controlled Legislature, warning at the time that the measure likely would lead to a "potential futile legal battle." Republicans managed to override the veto with the help of several anti-abortion Democrats.
But enforcement has been blocked since May 2010 when the Center for Reproductive Rights in New York challenged the law on behalf of Nova Health Systems, operator of Reproductive Services of Tulsa, and Dr. Larry Burns, who the group said provides abortions in Norman.
Read more: http://www.npr.org/2012/03/28/149565177/court-strikes-down-okla-s-ultrasound-abortion-law?ft=1&f=1001
Thank you, for that Judge in Oklahoma who is rational......
10-Foods-to-Make-you-Happier
We’ve all had a rotten mood. For many people, eating food (such as junk food) can make their health worse; which only worsens their mood.
But what if there was food that was healthy, and could also act as a natural anti-depressant? There are foods that meet those qualifications! Here are the 10 best foods, that will make you happy, and keep you healthy:
Read more here: http://listverse.com/2012/03/28/10-foods-to-make-you-happier/
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And I love coconuts.......
We Screwed Up: A Letter of Apology to My Granddaughter
Dear Maddie,
I address this letter to you, but please share it with Jack, Tasiah, and other grandchildren who are yet unborn. Also, with your children and theirs. My unconditional love for my children and grandchildren convinces me that, if I could live long enough to embrace my great-grandchildren, I would love them as deeply as I love you.
On behalf of my generation of grandparents to all of you, I want to apologize.
I am sorry we used up all the oil. It took a million years for those layers of carbon goo to form under the Earth’s crust and we used up most of it in a geological instant. No doubt there will be some left and perhaps you can get around the fact that what remains is already distant, dirty, and dangerous, but the low-hanging fruit will be long-gone by the time you are my age. We took it all.
Read more here: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/a_letter_of_apology_to_my_granddaughter_20120328/?
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I have a granddaughter named Maddie, and I really do not want to send her this letter.....
US, UK and France consider oil release to curb fuel prices
Source: The Telegraph
France is in talks with the United States and Britain on a possible release of strategic oil stocks to push fuel prices lower, French ministers said on Wednesday, four weeks before the country's presidential election.
Earlier in March, British sources said London was prepared to cooperate with Washington on a release of strategic oil stocks that was expected within months, in a bid to prevent fuel prices choking economic growth in what is also a US election year.
France's Energy Minister Eric Besson told journalists after the weekly ministers' meeting that the United States had asked France to join it in a possible emergency inventory release.
Such a release could happen "in a matter of weeks", Le Monde daily said on Wednesday, citing presidential sources.
Read more: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/oilandgas/9171572/US-UK-and-France-consider-oil-release-to-curb-fuel-prices.html
Well, some cooperation on oil.....hmmmm....
Cantor Proposal for 20 Percent Business Tax Deduction Would Provide Windfall for Wealthy, Not Jobs
Source: Center on Budget
Though billed as a measure to create jobs by aiding small businesses, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s (R-VA) proposal for a 20 percent tax deduction in 2012 for businesses with fewer than 500 employees would benefit many high-income taxpayers — including many affluent doctors, lawyers, and stockbrokers — while failing to generate the promised economic benefits.[1] The Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center estimates that nearly half — 49 percent — of the $46 billion tax cut that the measure would provide would go to people with incomes over $1 million a year.[2]
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) rated this general approach as one of the least cost-effective ways that policymakers were considering to encourage growth or create jobs in a weak economy. For one thing, the tax benefits would flow disproportionately to high-income people who would spend a relatively small share of their additional income; thus, CBO estimated that the deduction would generate just 0 to 20 cents in economic growth for every dollar in budgetary cost. For another, firms would receive this tax break whether they hired new workers or not; thus, CBO estimated that in 2012 it would create one job or fewer per $1 million of budgetary cost.
The Cantor proposal is even more troubling than his earlier version of it in 2010. Whereas the earlier version did not provide tax breaks for high-paying businesses that one would not ordinarily view as “small businesses” — such as stock brokerage firms and professional sports teams — the new proposal contains no such exclusion and lets these firms, as well, enjoy lucrative tax cuts.
The Cantor proposal also ignores the emerging consensus among economists that young small firms, not small ones in general, are particularly important “job creators.” As a recent study concluded, “policies targeting firms based on size without taking account of the role [of] firm age are unlikely to have the desired impact on job creation.”
Read more: http://www.cbpp.org/cms/?fa=view&id=3734
How does this politician continue to bamboozle his constituents.......
Fact Sheet: 6 Things You Should Know About The Value Of Renewable Energy
Clean energy should play a central role in revitalizing our economy, putting Americans back to work, and keeping America on the cutting edge of innovation and growth. Recently a slew of misguided attacks on the merits of clean energy have exchanged petty partisanship for hard facts.
Here are the top six things you really need to know:
Clean energy is competitive with other types of energy
Clean energy creates three times more jobs than fossil fuels
Clean energy improves grid reliability
Clean energy investment has surpassed investments in fossil fuels
Investments in clean energy are cost effective
Fossil fuels have gotten 75 times more subsidies than clean energy
Read more here; http://thinkprogress.org/romm/2012/03/28/453122/fact-sheet-6-things-you-should-know-about-the-value-of-renewable-energy/
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Can we really get started on our future....sooner rather than later....
10 Billion Earth-Like Planets May Exist in Our Galaxy
About 40 percent of red dwarf stars may have Earth-sized planets orbiting them that have the right conditions for life.
Red dwarfs – which are smaller and cooler than our sun – are extremely common, making up 80 percent of stars in the galaxy. Their ubiquity suggests that there are tens of billions of possible places to look for life beyond Earth, with at least 100 such planets located nearby.
The new estimate comes from a team of astronomers using the European Southern Observatory’s HARPS planet-hunting telescope to look at a sample of 102 nearby red dwarfs over a six-year period. The telescope checked for a characteristic wobble from the star, indicating that at least one planet was tugging on it while orbiting around.
The search found nine planets with between one and 10 Earth masses, including two in the habitable zone, possibly giving them the right temperature to have liquid water. Because red dwarfs don’t produce as much heat as our sun, their habitable zones occur much closer to the star.
Read more here: http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/03/ten-billion-earths/?
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Maybe we can find one of these habitable planets......we might need it sooner than we think......
George Zimmerman: What we know about Trayvon Martin's killer
George Zimmerman, the 28-year-old neighborhood watchman who shot and killed unarmed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Florida, a month ago, has been keeping a low profile. He is in hiding after reportedly receiving several death threats and, for weeks, all the world saw of him was an unsmiling 2005 mug shot. As investigators and reporters try to piece together why the Floridian shot a black boy 10 years younger and dozens of pounds lighter, a fuzzy picture of Zimmerman is emerging. Here's what we know so far:
Read more: http://theweek.com/article/index/226131/george-zimmerman-what-we-know-about-trayvon-martins-killer
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