July 28, 2015

Bernie Sanders: The Vox conversation

In a wide-ranging discussion, Bernie Sanders discusses his views on socialism, single payer, open borders, Zionism, and more with Vox Editor-in-chief Ezra Klein. Table of contents below:
0:00 – Socialism
3:20 – Universal health care
5:50 – Global poverty & open borders
9:29 – Unions
11:31 – Grassroots organizing
16:04 – Race
17:56 – Oligarchy and campaign finance
21:14 – Foreign policy
23:10 – Iran
25:12 – Rwanda
26:04 – Zionism & Israel
27:24 – Climate change
31:33 – China
34:04 – Greece
35:24 – Universal basic income

July 22, 2015

John Conyers: Let Americans know what's in their food

(snip)
This week, the House of Representatives is set to vote on a bill that would take unprecedented steps to deny us all the right to know basic information about what we eat.

The Orwellianly-titled "Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act," HR 1599, would bar the Food and Drug Administration from introducing mandatory labeling of Genetically Modified Organism (GMO) foods and ban states from doing the same -- even if voters demand such labeling through a ballot measure. The bill would also block many state and local efforts to protect farmers and the public from concerns including seed and pesticide drift and would forbid states from making it illegal for companies to label GMO products as "natural," as Connecticut has done.

The bill is a serious attack on transparency and presents a dubious one-size-fits-all approach to federal policy making. Most importantly, it presents a potentially serious threat to our long-term health.

(snip)
The fact that Congress is even considering a proposal to deny Americans basic information about their food speaks to overwhelming power of these corporate lobbyists over the public interest.

more at link
http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/22/opinions/conyers-gmo-label-bill/index.html

July 15, 2015

Obama Scolds Major Garrett For 'Nonsense' Question "That's nonsense(video)

"That's nonsense. And you should know better."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/obama-major-garrett_55a6a25ee4b0c5f0322c1659?

President Barack Obama publicly scolded CBS News' Major Garrett during a gathering of the press corps at the White House on Wednesday, chastising the reporter for asking if the president is "content" to celebrate the Iran nuclear deal while four American hostages remain in Iran.

"That's nonsense. And you should know better," Obama replied.

Obama answered questions about the Iran nuclear deal during the gathering, saying it's "our best means of assuring that Iran does not get a nuclear weapon."

“The bottom line is this. This nuclear deal meets the national security interests of the United States and our allies," Obama said. "It prevents the most serious threat of Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon… that’s why this deal makes our country safer and secure.”



“I’ve got to give you credit, Major, for how you craft those questions,” Obama said, before admonishing the reporter.

“The notion that I’m content as I celebrate with American citizens languishing in Iranian jails, Major, that’s nonsense, and you should know better,” the president said.

(snip)
“My question did not suggest that he was content with the captivity of those four Americans,” Garrett said. “My question was about the contentment, or the satisfaction, or the realization that it was necessary within the context of this deal to leave them unaccounted for. That was the essence of the question.”

“Clearly it struck a nerve,” he added. “That was my intention.”

http://whotv.com/2015/07/15/obama-scolds-reporter-for-iran-question-you-should-know-better/

July 10, 2015

Birth Control Coverage Guaranteed for All — Despite Religious Exemptions

Source: Yahoo

The Obama administration on Friday issued a workaround to last year’s Hobby Lobby ruling which gave companies religious exemptions on coverage of certain forms of birth control.

A new rule issued by the Obama administration’s Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on Friday affirmed that, even given the religious exemptions provided by the Supreme Court’s ruling in Burrell v Hobby Lobby last year, all women will still be able to get coverage for all forms of birth control through the Affordable Care Act.

The rule creates an accommodation, which permits companies to opt out of providing coverage but the insurance carrier still must provide it — which ensures that women will have access to no-cost birth control, no matter where they work.

For a company to receive a religious exemption from providing coverage for the methods of birth control outlined in last year’s Hobby Lobby case — that is, any form of birth control that prevents implantation such as intrauterine devices (IUDs) and the emergency morning-after pill, the new standard will be that it must be a for-profit company not publicly traded with 50 percent ownership by five or fewer individuals, with members of a nuclear family all counting as one individual. Additionally, the company must produce a formal corporate statement that expresses their religious beliefs.
https://s3.amazonaws.com/public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2015-17076.pdf



White House Finds Way Around Hobby Lobby Birth Control Decision
(snip)
Under the new rule, a closely held for-profit company that objects to covering contraception in its health plan can write a letter to the Department of Health and Human Services stating its objection. HHS will then notify a third-party insurer of the company's objection, and the insurer will provide birth control coverage to the company's female employees at no additional cost to the company.

“Women across the country should have access to preventive services, including contraception,” HHS Secretary Sylvia Burwell said in a statement. “At the same time, we recognize the deeply held views on these issues, and we are committed to securing women’s access to important preventive services at no additional cost under the Affordable Care Act, while respecting religious beliefs.”

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/07/10/white-house-birth-control_n_7771004.html?ncid=tweetlnkushpmg00000067

Read more: https://www.yahoo.com/health/breaking-birth-control-coverage-guaranteed-for-123731031997.html

---

Administration issues final rules on coverage of certain recommended preventive services without cost sharing

Final rules secure women’s access to contraceptive services while respecting religious beliefs

Today, the Administration took important steps to make sure women have access to recommended preventive services, including contraceptive services, at no additional cost as required by the Affordable Care Act. The first action announced today maintains the existing accommodation for eligible religious nonprofits, but also finalizes an alternative pathway for those organizations to provide notice of their objection to covering contraceptive services. A second action announced today provides certain closely held for-profit entities the same accommodations. Today’s rules also finalize interim final rules on preventive services coverage generally, with limited changes.

“Women across the country should have access to preventive services, including contraception,” said Secretary of Health and Human Services Sylvia M. Burwell. “At the same time, we recognize the deeply held views on these issues, and we are committed to securing women’s access to important preventive services at no additional cost under the Affordable Care Act, while respecting religious beliefs.”

Today, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), along with the Department of Labor and the Department of the Treasury, finalized interim final rules that establish an alternative way for eligible organizations that have a religious objection to covering contraceptive services to seek an accommodation from contracting, providing, paying, or referring for such services. These rules allow these eligible organizations to notify HHS in writing of their religious objection to providing contraception coverage, as an alternative to filling out the form provided by the Department of Labor to provide to their issuer or third-party administrator. HHS and the Department of Labor will then notify insurers and third party administrators of the organization’s objection so that enrollees in plans of such organizations receive separate payments for contraceptive services, with no additional cost to the enrollee or organization, and no involvement by the organization.

In response to the Supreme Court’s decision in the Hobby Lobby case, the Departments are also issuing final rules that provide the above accommodations to closely held for-profit entities. Relying on a definition used in federal tax law, the final rules define a “closely held for-profit entity” as an entity that is not publicly traded and that has an ownership structure under which more than 50 percent of the organization’s ownership interest is owned by five or fewer individuals, or an entity with a substantially similar ownership structure. For purposes of this definition, all of the ownership interests held by members of a family are treated as being owned by a single individual. Based on available information, the Departments believe that this definition includes all of the for-profit companies that have challenged the contraceptive-coverage requirement on religious grounds.

The rules finalize standards concerning documentation and disclosure of a closely held for-profit entity’s decision not to provide coverage for contraceptive services.

Today’s rules also finalize interim final rules on the coverage of preventive services generally, with limited changes. They reflect public feedback received in response to the interim final rules issued in 2010 and proposed and interim final rules issued in August 2014.


http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2015pres/07/20150710a.html

July 9, 2015

Rep. Barbara Lee: Time to end the Hyde Amendment

The war on women isn’t over.

Nearly every day, there is a new unconscionable attack designed to restrict access to abortion. The oldest of these attacks is the Hyde Amendment, which Congress adds each year to strip women of their fundamental right to access all of their health care options. The amendment prevents women who receive their health insurance through the federal government from receiving abortion coverage.

It is clear that these attacks have one goal: preventing women, especially low-income women and women of color, from making the best health care decision for themselves and their families. This needs to stop.

Today, we start pushing back. Today, we make it clear that every woman has a right to make her own health care decisions, especially with such an important decision as whether to become a parent.

http://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/openforum/article/Time-to-end-the-Hyde-Amendment-6373648.php?t=7727325cfbcefdcb88&cmpid=twitter-premium

July 8, 2015

Rep. Barbara Lee, Rep. Jan Schakowsky, and Diana DeGette, introduce EACH WOMAN ACT

Just introduced new bill to ensure poor women can access their constitutional rights to reproductive care
https://twitter.com/RepBarbaraLee





https://twitter.com/hashtag/4EACHofUs?src=hash


Politicians should NEVER be allowed to interfere in a woman’s personal health decisions or restrict her choices because of income

No matter how a woman is insured she should have the right to make her own decisions


EACH woman, every option
(snip)
With the just-introduced but long overdue EACH [Equal Access to Abortion Coverage in Health Insurance] Woman Act – sponsored by Reps. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) and Diana DeGette (D-Colo.) -- every woman will be allowed to make the choices in her pregnancy that are best for her and her family, without interference from lawmakers. This policy is supported by a majority in our country. For the AAPI community, this is a no-brainer— the majority of AAPIs believe a woman’s decision to get an abortion is a private matter, not one for political interference. Under the EACH Woman Act, insurance coverage of abortion will no longer be a political pawn in Congressional floor debates, or subject to the moral doctrines of anti-choice legislators.

http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/healthcare/247077-each-woman-every-option

Life’s most personal decisions – such as when to become a parent – should be just that. But far too often politicians interfere in this most personal decision by banning insurance coverage for abortion care.

That’s why I introduced the EACH Woman Act. It ensures health coverage of abortion for every woman regardless of what she earns or where she lives. Essentially, this bill would repeal Hyde Amendment provisions that prevent a woman from accessing all of her health care options just because she is poor.
Petition
https://act.myngp.com/el/-6119865133037518848/-8551190001260429312?source=070815kickoff

July 4, 2015

Martin Sheen to Host and Narrate Siegelman Film

We are happy to announce that Martin Sheen (Apocalypse Now, The West Wing) is now attached to the Killing Atticus Finch project as narrator and host.

“We are honored to have such a venerated actor and activist as a key part of both our fundraising efforts and film production. Mr. Sheen has one of the most recognizable voices in the world, and will add a powerful ring of truth to the travesty of justice involved in Gov. Siegelman’s case,” said Steve Wimberly, the film’s director.

With Mr. Sheen’s involvement, the film project,Killing Atticus Finch, is building momentum. The film's producers, Academy Award winner, Maria Forio, and accomplished actor and activist, Mimi Kennedy, hope to raise enough money in the coming weeks to go directly into production.

To see our updated trailer with Martin Sheen go to Killing Atticus Finch - WATCH THE TRAILER.
http://www.gofundme.com/DonSiegelmanFilm

https://madmimi.com/s/6b1a66#