Hissyspit
Hissyspit's JournalBreaking: King County (Washington State) Issues First Marriage Licenses to Same-Sex Couples
Source: Seattle Times
December 5, 2012 at 8:25 PM
King County issues first marriage licenses to same-sex couples
Posted by Brian M. Rosenthal
UPDATE: 12:03 a.m. | After decades of waiting to be legally married — married, not domestically partnered — Jane Abbott Lighty and Pete-e Petersen of West Seattle saw their marriage license signed by King County Executive Dow Constantine at 12:02 am.
The signing was preceded by a loud countdown to midnight and cheers.
UPDATE: 12:02 a.m. | Historic moment: King County has begun issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
UPDATE: 11:44 p.m. | One of the most prominent members of Washington state’s gay community called Wednesday night an “amazing piece of history.”
“This is one of those rare moments where we’re actually watching history happen,” said State Senate Majority Leader Ed Murray, D-Seattle.
Read more: http://blogs.seattletimes.com/today/2012/12/same-sex-couples-line-up-in-downtown-seattle-to-get-marriage-licenses/
Jeri Andrews, left, and Amy Andrews of Seattle wait in line outside the King County Recorder’s Office for a marriage license. They had a wedding ceremony this summer, and Amy decided to wear her veil. (BETTINA HANSEN / Seattle Times)
Study: Health Reform Saved Consumers $1.5 Billion in 2011
Source: Raw Story / Commonwealth Fund
President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act (ACA) saved American consumers $1.5 billion on out-of-pocket health insurance premium costs in 2011, a study published Wednesday (PDF) claimed. Despite this, benefits of the law were not applied equally across all health insurance markets, leading the study’s authors to propose that stronger rules are needed.
Most of the savings cited by the report comes from the ACA’s requirement that medical loss ratios (MLR) stay at 80 percent, meaning 80 percent of all premium payments must be spent on actual health care. The goal of the requirement was to get premium costs down, but many of the law’s critics warned that it may not have that effect.
As 2011 was the first full year with the MLR rule in effect, health care advocacy group Commonwealth Fund looked at the annual financial reports of more than 2,000 insurance companies across the country, including a large proportion of organizations selling to policies to individual consumers. The study discovered that the MLR regulation forced insurers to pay $1.1 billion in rebates to their customers in 2011, while reducing their administrative costs by about $350 million to get profits within the approved range.
The biggest consumer benefits were seen in the individual market, where companies cut their overhead costs by about $66 per member, for a total of about $560 million in savings. An additional $394 million was sent back to customers who the law says overpaid on their premiums. Only one state, Rhode Island, saw an increase in administrative costs, while 39 states saw insurance companies slimming down and becoming more efficient in order to retain as much of their profits as possible.
Read more: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/12/05/study-health-reform-saved-consumers-1-5-billion-in-2011
Carbon Pollution Up to 2 Million Pounds a Second
Source: Associated Press
Dec. 2, 2012 4:10 PM ET
Carbon pollution up to 2 million pounds a second
By SETH BORENSTEIN, AP Science Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) — The amount of heat-trapping pollution the world spewed rose again last year by 3 percent. So scientists say it's now unlikely that global warming can be limited to a couple of degrees, which is an international goal.
The overwhelming majority of the increase was from China, the world's biggest carbon dioxide polluter. Of the planet's top 10 polluters, the United States and Germany were the only countries that reduced their carbon dioxide emissions.
Last year, all the world's nations combined pumped nearly 38.2 billion tons of carbon dioxide into the air from the burning of fossil fuels such as coal and oil, according to new international calculations on global emissions published Sunday in the journal Nature Climate Change. That's about a billion tons more than the previous year.
- snip -
Andrew Weaver, a climate scientist at the University of Victoria in Canada who was not part of the study, said: "We are losing control of our ability to get a handle on the global warming problem."
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The latest pollution numbers, calculated by the Global Carbon Project, a joint venture of the Energy Department and the Norwegian Research Council, show that worldwide carbon dioxide levels are 54 percent higher than the 1990 baseline.
The 2011 figures for the biggest polluters:
1. China, up 10 percent to 10 billion tons.
2. United States, down 2 percent to 5.9 billion tons
3. India
Read more: http://hosted2.ap.org/AZMES/a87e093298b44f1f90ce5c51351f7c69/Article_2012-12-02-Carbon%20Pollution/id-2b96650bffbc43968754dafd5f403ea7
I'm in audience watching Michael Nesmith play live w/ the remaining Monkees...
This is way f'ing cool. 
Second to last show of tour.
Hey DU! from Occupy Sandy HQ. I Just Dropped Off Some Supplies in Our Name...
in our name.
Simple Green and several H-100 (the good more expensive ones) masks for cleaning mold. Headquarters is in an old church in Brooklyn:
Forgot to have them take a picture of me!
There is still clean-up need! Address to send supplies:
ATTN: Occupy Sandy
Church of St. Luke &St. Matthew
520 Clinton Ave.
Brooklyn NY 11238
www.occupysandy.com
Supplies needed include:
N-95 and N100 masks (3M or Moldex; I got mine at Sherwin-Willliams)
Sponges
long rubber gloves
Rubber Boats
Soap
Simple Green
Bio Green Clean
Batteries (D, C, AA, AAA)
Squeegees
Toilet Paper
Explosive device rocks downtown Casa Grande (Social Security Admin Building)
Source: CBSS
CASA GRANDE, AZ (CBS5) - An explosion rocked the Social Security Administration building in Casa Grande on Friday morning.
The blast was caused by a device that detonated at the rear of the building, according to Agustin Avalos of the city of Casa Grande Police Department.
The explosion happened around 8:15 a.m. in a building that houses several other downtown businesses. All business were evacuated, Avalos said.
No injuries were reported and the type of device had not been determined, Avalos said.
Read more: http://m.kpho.com/w/news-local/story/79455377/
NY Gays Accuse NJ Therapy Group of False Promises
Source: Associated Press
NY gays accuse NJ therapy group of false promises
From Associated Press
November 27, 2012 5:29 PM EST
NEW YORK (AP) — Four gay men accused a New Jersey organization of fraud Tuesday for selling "conversion therapy" with false promises to make them straight.
They said during a Manhattan news conference that they were subjected to humiliations that included stripping naked and taking a baseball bat to effigies of their mothers.
The four attended sessions at the Jersey City, N.J.-based Jews Offering New Alternatives to Healing, or JONAH. The nonprofit advertises in Jewish publications and claims to rid men of same-sex attractions.
- snip -
The four say the methods do not work and should not be marketed under New Jersey's consumer protection laws. JONAH did not return calls requesting comment.
Read more: http://enews.earthlink.net/article/top?guid=20121127/c3a1cff8-770b-4c3c-9ef7-59c073eca459
Former Florida GOP Leaders Say Voter Suppression Was Reason They Pushed New Election Law
Source: Palm Beach Post
Updated: 9:58 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 25, 2012 | Posted: 7:00 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 25, 2012
POST EXCLUSIVE EARLY VOTING CONTROVERSY
Former Florida GOP leaders say voter suppression was reason they pushed new election law
Former GOP chair, governor - both on outs with party - say voter fraud wasn’t a concern, but reducing Democratic votes was.
By Dara Kam, John Lantigua
Palm Beach Post Capital Bureau
A new Florida law that contributed to long voter lines and caused some to abandon voting altogether was intentionally designed by Florida GOP staff and consultants to inhibit Democratic voters, former GOP officials and current GOP consultants have told The Palm Beach Post.
Republican leaders said in proposing the law that it was meant to save money and fight voter fraud. But a former GOP chairman and former Gov. Charlie Crist, both of whom have been ousted from the party, now say that fraud concerns were advanced only as subterfuge for the law’s main purpose: GOP victory.
Former Republican Party of Florida Chairman Jim Greer says he attended various meetings, beginning in 2009, at which party staffers and consultants pushed for reductions in early voting days and hours.
“The Republican Party, the strategists, the consultants, they firmly believe that early voting is bad for Republican Party candidates,” Greer told The Post. “It’s done for one reason and one reason only. … ‘We’ve got to cut down on early voting because early voting is not good for us,’ ” Greer said he was told by those staffers and consultants.
Read more: http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/news/state-regional-govt-politics/early-voting-curbs-called-power-play/nTFDy
Can you say 'no duh...?'
Krugman: This Is The Chart That Debunks What Everyone Says About The National Debt
KRUGMAN: This Is The Chart That Debunks What Everyone Says About The National DebtJoe Weisenthal | Nov. 25, 2012, 11:05 AM | 18,672 | 64
Paul Krugman posts a simple chart that makes a profound point.
It compares the yield on UK debt vs. US debt.
What should stand out for you, instantly, is that the two countries borrow at virtually identical rates, and have for years.
What this should show to people is that much of the popular stories that people tell about sovereign debt is a myth.
Countries that borrow in their own currencies and can "print" at will don't have default risk, so their borrowing costs are an expression of expectations of future interest rates and growth. The US has been notably profligate since the crisis. The UK (under Cameron) has been prematurely austere. The upshot: it hasn't mattered much on the yield front.
MORE[p]
Krugman Blog LINK: http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/11/25/incredible-credibility
But won’t that money printing cause inflation? Not as long as the economy remains depressed. Budget deficits could lead people to expect higher inflation down the road, once the slump finally ends — but that would be a good thing for the economy in the short run, discouraging people from sitting on cash and weakening the exchange rate, thereby making exports more competitive.
The point, then, is that the whole “credibility” argument is incoherent.
Breaking: Supreme Court Blocks Illinois Law Prohibiting Taping of Police
Source: Associated Press
Supreme Court blocks Illinois law prohibiting taping of police
Associated Press
9:01 a.m. CST, November 26, 2012
The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected a plea from the Cook County state's attorney to allow enforcement of a law prohibiting people from recording police officers on the job.
The justices on Monday left in place a lower court ruling that found that the state's anti-eavesdropping law violates free speech rights when used against people who tape law enforcement officers.
- snip -
The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit in 2010 against State's Attorney Anita Alvarez to block prosecution of ACLU staff for recording police officers performing their duties in public places, one of the group's long-standing monitoring missions.
Opponents of the law say the right to record police is vital to guard against abuses.
Read more: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-supreme-court-rejects-plea-to-prohibit-taping-of-police-20121126,0,686331.story?track=rss
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