November 2, 2013

Sex workers embrace Obamacare

NOTE: This is NOT a dig against Obamacare as I believe that sex work is as honest a profession as any other.

Organized by "Siouxsie Q," a Bay Area sex worker, the event was meant to encourage other sex workers to enroll in the new insurance exchanges. It was a rousing success: Nearly 40 men and women attended and almost all of them filed enrollment paperwork.

In the all-cash, off-the-books sex industry, workers can be particularly high risk and insurance is often out of reach. Many sex workers -- a broad term that can refer to a number of services, including sexual massage, prostitution, and escort and dominatrix work -- consider themselves self-employed entrepreneurs who can't afford to purchase healthcare. But that could all change with the Affordable Care Act.

Siouxsie, 28, has shopped for plans countless times since 2008, coming up empty each time. She and her partner recently reviewed their healthcare options and found that a joint plan would have cost between $400 and $500 a month -- an unaffordably large chunk of their incomes.

"We just couldn't swing [insurance] in the Bay Area -- we're lower middle class, recent college graduates, in Startup Land trying to make our way," she said.

But come January 1, when the new law goes into effect, she and her partner will be looking at a monthly bill of between $175 and $200. They're deciding between two plans on the California exchange and will receive a tax credit of about $275 a month (without the credit it would have cost nearly $500).


http://money.cnn.com/2013/11/01/smallbusiness/sex-workers-obamacare/index.html?iid=HP_LN

November 2, 2013

X-Posted from DKos: Progressive running for Pittsburgh Mayor

Bill de Blasio (D. NYC) isn't the only awesome progressive Democrat running for Mayor next Tuesday. Received this e-mail today from the Pennsylvania Democratic Party looking for people in Pittsburgh to help out with GOTV efforts for Pittsburgh Mayor candidate, Bill Peduto (D).


We're down to the wire.
We're only 4 days away from the 2013 elections, and we need to make sure as many people as possible turn out to vote in Pittsburgh. Volunteers have been knocking doors and burning up the phones to push people to the polls, but we need your help!

Can you join Bill Peduto this Tuesday - Election Day - to help Get Out The Vote?

http://www.billpeduto.com/...

Whether it's for the whole day or just a few hours, please make the commitment to building a new Pittsburgh at http://www.billpeduto.com/...

We look forward to seeing you on Tuesday!

Sincerely,

Elena Cross

Executive Director

Pennsylvania Democratic Party

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/11/01/1252390/-Pittsburgh-Mayor-Yinz-Want-To-Help-Get-Out-The-Vote-For-Bill-Peduto-D

November 1, 2013

McAuliffe trounces Cuccinelli in late donations in Virginia governor’s race

The race for cash has turned into a rout in the final days of the contest for Virginia governor, with front-runner Terry McAuliffe exponentially outraising Ken Cuccinelli II — particularly from companies that have legislative interests in Richmond.

At the same time, the race to succeed Cuccinelli (R) as attorney general has become a magnet for late donations as contributors from both parties scramble to participate in what appears to be the tightest matchup on Tuesday’s ballot.

For the two weeks before the election, Virginia law requires candidates to report all large donations within a day, providing nearly a real-time look at the flow of cash through the political spigots. At the top of the ballot, almost all of the money is flowing in one direction.

On Wednesday, according to the Virginia Public Access Project, McAuliffe (D) reported contributions of $510,000, with more than half that total coming in the form of in-kind donations from the state Democratic Party, the Sierra Club and a pair of labor unions.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/mcauliffe-trounces-cuccinelli-in-late-donations-in-virginia-governors-race/2013/10/31/f0749b7a-423a-11e3-a751-f032898f2dbc_story.html

November 1, 2013

Walt Disney's the Legend of Sleepy Hollow (VIDEO)

November 1, 2013

Is it me, or is trick or treating back?

I don't know how it is in the rest of the country, but every year for the past few years I see swarms of kids walking up and down various neighborhoods throughout the city. Either I happen to live in the right place, or trick or treating is back!