March 9, 2012

Plaintiff challenging healthcare law went bankrupt – with unpaid medical bills

Source: Los Angeles Times

Mary Brown, a 56-year-old Florida woman who owned a small auto repair shop but had no health insurance, became the lead plaintiff challenging President Obama's healthcare law because she was passionate about the issue.

Brown "doesn't have insurance. She doesn't want to pay for it. And she doesn't want the government to tell her she has to have it," said Karen Harned, a lawyer for the National Federation of Independent Business. Brown is a plaintiff in the federation's case, which the Supreme Court plans to hear later this month.

But court records reveal that Brown and her husband filed for bankruptcy last fall with $4,500 in unpaid medical bills. Those bills could change Brown from a symbol of proud independence into an example of exactly the problem the healthcare law was intended to address.

Lawyers who represent Brown dispute the significance of her bankruptcy. They say her unpaid medical bills were only a small part of her debts and did not cause her bankruptcy. They say that she and her husband owe $55,000 to others, including credit card companies. And they say her financial troubles were caused by the failure of her auto repair shop. Brown said in the bankruptcy petition that her only income was $275 a month in unemployment benefits.

Brown, reached by telephone Thursday, said the medical bills were her husband's. "I always paid my bills, as well as my medical bills," she said angrily. "I never said medical insurance is not a necessity. It should be anyone's right to what kind of health insurance they have.

"I believe that anyone has unforeseen things that happen to them that are beyond their control," Brown said. "Who says I don't have insurance right now?"


Read more: http://www.latimes.com/health/la-na-healthcare-plaintiff-20120309,0,6657163.story

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Who says you don't have insurance? Your lawyer, Karen Harned. Good luck getting it on $275 a month.

February 29, 2012

Franklin Graham apologizes for questioning Obama's faith commitment

The Rev. Franklin Graham on Tuesday apologized for publicly raising questions about President Barack Obama’s Christian faith, saying “I regret any comments I have ever made which may have cast any doubt on the personal faith of our president, Mr. Obama.”

The statement from Graham came in response to a letter from faith leaders associated with the NAACP that said Graham’s statements “have enormous negative effects for America and are especially harmful to the Christian witness.”

In a television interview last week that provoked huge media attention, Graham appeared to question the sincerity of Obama’s Christian commitment.

"You have to ask him,” Graham said, pondering whether Obama is Christian. “I cannot ask that question for anybody."

In the February 21 interview on MSNBC, Graham repeated earlier statements about Obama’s ties to Islam, while denying that the president is a Muslim.

"Under Islamic law – Sharia law – Islam sees him as a son of Islam," Graham said. “Because his father was a Muslim, his grandfather was a Muslim. ... That's just the way it works."

In his statement on Tuesday, Graham said, “The president has said he is a Christian and I accept that (and have said so publicly on many occasions).”

“I apologize to him and to any I have offended for not better articulating my reason for not supporting him in this election—for his faith has nothing to do with my consideration of him as a candidate,” Graham’s statement continued.

http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2012/02/28/franklin-graham-apologizes-for-questioning-obamas-faith-commitment/

February 21, 2012

Tasered woman now brain dead

A woman shot with a Taser by a trooper in Florida, falls into a coma, now brain dead. Jane Velez-Mitchell speaks with her parents.

http://www.cnn.com/video/?hpt=hp_t3#/video/bestoftv/2012/02/21/exp-jvm-taser-coma.hln

Local news story with (disturbing) video of tasing:

A young woman was left with severe brain damage and in a vegetative state after being tasered by a police officer. The officer's dash cam shows 20-year-old Danielle Maudsley handcuffed, as she ran away from the Florida Highway Patrol officer. She was only feet away when she is tasered in the back. The victim collapsed and her head slammed to the ground.

http://www.wcti12.com/news/30482005/detail.html

February 1, 2012

San Onofre Nuclear Power Plant Unit 3 Shut Down for a Possible Leak

SCE: San Onofre Unit Shutdown "Precautionary"
Unit 3 shutdown for a possible leak
By Michelle Wayland | Tuesday, Jan 31, 2012 | Updated 7:44 PM PST

The San Onofre atomic power plant in northern San Diego County. A potential leak in a “steam generator tube” prompted a precautionary shutdown of Unit 3 at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, according to California Edison (SCE) officials. Sensors installed in the reactor unit detected a possible leak in one of the unit’s steam generator tubes, according to officials.

“The potential leak poses no imminent danger to the public or plant workers. There has been no release to the atmosphere,” SCE said in a statement. San Onofre personnel were working to evaluate the cause of the leak, according to officials. “Unit 2 is currently offline for a planned maintenance, refueling and technology upgrade outage,” the statement said. Power to customers was not expected to be affected.

Source: SCE: San Onofre Unit Shutdown "Precautionary" | NBC San Diego
http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/SEC-San-Onofre-Unit-Shutdown-Precautionary--138453884.html