MindMover
MindMover's JournalTexas Towns Run Out of Water as Drought Takes its Toll
Individual Mandate Will Benefit All, But Directly Affect Only a Few
The Supreme Court examined today the requirement in the Affordable Care Act (that is, health reform) that individuals have health coverage or face a penalty. Apart from the legal questions before the Court, here’s what Americans need to know about this “individual mandate.”
It won’t affect the vast majority of Americans. Most Americans already have insurance — through their jobs or through a program like Medicare, Medicaid, or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). They simply will check a box on their tax forms stating they have coverage. A new Urban Institute study found that only 7 percent of people under age 65 will have to buy health insurance or face a penalty — and many of them will get subsidies to make coverage more affordable.
Most uninsured Americans want coverage. Many uninsured people don’t have a job that provides insurance and either can’t afford to buy it in the individual market or would get rejected by insurance companies because they have (or have had) serious health problems. Only 7 percent of the uninsured report that they don’t have insurance mainly because they don’t think they need it, according to the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured.
The small number of uninsured people who don’t want coverage will simply pay a modest fee. That makes sense, given the burden that the uninsured place on taxpayers and people with health insurance, who help pick up the tab when an uninsured person receives health care (such as at an emergency room).
The individual mandate makes it easier to reform the individual insurance market. Health reform bans many of insurance companies’ most egregious practices — like denying coverage to people with pre-existing health conditions like cancer, autism, or diabetes or charging sick people higher premiums. But it’s impossible to end those practices unless almost everyone is covered.
http://www.offthechartsblog.org/individual-mandate-will-benefit-all-but-directly-affect-only-a-few/
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Interesting ......
Global warming close to becoming irreversible-scientists
(Reuters) - The world is close to reaching tipping points that will make it irreversibly hotter, making this decade critical in efforts to contain global warming, scientists warned on Monday.
Scientific estimates differ but the world's temperature looks set to rise by six degrees Celsius by 2100 if greenhouse gas emissions are allowed to rise uncontrollably.
As emissions grow, scientists say the world is close to reaching thresholds beyond which the effects on the global climate will be irreversible, such as the melting of polar ice sheets and loss of rainforests.
"This is the critical decade. If we don't get the curves turned around this decade we will cross those lines," said Will Steffen, executive director of the Australian National University's climate change institute, speaking at a conference in London.
Despite this sense of urgency, a new global climate treaty forcing the world's biggest polluters, such as the United States and China, to curb emissions will only be agreed on by 2015 - to enter into force in 2020.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/26/us-climate-thresholds-idUSBRE82P0UJ20120326
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Are we getting serious enough about the most dangerous issue facing humanity?????.....
Don’t Crack Open A Coaled One Just Yet
The EPA’s new regulations on building new coal-fired power plants are expected to go into effect today, requiring strict new pollution controls that energy companies say will make it “impossible” to build the plants, only that’s not actually true.
The proposed rule — years in the making and approved by the White House after months of review — will require any new power plant to emit no more than 1,000 pounds of carbon dioxide per megawatt of electricity produced. The average U.S. natural gas plant, which emits 800 to 850 pounds of CO2 per megawatt, meets that standard; coal plants emit an average of 1,768 pounds of carbon dioxide per megawatt.
Industry officials and environmentalists said in interviews that the rule, which comes on the heels of tough new requirements that the Obama administration imposed on mercury emissions and cross-state pollution from utilities within the past year, dooms any proposal to build a coal-fired plant that does not have costly carbon controls.
“This standard effectively bans new coal plants,” said Joseph Stanko, who heads government relations at the law firm Hunton and Williams and represents several utility companies. “So I don’t see how that is an ‘all of the above’ energy policy.”
Except for you know, the coal plants being built anyway.
The rule provides an exception for coal plants that are already permitted and beginning construction within a year. There are about 20 coal plants now pursuing permits; two of them are federally subsidized and would meet the new standard with advanced pollution controls.
http://www.balloon-juice.com/2012/03/27/dont-crack-open-a-coaled-one-just-yet/
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Except for the 20 coal plants now pursuing permits......OMG.....
Afghan Massacre: The Coming Sanity Board
Source: Time
What’s next in the case ofArmy Staff Sergeant Robert Bales, formally charged Friday with murdering 17 Afghan civilians? I will not try to answer that question regarding the courtroom proceedings. But what I can discuss is the normal military procedure for assessing competency to stand trial, and criminal responsibility at the time of the crime. Criminal responsibility is the technical term for what is often called by the public as “insanity.”
When there is a reasonable question of whether an accused lacks competency or criminal responsibility, the military judge may order a so-called “sanity board.” The actual procedure is covered in the Manual for Courts Marital, under the Rule for Court Martial 706, so it also is commonly referred to as a “706.” The 706 board is designed to be neutral — working for neither the defense nor prosecution — but for the court. These procedures are similar to those in most states, but with some important differences.
The sanity board is usually conducted by three military psychiatrists or psychologists, often with specialized training in forensic psychiatry or psychology.
Read more: http://battleland.blogs.time.com/2012/03/26/afghan-massacre-the-coming-sanity-board/
Israel cuts ties with UN human rights body
Source: AlJAZEERA
Israel has said it has severed contacts with the UN Human Rights Council after the group's launch last week of an international investigation into Jewish settlements in the West Bank.
The decision, announced by a foreign ministry spokesman on Monday, meant that the fact-finding team the council planned to send to the West Bank will not be allowed to enter the territory or Israel, said spokesman Yigal Palmor.
"We are not working with them anymore," Palmor said about the Geneva-based forum. "We had been participating in meetings, discussions, arranging visits to Israel. All that is over."
The international investigation was launched on Thursday, with the United States isolated in voting against the initiative brought by the Palestinian Authority.
Read more: http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2012/03/201232614191837437.html
You cannot lead a horse to water.........
Must-Read Trenberth: How To Relate Climate Extremes to Climate Change
Source: Climate Progress
The answer to the oft-asked question of whether an event is caused by climate change is that it is the wrong question. All weather events are affected by climate change because the environment in which they occur is warmer and moister than it used to be….
The air is on average warmer and moister than it was prior to about 1970 and in turn has likely led to a 5–10 % effect on precipitation and storms that is greatly amplified in extremes. The warm moist air is readily advected onto land and caught up in weather systems as part of the hydrological cycle, where it contributes to more intense precipitation events that are widely observed to be occurring.
Read more: http://thinkprogress.org/romm/2012/03/25/451347/must-read-trenberth-how-to-relate-climate-extremes-to-climate-change/
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Could be the scientific reason for 7,000 temperature records broken in 25 days......
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Who Is a Sex Addict?
Increasing numbers of men and women are seeking clinical treatment for sexual addiction. This is partly the result of the increasingly endless variety of Internet-based sexual content, and partly the result of easy accessibility of anonymous sexual partnering via smartphone apps and social media.
It is estimated that three to six percent of the general U.S. population suffers from some form of addictive sexual behavior with self or others. However, the current lack of a universally recognizable clinical diagnosis — combined with a dearth of publicly funded research and ongoing cultural shame and stigma regarding sexual disorders in general — likely prevent many more individuals from identifying the problem and seeking help.
Traditionally, the majority of inpatient and outpatient sexual addiction patients (approximately 85 percent) have been adult males. However, there is growing awareness that women also struggle with the disorder and they, too, are seeking help in increasing numbers.
http://psychcentral.com/lib/2012/who-is-a-sex-addict/
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FYI...........
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Talking about social media, Twitter......
Porn star as prom date? Minn. district says no
http://www.newsday.com/news/nation/porn-star-as-prom-date-minn-district-says-no-1.3622520
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Hypersexuality: Symptoms of Sexual Addiction
http://psychcentral.com/lib/2012/hypersexuality-symptoms-of-sexual-addiction/
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Must-Read Trenberth: How To Relate Climate Extremes to Climate Change
Source: Climate Progress
The answer to the oft-asked question of whether an event is caused by climate change is that it is the wrong question. All weather events are affected by climate change because the environment in which they occur is warmer and moister than it used to be….
The air is on average warmer and moister than it was prior to about 1970 and in turn has likely led to a 5–10 % effect on precipitation and storms that is greatly amplified in extremes. The warm moist air is readily advected onto land and caught up in weather systems as part of the hydrological cycle, where it contributes to more intense precipitation events that are widely observed to be occurring.
Read more: http://thinkprogress.org/romm/2012/03/25/451347/must-read-trenberth-how-to-relate-climate-extremes-to-climate-change/
The scientific reason for 7,000 temperature records broken in 25 days......
Now there is the Ticket....LOL..
Washington (CNN) – Republican Rep. Paul Ryan said he would “consider” serving in the No. 2 spot on the GOP presidential ticket in 2012.
But his response was surrounded by the obligatory “it’s not even something in my mind” and “I’m so focused on my job” lines.
– Follow the Ticker on Twitter: @PoliticalTicker
“I would consider it but it’s not even something in my mind because it’s a decision someone else makes at a later time,” Ryan said Sunday on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “It’s a bridge I haven’t gotten close to having to cross so in the meantime I think it’s important to do my job.”
Ryan has risen to national prominence in his role as chairman of the House Budget Committee, becoming the point person for the Republican Party on debt and spending.
The Wisconsin representative, who closed the door to a potential presidential bid of his own early in the 2012 cycle, also said Romney is "on his way" to capturing his party’s nomination. The two met on Capitol Hill Thursday.
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2012/03/25/ryans-open-to-v-p-spot/?
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Oh, the political theatre of it all........
............yeah, right, your job lines in Janesville.......
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