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Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Boomer with Attitude / News Give Kay a call about health care reform
Posted By John Grooms on Tue, Nov 10, 2009 at 3:46 PM
Now that the health care reform fight has moved to the U.S. Senate, North Carolina’s Sen. Kay Hagan is seen as a key figure in determining what kind of reform comes out of Congress. Hagan supports reform, but has made noises about being “flexible” on the public option part of a reform bill. Our view is that not including a public option would be disastrous, with little to keep the health insurance companies honest in terms of premiums and coverage. You can be sure that Hagan is going to have her ear bent every which way by health industry lobbyists -- including the galling folks who run Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina – who are urging her to oppose a public option. It’s up to supporters of real health care reform to contact Hagan and tell her to stand up to the insurance interests. This is how real politics works, folks, so go beyond your vote for Obama, and make some calls if you want to help move a progressive agenda forward.
Here are phone numbers for Sen. Hagan: Toll Free, 1-877-852-9462; D.C. office, 202-224-6342; and the Charlotte office, 704-334-2448.
Arts / News Step by step dance moves
Posted By Anita Overcash on Tue, Nov 10, 2009 at 3:32 PM
Watch the video (below) and learn the choreographed moves - set to the song, "I Got A Feeling" by Black Eyed Peas - if you're interested in participating in Terry Vaughan's Flash Mob dance event happening this Saturday, from 4:30 p.m. - 5:15 p.m., at Birkdale Village in Huntersville.
News 'I had the swine flu and lived to tell about it'
Posted By Kimberly Lawson on Tue, Nov 10, 2009 at 3:25 PM
Swine flu attempted to infect our offices recently. Intern Nicole came down with a case of the H1N1, and we made her stay home until she was all better. Since today's her first day back, she shares with us (and you, dear readers) her tale of what it was like to have the dreaded swine flu.
News / Biz What health care reform means for small businesses
Posted By Rhiannon Fionn-Bowman on Tue, Nov 10, 2009 at 3:13 PM
Since Charlotte was recently included on a list of the best cities to start a small business, thought you'd like to know how health care reform will, and won't, affect the Q.C.'s local business owners. Here's one story, from ProPublica.org:
Using results from a questionnaire we did with American Public Media’s Public Insight Network, we’re looking at how the proposed health care reforms will actually affect people facing common health care coverage situations. This is the second in a series (Part 1).
Their story:
Fairfield Lighting and Design has been in business since 1972, but it is struggling to cope with tough economic times. It has 12 employees, whose average wage is about $20 an hour. Because of the recession, opportunities to work overtime have dwindled, and the regular hours of some employees have been cut.
The recession has also made it difficult to keep paying their health care costs: Fairfield offers health insurance to 10 of its employees, at a company cost of $550 per employee each month.
The costs to each employee are relatively low. They pay only 20 percent of the premium, or $110 per month. Their co-payments are $15 to see a doctor or $500 for a hospital, and medications cost them $15, $25 or $50, depending on the type of drug.
But that could change. Fairfield Lighting and Design was recently notified that its coverage will be taken over by a new company, probably around the beginning of the year.
“Hopefully when this whole thing goes through maybe we can find something less expensive,” D’Agostino said. “Otherwise the employees may have to contribute a bit more.”
What health care reform would mean for them:
Two of the reform bills require that employers provide some minimum health insurance to employees or pay a penalty. The exception is the Senate Finance Committee bill, which has no employer requirement.
But small businesses are exempt. Because Fairfield Lighting and Design has only 12 employees and a payroll of less than $500,000, it would not be required to provide health insurance under any of the health reform bills.
Each of the three bills gives small businesses tax credits for several years to provide relief from high insurance premiums until more comprehensive reforms are in effect – until 2015 for the House bill, and 2017 in the Senate Finance bill. The Senate health committee bill would offer a credit until state exchanges are up and running—up to three years. But some plans offer a lot more help than others. The health committee bill would offer Fairfield a tax credit of about $10,000 per year. The others use sliding scales based on employee income, and because Fairfield pays near the top of those scales, it would get a credit of only about $5,000 under the House bill and $2,500 under the Senate Finance Committee bill.
Small businesses would also have the option under all three bills to buy insurance through a health insurance exchange, a pooling mechanism that would allow them to choose from a menu of private plans, which the Congressional Budget Office projects would be cheaper [4] than private plans currently out there for small businesses.
Help won’t arrive right away under any of the proposals. The House bill, which phases small businesses into the exchange based on their size, would make Fairfield wait until 2013. The Finance Committee plan would make Fairfield wait even longer – it won’t set up exchanges for small businesses until 2017. The Senate health committee plan would authorize the Health and Human Services secretary to start giving grants to states to start up health care exchanges right away, but it is unclear how quickly states would move.
Further reading: ProPublica's "What health care reform means for the uninsured" post.
News 'Party of No' votes against strengthening anti-terrorism legislation
Posted By Rhiannon Fionn-Bowman on Tue, Nov 10, 2009 at 1:15 PM
After eight years of the Bush administration's fear-mongering, it sometimes seems like the Republican party's main goal is to scare the crap out of Americans. (Anyone remember the fake-ola "death panels"? How about the Muslim Mafia?)
So, why in the world did the House of Representatives vote along party lines last week on the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Act of 2009 -- "which calls for increased safety standards and regulations for facilities using potentially dangerous chemicals"? You'd think Republicans would be in favor of strengthening a bill with a title like that, but nooooo ...
Wonder if this has anything to do with former Vice President Dick Cheney's hope that terrorists will attack our country while Obama's in the Oval Office?
From U.S. PIRG:
WASHINGTON, June 17 – In testimony filed Tuesday on Capitol Hill, the U.S. Public Interest Research Group urged members of Congress to vote for a new bill which calls for increased safety standards and regulations for facilities using potentially dangerous chemicals.The Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Act of 2009 (H.R. 2868), currently under review by the House Energy and Commerce and Homeland Security committees, would require the implementation of safer technologies and alternatives by higher risk facilities and would increase government oversight at those plants.
The bill will replace the 2006 Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards Act that lacks strong safety protections, restricted the filing of citizen suits and had no provisions for the pursuit of methods that would reduce the impact of possible terrorist attacks. That law also bars the government from requiring the use of safer methods and exempts 2,600 water facilities from regulations.
“Any legislation that Congress considers should replace dangerous toxics with safer alternatives where feasible and set a floor, not a ceiling, for stronger state chemical security laws,” U.S. PIRG Public Health Advocate Elizabeth Hitchcock said in testimony filed with the Homeland Security Committee.
“Enacting such a law would protect millions of citizens who reside and work alongside such plants and facilities with the potential to cause death or serious injury,” she added.
Research by the EPA finds that there are over 2,700 facilities where an accident or a purposeful attack would endanger more than 10,000 people, and 100 water treatment plants that threaten the lives of over 100,000 people.
Boomer with Attitude / News Fundamentalism, the other worldwide plague
Posted By John Grooms on Tue, Nov 10, 2009 at 12:35 PM
Religious fundamentalists are pretty much the same everywhere. Which is kind of funny, considering that each fundie group, whether Muslim, Christian, Jew, Hindu, or what-have-you, thinks it’s the one true source of Truth with a capital T. One of the things shared by fundies worldwide is their sheer hatefulness; they see God as a wrathful avenger, and applaud other fundies who deal out “punishment” to those they see as enemies of their faith.
Yesterday, the similarities were crystal clear. Anwar al Awlaki, a radical American Muslim imam now living in Yemen, praised the Ft. Hood shooter, Maj. Nidal Hasan, as “a hero” who was following God’s wishes when he killed U.S. soldiers last week. Officials say Hasan has communicated with Awlaki at various times.
Around the time Awlaki was praising Hasan and promoting his own hateful vision of religion yesterday, Rev. Fred Phelps’ Westboro Baptist Church group was rallying in front of the school attended by President Obama's children, bearing signs proclaiming, “God Is Your Enemy.” Phelps’ group is known for its hatemongering, and have often disrupted the funerals of American troops killed in Iraq, claiming that God is punishing the U.S. for its support of “rampant, disgusting fags.” The group also picketed the funeral of Matthew Shepard, declaring that the victim of homophobic violence was a “filthy sodomite” who deserved what he got – a sentiment all the Anwar al Awlakis and Fred Phelpses of the world would agree to.
News Which N.C. Dems didn't vote for health care?
Posted By Rhiannon Fionn-Bowman on Tue, Nov 10, 2009 at 11:15 AM
Check out which Democrats didn't vote for health care reform in the House of Representatives' marathon session Saturday.
There were three Democratic hold-outs from North Carolina, Heath Shuler, Mike McIntyre and Larry Kissell -- the Freshman from Mecklenburg County.
In their districts, at least one-in-five of the non-elderly citizenry is uninsured.
Before he was elected, Rep. Kissell had different thoughts on health care reform:
Further reading: North Carolina gets $1.5 million for insurance premiums
Film / Film News / News This Week's DVD Releases
Posted By Matt Brunson on Tue, Nov 10, 2009 at 11:08 AM
Following is a list of some major DVD releases debuting today. For a complete list, go to www.amazon.com.
Arts / Today's Top Five / News Today's Top 5: Tuesday
Posted By Anita Overcash on Tue, Nov 10, 2009 at 8:00 AM
Here are the five best events going down in Charlotte and the surrounding area today, Nov. 10, 2009 — as selected by the folks at Creative Loafing.
• Cobra Starship at Amos' Southend
• South Pacific at Belk Theater
• Comedian Tommy Blaze at Lake Norman Comedy Zone in Galway Hooker Pub
• Hope For Agoldensummer at The Evening Muse
• A Kaleidoscope of Color and Style exhibition at Green Rice Gallery
Monday, November 9, 2009
News / Biz Did you get any new appliances?
Posted By Rhiannon Fionn-Bowman on Mon, Nov 9, 2009 at 6:09 PM
Did the cost-savings carrot we call a tax-free weekend lure you into stores? No, me either.
Just because a discount is offered — brace yourself shop-a-holics — you don't need to take advantage of it. In my house, we'd rather fix something than replace it.
Remember: Reduce, reuse, renew, recycle, rethink.
Retailers were expecting a boost in appliance sales this weekend as North Carolina's second tax-free holiday for energy-efficient electronics lured in customers ready to purchase the big ticket items.Most washers, dryers and refrigerators which carry the Energy Star seal are among the purchases which qualify for tax-free sales.
"The newer models use up to 50-percent less energy," said Mike Wilson, a manager at the Lowe's Home Improvement store on Iverson Way.
Lowe's was among several stores that offered discounts on energy efficient appliances during the sales tax holiday.
Read more from MSNBC and NewsChannel 36.
So what happens to all of those old appliances? Good question.
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Question the Queen City: Hugh McManaway, the man behind the statue
It pays homage to a traffic director, friendly neighbor and one of Charlotte's most beloved local characters
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The Hangover Part II: Buzz kill 7
No use crying over spilt sequel.
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Q&A with comedian Bobby Collins
Bobby Collins talks about his career in the comedy biz and current act.
