'Obama in Command: The Rolling Stone Interview -- In an Oval Office interview, the president discusses the Tea Party, the war, the economy and what's at stake this November,
'What do you think of Fox News? Do you think it's a good institution for America and for democracy?'
OBAMA: '[Laughs] Look, as president, I swore to uphold the Constitution, and part of that Constitution is a free press. We've got a tradition in this country of a press that oftentimes is opinionated. The golden age of an objective press was a pretty narrow span of time in our history. Before that, you had folks like Hearst who used their newspapers very intentionally to promote their viewpoints. I think Fox is part of that tradition - it is part of the tradition that has a very clear, undeniable point of view. It's a point of view that I disagree with. It's a point of view that I think is ultimately destructive for the long-term growth of a country that has a vibrant middle class and is competitive in the world. But as an economic enterprise, it's been wildly successful. And I suspect that if you ask Mr. Murdoch what his number-one concern is, it's that Fox is very successful.'
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
ANOTHER PROUD N R A MOMENT in The USA!
Gunman at University of Texas Austin Takes Own Life, Lockdown Lifted
Eyewitness: Gunman Was Wearing Ski Mask and Carrying Assault Rifle.
A gunman wearing a ski mask and brandishing a rifle entered a library at the University of Texas at Austin today and fired several shots before taking his own life, sparking a campus-wide lockdown and fears that a second shooter may be on the loose.
Just before noon Central Time, a campus lockdown in effect since around 8 a.m. was lifted, ending a search for a possible second suspect.
"The armed suspect is dead. No other injuries have been reported," UT President Bill Powers wrote in a campus email.
The shooter was found dead on the sixth floor of the library from apparently self inflicted wounds, police said.
An email and text alert was sent to students and faculty around 8 a.m., just as the day's first classes were beginning, warning that an "armed subject was reported last seen at Perry Castaneda Library" and telling students to remain in place.
"I was walking to class, a little late," senior Robby Reeb told ABCNews.com. "I was walking from the business school, and a guy sprinted past me screaming, 'There's a guy with a gun.' I looked up and saw a man in a ski mask, wearing a suit, and carrying an assault rifle. And I called 911."
Reeb said he was outside between two buildings and had to choose which one to enter to avoid the shooter.
Students reported hearing bursts of gunfire. Police confirmed the gunman was carrying an AK-47, a military-grade combat rifle. Authorities said there were currently two crimes scenes: the library where the gunman was found dead, and an area outside where he fired shots into the air.
At a press conference police said they had not yet identified the dead shooter or determined a motive. Police later said the gunman was likely a student, but would not yet identify him.
Buildings near the library were placed on immediate lockdown, while some classes on the opposite side of campus were dismissed, said Miriam Smith, 22, a senior at the school.
"I had an 8 a.m. class this morning and a student checked Twitter and said that there's a shooter on campus," Smith said.
The area around the library was sealed off with yellow police tape. Heavily armed SWAT vehicles and officers carrying automatic weapons patroled the campus and bomb sniffing dogs were brought in to determine if explosives were left behind, police said.
Police said they received reports of gumen fitting two different descriptions. They said they would work all leads and clear every building to determine there was no second shoot.
Police Chief Art Acevedo told a local radio station that "we have a reports of a second suspect that was wearing a beanie with a long rifle, wearing blue jeans and a black top that we're looking for that may or may not be a white male."
Search at Texas University for Possible Second Gunman
"We're conducting building searches. We need to clear every building in the immediate area. You can imagine that's going to take a little while," Acevdo told Mix 94.7. "We still are looking for a second suspect, hopefully we'll be able to get, if he even exists."
Once police confirmed the shooter had taken his own life, students were still cautioned stay in place and not return to campus: "If you are off campus, STAY AWAY. If you are on campus, lock doors, do not leave your building."
The university was the site of one of America's most infamous campus shootings when Charles Joseph Whitman, a student and former marine, killed 14 people and injured 32 others in 1966. Whitman climbed 29 floors to the observation deck of the school's iconic tower and began picking people off with a rifle. He was eventually shot by police. This was the second deadliest school shooting in the United States behind the massacre at Virginia Tech in 2007.
Eyewitness: Gunman Was Wearing Ski Mask and Carrying Assault Rifle.
A gunman wearing a ski mask and brandishing a rifle entered a library at the University of Texas at Austin today and fired several shots before taking his own life, sparking a campus-wide lockdown and fears that a second shooter may be on the loose.
Just before noon Central Time, a campus lockdown in effect since around 8 a.m. was lifted, ending a search for a possible second suspect.
"The armed suspect is dead. No other injuries have been reported," UT President Bill Powers wrote in a campus email.
The shooter was found dead on the sixth floor of the library from apparently self inflicted wounds, police said.
An email and text alert was sent to students and faculty around 8 a.m., just as the day's first classes were beginning, warning that an "armed subject was reported last seen at Perry Castaneda Library" and telling students to remain in place.
"I was walking to class, a little late," senior Robby Reeb told ABCNews.com. "I was walking from the business school, and a guy sprinted past me screaming, 'There's a guy with a gun.' I looked up and saw a man in a ski mask, wearing a suit, and carrying an assault rifle. And I called 911."
Reeb said he was outside between two buildings and had to choose which one to enter to avoid the shooter.
Students reported hearing bursts of gunfire. Police confirmed the gunman was carrying an AK-47, a military-grade combat rifle. Authorities said there were currently two crimes scenes: the library where the gunman was found dead, and an area outside where he fired shots into the air.
At a press conference police said they had not yet identified the dead shooter or determined a motive. Police later said the gunman was likely a student, but would not yet identify him.
Buildings near the library were placed on immediate lockdown, while some classes on the opposite side of campus were dismissed, said Miriam Smith, 22, a senior at the school.
"I had an 8 a.m. class this morning and a student checked Twitter and said that there's a shooter on campus," Smith said.
The area around the library was sealed off with yellow police tape. Heavily armed SWAT vehicles and officers carrying automatic weapons patroled the campus and bomb sniffing dogs were brought in to determine if explosives were left behind, police said.
Police said they received reports of gumen fitting two different descriptions. They said they would work all leads and clear every building to determine there was no second shoot.
Police Chief Art Acevedo told a local radio station that "we have a reports of a second suspect that was wearing a beanie with a long rifle, wearing blue jeans and a black top that we're looking for that may or may not be a white male."
Search at Texas University for Possible Second Gunman
"We're conducting building searches. We need to clear every building in the immediate area. You can imagine that's going to take a little while," Acevdo told Mix 94.7. "We still are looking for a second suspect, hopefully we'll be able to get, if he even exists."
Once police confirmed the shooter had taken his own life, students were still cautioned stay in place and not return to campus: "If you are off campus, STAY AWAY. If you are on campus, lock doors, do not leave your building."
The university was the site of one of America's most infamous campus shootings when Charles Joseph Whitman, a student and former marine, killed 14 people and injured 32 others in 1966. Whitman climbed 29 floors to the observation deck of the school's iconic tower and began picking people off with a rifle. He was eventually shot by police. This was the second deadliest school shooting in the United States behind the massacre at Virginia Tech in 2007.
Monday, September 27, 2010
NRA loves America!
Six Dead in Florida Murder-Suicide
Six people are dead in an apparent murder-suicide in Florida. Patrick Dell, 41, shot himself when he saw a police officer outside his home early Monday morning. Inside the house, police discovered the bodies of his estranged wife, Natasha, and four of his stepchildren, ages 10 to 14. A fifth stepchild was hospitalized with a gunshot wound. Dell’s biological children with Natasha, ages one and three, were not hurt in the attack.
Six people are dead in an apparent murder-suicide in Florida. Patrick Dell, 41, shot himself when he saw a police officer outside his home early Monday morning. Inside the house, police discovered the bodies of his estranged wife, Natasha, and four of his stepchildren, ages 10 to 14. A fifth stepchild was hospitalized with a gunshot wound. Dell’s biological children with Natasha, ages one and three, were not hurt in the attack.
Drugs in Portugal: Did Decriminalization Work?
Pop quiz:
Which European country has the most liberal drug laws? (Hint: It's not the Netherlands.)
Although its capital is notorious among stoners and college kids for marijuana haze–filled "coffee shops," Holland has never actually legalized cannabis — the Dutch simply don't enforce their laws against the shops. The correct answer is Portugal, which in 2001 became the first European country to officially abolish all criminal penalties for personal possession of drugs, including marijuana, cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine.
At the recommendation of a national commission charged with addressing Portugal's drug problem, jail time was replaced with the offer of therapy. The argument was that the fear of prison drives addicts underground and that incarceration is more expensive than treatment — so why not give drug addicts health services instead? Under Portugal's new regime, people found guilty of possessing small amounts of drugs are sent to a panel consisting of a psychologist, social worker and legal adviser for appropriate treatment (which may be refused without criminal punishment), instead of jail. (See the world's most influential people in the 2009 TIME 100.)
The question is, does the new policy work? At the time, critics in the poor, socially conservative and largely Catholic nation said decriminalizing drug possession would open the country to "drug tourists" and exacerbate Portugal's drug problem; the country had some of the highest levels of hard-drug use in Europe. But the recently released results of a report commissioned by the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank, suggest otherwise.
The paper, published by Cato in April, found that in the five years after personal possession was decriminalized, illegal drug use among teens in Portugal declined and rates of new HIV infections caused by sharing of dirty needles dropped, while the number of people seeking treatment for drug addiction more than doubled.
"Judging by every metric, decriminalization in Portugal has been a resounding success," says Glenn Greenwald, an attorney, author and fluent Portuguese speaker, who conducted the research. "It has enabled the Portuguese government to manage and control the drug problem far better than virtually every other Western country does."
Compared to the European Union and the U.S., Portugal's drug use numbers are impressive. Following decriminalization, Portugal had the lowest rate of lifetime marijuana use in people over 15 in the E.U.: 10%. The most comparable figure in America is in people over 12: 39.8%. Proportionally, more Americans have used cocaine than Portuguese have used marijuana.
The Cato paper reports that between 2001 and 2006 in Portugal, rates of lifetime use of any illegal drug among seventh through ninth graders fell from 14.1% to 10.6%; drug use in older teens also declined. Lifetime heroin use among 16-to-18-year-olds fell from 2.5% to 1.8% (although there was a slight increase in marijuana use in that age group). New HIV infections in drug users fell by 17% between 1999 and 2003, and deaths related to heroin and similar drugs were cut by more than half. In addition, the number of people on methadone and buprenorphine treatment for drug addiction rose to 14,877 from 6,040, after decriminalization, and money saved on enforcement allowed for increased funding of drug-free treatment as well.
Portugal's case study is of some interest to lawmakers in the U.S., confronted now with the violent overflow of escalating drug gang wars in Mexico. The U.S. has long championed a hard-line drug policy, supporting only international agreements that enforce drug prohibition and imposing on its citizens some of the world's harshest penalties for drug possession and sales. Yet America has the highest rates of cocaine and marijuana use in the world, and while most of the E.U. (including Holland) has more liberal drug laws than the U.S., it also has less drug use.
"I think we can learn that we should stop being reflexively opposed when someone else does [decriminalize] and should take seriously the possibility that anti-user enforcement isn't having much influence on our drug consumption," says Mark Kleiman, author of the forthcoming When Brute Force Fails: How to Have Less Crime and Less Punishment and director of the drug policy analysis program at UCLA. Kleiman does not consider Portugal a realistic model for the U.S., however, because of differences in size and culture between the two countries.
But there is a movement afoot in the U.S., in the legislatures of New York State, California and Massachusetts, to reconsider our overly punitive drug laws. Recently, Senators Jim Webb and Arlen Specter proposed that Congress create a national commission, not unlike Portugal's, to deal with prison reform and overhaul drug-sentencing policy. As Webb noted, the U.S. is home to 5% of the global population but 25% of its prisoners.
At the Cato Institute in early April, Greenwald contended that a major problem with most American drug policy debate is that it's based on "speculation and fear mongering," rather than empirical evidence on the effects of more lenient drug policies. In Portugal, the effect was to neutralize what had become the country's number one public health problem, he says.
"The impact in the life of families and our society is much lower than it was before decriminalization," says Joao Castel-Branco Goulao, Portugual's "drug czar" and president of the Institute on Drugs and Drug Addiction, adding that police are now able to re-focus on tracking much higher level dealers and larger quantities of drugs.
Peter Reuter, a professor of criminology and public policy at the University of Maryland, like Kleiman, is skeptical. He conceded in a presentation at the Cato Institute that "it's fair to say that decriminalization in Portugal has met its central goal. Drug use did not rise." However, he notes that Portugal is a small country and that the cyclical nature of drug epidemics — which tends to occur no matter what policies are in place — may account for the declines in heroin use and deaths.
The Cato report's author, Greenwald, hews to the first point: that the data shows that decriminalization does not result in increased drug use. Since that is what concerns the public and policymakers most about decriminalization, he says, "that is the central concession that will transform the debate."
Which European country has the most liberal drug laws? (Hint: It's not the Netherlands.)
Although its capital is notorious among stoners and college kids for marijuana haze–filled "coffee shops," Holland has never actually legalized cannabis — the Dutch simply don't enforce their laws against the shops. The correct answer is Portugal, which in 2001 became the first European country to officially abolish all criminal penalties for personal possession of drugs, including marijuana, cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine.
At the recommendation of a national commission charged with addressing Portugal's drug problem, jail time was replaced with the offer of therapy. The argument was that the fear of prison drives addicts underground and that incarceration is more expensive than treatment — so why not give drug addicts health services instead? Under Portugal's new regime, people found guilty of possessing small amounts of drugs are sent to a panel consisting of a psychologist, social worker and legal adviser for appropriate treatment (which may be refused without criminal punishment), instead of jail. (See the world's most influential people in the 2009 TIME 100.)
The question is, does the new policy work? At the time, critics in the poor, socially conservative and largely Catholic nation said decriminalizing drug possession would open the country to "drug tourists" and exacerbate Portugal's drug problem; the country had some of the highest levels of hard-drug use in Europe. But the recently released results of a report commissioned by the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank, suggest otherwise.
The paper, published by Cato in April, found that in the five years after personal possession was decriminalized, illegal drug use among teens in Portugal declined and rates of new HIV infections caused by sharing of dirty needles dropped, while the number of people seeking treatment for drug addiction more than doubled.
"Judging by every metric, decriminalization in Portugal has been a resounding success," says Glenn Greenwald, an attorney, author and fluent Portuguese speaker, who conducted the research. "It has enabled the Portuguese government to manage and control the drug problem far better than virtually every other Western country does."
Compared to the European Union and the U.S., Portugal's drug use numbers are impressive. Following decriminalization, Portugal had the lowest rate of lifetime marijuana use in people over 15 in the E.U.: 10%. The most comparable figure in America is in people over 12: 39.8%. Proportionally, more Americans have used cocaine than Portuguese have used marijuana.
The Cato paper reports that between 2001 and 2006 in Portugal, rates of lifetime use of any illegal drug among seventh through ninth graders fell from 14.1% to 10.6%; drug use in older teens also declined. Lifetime heroin use among 16-to-18-year-olds fell from 2.5% to 1.8% (although there was a slight increase in marijuana use in that age group). New HIV infections in drug users fell by 17% between 1999 and 2003, and deaths related to heroin and similar drugs were cut by more than half. In addition, the number of people on methadone and buprenorphine treatment for drug addiction rose to 14,877 from 6,040, after decriminalization, and money saved on enforcement allowed for increased funding of drug-free treatment as well.
Portugal's case study is of some interest to lawmakers in the U.S., confronted now with the violent overflow of escalating drug gang wars in Mexico. The U.S. has long championed a hard-line drug policy, supporting only international agreements that enforce drug prohibition and imposing on its citizens some of the world's harshest penalties for drug possession and sales. Yet America has the highest rates of cocaine and marijuana use in the world, and while most of the E.U. (including Holland) has more liberal drug laws than the U.S., it also has less drug use.
"I think we can learn that we should stop being reflexively opposed when someone else does [decriminalize] and should take seriously the possibility that anti-user enforcement isn't having much influence on our drug consumption," says Mark Kleiman, author of the forthcoming When Brute Force Fails: How to Have Less Crime and Less Punishment and director of the drug policy analysis program at UCLA. Kleiman does not consider Portugal a realistic model for the U.S., however, because of differences in size and culture between the two countries.
But there is a movement afoot in the U.S., in the legislatures of New York State, California and Massachusetts, to reconsider our overly punitive drug laws. Recently, Senators Jim Webb and Arlen Specter proposed that Congress create a national commission, not unlike Portugal's, to deal with prison reform and overhaul drug-sentencing policy. As Webb noted, the U.S. is home to 5% of the global population but 25% of its prisoners.
At the Cato Institute in early April, Greenwald contended that a major problem with most American drug policy debate is that it's based on "speculation and fear mongering," rather than empirical evidence on the effects of more lenient drug policies. In Portugal, the effect was to neutralize what had become the country's number one public health problem, he says.
"The impact in the life of families and our society is much lower than it was before decriminalization," says Joao Castel-Branco Goulao, Portugual's "drug czar" and president of the Institute on Drugs and Drug Addiction, adding that police are now able to re-focus on tracking much higher level dealers and larger quantities of drugs.
Peter Reuter, a professor of criminology and public policy at the University of Maryland, like Kleiman, is skeptical. He conceded in a presentation at the Cato Institute that "it's fair to say that decriminalization in Portugal has met its central goal. Drug use did not rise." However, he notes that Portugal is a small country and that the cyclical nature of drug epidemics — which tends to occur no matter what policies are in place — may account for the declines in heroin use and deaths.
The Cato report's author, Greenwald, hews to the first point: that the data shows that decriminalization does not result in increased drug use. Since that is what concerns the public and policymakers most about decriminalization, he says, "that is the central concession that will transform the debate."
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Another PROUD NRA MOMENT
Witness: N.J.shooter had no targets
EAST ORANGE, N.J. (AP) — A Seton Hall University
student who attended an off-campus house party at
which five people were shot said the gunman stood
on her back as she lay on the floor and didn't
appear to be targeting anyone during the chaos she
described as "hell."
"He was just shooting he had no intended target,"
said a text message from the woman, whose friend
was the only person killed.
The woman spoke Sunday by BlackBerry instant
messenger on condition of anonymity because she
feared for her safety while the shooter remained at
large. She said she was too upset to talk over the
phone.
She described the Friday night party, which lasted
into early Saturday, as a "typical fraternity party" with
at least 100 people at the privately owned row
house.
Students said the shooter was kicked out of the
party when he refused to pay the cover charge.
The woman said she heard a fight erupt before the
man was thrown out. Seconds later, she said, he
returned with a handgun and started shooting as
chaos erupted.
"Everyone was scrambling n stampeding. People
were jumping out the two windows n all I cud smell
was smoke n blood," the woman wrote. "The next
thing I knew I opened my eyes n saw hell..blood n
just panic."
The woman said was on the floor when the gunman
stepped on her back and shot her friend Jessica
Moore, a 19-year-old honors student majoring in
psychology. Moore, who was from Disputanta, Va.,
died later at a hospital.
Authorities had not released the names of the four
wounded people, whose injuries weren't considered
life-threatening.
Two of the injured are 19-year-old women who go
to Seton Hall, and one is a 25-year-old man who
attends the New Jersey Institute of Technology. The
other is a 20-year-old man from New York who is
not a student.
East Orange police were following several leads but
had not identified a suspect, spokesman Andrew Di
Elmo said.
On Sunday, police had set up an electronic sign, the
kind usually used to tell drivers of detours, to ask
for help solving the house party shooting, which o
ccurred just after midnight. The message
advertised a $10,000 reward for information leading
to an arrest.
The party was primarily for students at Seton Hall, a
well-regarded Roman Catholic university with a
gated campus in South Orange, about 15 miles from
New York City. There are no sanctioned fraternities
at Seton Hall and no fraternity houses.
The university, with its collection of red brick
buildings tucked behind a wrought-iron fence,
stands in stark contrast to the gritty neighborhood
where the party was held a mile away. Just a block
from the shooting site, the remains of a memorial
for another recent shooting victim could still be
seen.
There were at least five shootings in the area this
summer, said Rabu Anderson, who owns a clothing
store there.
Advertisement "Some of it is gang violence, some of it is just plain
ignorance," Anderson said.
East Orange resident Leon Drinks, who lives four
doors down from the house where the party
shooting occurred, said the violence has become
much worse in the past couple of years. He said just
after midnight he heard six shots — not an
uncommon sound on South Clinton Street.
"I kinda laid low for a minute, then I heard the
stampede of people on this side of the street and
that side of the street," said Drinks, 54. "People were
running in driveways and alleyways trying to get out
of the mess."
Seton Hall, which has 10,000 students, knows about
the dangers in some of the neighborhoods nearby
and advises students not to leave campus alone.
EAST ORANGE, N.J. (AP) — A Seton Hall University
student who attended an off-campus house party at
which five people were shot said the gunman stood
on her back as she lay on the floor and didn't
appear to be targeting anyone during the chaos she
described as "hell."
"He was just shooting he had no intended target,"
said a text message from the woman, whose friend
was the only person killed.
The woman spoke Sunday by BlackBerry instant
messenger on condition of anonymity because she
feared for her safety while the shooter remained at
large. She said she was too upset to talk over the
phone.
She described the Friday night party, which lasted
into early Saturday, as a "typical fraternity party" with
at least 100 people at the privately owned row
house.
Students said the shooter was kicked out of the
party when he refused to pay the cover charge.
The woman said she heard a fight erupt before the
man was thrown out. Seconds later, she said, he
returned with a handgun and started shooting as
chaos erupted.
"Everyone was scrambling n stampeding. People
were jumping out the two windows n all I cud smell
was smoke n blood," the woman wrote. "The next
thing I knew I opened my eyes n saw hell..blood n
just panic."
The woman said was on the floor when the gunman
stepped on her back and shot her friend Jessica
Moore, a 19-year-old honors student majoring in
psychology. Moore, who was from Disputanta, Va.,
died later at a hospital.
Authorities had not released the names of the four
wounded people, whose injuries weren't considered
life-threatening.
Two of the injured are 19-year-old women who go
to Seton Hall, and one is a 25-year-old man who
attends the New Jersey Institute of Technology. The
other is a 20-year-old man from New York who is
not a student.
East Orange police were following several leads but
had not identified a suspect, spokesman Andrew Di
Elmo said.
On Sunday, police had set up an electronic sign, the
kind usually used to tell drivers of detours, to ask
for help solving the house party shooting, which o
ccurred just after midnight. The message
advertised a $10,000 reward for information leading
to an arrest.
The party was primarily for students at Seton Hall, a
well-regarded Roman Catholic university with a
gated campus in South Orange, about 15 miles from
New York City. There are no sanctioned fraternities
at Seton Hall and no fraternity houses.
The university, with its collection of red brick
buildings tucked behind a wrought-iron fence,
stands in stark contrast to the gritty neighborhood
where the party was held a mile away. Just a block
from the shooting site, the remains of a memorial
for another recent shooting victim could still be
seen.
There were at least five shootings in the area this
summer, said Rabu Anderson, who owns a clothing
store there.
Advertisement "Some of it is gang violence, some of it is just plain
ignorance," Anderson said.
East Orange resident Leon Drinks, who lives four
doors down from the house where the party
shooting occurred, said the violence has become
much worse in the past couple of years. He said just
after midnight he heard six shots — not an
uncommon sound on South Clinton Street.
"I kinda laid low for a minute, then I heard the
stampede of people on this side of the street and
that side of the street," said Drinks, 54. "People were
running in driveways and alleyways trying to get out
of the mess."
Seton Hall, which has 10,000 students, knows about
the dangers in some of the neighborhoods nearby
and advises students not to leave campus alone.
Get Off Your Butts, Dems
As health care goes into effect and the GOP lays plans to repeal it, progressives are sitting on their hands, The Daily Beast's Matthew Yglesias says. The press is littered with stories about hardworking American families who, thanks to bad luck, ended up in tragic situations, unable to get insurance for a sick kid or parent. The American health-care system has long been a cruel joke, taking care of the old or poor with Medicare and Medicaid, with middle class people well insured—unless they lost their job. But not anymore. Obama's health-care reform fixed some of the worst inequities in the insurance system. And now Republicans are moving to kill it. Sure, the reform law is not perfect, but it's a positive change, yet as the GOP promises to repeal it in a single stroke if it gains a congressional majority, the left is getting steamrolled.
Read it at The Daily Beast
Read it at The Daily Beast
Saturday, September 25, 2010
SO SAY THE FUTURE 'LABOR FORCE' SHOULD BE LIKE WALMARTS!
HOW BIG IS WAL-MART? This should boggle your mind!!
And scare you as well!
1. At Wal-Mart, Americans spend $36,000,000 every hour of every day.
2. This works out to $20,928 profit every minute!
3. Wal-Mart will sell more from January 1 to St. Pat rick's Day (March 17th) than Target sells all year.
4.. Wal-Mart is bigger than Home Depot + Kroger + Target + Sears, Costco + K-Mart combined.
5. Wal-Mart employs 1.6 million people and is the largest private employer. And most can't speak English.
6. Wal-Mart is the largest company in the history of the World.
7. Wal-Mart now sells more food than Kroger & Safeway combined, and keep in mind they did this in only 15 years.
8. During this same period, 31 Supermarket chains sought bankruptcy (including Winn-Dixie).
9. Wal-Mart now sells more food than any other store in the world.
10. Wal-Mart has approx 3,900 stores in the USA of which 1,906 are Super centers; this is 1,000 more than it had 5 years ago.
11. This year, 7.2 billion different purchasing experiences will occur at a Wal-Mart store. (Earth's population is approximately 6.5 billion.)
12. 90% of all Americans live within 15 miles of a Wal-Mart.
13. The value of product for Wal-Mart passing through the port of San Diego each year is a larger sum than 93% of ALL countries Gross National Product (GNP) ...and that is only ONE port ...one way that Wal-Mart gets it's stuff.
14. Of the 1.6 million employees, only 1.2% make a living above the poverty level.
15. Wal Mart's head office is located and centralized in Bentonville. Due to this fact, there are more millionaires per square mile there than any place on Earth.
16. The official U.S. government position is that Wal-Mart's prices are no lower than anyone else's when compared to a typical families weekly purchases
That's the view of the statisticians at the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) responsible for calculating the consumer price index (CPI)..
17. 92% of everything Wal-Mart sells, comes from China . Another 4% comes from Chinese owned companies in the U.S. or in 3rd world countries.
18. Wal-Mart and MOST large companies, take out life insurance on its employees, without their knowing.
If an employee dies, ALL the insurance moneys go to the companies. I..e. An employee making $18,000 per year, dies, and the company might make as much as $1million.
Most often these moneys, coming from what is commonly referred to as "Dead Peasant Life Insurance Policies", is paid out to executives as bonuses. (A common practice, unknown by the common man)
19. Wal-Mart now averages a "profit" (not sales) of $36 billion per year. What do you think the Chinese Companies made?????
20. Let Wal Mart bail out Wall Street. If not, consider shopping someplace else.
Forbes reports
For Sam Walton, low prices meant vast riches.
By 1985, Walton was America 's richest man. At the time of his death in 1992 he and his family were worth at least $23 billion, proceeds of a life spent selling everything he could fit under the roofs of his Wal-Mart ( WMT - news - people ) stores--from tires to tortellini--at prices neighborhood stores could not match. Today Walton's heirs--two sons, a daughter, a daughter-in-law and two nieces--are worth at least $90 billion, making them the richest family in America .
The Waltons are so rich that they have more than double the dollars of the second richest family in the U.S. , the Koch clan, who command a fortune of at least $40 billion.
And scare you as well!
1. At Wal-Mart, Americans spend $36,000,000 every hour of every day.
2. This works out to $20,928 profit every minute!
3. Wal-Mart will sell more from January 1 to St. Pat rick's Day (March 17th) than Target sells all year.
4.. Wal-Mart is bigger than Home Depot + Kroger + Target + Sears, Costco + K-Mart combined.
5. Wal-Mart employs 1.6 million people and is the largest private employer. And most can't speak English.
6. Wal-Mart is the largest company in the history of the World.
7. Wal-Mart now sells more food than Kroger & Safeway combined, and keep in mind they did this in only 15 years.
8. During this same period, 31 Supermarket chains sought bankruptcy (including Winn-Dixie).
9. Wal-Mart now sells more food than any other store in the world.
10. Wal-Mart has approx 3,900 stores in the USA of which 1,906 are Super centers; this is 1,000 more than it had 5 years ago.
11. This year, 7.2 billion different purchasing experiences will occur at a Wal-Mart store. (Earth's population is approximately 6.5 billion.)
12. 90% of all Americans live within 15 miles of a Wal-Mart.
13. The value of product for Wal-Mart passing through the port of San Diego each year is a larger sum than 93% of ALL countries Gross National Product (GNP) ...and that is only ONE port ...one way that Wal-Mart gets it's stuff.
14. Of the 1.6 million employees, only 1.2% make a living above the poverty level.
15. Wal Mart's head office is located and centralized in Bentonville. Due to this fact, there are more millionaires per square mile there than any place on Earth.
16. The official U.S. government position is that Wal-Mart's prices are no lower than anyone else's when compared to a typical families weekly purchases
That's the view of the statisticians at the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) responsible for calculating the consumer price index (CPI)..
17. 92% of everything Wal-Mart sells, comes from China . Another 4% comes from Chinese owned companies in the U.S. or in 3rd world countries.
18. Wal-Mart and MOST large companies, take out life insurance on its employees, without their knowing.
If an employee dies, ALL the insurance moneys go to the companies. I..e. An employee making $18,000 per year, dies, and the company might make as much as $1million.
Most often these moneys, coming from what is commonly referred to as "Dead Peasant Life Insurance Policies", is paid out to executives as bonuses. (A common practice, unknown by the common man)
19. Wal-Mart now averages a "profit" (not sales) of $36 billion per year. What do you think the Chinese Companies made?????
20. Let Wal Mart bail out Wall Street. If not, consider shopping someplace else.
Forbes reports
For Sam Walton, low prices meant vast riches.
By 1985, Walton was America 's richest man. At the time of his death in 1992 he and his family were worth at least $23 billion, proceeds of a life spent selling everything he could fit under the roofs of his Wal-Mart ( WMT - news - people ) stores--from tires to tortellini--at prices neighborhood stores could not match. Today Walton's heirs--two sons, a daughter, a daughter-in-law and two nieces--are worth at least $90 billion, making them the richest family in America .
The Waltons are so rich that they have more than double the dollars of the second richest family in the U.S. , the Koch clan, who command a fortune of at least $40 billion.
Friday, September 24, 2010
CORONER'S INQUEST Seems like drug addicted dummy gets shot to death. Sad!?
CORONER'S INQUEST:
Shoppers: Scott reached for something before being shot by police
A husband and wife testified Friday that they saw Erik Scott reach for something with his right arm before Las Vegas police fatally shot him July 10 outside the Costco store in Summerlin.
Annette Eatherton, who had been shopping with her husband before the store was evacuated, said she then heard an officer tell Scott, "Don't do that. Don't do that."
"And he did it, and they shot him," the woman testified during a coroner's inquest.
She said a gun then fell to the ground in front of Scott.
She and her husband, Wentworth, both said they heard police order Scott to get on the ground before he moved his right arm.
"I really think he was just exasperated with the whole thing and wanted to hand them the gun," Wentworth Eatherton said.
He said that is when Scott made his fatal mistake.
The witness said those with concealed weapons permits are taught to let police disarm them before presenting the permit.
"You do what they tell you," said Wentworth Eatherton, who explained that he has had a concealed weapons permit in the past.
Several Costco employees testified Friday that Scott was acting unusual during his time in the store that day.
Linda Bem, a service assistant in the membership department, said Scott and a woman came to her to sign up for a membership. Only members are allowed to shop at the warehouse store.
The employee said Scott seemed confused by her instructions and kept staring at the application form. She also noticed his knuckles were bleeding.
"I sensed something was terribly wrong," Bem told jurors.
Scott tried to fill out the form but his writing was illegible and he wrote information in the wrong spaces, she said.
Bem said he then asked his female companion, identified as Scott's girlfriend, Samantha Sterner, to help him fill out the form.
"Quite frankly, I was worried about him," Bem said.
Floor supervisor Jerome Dwight "J.D." Arcano said he later noticed Scott in a store aisle, where he was stuffing stainless-steel bottles into insulated lunch bags. Arcano asked loss-prevention supervisor Shai Lierley to keep an eye on him.
Scott appeared to be under the influence of something, Arcano testified.
Javier Torres, a manager at the store, said he saw Scott on his hands and knees in an aisle, where he was opening packages and stuffing merchandise into a backpack.
Scott then approached Torres and asked him a question about the merchandise, the manager said, and seemed irritated with the answer.
"He wasn't acting normal," Torres testified. "I personally thought he was on something.''
Jurors also heard a recording of an interview Sterner had with detectives on the afternoon of the shooting. Authorities said they tried to subpoena Sterner for the inquest, but could not find her. In the recording, Sterner spoke without emotion as she told Las Vegas police detectives that Scott was acting normal before the shooting and was surprised that Costco employees had called the police and were evacuating the store after seeing one of the two guns he legally carried.
Sterner said Scott was trying to disarm when the officer fired at him without hesitation.
"He was trying to put his weapon on the ground," Sterner told police.
The woman said she pleaded with the officer, whom she described as bald, not to shoot Scott.
"He carries a gun everywhere he goes," Sterner said. "This has never happened before."
Sterner said the officer who fired first at Scott "was too aggressive" and would have shot Scott even if he had complied with all directions.
"I just think that this officer was out of line," she told police.
Sterner, who described herself as a self-employed model and TV host, said she had known Scott for about three years. Responding to a detective's question, she told detectives that Scott was taking a blood pressure medication, then added that he also had taken a pain pill for injuries from a recent car accident.
Officer William Mosher, whose head is closely shaved, testified Thursday that he was the first officer to fire at Scott. Mosher completed his testimony Friday morning.
On Thursday, he said he did not think he could have done anything differently that afternoon. When asked on Friday whether he felt remorse, he replied, "Remorse? Absolutely."
Mosher was one of three Las Vegas police officers who shot Scott, a 38-year-old medical device salesman, as he left the store.
Lierley, a Costco supervisor, testified that he called 911 because Scott was behaving strangely and refused to leave after being told that guns were not allowed.
As the store was being evacuated, Mosher and the other officers waited outside for Scott and his girlfriend to come out. Mosher said he told Scott to turn around, and when he did Mosher saw the gun in his waistband.
"Show your hands. Get down on the ground. Get down on the ground," Mosher said he yelled at Scott, who seemed "a little out of it, like he's under the influence, possibly of narcotics."
"He says, quote-unquote, 'I have a gun,' " the officer testified.
Mosher said Scott pulled the gun from his waistband, raised it and pointed it toward him. Mosher fired twice "in quick succession," he said.
Scott stepped back but remained standing, prompting officers Joshua Stark and Thomas Mendiola to fire five more shots into Scott. He was struck a total of seven times and died shortly after.
Jurors on Thursday listened to a recording of the 911 call made by Lierley, in which police can be heard yelling commands. A transcript reads, "Put your hands where I can see them now. Drop it. Get on the ground. Get on the ground" before the sound of gunfire and screams.
Sterner was hysterical before and after the shooting, Mosher testified.
"She said, quote-unquote, 'He's in the Army. He just got back from Iraq. He's a Green Beret, and you just killed him,' " said Mosher, who faced an inquest in 2006 after he shot and killed a home-invasion suspect. A jury found his actions justified.
Scott graduated from the U.S. Military Academy in 1994 and served two years in the Army before being honorably discharged. He was never in Special Forces or Iraq.
Earlier Thursday, inquest jurors heard testimony from Lierley, who said he noticed Scott opening packages and mumbling to himself in the camping aisle. Though asked to stop, Scott continued trying to stuff water bottles into bags, even though they wouldn't fit. When told he could not have a gun in the store, Scott reacted in anger, Lierley said.
"Next thing you know, Mr. Scott ... gets up and says, 'I'm a Green Beret. You need to check the (expletive) Constitution.' And it was just real quick, real snapped. And at that point, it made me step back because he had a firearm," Lierley said.
While leaving the store, Scott appeared to be having trouble walking, and Sterner appeared to be helping him walk straight, Lierley said.
As they reached the exit, Lierley pointed Scott out to police. He said he watched as Scott pulled the gun from his waistband and raised it toward an officer, and distinctly heard someone order Scott to "drop the firearm."
He can be heard on the 911 tape telling the dispatcher, "He pulled a firearm" after the sounds of gunfire. Police recovered Scott's .45-caliber handgun, in its holster, from the ground near where he fell. Scott was carrying two guns that day, police have said.
Lierly's account matched that of another Costco worker, Colleen Kullberg, who testified Wednesday.
The medical examiner who autopsied Scott said Wednesday that the man had near-fatal levels of the painkiller morphine and the anti-anxiety drug Xanax in his system when he died. A pain management doctor who treated Scott testified that he thought the man was addicted to the narcotic painkiller hydrocodone.
Jurors also have heard a detailed explanation of a computer hard drive disc failure that prevented a security camera at the store entrance from recording the shooting. The problem started two days before the shooting, and affected 17 of the store's cameras. The manufacturer of the system was able to recover some images from the disc, but nothing for two days before the shooting or five hours after it, when the system was rebooted.
The inquest is scheduled to continue through Saturday and resume Tuesday after a two-day break. About 50 witnesses are expected to testify before the seven-member jury is asked to rule whether the shooting was justifiable, excusable or criminal.
Talking to reporters Thursday evening, Scott family attorney Ross Goodman said he had a list of 20 to 25 eyewitnesses who said they never saw Scott with a gun.
However, he said he would not allow them to testify at the inquest and be "browbeat" by prosecutors with no opportunity for him to cross-examine them.
CARRI GEER THEVENOT and BRIAN HAYNES
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
Shoppers: Scott reached for something before being shot by police
A husband and wife testified Friday that they saw Erik Scott reach for something with his right arm before Las Vegas police fatally shot him July 10 outside the Costco store in Summerlin.
Annette Eatherton, who had been shopping with her husband before the store was evacuated, said she then heard an officer tell Scott, "Don't do that. Don't do that."
"And he did it, and they shot him," the woman testified during a coroner's inquest.
She said a gun then fell to the ground in front of Scott.
She and her husband, Wentworth, both said they heard police order Scott to get on the ground before he moved his right arm.
"I really think he was just exasperated with the whole thing and wanted to hand them the gun," Wentworth Eatherton said.
He said that is when Scott made his fatal mistake.
The witness said those with concealed weapons permits are taught to let police disarm them before presenting the permit.
"You do what they tell you," said Wentworth Eatherton, who explained that he has had a concealed weapons permit in the past.
Several Costco employees testified Friday that Scott was acting unusual during his time in the store that day.
Linda Bem, a service assistant in the membership department, said Scott and a woman came to her to sign up for a membership. Only members are allowed to shop at the warehouse store.
The employee said Scott seemed confused by her instructions and kept staring at the application form. She also noticed his knuckles were bleeding.
"I sensed something was terribly wrong," Bem told jurors.
Scott tried to fill out the form but his writing was illegible and he wrote information in the wrong spaces, she said.
Bem said he then asked his female companion, identified as Scott's girlfriend, Samantha Sterner, to help him fill out the form.
"Quite frankly, I was worried about him," Bem said.
Floor supervisor Jerome Dwight "J.D." Arcano said he later noticed Scott in a store aisle, where he was stuffing stainless-steel bottles into insulated lunch bags. Arcano asked loss-prevention supervisor Shai Lierley to keep an eye on him.
Scott appeared to be under the influence of something, Arcano testified.
Javier Torres, a manager at the store, said he saw Scott on his hands and knees in an aisle, where he was opening packages and stuffing merchandise into a backpack.
Scott then approached Torres and asked him a question about the merchandise, the manager said, and seemed irritated with the answer.
"He wasn't acting normal," Torres testified. "I personally thought he was on something.''
Jurors also heard a recording of an interview Sterner had with detectives on the afternoon of the shooting. Authorities said they tried to subpoena Sterner for the inquest, but could not find her. In the recording, Sterner spoke without emotion as she told Las Vegas police detectives that Scott was acting normal before the shooting and was surprised that Costco employees had called the police and were evacuating the store after seeing one of the two guns he legally carried.
Sterner said Scott was trying to disarm when the officer fired at him without hesitation.
"He was trying to put his weapon on the ground," Sterner told police.
The woman said she pleaded with the officer, whom she described as bald, not to shoot Scott.
"He carries a gun everywhere he goes," Sterner said. "This has never happened before."
Sterner said the officer who fired first at Scott "was too aggressive" and would have shot Scott even if he had complied with all directions.
"I just think that this officer was out of line," she told police.
Sterner, who described herself as a self-employed model and TV host, said she had known Scott for about three years. Responding to a detective's question, she told detectives that Scott was taking a blood pressure medication, then added that he also had taken a pain pill for injuries from a recent car accident.
Officer William Mosher, whose head is closely shaved, testified Thursday that he was the first officer to fire at Scott. Mosher completed his testimony Friday morning.
On Thursday, he said he did not think he could have done anything differently that afternoon. When asked on Friday whether he felt remorse, he replied, "Remorse? Absolutely."
Mosher was one of three Las Vegas police officers who shot Scott, a 38-year-old medical device salesman, as he left the store.
Lierley, a Costco supervisor, testified that he called 911 because Scott was behaving strangely and refused to leave after being told that guns were not allowed.
As the store was being evacuated, Mosher and the other officers waited outside for Scott and his girlfriend to come out. Mosher said he told Scott to turn around, and when he did Mosher saw the gun in his waistband.
"Show your hands. Get down on the ground. Get down on the ground," Mosher said he yelled at Scott, who seemed "a little out of it, like he's under the influence, possibly of narcotics."
"He says, quote-unquote, 'I have a gun,' " the officer testified.
Mosher said Scott pulled the gun from his waistband, raised it and pointed it toward him. Mosher fired twice "in quick succession," he said.
Scott stepped back but remained standing, prompting officers Joshua Stark and Thomas Mendiola to fire five more shots into Scott. He was struck a total of seven times and died shortly after.
Jurors on Thursday listened to a recording of the 911 call made by Lierley, in which police can be heard yelling commands. A transcript reads, "Put your hands where I can see them now. Drop it. Get on the ground. Get on the ground" before the sound of gunfire and screams.
Sterner was hysterical before and after the shooting, Mosher testified.
"She said, quote-unquote, 'He's in the Army. He just got back from Iraq. He's a Green Beret, and you just killed him,' " said Mosher, who faced an inquest in 2006 after he shot and killed a home-invasion suspect. A jury found his actions justified.
Scott graduated from the U.S. Military Academy in 1994 and served two years in the Army before being honorably discharged. He was never in Special Forces or Iraq.
Earlier Thursday, inquest jurors heard testimony from Lierley, who said he noticed Scott opening packages and mumbling to himself in the camping aisle. Though asked to stop, Scott continued trying to stuff water bottles into bags, even though they wouldn't fit. When told he could not have a gun in the store, Scott reacted in anger, Lierley said.
"Next thing you know, Mr. Scott ... gets up and says, 'I'm a Green Beret. You need to check the (expletive) Constitution.' And it was just real quick, real snapped. And at that point, it made me step back because he had a firearm," Lierley said.
While leaving the store, Scott appeared to be having trouble walking, and Sterner appeared to be helping him walk straight, Lierley said.
As they reached the exit, Lierley pointed Scott out to police. He said he watched as Scott pulled the gun from his waistband and raised it toward an officer, and distinctly heard someone order Scott to "drop the firearm."
He can be heard on the 911 tape telling the dispatcher, "He pulled a firearm" after the sounds of gunfire. Police recovered Scott's .45-caliber handgun, in its holster, from the ground near where he fell. Scott was carrying two guns that day, police have said.
Lierly's account matched that of another Costco worker, Colleen Kullberg, who testified Wednesday.
The medical examiner who autopsied Scott said Wednesday that the man had near-fatal levels of the painkiller morphine and the anti-anxiety drug Xanax in his system when he died. A pain management doctor who treated Scott testified that he thought the man was addicted to the narcotic painkiller hydrocodone.
Jurors also have heard a detailed explanation of a computer hard drive disc failure that prevented a security camera at the store entrance from recording the shooting. The problem started two days before the shooting, and affected 17 of the store's cameras. The manufacturer of the system was able to recover some images from the disc, but nothing for two days before the shooting or five hours after it, when the system was rebooted.
The inquest is scheduled to continue through Saturday and resume Tuesday after a two-day break. About 50 witnesses are expected to testify before the seven-member jury is asked to rule whether the shooting was justifiable, excusable or criminal.
Talking to reporters Thursday evening, Scott family attorney Ross Goodman said he had a list of 20 to 25 eyewitnesses who said they never saw Scott with a gun.
However, he said he would not allow them to testify at the inquest and be "browbeat" by prosecutors with no opportunity for him to cross-examine them.
CARRI GEER THEVENOT and BRIAN HAYNES
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
from MEDIA MATTERS conservative hypocrisy
This week again proved that consistency isn't prized among the conservative media.
Earlier this week, Fox News and Rush Limbaugh criticized President Obama for supposedly being responsible for huge deficits. However, both recently attempted to defend former President Bush's for not paying for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars or his tax cuts - two things which, of course, greatly increased yearly deficits.
Fox News personalities have also repeatedly attacked President Obama for purportedly not sending as many troops to Afghanistan as the military requested. The crew of Fox & Friends called it "unbelievable" and "wrong" that Obama didn't listen to "the military experts." However, President Bush dismissed Gen. Eric Shinseki's recommendation that "several hundred thousand troops" would be needed in Iraq and Fox virtually ignored the story. When Fox News eventually covered the story, a contributor suggested that critics "shut up and let daddy drive."
Right-wing media like Fox & Friends and conservative blogs also attacked President Obama's reported comments that the United States can "absorb a terrorist attack" and that the country "absorbed [9-11] and we are stronger." Conservatives used the reported remarks to suggest that Obama was "inviting another 9/11" and that he "doesn't care about Americans dying." Yet when conservatives - including President Bush - made similar statements, the right offered not so much as a murmur of complaint.
Finally, on Wednesday, Glenn Beck -- a noted hypocrite -- promoted Eustace Mullins' book Secrets of the Federal Reserve. Mullins, who died earlier this year, was a 9-11 Truther and was described in his obituary as an "anti-Semitic conspiracy theorist" and a "nationally known white supremacist." Beck, however, heavily criticized former White House green jobs adviser Van Jones for purportedly being a 9-11 Truther.
Stay tuned next week for the same consistent inconsistency.
This weekly wrap-up was compiled by Eric Hananoki
Earlier this week, Fox News and Rush Limbaugh criticized President Obama for supposedly being responsible for huge deficits. However, both recently attempted to defend former President Bush's for not paying for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars or his tax cuts - two things which, of course, greatly increased yearly deficits.
Fox News personalities have also repeatedly attacked President Obama for purportedly not sending as many troops to Afghanistan as the military requested. The crew of Fox & Friends called it "unbelievable" and "wrong" that Obama didn't listen to "the military experts." However, President Bush dismissed Gen. Eric Shinseki's recommendation that "several hundred thousand troops" would be needed in Iraq and Fox virtually ignored the story. When Fox News eventually covered the story, a contributor suggested that critics "shut up and let daddy drive."
Right-wing media like Fox & Friends and conservative blogs also attacked President Obama's reported comments that the United States can "absorb a terrorist attack" and that the country "absorbed [9-11] and we are stronger." Conservatives used the reported remarks to suggest that Obama was "inviting another 9/11" and that he "doesn't care about Americans dying." Yet when conservatives - including President Bush - made similar statements, the right offered not so much as a murmur of complaint.
Finally, on Wednesday, Glenn Beck -- a noted hypocrite -- promoted Eustace Mullins' book Secrets of the Federal Reserve. Mullins, who died earlier this year, was a 9-11 Truther and was described in his obituary as an "anti-Semitic conspiracy theorist" and a "nationally known white supremacist." Beck, however, heavily criticized former White House green jobs adviser Van Jones for purportedly being a 9-11 Truther.
Stay tuned next week for the same consistent inconsistency.
This weekly wrap-up was compiled by Eric Hananoki
Health insurance changes take effect
This is such a small step(s) for health care in America.
These type of health care 'improvement and rights' are standard
in many nation where health care is a right not a privilege.
The USA has a cobbled together morass of health care
(Medicare, Medicaid, VA, Employer and high cost private)
when a single payer system would be best solution.
So be proud for these baby steps!
EDITOR's NOTE from Hart Kirch.
N.C. Aizenman Washington Post
Thursday marked six months since the nation's health-care overhaul bill was signed into law, and a number of consumer protections provided by the legislation took effect.
For all plans - including individual and group policies as well as those sponsored by employers - insurers will no longer be permitted to:
l Deny coverage to children with preexisting conditions.
This will not necessarily prevent insurers from charging higher premiums in such cases. But it will mean they can no longer refuse to sell policies for children who are sick. They also cannot temporarily or permanently exclude coverage of medical bills arising from a child's preexisting condition. An important caveat: This rule does not apply to plans purchased before the legislation was adopted on March 23. But Americans of all ages will be able to receive these protections after 2014.
l Put lifetime limits on benefits.
Another caveat: A plan can still put a lifetime dollar limit on spending for health services that the government does not deem essential.
l Cancel a policy retroactively without proving fraud.
This addresses a practice known as recission, by which insurers could cancel coverage just as a person got sick, on the grounds that they or their employer had provided inaccurate information when they originally applied for coverage. Now insurers will have to prove that the error was more than just an honest mistake. As with many of the other rules, this one applies to "plan years" or "policy years" that begin on or after Sept. 23.
People enrolled in job-related health plans or individual insurance policies created after March 23 will receive some additional benefits. However, for policies that have renewable "plan years," the protections will take effect only after the renewal date. For example, if a worker is covered by an employer's plan that renews on Jan. 1, these benefits will not start until then. The benefits include:
l The right to appeal the denial of a claim.
The insured now have the right to demand that their health plans reconsider decisions to deny them payment for a test or treatment. This includes the right to appeal to an independent reviewer.
l Free preventive services, such as screenings, vaccinations and counseling.
l The right of young adults to stay on a parent's plan until age 26.
l The choice of primary care doctor, obstetrician/gynecologist and pediatrician within a provider's network.
l The right to use the nearest emergency room without penalty.
These type of health care 'improvement and rights' are standard
in many nation where health care is a right not a privilege.
The USA has a cobbled together morass of health care
(Medicare, Medicaid, VA, Employer and high cost private)
when a single payer system would be best solution.
So be proud for these baby steps!
EDITOR's NOTE from Hart Kirch.
N.C. Aizenman Washington Post
Thursday marked six months since the nation's health-care overhaul bill was signed into law, and a number of consumer protections provided by the legislation took effect.
For all plans - including individual and group policies as well as those sponsored by employers - insurers will no longer be permitted to:
l Deny coverage to children with preexisting conditions.
This will not necessarily prevent insurers from charging higher premiums in such cases. But it will mean they can no longer refuse to sell policies for children who are sick. They also cannot temporarily or permanently exclude coverage of medical bills arising from a child's preexisting condition. An important caveat: This rule does not apply to plans purchased before the legislation was adopted on March 23. But Americans of all ages will be able to receive these protections after 2014.
l Put lifetime limits on benefits.
Another caveat: A plan can still put a lifetime dollar limit on spending for health services that the government does not deem essential.
l Cancel a policy retroactively without proving fraud.
This addresses a practice known as recission, by which insurers could cancel coverage just as a person got sick, on the grounds that they or their employer had provided inaccurate information when they originally applied for coverage. Now insurers will have to prove that the error was more than just an honest mistake. As with many of the other rules, this one applies to "plan years" or "policy years" that begin on or after Sept. 23.
People enrolled in job-related health plans or individual insurance policies created after March 23 will receive some additional benefits. However, for policies that have renewable "plan years," the protections will take effect only after the renewal date. For example, if a worker is covered by an employer's plan that renews on Jan. 1, these benefits will not start until then. The benefits include:
l The right to appeal the denial of a claim.
The insured now have the right to demand that their health plans reconsider decisions to deny them payment for a test or treatment. This includes the right to appeal to an independent reviewer.
l Free preventive services, such as screenings, vaccinations and counseling.
l The right of young adults to stay on a parent's plan until age 26.
l The choice of primary care doctor, obstetrician/gynecologist and pediatrician within a provider's network.
l The right to use the nearest emergency room without penalty.
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