Lizz Wright continues her genre-defying journey with Fellowship, a nod to her roots in gospel on the one hand and her gospel of eclecticism on the other. Beginning with the ecumenical Me’Shell N’Degeocello-penned title track, Fellowship is not a traditional genre exercise. While emphasizing a healthy dose of the rousing hymnody Wright grew up singing in the church (she is, indeed, the daughter of a Georgia pastor), the album borrows from the decidedly secular catalogs of Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, and Gladys Knight, topped by even more modern material from Joan Wasser, of the indie-rock act, Joan as Police Woman. Wright says, “I wanted to do some songs from home and some straight-up gospel, but I also had some other things I want to share that I see as sacred.”
Wright had taken some time off last year to stay close to home and get back in touch with non-musical interests-including graduating from culinary school. Deciding 2010 was time for a new album, looking homeward quickly provided focus. “I went into this project thinking that it was a good time to sing the songs that I needed in my life and that I felt like my people needed. The gospel is always in my heart and veins, and the voices of my family singing those stories is always with me and at any time I can visit that place and come back with the riches quickly.”
Ohio Leaves Sundays Out Of Early-Voting Schedule
Eric Lach – February 25, 2014, 6:04 PM EST1950
Ohio’s early-voting schedule in 2014 will include two Saturdays and no Sundays.
Secretary of State Jon Husted (R) released the schedule on Tuesday. During the four weeks leading up to Election Day, voters will be able to cast absentee ballots in person at voting locations that will be open from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. on weekdays. The polling locations will also be open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on the last two Saturdays before the election.
“In 2014, absentee voters will have the option of voting in person for four weeks, or they can vote without ever leaving home by completing the absentee ballot request form we will be sending all voters,” Husted said in a statement. “Our goal is to make it easy to vote and hard to cheat and to ensure that everyone has an equal opportunity in the voting process no matter which method they choose.”
According to the Northeast Ohio Media Group, Democrats in the state have already criticized the schedule, “saying the lack of weekend hours will make it harder for blue-collar workers and minorities to vote, especially in urban areas.” Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald, a Democrat running for governor, called the schedule “unacceptable.”
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/ohio-early-voting
Ohio Cuts Early Voting Hours That Are Key To Black Turnout
By Rebecca Leber on February 25, 2014 at 4:53 pm
Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted has followed through on promises to restrict voting opportunities in his state. The change, announced Tuesday, eliminates extended early voting hours on weekdays, the final two days before Election Day as well as Sunday voting, a day typically important to African-American voters because churches use it to turn out votes.
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2014/02/25/3329131/ohio-restricts-early-voting-hours-key-black-turnout/
“I don’t vote for black people…They got their place, I got my place. That’s the way I was raised.”
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024562404
On NPR this morning, in a story about Sen. Landrieu’s re-election, a Louisiana voter (Broussard) said “The dealbreaker for him was when she voted for the Affordable Care Act.” This man has a good job in the oil industry where he gets good healthcare through his employer. The ACA doesn’t affect his coverage, so why is he so adamant about Obamacare. Later he says, “”I don’t vote for black people … . I don’t vote for black people. They got their place, I got my place. That’s the way I was raised.” That kind of says it all.
***************
OMG! What stunning ignorance. Wow!
LOL I just have to LOL @ this turd. Yes, Blacks did have their place, until your white ancestors kidnapped , killed, mamed, and raped Blacks and brought them to America.
But you didn’t and can’t kill us al. SO DEAL, MOFO, DEAL.
Congress and Backroom Trade Pacts Grease Skids for FedEx at the Expense of the USPS
By: Dennis S
Monday, February, 24th, 2014, 8:59 pm
If I have a cause as a contributing writer to PoliticusUSA, it is to expose the ongoing and relentless attempts to render the Postal Service as a largely irrelevant errand boy for giant for-profit corporate interests.
This is the first of a two-part examination of the latest USPS developments from assorted media sources and from my coterie of confidential informants (CI’s) who work (as of this moment) for the Postal Service. If this were a debate topic it would be worded as follows: “Resolved: That corporate-owned Republican Representatives and Senators will do everything in their power to benefit the likes of FedEx and effectively destroy any meaningful role for the United State Postal Service.”
The prime benefactor of the ongoing USPS downward spiral will be FedEx (of part-time worker fame), headed by Fred W. Smith, founder and CEO. Fred is worth $2.3 billion, lives in a 21-room Memphis manor on about 12 acres and clearly needs all the legislative help he can get. Here’s multi-billionaire Smith’s modest Sweetbriar Rd. Memphis shack with the photos compliments of Celebrity House Pictures.
FedEx spent over $12 million in lobbying efforts last year and in the 2014 campaign contribution cycle is currently wildly generous to the National Republican Senatorial Committee and the National Republican Congressional Committee. FedEx has also laid $34,000 on Arkansas Democratic Senior Senator Mark Pryor’s campaign so far in 2014 according to Open Secrets. Could it be his number one GovTrack ranking as the most conservative Democratic Senator in 2013 and his co-sponsorship of USPS-weakening legislation? Political wild man, Tim Scott, is the recipient of a quick ten grand as well as South Carolina’s single congressional Democrat, James Clyburn. Why Clyburn? Probably because his office has fed at least 4 future lobbyists to the Podesta Group, including current South Carolina State Democratic Party Chairman, Jaime Harrison.
We don’t often think of the USPS malaise in terms of trade agreements. We should. They give the likes of FedEx huge competitive advantages.
http://www.politicususa.com/2014/02/24/congress-backroom-trade-pacts-grease-skids-fedex-expense-usps.html
Celebrating Black History Month
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbMW9oypza0
African Americans are making amazing contributions in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). But we need to make sure that African American students today also see themselves as tomorrow’s discoverers, explorers, developers, and STEM innovators.
At 3:00 p.m. EST on Tuesday, February 25th, we’re hosting “We the Geeks: Celebrating Black History Month” — a Google+ Hangout with some of our foremost African American STEM innovators and education advocates.
During the live Hangout, these leaders will share their inspiring personal stories and thoughts on how we can all help to ensure that America’s next generation of inventors, discoverers, and innovators fully reflects our nation’s diversity.
Got comments or questions? Ask with the hashtag #WeTheGeeks on Twitter and Google+ — and we’ll answer some of them during the Hangout. Tomorrow’s Hangout guests include:
•Dr. Paula Hammond — David H. Koch Professor in Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
•Dr. Hakeem Oluseyi — Assistant Professor in Physics/Space Sciences, Florida Institute of Technology
•Mr. Calvin Phelps — jet engineer designer, Pratt & Whitney
•Ms. Crystal Brockington — winner of Siemens’ “We Can Change the World Challenge”
•Evan Jackson, Alec Jackson, and Caleb Robinson — kid inventors; winners of the Toshiba/National Science Teachers Association ExploraVision Competition; participants in the 2013 White House Science Fair
A Fed Up Top Democrat Calls Out Darrell Issa and His Many Lies
By: Rmuse
Tuesday, February, 25th, 2014, 10:01 am
In political circles there is an unwritten rule that members of Congress observe “comity” in dealing with each other that, in general terms, means exercising courteous and considerate behavior towards each other. Comity is why Americans will hardly ever hear one member of Congress call another a filthy liar when both the liar and other members of Congress know without a doubt the liar is lying. Over the weekend, one member of Congress came as close to calling Darrell Issa a blatant liar as Americans will ever hear, and for congressional observers sick to death of Issa’s persistent lies regarding anything remotely related to the Obama Administration, it was long overdue.
Despite Defense and State Department records detailing the events that lead to the deaths of diplomat Chris Stevens and three Americans serving in a hostile environment in Libya, Darrell Issa continues spreading blatant lies to defame former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Last week Issa addressed campaign donors in New Hampshire during a trip he described as “a campaign to shape the debate for 2016,” and categorically accused the former Secretary of State of ordering the Department of Defense to stand down and allow the diplomatic outpost fall to attackers. Issa answered his own hypothetical question while pandering for campaign donations and said, “After asking why there was not one order given to turn on one Department of Defense asset,” Issa said “Secretary Clinton told (former Secretary of Defense Leon) Panetta to stand down.”
Issa’s false accusation was too much for the ranking Democrat on the House Oversight Committee and it drove Representative Elijah Cummings to pen a letter to Issa and demand that he “publicly apologize for your statements and withdraw them immediately.” If Issa’s criminal character is any indication, Representative Cummings is going to wait an eternity because if there is one thing Issa can be counted on doing, it is to keep lying because there is no law against being a pathological liar; even for a United States House member. However, Cummings’ letter to Issa did not stop at calling for a public apology and retraction. He wrote “I was personally stunned by the reckless, baseless, and utterly offensive accusations you launched against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.” Cummings should be used to being stunned at Issa’s lies to drum up opposition to anyone connected to the Obama Administration, but he took the time to outline, in great detail, the severity of Issa’s filthy lies including testimony and documents refuting Issa’s contention about Clinton gathered during the House Oversight Committee investigation into the phony scandal surrounding the attack on the diplomatic outpost in Benghazi.
http://www.politicususa.com/2014/02/25/fed-top-democrat-calls-darrell-issa-lies.html
https://twitter.com/dennismons/status/438278062430384128/photo/1
Winning a debate by quashing scrutiny
02/25/14 08:52 AM—Updated 02/25/14 09:09 AM
By Steve Benen
In her party’s official response to the State of the Union a few weeks ago, Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.), the House Republican Conference chair, shared an anecdote about “Bette in Spokane,” the latest in a series of “Obamacare victims.” As is usually the case, within a day or two, the story was debunked.
Once McMorris Rodgers realized her story was wrong, the congresswoman, instead of apologizing, tried to go on the offensive. “It’s sad partisan politicians are attacking Bette,” she argued.
In reality, no one had “attacked” the woman in the story. Rather, McMorris Rodgers’ anecdote was fact checked and proven to be wrong. To suggest that scrutinizing suspect claims is somehow improper is absurd, but that was nevertheless the congresswoman’s reaction.
It was apparently a sign of things to come.
Last week, the Koch-financed Americans for Prosperity launched a new attack ad targeting Rep. Gary Peters, a Democratic U.S. Senate candidate in Michigan. The spot features Julie Boonstra, a Michigan woman who’s paying less money for better insurance without having to change doctors, but who was nevertheless presented in the ad as yet another ACA victim.
Peters, not surprisingly, believes AFP should provide more information to bolster the claims in its ad. The right, no longer willing to defend the deceptive commercial, has decided to attack Peters.
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/winning-debate-quashing-scrutiny
Republicans seek political cover to accept Medicaid expansion money
By Reid Wilson
February 25 at 4:00 am
In the bitterly partisan debate over the Affordable Care Act, few House members criticized the proposed legislation as harshly or as often as then-Rep. Mike Pence. But now, nearly four years after the measure passed on a party-line vote, Pence, now Indiana’s governor, is asking the federal government for ACA money to expand a program that provides coverage to low-income Hoosiers. But he wants to do it outside the confines of the health-care law.
Pence is among a small but growing number of GOP governors and lawmakers looking for alternatives to expanding Medicaid. They don’t want to be seen embracing a law that is almost universally loathed in their party, but the hundreds of millions of dollars available to their states through the law’s provisions are too enticing to pass up.
“Obamacare was a mistake. It was, to borrow a phrase, a bad idea poorly executed,” Pence said in an interview. “But where I work, it’s about solutions. People are looking for results.”
On Friday, Pence met with Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to ask for a waiver for the Healthy Indiana Plan, which helps about 45,000 low-income residents with personal health funds linked to insurance plans with high deductibles. Pence wants to use the federal money earmarked for Indiana’s Medicaid expansion to grow that program instead.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/govbeat/wp/2014/02/25/republicans-seek-political-cover-to-accept-medicaid-expansion-money/?hpid=z1
Best Friends: Blind Horse, Luna, & Her Best Friend SugarBear
GOP for and against Medicare cost-savings
02/25/14 10:54 AM—Updated 02/25/14 11:42 AM
By Steve Benen
CHICAGO, IL – DECEMBER 06: Protestors call for an increase of taxes on the wealthy and voice opposition to cuts in Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid…
If you receive press releases from congressional Republicans, and your inbox seemed unusually full on Friday afternoon, there’s a reason for that.
The Obama administration ignited a new election-year controversy Friday when regulators handed down fresh cuts to Medicare Advantage (MA).
Next year, plans in the program will see their payments cut by at least 2 percent on average between ObamaCare and a regular annual update, the announcement stated.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) argued that the reductions will help to strengthen the program – an increasingly popular alternative to traditional Medicare – and guard against waste.
Republicans, despite already having embraced the Obama administration’s Medicare cost savings into their own budget plan, did their very best to pretend to be outraged.
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/gop-and-against-medicare-cost-savings
‘Political ju-jitsu’ in Florida
02/25/14 12:47 PM—Updated 02/25/14 01:07 PM
By Steve Benen
Gubernatorial candidate Alex Sink looks over the stage during her debate with Rick Scott on Oct. 25, 2010 at the University of South Florida in Tampa, Florida.
The political trajectory of President Obama’s deficit-reduction commission has been rather circuitous.
Congressional Republicans urged the White House to create the commission, but when Obama agreed, Republicans changed their mind and said they were against it. Once the panel began its work, its GOP members balked at the proposed compromise, then criticized the president for not fully embracing the measures they opposed.
We’ve apparently reached the bizarre point at which Republicans will attack those who oppose the Simpson-Bowles plan and attack those who support it.
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/political-ju-jitsu-florida
https://twitter.com/petesouza/status/438361463506604032/photo/1
Old man take a look at my life
I´m a lot like you
I need someone to love me
the whole day through
Just one look in my eyes
and you can tell that´s true
Heeeeyyyyyy ….Hey!
Lupita Nyong’o Pulled Off Head-To-Toe Metallic, As If You Needed More Proof She’s A Goddess
http://www.thegloss.com/2014/02/25/fashion/lupita-nyongo-metallic-lanvin-dress-nonstop-premiere-pictures/
Hill’s one true friend, and she’s six feet under. God Bless her.
Curtis Gans Says the Dems Can Win in November
by BooMan
Tue Feb 25th, 2014 at 09:55:56 AM EST
Curtis Gans has a major article up at the Washington Monthly (for which, I did a little editing) that predicts that the Democrats could defy conventional wisdom and do much better than expected in the midterm elections. His argument is similar to one I have been mulling over for several months, and I have even touched on some of his themes in previous posts.
I think the most important thing for analysts to remember is that the sample size for second-term midterm elections in the postwar era is so small that we can’t safely generalize. It’s not just that the sample size is small, though, it’s that there have been highly specific influences on each of the examples. The Republicans under Dwight D. Eisenhower had to deal with a deep recession in 1958. The Vietnam War had a huge influence on the 1966 elections. WaterGate was the main theme of the 1974 elections. Iran-Contra dominated the 1986 midterms (my memory was faulty here because the story broke after the midterms). A great economy offset the impact of l’affaire Lewinsky in 1998. And 2006 was a referendum on the war in Iraq, as well as a reaction to the federal response to Hurricane Katrina, the Terri Schiavo controversy, the Abramoff scandal, and other pent up frustrations with the Bush administration.
When we look forward to November, we don’t see a recession or a country deeply divided over a war that is going badly or a major scandal. The economy could be a lot better, but the stock market is at a near high. The president’s poll numbers could be stronger, but he isn’t in anything like the situation faced by Nixon, Reagan or Clinton.
So, the beginning point for analysts should be to consider how prior midterms might have gone if the administrations had not been mired in controversy. Without Watergate, would the Democrats have done so well in 1974? Without Iran-Contra, would the Democrats have retaken the Senate in 1986? Without the Lewinsky scandal, would the Democrats have retaken the House in 1998?
Most analysts properly focus on the tendency of Democrats to show up in much higher numbers in general elections than in midterms, but 2006 proved that this doesn’t necessarily mean that the Democrats will lose as a result. In 1998, we learned that the public may not reward the Republicans if their opposition becomes pathological.
So, I don’t think we can do very well in predicting what will happen in November by looking at the limited sample of previous postwar midterm elections. We know that we have a challenge in getting out the vote. Beyond that, we don’t know much. Curtis Gans is correct that we cause to be hopeful.
http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2014/2/25/95556/7823
DonnaDem from TOD- her grandbabies:
https://twitter.com/NoShock/status/438013786713116672/photo/1
Precious ANGELS.
Too sweet!
https://twitter.com/NerdyWonka/status/438297747238551553/photo/1
I’m riding with Joe wherever he goes. Come ride with us, y’all!
Joe Biden on 2016: I’m uniquely qualified to be president
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/joe-biden-on-2016-im-uniquely-qualified-to-be-president/
Vice President Joe Biden, working the talk show circuit this week, said Tuesday he is “uniquely qualified” to be president.
Appearing on ABC’s “The View,” Biden said his experience working in the White House makes him a strong presidential contender who could successfully follow through on the agenda of President Obama.
“I think my knowledge of foreign policy, my engagement of world leaders, my experience uniquely positions me to follow through on the agenda Barack and I have of bringing world peace that is real and substantive,” Biden said.
Biden said Mr. Obama trusts him to deliver on major tasks — like the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq — and that he has been an influential vice president.
BWA HA HA Oops! ANY QUESTIONS?
SNAP!
New rules would ban junk food from being marketed in schools
Posted byCNN White House Producer Kevin Liptak
Washington (CNN) – New rules first lady Michelle Obama will propose on Tuesday would limit the types of foods and beverages that can be advertised in schools, officials say.
Under the suggested federal regulations, companies would no longer be permitted to use logos of high calorie products on cups, vending machines or posters, a common sight in schools around the nation.
Advertising isn’t going away completely – companies would still be allowed to advertise their low-calorie or healthy products to students. Schools will also be able to determine for themselves what types of marketing would be permissible in their facilities. But the days of Coca-Cola or Pepsi using their flagship logos on scoreboards or gymnasium walls may be coming to an end.
Those products are already being phased out in schools, and officials characterized the announcement as a way to bring marketing in hallways and football fields in line with new regulations for healthier school meals.
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2014/02/25/new-rules-would-ban-junk-food-from-being-marketed-in-schools/
WHAT-THE-FUCK?
………………………………………….
In Defense of Mongrels
By William Saletan
Last month, Ted Nugent—the former and now off-his rocker—called President Obama a mongrel. Nugent deplored the election of a “communist-raised, communist-educated, communist-nurtured, subhuman mongrel like the ACORN community organizer-gangster Barack Hussein Obama.”
Several Republicans repudiated Nugent’s slur. Sen. Ted Cruz, while stipulating that he wouldn’t say such a thing himself, declined to criticize Nugent and praised him as a compelling spokesman for gun rights.
On Friday, five weeks after his rant, Nugent backtracked slightly. While refusing to apologize to Obama, Nugent said he shouldn’t have used the word “mongrel.”
You say that like it’s a bad thing.
There are lots of things we can learn from this episode. One is that Nugent is nuts, and it’s not a great idea to attach your party to him, as many Texas Republicans have done. Another is that Cruz is too cowardly to criticize anyone in his base.
I have a different objection: What Nugent said is unfair to mongrels.
http://www.slate.com/blogs/saletan/2014/02/24/is_obama_a_mongrel_ted_nugent_s_slur_shows_ignorance_about_inbreeding.html
This MOFO missed the mark 100%. If he wants to defend mongrels fine, but don’t attach it to the racists, vulgar rantings of Nugent.
NJ Edwina @NJedwina
Follow
Patrick Foye: Port Authority Chairman David Samson unfit for role, “lacks the integrity to stay on as chairman” #amen
http://nydn.us/1fPLQGC
10:12 AM – 25 Feb 2014
Aretha: “If you want to see the rest, you gotta pass the test.”
C’mon now “Reefa,” you know you’ve had your breastases hangin’ out on several occassions in the past.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9SD3jarkeM
TRASH THE MOFO BILL, BREWER!
Monday February 24, 2014
Denunciation Proclamation
Andrew Napolitano questions the economic underpinnings of the Civil War and Lincoln’s legacy, but Larry Wilmore argues that tea isn’t the only black thing worth fighting for. (06:05)
VIDEO
http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-february-24-2014/denunciation-proclamation
POLITICS NATION- SYG LAWS TO BE EXPANDED
http://www.nbcnews.com/id/45755884/vp/54501918/#54501918
Love Lizz Wright
Me too!
KSK(africa) @lawalazu
Follow
MEMO TO 2016 Dem candidates. You need to start mobilizing your supporters to vote in 2014. Losing the Senate means you are useless. CLUE!
6:57 AM – 24 Feb 2014
Virginia Republican Says A Pregnant Woman Is Just A ‘Host,’ Though ‘Some Refer To Them As Mothers’
Posted: 02/24/2014 1:16 pm EST Updated: 02/24/2014 4:59 pm EST
A pregnant woman is just a “host” that should not have the right to end her pregnancy, Virginia State Sen. Steve Martin (R) wrote in a Facebook rant defending his anti-abortion views.
Martin, the former chairman of the Senate Education and Health Committee, wrote a lengthy post about his opinions on women’s bodies on his Facebook wall last week in response to a critical Valentine’s Day card he received from reproductive rights advocates.
“I don’t expect to be in the room or will I do anything to prevent you from obtaining a contraceptive,” Martin wrote. “However, once a child does exist in your womb, I’m not going to assume a right to kill it just because the child’s host (some refer to them as mothers) doesn’t want it.” Martin then changed his post on Monday afternoon to refer to the woman as the “bearer of the child” instead of the “host.”
Martin voted for Virginia’s mandatory ultrasound bill and supported a fetal personhood bill, which would ban all abortions and could affect the legality of some forms of contraception. The Virginia Pro-Choice Coalition had sent him a Valentine’s Day card asking him to protect women’s reproductive health options, “including preventing unwanted pregnancies, raising healthy children and choosing safe, legal abortion.”
Martin reacted strongly to their letter
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/24/steve-martin-virginia_n_4847959.html?&ncid=tweetlnkushpmg00000067
Women are so POWERFUL, the white mens are threatened. Anyone who can HOST a human being in their body for 9 months and deliver it to the world, raise the child, hold careers, achieve greatness in sports, theater, science, math, etc. and not have a PENIS definitely HAVE POWER.
https://twitter.com/PrettyFootWoman/status/438089536732532736/photo/1
Excellent Tweet to pass on to us.
This says it ALL.
Only4RM @Only4RM
Follow
Wow. Now GOP candidates are calling pregnant women “hosts”. #TheHandmaidsTale as POLICY is around the corner… IF we don’t vote down RWers.
5:40 PM – 24 Feb 2014
What an ugly thing for GOP to say!
How can these GOP people look themselves in the mirror?
Imani ABL @AngryBlackLady
Follow
Keep it up, GOP! | VA Republican Says A Pregnant Woman Is Just A ‘Host,’ Though ‘Some Refer To Them As Mothers’ http://huff.to/1cIpj0U #fem2
1:07 PM – 24 Feb 2014
Who really cost Mrs. Blackwood her cancer medicine?
By Michael Hiltzik
February 24, 2014, 4:08 p.m.
Stephen J. Blackwood is utterly, unalterably convinced that his mother has lost access to her cancer medicine because of Obamacare.
That’s the theme of his passionate op-ed in today’s Wall Street Journal. The piece currently tops the most-read list over at the Journal website and has shot around conservative websites with the speed of a measles virus in an unvaccinated population.
Since we recently expressed perplexity about how easy it is to debunk most (if not all) Obamacare horror stories being retailed by Republicans and other critics of the Affordable Care Act, it’s only fair to take a look at this one. It’s not quite like many of the others, which present as victims people who actually are clear beneficiaries of the act. By contrast, Blackwood’s mother appears to have been genuinely abused by the health insurance system.
But the story is a lot more complicated than the version laid out in the Wall Street Journal. In fact, the problem with the article is that it points the finger in the wrong direction. Blackwood curses Obamacare as “Sisyphean,” “abysmal,” “deeply and incontestably perverse” and a “brutal, Procrustean disaster.” (Sisyphus is a figure in Greek mythology who was condemned for eternity to rolling a boulder up a mountain and watching it roll back down again; Procrustes a mythological figure who fit his guests to their bed by either stretching them on the rack if they were too short or cutting off their legs if too tall.) Yet most of his complaints can’t be documented to be the result of the Affordable Care Act at all.
Blackwood’s mother, Catherine, was diagnosed with carcinoid cancer, which attacks the neuroendocrine system, in 2005 at the age of 49. Fighting cancer takes great stores of physical and mental courage, as well as the help of a supporting family, and it’s plain from Blackwood’s essay that Catherine has had all of that. She’s the mother of 10, has managed her husband’s medical office in Virginia Beach, Va., for decades, and even writes a blog on parenting.
Her treatment has involved several surgeries and bouts of painful symptoms. To a great extent it relies on twice-monthly shots of Sandostatin, a drug which Blackwood reports “slows tumor growth and reduces (but does not eliminate) the symptoms of fatigue, nausea and gastrointestinal dysfunction.” It also can cost thousands of dollars per dose.
Blackwood says his mother was well-covered by a Blue Cross/Blue Shield plan until November, when the insurer canceled it. Blackwood says that’s because her plan was “illegal” under the ACA, but he doesn’t say how or why; there’s reason to doubt BC/BS canceled the plan because of the ACA, as opposed to its own desire to stop covering a manifestly expensive patient and other customers like her in a limited pool of patients. As is typical of this genre of Obamacare criticism, the Wall Street Journal doesn’t provide us with enough information to divine the answer.
Blackwood didn’t respond to my request for more details, but I did reach his father, Robert, a family physician. He wasn’t sure of the reason for the cancellation either, but did say that the old plan cost $5,000 a month in premiums to cover four family members. When it was canceled, BC/BS offered a substitute plan with a monthly premium of $11,000, which Dr. Blackwood quite properly concluded was out of line.
http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-mh-cancer-medicine-20140224,0,4157578.story#ixzz2uLJ048M1
https://twitter.com/TheObamaDiary/status/438092902346932224/photo/1
https://twitter.com/TheObamaDiary/status/438131625361014784/photo/1
About above video:
Harry J. Elam, Jr.
Jeb and the “Are You Kidding Me” Factor
by BooMan
Mon Feb 24th, 2014 at 02:29:20 PM EST
Personally, I think Jeb Bush could be the Republican Party’s 2016 nominee for the same reason that Mitt Romney was their 2012 nominee. Basically, it’s because, “are you kidding me?”, no one else is remotely plausible and also acceptable to the Republican Establishment. There are people who could catch fire with the base but repel the monied folks, and there are people who would be acceptable to the monied folks but would appall the base. Jeb Bush comes the closest to being able to bridge the difference.
I hear mention of Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin, and he does offer a possible consensus choice, but he’s surrounded by people who have ethical and legal problems. People can raise all manner of objections to Jeb, but the same thing was true of Romney. The thing is, you can’t beat the Establishment with Rick Santorum, no matter how hard you try. If you want an insurgent campaign, you need star power and a way to finance it. Maybe some billionaire can carry the next Herman Cain or Newt Gingrich the next time around, but it didn’t work last time for the simple reason that everyone could see that all the alternatives to Romney were ludicrous.
.
http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2014/2/24/142920/346
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=1kwPLYrDU_w
RIP Mr. Ramus.
https://twitter.com/jaycrimes/status/438175840539394048/photo/1
Video:
http://www.c-span.org/video/?315583-1/african-american-women-refugees
African American Women Refugees
Good Morning, Eveyone! :-)
http://www.chicagonow.com/hippy-shakes/2014/02/the-only-thing-that-i-did-wrong-i-stayed-in-mississippi-a-bit-too-long/
http://newsone.com/2912868/michael-dunn-jordan-davis-george-zimmerman-trayvon-martin-black-twitter/
http://www.northjersey.com/community/North_Jerseys_African-American_hair_salons_suffer_from_a_cultural_shift.html
http://www.christianpost.com/news/racially-profiled-wis-pastor-attacks-liberal-citys-blind-eye-toward-plight-of-african-americans-115005/
http://ca.sports.yahoo.com/news/plan-ballpark-near-historic-virginia-slave-market-advances-055122746–sector.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/loyalists-gear-up-to-get-obama-presidential-library-housed-in-chicago/2014/02/24/63e300a0-99b2-11e3-b88d-f36c07223d88_story.html
http://www.adn.com/2014/02/24/3344056/first-lady-honors-cicely-tyson.html
http://www.delawareonline.com/story/opinion/columnists/2014/02/25/black-womens-history-gets-shipped-out-of-town/5777523/
http://www.greenwichtime.com/local/article/The-Good-Lord-Bird-and-other-must-reads-for-5263641.php
http://www.ny1.com/content/shows/one_on_1/204220/one-on-1-profile–director-of-the-studio-museum-thelma-golden-a-force-in-the-art-world
http://www.chicagotribune.com/site/ct-uc-lab-school-arts-confidential-0225-biz–20140225,0,2994886.column
“Black History Month: Black authors face new challenges:
Black authors in America face obstacles to success.”
http://newsok.com/black-history-month-black-authors-face-new-challenges/article/3936584
Excerpt:
Good Morning, Everyone :)
Good Morning Everyone at 3CHICS!