Health Care Amendments Bipartisan Support for REFORM! – http://ping.fm/Yjdkp
Is your Senator an insurance puppet ? http://ping.fm/iU7FL Pls RT!
Health Care Amendments Bipartisan Support for REFORM!
Lieberman’s face is the vision of deceit. Tom Carper can’t believe he is such a shit stain.
But while Lieberman continues to be a flat out whore I thought the votes on the following amendments are more than indicative of the broad bipartisan support and the realization that the health industry is milking us dry and that reform is a MUST.
The laws regarding the health industry as they have been gamed by the health lobbyist and their “whores” on Capital Hill has to be undone. The monopoly the health industry has cobbled together since the 1940’s has to be terminated with prejudice. It is a major factor in the collapse of the United States Economy across a broad spectrum of markets.
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On its fourth day of floor debate, the Senate finally began to vote on amendments to the healthcare reform bill on Thursday.
Getting the first nod in a 69-31 vote was the amendment proposed by Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) on Monday that would promote and expand preventive healthcare for women. Insurers would now cover a range of women’s health screenings and would encourage no copays for those services.
The amendment, which calls for coverage of screening procedures, such as mammographies and Pap smears, would also cover cervical cancer, postpartum depression, heart disease and diabetes. The amendment received some bipartisan support with three Republicans—Sen. Olympia Snowe (ME), Sen. Susan Collins (ME), and David Vitter (LA)—voting for it.
After that vote, the senators moved to a competing amendment that had been offered by Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), which would prohibit government panels from determining which specific women’s procedures would be covered. Her amendment just failed 59 41.(Amendments need at least 60 votes to pass.)
Meanwhile, the amendment proposed Monday by Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) to remove nearly $500 billion in Medicare cuts from the Senate bill was turned down in a 58 42 vote. Had the proposal passed, the Senate bill would have had to be returned back to the Senate Finance Committee.
Other amendments proposed (but no votes had been scheduled yet through Thursday) are:
* A bipartisan proposal from Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND) and Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) and seven other senators that would permit Americans to purchase lower cost prescription medications from other countries, such as Canada. This amendment is likely to spur challenges from the pharmaceutical industry.
* An amendment offered by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D VT) that would repeal the health insurance industry’s antitrust exemptions—similar to the provisions found in the House bill.
* Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) filed an amendment supporting the idea that surpluses generated by the Senate bill be reserved for Social Security, and that savings from the long-term insurance program be reserved for that program.
This is a repost from Janice Simmons a senior editor and Washington, DC, correspondent for HealthLeaders Media Online.
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America’s 11 Hottest Species Stressed by Climate Change – http://ping.fm/ymkfK
America’s 11 Hottest Species Stressed by Climate Change
(Photo by ‘Ebe)
WASHINGTON, DC, December 1, 2009 (ENS) – Honeycreepers that sing in Hawaii’s mountain forests, the lynx that inhabit the snowy Rocky Mountains and New England, and the grizzly bears of the Rocky mountains are among America’s top 10 threatened species already suffering from global warming, according to a new report released today.
The report was produced by the Endangered Species Coalition in conjunction with a coalition of groups, including American Bird Conservancy, Defenders of Wildlife, and the Center for Biological Diversity.
It focuses on 10 species or groups of related species that are listed as threatened or endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act or are candidates for listing. The 11th species, selected in an online poll, is the polar bear, which is listed as threatened under the act.
The global warming threats to these species include increased disease, diminished reproduction, lost habitat and reduced food supply.
“Global warming is like a bulldozer shoving species, already on the brink of extinction, perilously closer to the edge of existence,” said Leda Huta, executive director of the Endangered Species Coalition. “Polar bears, lynx, salmon, coral and many other endangered species are already feeling the heat.”
“The species in this report are representative of all imperiled wildlife, plants, and fish that are now facing an additional, compounding threat to their survival, and why we need to take action today to protect them,” Huta said.
If President Barack Obama and Congress do not lead, these impacts will only worsen, said Huta, who called President Obama’s decision to attend the UN climate change summit in Copenhagen next week “encouraging.”
“On the cusp of the Copenhagen meeting, the administration has the opportunity to demonstrate leadership in protecting imperiled wildlife from global warming,” said Huta. “Simply put, we need binding agreements that will reduce emissions.”
Topping the list of the Hottest Species in America is the Kauai creeper or ‘Akikiki, which is a type of honeycreeper, a group of birds that shows tremendous variation. At least 59 species originally occurred in Hawaii, but, with human settlement came multiple introductions of exotic species that caused the extinction of all but 17 honeycreepers.
The imperiled ‘Akikiki inhabits the wet mountain forests on the Hawaiian island of Kauai. (Photo © Jack Jeffrey courtesy Endangered Species Coalition)
“Hawaii is the epicenter of extinction in the Americas,” said George Wallace, American Bird Conservancy’s vice president for oceans and islands. “There are a number of factors that have led to the disappearance of so many of Hawaii’s native birds since it was colonized, including introduced pigs, goats, cats, rats, and mosquitoes. Global warming adds a huge new, incipient threat to the ‘Akikiki and the other remaining endemic birds of the archipelago.”
Avian malaria is a serious threat to the ‘Akikiki, one that could be exacerbated by global warming, says Wallace. An increase in temperature of slightly less than 4°F in the montane forests of Kauai would result in an 85 percent decrease in the ‘Akikiki’s safe haven where malaria transmission is currently limited by cool temperatures.
In response to a petition from American Bird Conservancy and Hawaiian bird expert Dr. Eric VanderWerf, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed listing the ‘Akikiki under the Endangered Species Act, along with the Akeke’e, another imperiled honeycreeper found only on Kauai.
Elkhorn coral of Florida’s reefs, number two on the list, are bleaching due to the rising temperature of the ocean as a result of global warming. A related threat, ocean acidification, caused by the ocean’s absorption of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide, impairs the ability of corals to build their protective skeletons.
Bull trout found in the streams of Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Washington is number three on the list of Hottest American Species. Bull trout require the coldest water of all species native to the Rocky Mountains, but as late summer flows are affected by global warming, fewer rivers will be able to provide ample cold water for these fish.
Lynx kittens in Maine (Photo courtesy USFWS)
The Canada lynx still found in the mountains of Colorado, Idaho, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Utah, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming is number four on the list. This species depends on high elevation habitat with cold, snowy winters. As temperatures rise with global warming, the snowpack and forests that lynx rely on are predicted to move up in altitude and north in latitude.
Pacific salmon that spawn in the streams of California, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington are number five on the list. Salmonids typically die when exposed for very long to fresh water temperatures above about 20º C. (72º F.) Global warming has pushed the average summer temperatures of many west coast river systems above that mortality threshold, killing many fish.
The leatherback sea turtles that breed in Florida, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands and are found offshore of Atlantic, Pacific and Gulf Coast states occupy slot six on the list. Global climate change threatens reproduction on nesting beaches throughout the leatherback’s range
The grizzly bears found in Idaho, Montana, Washington, Wyoming are in the seventh slot. “Grizzly bears are denning later in the fall due to global warming,” the report states, leading to an increase in hunter-bear interaction and a decline in grizzly bear food sources.
The small, colorful bog turtle found in Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia is number eight. By altering hydrological cycles, the report states, global warming will either dry out or flood the turtle’s habitat.
Only one plant made the list – it is the Western Prairie Fringed Orchid, which is still found in Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, and North Dakota. This orchid relies on regular rainfall to maintain the distinctive Prairie potholes that are the seasonal wetlands of the Great Plains. Both the possible spring flooding and summer drought could harm the orchid.
Number ten on the list is the flatwoods salamander found in the southeastern states of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina. With droughts predicted to become more frequent and intense in these states due to climate change, the salamanders are imperiled.
In an online vote earlier this year, the polar bear was chosen by the Endangered Species Coalition’s activists and supporters as America’s Hottest Species. The polar bear was the first mammal to be listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act due primarily to global warming.
Sea ice is the key habitat for the polar bear providing dens, hunting grounds, and means of travel, but global warming has an increased effect in the Arctic, with water temperatures increasing faster than elsewhere.
“The loss of summer sea ice will result in the decline of suitable hunting grounds for the polar bear, forcing them to travel greater distances to hunt,” the report states. “Declines in polar bear fat storage have already been seen resulting in stress to the bears and sometimes death.”
Besides the species listed in the report, Huta points out that climate change is dangerous to a host of other species such as the Pacific walrus, the pika, the wolverine, the Boreal toad, Mason’s skypilot, and the bearded, ringed and spotted seals. All literally losing ground to climate change.
Click here to view the report, “America’s Hottest Species.”
This is a repost from the Environment News Service!
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Do not worry as to whether you are fat or thin. Worry rather as to whether you use your body, mentally and physically, as an expression of thy ideal.
Edgar Cayce Reading 308-8
“The care of human life and happiness and not their destruction is the first and only legitimate object of good government.” – Thomas Jefferson
Take the “Journey” for the Holidays! http://ping.fm/H6Qyi
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And O that all would realize, come to the consciousness that what we are–in any given experience, or time–is the combined results of what we have done about the ideals that we have set!
Edgar Cayce Reading 1549-1
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