I sat through an Aflac presentation at work a few years ago. It is not medical insurance per se, but it does pay money for you to pay bills & such while you are unable to work, due to illness.
She wasn't. She died three years ago of pulmonary hypertension, largely untreated because she lost her health insurance when she lost her job as an assistant manager at a Jack in the Box restaurant in Seattle.
"It's tough not having my mom around," Marcelas, a fifth-grader at Seattle's Orca elementary school, said at a news conference with Senate Democratic leaders this month. "But she's been with me in spirit every time I talk."
Plenty of American families have succumbed to a combination of illness, unemployment and debt. Marcelas' mother, Tifanny, fell ill in 2006 at age 26 with the crippling condition that causes abnormally high blood pressure in the arteries of the lungs.
"If she still had her healthcare, she'd probably still be here," Marcelas' grandmother, Gina, told reporters.
The family's troubles began when Tifanny Owens started missing work because of her illness, said Joshua Welter, who worked with the family at the Washington Community Action Network. Jack in the Box "let her go after she missed so much work," Welter said.
Jack in the Box spokesman Brian Luscomb said the only Tifanny Owens in their records was a team leader, the equivalent of a shift supervisor, who resigned "for family obligations" in 2006. "She was not involuntarily terminated," he said.
With no income, Owens couldn't afford transitional health coverage. Owens would occasionally go to the emergency room, and in one visit, she was diagnosed with pulmonary hypertension, which cannot be cured but can often be treated.
She was admitted to the University of Washington Medical Center in June 2007, and died a week later.
Marcelas, a plump-cheeked, soft-spoken youngster, became a celebrity of sorts after Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) began talking about his family on the Senate floor."
This young boy could just as easily go on with his childhood, and not be a spokesperson/advocate for health care, he is clearly doing this from the heart, and it is sweet that he was included front and center for this major, historic event. I omitted the part of the story where cut throat conservatives accused him of being prostituted for the cause. Can't a kid be allowed to follow his hearts pure desire to advocate for a cause that changed his life forever? Stand tall in your place in history Marcelas, I'm sure your Momma is proud of you.
The AFP reports: "Obama on Friday delayed a trip to Asia by three days, until March 21, in hopes the plan that would extend health coverage to 31 million uninsured Americans could be voted into law and reach his desk for signature before he left.
Democratic leaders in the House are struggling to garner the 216 votes needed to adopt a measure already passed in the Senate, even though they hold more than 250 seats in the 435-member chamber.
Democrats, pointing to independent analyses which show the plan would lower health insurance premiums for most people and reduce the federal budget deficit, say the Republican opposition is simply aimed at wounding Obama politically ahead of key midterm elections in November.
But the reform plan now under consideration also faces opposition among House Democrats, some of whom say it doesn't go far enough in reining in private insurers and others who want tougher safeguards against using insurance to pay for abortions.
That process, known as "reconciliation", would let Democrats frustrate Republican filibuster obstruction tactics in the Senate and allow the healthcare overhaul to be finalized before Congress goes into recess on March 26."
I'm glad they are going to use the reconciliation process. A simple majority will be used to (hopefully), pass the bill. This pulls the plug on these narrow minded, clueless members of congress like Stupak, and even Lieberman, who have been willing to tie up the whole process, by holding their votes hostage, trying to make themselves and their pet causes a one man blockade. These people have lost sight of the "For the people" concept, and are corrupted & lack the humanity and compassion, to take action for the 31 million Americans who have no health care coverage whatsoever.
As for the GOP, walking lockstep in opposition, they never have come up with any alternatives. The party of no, just focused on obstruction, and came with with an alternative plan that looks something like this:
He will be given credit for time previously served toward his ten day sentence, and he must pay a $100 fine.
It is being reported he will likely not serve his 10 days in jail, due to jail overcrowding & matrixing out of criminals.
James is also required to report no later than 2 p.m. on April 1st to the Center for Family Development for a domestic violence evaluation. He is not allowed to have contact of any kind with the Victim, Heidi Lee Siebenlist.
The Judge dismissed four other counts of Strangulation, two counts of Assault in the Fourth Degree, and Harassment.
Wait a minute!
You steal a computer & get suspended for a year.
You get into a domestic altercation that involves strangulation & get a one game suspension??
I think the University just inadvertently endorsed domestic violence.
Coach Chip Kelly is wish washy. In a pathetic press conference, he apologized to fans & faculty (but not the students!!!). He is the same coach who, back in September, when running back LeGarrette Blount punched an opposing player after Oregon's loss to Boise State, prompting Kelly to suspend him for the season.
Kelly later reconsidered the suspension and Blount came back for the final two games, including during a critical stretch in the Ducks' Rose Bowl loss to Ohio State. Critics invoked Kelly's rollback of the punishment in recent months, when nine Oregon players have gotten in trouble ranging from fighting to DUII, as an indication the coach would go soft on misbehavior.Fire Coach Kelly. That will send a message not only to his players that they will be next up - as to being outed from their scholarships. But it will send a clear message to any subsequent football coach at OUR PUBLIC COLLEGE - that enabling and hand holding and refusing to hold fully accountable illegally acting pampered college athletes is a thing of the past at better deserving University of Oregon.
Kelly - you need to GO. WE don't need you. We don't DESERVE you.
YOU are replaceable. You and your undeserved and unethical multi-million dollar public salary - for certain.
CNN reports:
- A Mississippi high school faces a lawsuit over its decision to cancel its prom rather than allow a lesbian high school student to attend with her girlfriend.
The lawsuit, filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, alleges that officials at Itawamba Agricultural High School in Fulton, Mississippi, are violating the student's First Amendment right to freedom of expression.
The ACLU asked the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi to reinstate the prom.
"All I wanted was the same chance to enjoy my prom night like any other student. But my school would rather hurt all the students than treat everyone fairly," said the student, 18-year-old Constance McMillen, in an ACLU news release. "This isn't just about me and my rights anymore -- now I'm fighting for the right of all the students at my school to have our prom."
At the center of the lawsuit is a memorandum from the school to students, dated February 5, which states that prom dates must be of the opposite sex.
Also, when McMillen expressed a desire to wear a tuxedo to the prom, the superintendent told her only male students were allowed to wear tuxes, according to court documents.
Superintendent Teresa McNeece also told McMillen that she and her girlfriend could be ejected from the prom if any of the other students complained about their presence there, according to the documents.
The prom was canceled after McMillen and the ACLU tried informally to get the school to change its stance."
A few thoughts come to mind here.
• Yay ACLU for stepping in!
• I hope they press the High School to reinstate the prom....
• Even better- maybe some Civil Rights activists will put together something better.
A "come as you are" event. The bottom line is the prom is an event to celebrate the culmination of 4 years of high school.
I always hated the pressure to have a date, the fashion, etc. Why not be able to attend by yourself, with a friend, with a same sex date, and even attend as a group w friends?
As an aside, don't public schools get Federal funding?
Are they not required to adhere to anti discrimination laws?
If they discriminate, they should lose Federal funding.
Whatever academics they are teaching students, they are inadvertently teaching discrimination.
Constance M~ You are wise beyond your years.
By the way-- this IS a public high school & it appears they have taken their web site down. That's OK, they can be reached by mail or phone:
PHONE: (662) 862-3104
