San Diego Free Press

Grassroots News & Progressive Views

You are here: Home / Archives for Health

If Republicans Love Competition, Why Do They Still Hate Obamacare?

by

By Joe Conason / Alternet

When asked what makes the world work, any self-respecting right-wing Republican knows the politically correct answer: competition! (With at least one exclamation point.) It is the paramount principle and universal solvent perennially touted by the right to cure whatever ails us—in the abstract.

What they don’t seem to like so much, in reality, is the competitive impact of the Affordable Care Act, which is forcing health insurance companies into a contested marketplace—and seems to be driving down rates, state by state. The latest data arrived this week from New York, where insurance regulators announced that the new rates approved for 2014 will be 50 percent lower, on average, than current rates.
  [Read more…]

Liberal Group Flays Peters for Obamacare Vote

by

Vote to delay penalties was not a “vote against Obamacare.”

By Andy Cohen

Congressman Scott Peters appears to have a lot of problems, even before he finishes the first year of his first term. It seems that no matter what he does, he just can’t seem to make anyone happy these days. He’s not conservative enough; he’s not liberal enough; he’s a “corporate shill”; he’s a job-killin’-regulation-lovin’ commie pinko who loves govmint too much…..or something.

It would be completely expected for bombs to be lobbed in from the right, but attacks are now coming from the left as well. A recent missive from MoveOn.org demanded that Peters explain “why (he) voted against Obamacare,” as if he suddenly joined with the House Congressional Republicans in voting (for a 37th time) to repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (aka: Obamacare).   [Read more…]

New anti-Obamacare Campaign: Health Insurance is Bad

by

By Joan McCarter / Daily Kos

They really have all lost their minds

Nullification, it’s the new black for Republicans. If you don’t like the law can’t fix it or repeal it the way it’s supposed to be done, sabotage it until it goes away. In this instance, well, good luck to them. The Citizens’ Council for Health Freedom (!), like FreedomWorks (which is trying to convince uninsured people that it’s cool to be uninsured) have to convince people that either paying through the nose for insurance or going without, all to make a political point, makes sense. Because “Freedom” means never being able to go to the doctor.   [Read more…]

California Hunger Strike Raises Issue of Force-Feeding on U.S.

by

By Christie Thompson / ProPublica

More than 12,400 inmates across California have been fasting since July 8, to protest solitary confinement and call for improved prison conditions. The strike, involving roughly two-thirds of the state’s prisons, is one of the largest in California history.

So far no prisoners have been force-fed, and the Corrections Department says they have no current plans to do so. “Hopefully no one will get to that point,” said a spokesperson for California’s corrections department. During a similar strike in 2011, the said he planned to seek court permission to force-feed inmates. (The strike ended before he did so.)

As lawmakers call for an end to the force-feeding of Guantanamo detainees, the California strike serves as a reminder: inmates on U.S. soil can ultimately be given the same treatment.   [Read more…]

What Do Buddy and I Have in Common?

by

By Judi Curry

Buddy is my 12 year old Golden Retriever. Twelve years old – in doggie years – makes him older than me! Hooray! And, Buddy was born on my birthday. We have “celebrated” our birthdays together for years now – he get’s people food, and I get to watch him eat it.

At my age – younger than Buddy – I have many aches and pains. The broken shoulder and trigger fingers don’t help. Buddy also has many aches and pains, particularly in the hip area of his large body. He weighs in at about 115 pounds; and is large for a dog regardless of his weight.

I go to physical therapy twice a week and I have a reflexology massage – see my previous article on Mary’s Therapies – every two weeks. So what, you say?. Buddy now also has physical therapy at least once a week — and this week, he had it twice.

Come on – physical therapy for an animal! Let me introduce you to the best person Buddy has met in many years.   [Read more…]

La Jolla Seals Make it into City Council District 2 Campaign

by

By Doug Porter

As City Councilmember Kevin Faulconer fades into the sunset (or not, if he runs for Mayor in a recall election), things are starting heat up in the race to find his replacement.

Current Councilmember Lori Zapf, whose residence was moved into the redrawn district boundaries, is the best known candidate, bringing along the advantages of her incumbency in D6 and the support of the local conservative establishment.

But challenger Ed Harris is about to get some attention, even if it’s of the unwanted type. A group lead by activist Bryan Pease is opposing his candidacy on the grounds of Harris’ past statements and actions about the La Jolla seals, along with other stances they consider anti-environmental.

Harris, who is currently a San Diego lifeguard, appeared at numerous meetings of the City Council and Coastal Commission opposing plans to allow a rope barrier to encourage a safe viewing distance.

There are few issues that have raised more passions in the community in recent years than the treatment of the ever increasing number of harbor seals hanging around the Children’s Pool Beach.

This story was updated at 12:45pm on Tuesday

NOTE: In an attempt to keep this site from being All Bob Filner All the Time, I am leaving coverage to others for a few days. There are no bets riding on this promise.   [Read more…]

Koch Brothers vs. the Truth on Obamacare: Real Benefits for Women’s Health

by

By Ian Reifowitz / Daily Kos

If Ayn Rand is, in the words of Robert Reich, “the philosophical guru of the modern Republican Party,” then the billionaire, Rand-worshipping Koch brothers are its paymasters. Now they’ve launched a new campaign of lies, aiming their pocketbook at Obamacare, or, more accurately, at those who stand to benefit from its reforms. You know, small, “special-interest” groups like, say: women (and the people who love them), young people between the ages of 19 and 26, as well as others (and their affected families) who can’t get coverage at work, or lose coverage when they lose their job, or can’t get coverage because of pre-existing conditions. Does that sound to you like just about all of us at one point in our lives? Yeah, me too.   [Read more…]

June’s Extreme Weather Breaks All Kinds of Records

by

By John Lawrence

Devastating fires swept through Colorado in June, where firefighters remain relentless in their battle against the West Fork Complex fire in southwest Colorado, which has burned for most of the month.
The West Fork Fire likely will burn for months, said incident commander Pete Blume. And crews are not expecting to make any real gains against the 117-square-mile burn until the summer monsoon season brings cooler temperatures and rains, hopefully in early July.

“This is a significant fire with significant problems, and we are not going to see any significant containment until we have significant changes in the weather,” said Blume, who is with the Rocky Mountain Type I Incident Command.   [Read more…]

From Yoga, Chalk to Medical Pot, San Diego Courts Protect Rights

by

If anyone was counting, Monday, July 1st in San Diego should stand out as a day when San Diego courts delivered justice. From the yoga case, to the by-now well-known chalk case, to the medical marijuana case, in one day local courts involving two juries and two judges stood up for the rest of us, and for our rights.

Jeff Olson, the Chalk Man, Wins

Certainly, justice was delivered – a little late – in Jeff Olson’s fight against those 13 counts of vandalism for his anti-bank messages. On Monday, a jury found him not guilty on all counts. Jan Goldsmith, our city attorney, and his deputy du jour on Olson’s case, both made public statements that it was all about graffiti.

In a sense, the judge – Howard Shore – agreed. He ruled that the defense could not bring up First Amendment arguments during the trial. And then he gagged everybody. In a misdemeanor case. That’s unheard of. Nobody that was involved could talk to the media. Shore rules that it’s not about free speech and then he declares that there’s no free speech for the parties or witnesses.

The jury felt otherwise and issued a necessary victory for free speech.

Medical Marijuana Mistrial, a Dismissal and a History Lesson in Jury Nullification

On the same day, Monday, in another courtroom – …   [Read more…]

Albertsons Worker Sues Chain for Work Conditions Causing Premature Birth and Death of Her Baby

by

by Laura Clawson / Daily Kos

Reyna Garcia, a worker at an Albertsons grocery store in California, brought her bosses three doctors’ notes saying she needed her job duties altered because of a high risk pregnancy. They ignored her, and here’s the result that’s led her to file a lawsuit:

According to the complaint, García, a general merchandise manager at the Atascadero store, asked to leave work while in pain one day last November. But her request was turned down, and she continued heavy lifting at the store. She went into labor that night, rushed to the hospital and found out that her baby was losing fluid and sustaining brain damage, she says.

García gave birth two days later to a girl named Jade, but the baby only lived for a few minutes. According to the suit, “Baby Jade’s death over those several minutes was the most painful thing Ms. García had ever experienced.”

  [Read more…]

Texas Senate Descends into Chaos Over Abortion Bill

by

By Karen from Maui/Daily Kos

Less than two hours before midnight and the end of her 13+ hour filibuster to prevent the passage of SB5 in Texas, Republicans made the 3rd procedural challenge to Senator Wendy Davis‘ 13+ hour filibuster.

Sen Davis had to stand (not lean) without any breaks (even bathroom breaks) in order to maintain her filibuster against the draconian anti-abortion bill in the Texas Senate (SB5).

However rules say that what she said had to be “germane”.  And if she was found straying from the subject 3 times, they could shut her down.

Here’s the catch: The majority Republicans favoring the bill also voted on what was germane.  So when she talked about this bill being yet another hoop that women had to jump through like the previous bill requiring ultrasounds, Republicans claimed that was “not germane” and moved to shut her down.
  [Read more…]

Our Tawny My

by

By Ernie McCray

Our girl, Tawny Maya (Tawny My, for short), is now a mom and, as I watch her kiss and coo and cradle her little bundle of delight, looking at ways to adapt to his personality so she can best tend to his needs, I’d say he is one lucky son-of-a-gun.

I look at her in a picture, posing in her natural loveliness, as her mother had, in the same gown, a little more than thirty-five years ago and I can’t help but recall how we waited for Tawny and her sister, Nyla Summer, just bubbling with anticipation.

Oh, I wish Nancy could see this mom we raised, and all I can say for myself right now is if I had anything to do with who she has become today then please excuse me while I pat the hell out of my back. All I tried to do, basically, was treat her with love and respect, do somersaults when she accomplished something, anything, and go easy on the tendency grownups have to address their children’s screw-ups with B.S. jive like “Why, I’ve never heard of such a thing.” I tried to keep it real and what a deal because it paid off.   [Read more…]

©2010-2017 SanDiegoFreePress.org

Code is Poetry