ProgressOhio participated at the Stand Up for Ohio event at the fairgrounds this weekend.
Young and old attended and volunteered at the event. It was a wonderful opportunity to speak to concerned citizens from around the state who attended the event.
We were able to speak to people about Issue 3 and gather personal stories of many that are already currently benefiting from the federal health care law.
Historic new guidelines that will ensure women receive preventive health services at no additional cost were announced today by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Developed by the independent Institute of Medicine, the new guidelines require new health insurance plans to cover women's preventive services such as well-woman visits, breastfeeding support, domestic violence screening, and contraception without charging a co-payment, co-insurance or a deductible.
"The Affordable Care Act helps stop health problems before they start," said HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. "These historic guidelines are based on science and existing literature and will help ensure women get the preventive health benefits they need."
Before health reform, too many Americans didn't get the preventive health care they need to stay healthy, avoid or delay the onset of disease, lead productive lives, and reduce health care costs. Often because of cost, Americans used preventive services at about half the recommended rate.
Last summer, HHS released new insurance market rules under the Affordable Care Act requiring all new private health plans to cover several evidence-based preventive services like mammograms, colonoscopies, blood pressure checks, and childhood immunizations without charging a copayment, deductible or coinsurance. The Affordable Care Act also made recommended preventive services free for people on Medicare.
Today's announcement builds on that progress by making sure women have access to a full range of recommended preventive services without cost sharing, including:
For more information on the HHS guidelines for expanding women's preventive services, please visit: http://www.healthcare.gov/news/factsheets/womensprevention08012011a.html.
The guidelines can be found at: www.hrsa.gov/womensguidelines/.
(Reposted from Wide Rights.)
There is nothing particularly noteworthy reported in Michael Arace's piece in the Columbus Dispatch today titled, "Awareness of gays in sports still inadequate."
If you follow this specific issue, or even sports generally, you already know about Joakim Noah and Kobe Bryant each getting caught using a homophobic slur, the story of Brendan and Brian Burke, and Rick Welts coming out. We've all seen the Jared Dudley and Grant Hill PSA.
But aside from it coming from my local paper, I pass it along here for that very reason: the discussion is being furthered at the local level too.
Columbus has no ties to the recent developments--mostly coming in the NBA--that Arace describes as having "mushroomed in the sports world." Yet, the discussion is continuing at the local level here, and I assume elsewhere. I am grateful for that, because every day that people think and talk about it, the more progress we will have.
With a bit of criticism, I don't think the body of Arace's article really expounds on his title about the inadequacy of awareness of the issue. In fact, the telling of recent developments that have been so publicized undermines that idea.
The title is still true, of course. I just would have wished for more discussion on what he thought was inadequate.
Is it because we all know there are gay players just not who they are? Is it because when our local NHL and MLS teams host LGBT appreciation events, the goal appears to be more about selling tickets than promoting the community? Is it because society still harbors stereotypes of gay men being effeminate, lacking any sense of athleticism or masculinity?
Or maybe Arace is clairvoyant, knowing that the online comments to his piece would complete his point. There's something about the anonymity on the Internet that brings the homophobes out of the woodwork.
I won't post any here, but go check it out. As I write this, there are 17 comments and most are hateful, ignorant, and biblical. And for a bit of fun, the Dispatch has an interactive way to "judge" comments where you can mark all the hateful ones as "disagree," "clueless," and "mean."
If you have not heard, tomorrow is going to be the beginning of the end of the world. Its the day when all the righteous are going to Heaven and the rest will be left on Earth to die... or so Family Radio says.
Family radio is a Christian entertainment company that broadcasts on local radio and online and claims to reach at least 150 countries in 82 languages. Led by their founder Harold Camping, they have spent millions of dollars across America to spread the "May 21st is the end of the world" message in over 5,000 billboards, radio shows, and even just regular 'field' work at community events. They reported $72 million in assets in 2009 to the IRS and receive most of that money through private donations.
Mother Jones Magazine has a great article on Family Radio and their eccentric Founder and brings to light a treasure trove of interesting facts about the organization.
This is not the first time Harold Camping has predicted the end of the world.
Camping predicted the end of days once before, in 1994. The appointed date was September 6. Evans still remembers it. "I remember sitting with a friend, and we waited," he says. "It didn't happen, obviously." Camping attributes the error to an incomplete reading of the Bible, an explanation that seems to satisfy his followers. For his part, Evans says he was not disappointed when Jesus did not come. And anyway, "2011 is distinctly different. There's no Plan B."
The world is not actually going to end on May 21st but "it" will only start on May 21st.
"It" will be a major earthquake that works its way from west to east around the world. As the souls of the saved disappear, those not so lucky will be left to suffer and spend the summer slowly dying off. The Earth itself will cease to be on October 21.
And the most interesting? Despite spending millions of dollars to spread the May 21st message, they don't even believe it themselves.
Though Camping has not wavered in the certainty of his message, neither have staff made plans to cease broadcasting. Evans says this simply reflects a desire to be good citizens. "We'll just let God stop it whenever He's going to," he says. "We suspect it will be around 6 p.m. our time."
Still, even if it did happen, I think most people don't understand what the rapture would actually mean. Over 570,000 people have signed up for a "Post Rapture Looting" event on Facebook but if only righteous people are going to disappear on Saturday, what of value is going to be left sitting around to loot?
All the rich people are going to still be here.
"Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God." - Jesus Christ (Matt 19:24)
So no whether there is a rapture or not on Saturday we can be sure of one thing, residents of Hunting Valley and Indian Hills are not going anywhere.
One of the reasons Rep. Ted Celeste and Rep. Nickie Antonio introduced House Bill 160 to replace the Death Penalty in Ohio with Life in Prison without the possibility of parole, was becasue of the risk of putting an innocent person to death. Ohio has already saved 5 innocent individuals who were formerly on Death Row and it looks like, thanks to the personal decision of Governor Kasich, Ohio may be very close to finally killing an innocent man.
There are not many chances where you have an opportunity to make an concrete difference and possibly help save a life, but this is that time.
Shawn is scheduled to be executed on June 14th despite evidence of innocence and prosecutorial misconduct (More info here).
The Ohio Parole Board unanimously recommended last week that he receive clemency. The Columbus Dispatch reported called the move a "rare step by a board that generally sides with the state in its rulings." Yet, the ultimate decision lies with Governor Kasich.
Homophobia and bigotry are still going strong in Ohio and the story has gone National. The New York Daily News is reporting on an Easter arson in McConnelsville is being investigated by the authorities as a hate crime. They report:
Brent Whitehouse of McConnelsville said an orange glow outside his home on Easter night drew him to the horror.
"I ran out there, but the doors of my barn wouldn't open and suddenly, flames were shooting up through the roof. That barn was gone in five minutes," he told the Zanesville Times Recorder.
The flames were so hot a tractor inside the barn melted.
Still visible on the remains of the gutted barn's walls Tuesday were spray-painted epithets such as "f-gs are freaks" and "burn in hell," the newspaper reported.
Because Whitehouse is gay and fire marshals determined the blaze was arson, the scrawlings were enough for authorities to launch an investigation into whether a hate crime had been committed.
The value of the horses was said to be in hundreds of thousands of dollars. ...
"I just don't understand someone wanting to kill innocent animals. It's like killing a child."
Of the messages on the barn, Whitehouse could only shake his head and say, "They were hateful,"
WhizNews.com has a video report on the incident and the local reaction.
Watch It:
AOL news is reporting that the local Blue Ribbon Arson Committee has announced a $5,000 reward for any information on the culprits behind the arson.
"No tip is considered too small or insignificant," fire marshal spokesman Shane Cartmill told the Times Recorder. "We want to hear from anyone who may have seen something out of the ordinary at, or around, the time of the fire or hear from someone else talking about the fire with an unusual level of interest or knowledge."
Anyone with information about the fire or the messages painted on the barn is asked to call the State Fire Marshal at 800-589-2728 or the Morgan County Sheriff's Office at 740-962-4044.
Related Stories:
Ohio Ranked As 46th Least Tolerant State
The Supreme Court has rejected a request from the state of Virginia to take up a challenge to the Obama health care law on a fast track.
Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli asked the court to let the state bypass the normal federal appeals process and take the case directly to the justices. While the court's rules allow for this, such a rapid review is granted only very rarely. The Justice Department opposed the request to put the case on a fast track.
The court's decision means the issue will continue working its way through the federal appeals courts. Several cases are pending, including challenges to the law from Virginia, Florida, and 25 other states.
They claim that the centerpiece of the law -- requiring virtually all Americans to buy health insurance -- is unconstitutional. Two federal judges, in Virginia and Florida, have agreed with the states.
Three other judges, also in Virginia and in Michigan and Washington, DC, have found the law constitutional.
This week President Obama announced his plans to run in 2012. I wore out a pair of shoes helping to get President Obama elected in '08. But what did it achieve?
President Obama has expanded unnecessary wars, extended tax give-aways to the rich, carried out a hands-off approach to the assault on workers (here in Ohio and elsewhere) while catering to Wall Street and generally not fighting for anything considered "progressive." In fact, his administration has openly mocked his progressive base.
President Obama caves to the Republicans time and time again. I strongly believe that Social Security and Medicare will be safer with a Republican in the White House. At least then the Democrats in Congress will fight for New Deal policies like they did when George W. Bush was in office rather than go along with Obama because he's the leader of the Democratic Party.
President Obama's policies differ little from the the Repubicans in many important areas. "Race to the Top" is "No Child Left Behind" on steroids. George Bush couldn't dream of building dozens more taxpayer-funded nuke power plants that Obama will likely get through Congress. Obama allowed BP to bury the oil with their poisonous Corexit. Obama just pushed through another Free Trade deal with Columbia which will mean more factories leaving the USA for yet another slave labor haven.
I never expected President Obama to pass the Green Party agenda. But I did expect him to make the arguments for progressive change and fight for some things. The Bully Pulpit can set up change for the future but it's clearly not in Obama. I'm tired of his Washington Generals act against the GOP Harlem Globetrotters.
The only reason to support Obama at this point is Supreme Court appointments the next president might make. But it's worth a roll of the dice that the people will have a great revulsion to the Republican president that replaces Obama. Then we can work to get an FDR-like president in office.
Maybe it's not too late for President Obama to change course. Because continuing to take his base for granted is a losing strategy for next year's election.
I encourage people to stay involved and support progressive candidates and causes. Let's get SB 5 repealed and send Senator Sherrod Brown, Reps Kucinich, Kaptur, Ryan and Fudge back to office next year.
