Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/237200918?client_source=feed&format=rss
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Wednesday, July 4, 2012
Florida should comply with federal health care provisions
In light of the Supreme Court?s recent health care rulings, Gov. Rick Scott?s decision not to uphold some of the optional provisions of the law seems to be, as Senate Democratic Leader Nan Rich, D-Weston, said, short-sighted.
According to CBS News, 3.85 million Floridians are without health insurance, which is about 21 percent of the population.
The Supreme Court?s decision to uphold what was referred to by opponents, and later by Obama himself, as ?Obamacare,? which includes the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, could potentially help over 1.5 million uninsured Floridians.
Additionally, 22.4 million uninsured Americans would obtain coverage by 2015 as part of the Medicaid expansion that allows those earning less than $15,000 annually to now be eligible, according to Avalere, a health care consulting firm.
Nonetheless, according to Scott, Florida cannot afford such an expansion. Because the Supreme Court gives states the choice of opting out of the portion of the law that calls for the expansion of Medicaid, the state will not implement that portion.
Scott also said Florida would not carry out federal health insurance exchanges.
The problem with Scott?s decision is that not carrying out a Medicaid expansion would mean that 21 percent of the Florida population will not be helped, including 506,000 children.
Moreover, the Medicaid expansion would not cost Florida anything until 2017, and according to the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration, the state would pay $2.4 billion between 2013 and 2018, while the federal government would pay $26 billion.
What Floridians could end up missing out on includes a ban on refusing coverage to people who have pre-existing medical conditions, an elimination of lifetime coverage limits on certain health care policies, the creation of a minimum health benefits package and the requirement for health insurance companies to allow children and young adults to remain on their parents? insurance until the age of 26.
Meanwhile, not implementing the expansion leaves the people who would have been covered under the expansion to find their own insurance plans to avoid paying the penalty tax.
According to Sen. Rich, more people enrolling in Medicaid means less money needed to treat uninsured patients in emergency rooms at public hospitals, and that, combined with the payment for preventive care, will lower the total costs states must pay.
Though Scott?s decision is not final and the state does not need to implement anything before January 2014, Florida must be able to set aside party affiliations and personal agendas and do what is best for its residents. As Senator Bill Nelson, D-Fla, said, ?our system was broken, and we had to do something.??
Source: http://www.usforacle.com/opinion/florida-should-comply-with-federal-health-care-provisions-1.2746425
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Amelia Earhart search missions begins: five others that failed
An expedition to search for the lost aircraft of Amelia Earhart leaves Hawaii Tuesday with high hopes. But many have tried, and failed, to find conclusive evidence before.?
The University of Hawaii ship Kaimikai-O-Kanaloa, seen here anchored at harbor in Honolulu, is set to leave for of a month-long voyage Tuesday to attempt to find plane wreckage from Amelia Earhart's Lockheed Electra, which disappeared over the South Pacific 75 years ago.
Oskar Garcia/AP
EnlargeWhat happened to Amelia Earhart??That?s one of the greatest mysteries of the 20th?century.
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On July 2, 1937, the famed aviatrix and navigator Fred Noonan disappeared after missing their intended destination of Howland Island, a speck of coral in the vast blue of the central Pacific. A massive sea and air search conducted by the US government found no trace of the pair or their Lockheed Electra 10E.
Ever since researchers, scientists, history buffs, and plain dreamers have longed to succeed where Uncle Sam failed and find evidence ? a wing, traceable equipment, perhaps an entire aircraft ? which uncovers the story of her fate.
The latest search for Amelia planned to leave Hawaii on Tuesday, bound for the remote Pacific archipelago nation of Kiribati. The $2.2 million expedition has been organized by The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR). Previous TIGHAR trips have located debris which hints at the possibility that Earhart and Noonan ended up marooned on Nikumaroro, an uninhabited island that today is part of Kiribati, after a forced landing.
Now the group will used sophisticated underwater gear to search a spot where they believe tides and ocean currents may have deposited Earhart?s plane some 75 years ago.
?Everything has pointed to the airplane having gone over the edge of that reef in a particular spot and the wreckage ought to be right down there,? said Ric Gillespie, TIGHAR founder, according to the Associated Press. ?We?re going to search where it ? in quotes ? should be. And maybe it?s there, maybe it?s not. And there?s no way to know unless you go and look.?
Among the evidence TIGHAR says it has accumulated from Nikumaroro is a zipper from 1930s clothing, a cosmetic bottle which resembles those used by an anti-freckle cream sold in that era, and human bone fragments. But it?s important to keep TIGHAR?s work, however promising, in context. Many searches for Earhart have come up empty over the years.
The first search. The official search began only an hour or so after the last recorded Earhart transmission. The US Coast Guard cutter Itasca searched north and west of Howland Island, on the theory that Earhart and Noonan had simply missed their landing spot by a short distance.
?Itasca searched throughout the day to the northward of Howland Island and during the night of 2-3 July with searchlights, extra lookouts posted and all hands on the alert,? reads a Coast Guard report of Itasca?s mission.
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Monday, July 2, 2012
Young Afghans seek solace from war in heavy metal rock
KABUL (Reuters) - On a dimly lit stage the godfather of Afghan rock prepares for the next song, as images of the French movie La Haine (Hate) flicker above and his audience is asked what song would they sing if they were lying in the gutter dying.
For "District Unknown", Afghanistan's first heavy metal band, the answer could be "Two Seconds After the Blast", from their soon-to-be recorded first album, "A 24-hour life time".
"We live under the constant fear of sudden death," says Qasem Foushanji, guitarist with "District Unknown", one of a handful of bands to emerge with mentoring from Afghanistan's first school of rock, which opened in May.
The thumping, heavy metal rock and aggressive lyrics which reverberate within the sound-proof walls of Kabul's "Sound Centre" music school allows young Afghans to vent their anger at the violence they have witnessed during years of war before and after the September 11, 2001, attacks in the United States.
The District Unknown song "The Beast" has lyrics like: "I scream loud and harsh; For you to run away".
"The beast in the song is fear, and if one can defeat fear then they can make a better reality for themselves," says Pedram Foushanji, Qasem's brother, and band's songwriter and drummer.
Kabul's rock music school, housed inside the small "Venue" restaurant in the Afghan capital, also reflects the return, although sometimes tentative, of social and individual freedoms since the end of the Taliban rule in 1996.
The Taliban's extreme interpretation of Islam banned cinema, TV and most music, except that rooted in religion, and forbid women and girls from working or studying. Under the Taliban, a rock school would have been destroyed and its musicians killed.
Even now, 16 years since Taliban rule ended, Afghanistan's young rock musicians are sometimes forced to wear masks when performing to avoid being attacked by religious conservatives.
And the shadow of the Taliban looms large ahead of the 2014 transition when most foreign combat troops leave and hand security control back to Afghan forces.
The Taliban staged a 12-hour siege at a popular lakeside hotel outside Kabul this month, accusing hotel hostages of drinking and prostitution. At least 20 people were killed.
Women and girls continue to suffer rights abuses at the hands of pro-Taliban conservatives. In April, about 150 schoolgirls were poisoned after drinking contaminated water in an attack blamed on those opposed to female education.
"Our music is not about heartbreak or boy-girl relationships. We don't live that," says Qais Shaghasi, guitarist with District Unknown.
"It's about watching a 15-year-old being married off to a 50-year-old man by her father for money. That's what we see," says Shaghasi, wearing a black T-shirt depicting U.S. trash metal band Slayer.
SEEDS OF ROCK SOWN
After years of Western influences filtering into traditionally conservative Afghanistan, via foreigners associated with NATO-led forces, radio, film, the Internet and a sprinkling of CD music shops, the seeds of rock were sown.
Afghanistan's school of rock was the brainchild of an unlikely trio: Boston cellist Robin Ryzek, who came to teach classical music; former Pakistan refugee Humayun Zardan, forbidden from learning guitar as a youth but determined to see young Afghans rock in his restaurant; and Australian punk rock guitarist Travis Beard, regarded as the godfather of Kabul rock.
"Most Afghans have no clue about what they're hearing, it's just something new and they're drawn to it," explains the pony-tailed Beard.
The school's walls are covered with murals and paintings by local artists, and guitars and speakers have been donated from every corner of the world. Three grungy sound-proof rooms mean restaurant diners and gun-toting neighbors remain unaware of the rock revolution within.
The school has attracted some 20 students, including a handful of girls, seeking refuge in rock.
Pedram and Qasem were living in Iran when they were given an album by the U.S. heavy metal band Metallica, along with a warning about its "harsh" sound, which is in stark contrast to Afghanistan's traditional string and drum music.
The brothers immediately took a liking to the fast-paced, aggressive sound, saying a childhood spent amid war and violence helped them to connect with the music.
"I feel most comfortable playing metal music because you go out there in everyday life and you get a lot of negative energy," Pedram said. "Playing metal makes me feel better. It does for me what meditation does for others."
It was probably no surprise that young Afghan men like the Foushanji brothers picked heavy metal to express themselves, said Mohammad Zaman Rajabi, a Kabul psychologist.
Just like young U.S. soldiers turned to 60s rock when confronted with the horrors of the Vietnam War.
The fast-paced thrash of heavy metal rock is a magnet for youths desensitized to violence, said Rajabi, citing the rock fights and wrestling among Afghan youths on Kabul's streets.
"It gives them an opportunity to express their deepest emotions in a very aggressive, masochistic way," he said.
"It's a smarter way to cope with the reality. In classical music you need a stable state of mind to express yourself through traditional instruments like the sitar, but in rock or heavy metal the kids feel more free."
ROCK REBELLION
Rising above oppression seems a theme within the school.
"La Haine", screened during a performance by the school's founders, depicts the tough lives of three young 20-something migrants in an impoverished French housing project.
During the performance, students also listened to an audio clip from the Johnny Cash biopic "Walk the Line", when famed U.S. record producer Sam Phillips asks Cash if he was lying in the gutter dying what would be the one song he'd sing -- "One song that would let God know how you felt about your time here on Earth. One song that would sum you up".
"It's given them attitude. Three years ago they were shy little boys," explains co-founder Beard of the school's impact.
"One of the biggest problems in this country is that there's no way for people to voice their opinions, you can't go out in the street and start saying stuff, people will beat you up. The only place you can really do things freely is on a stage or on a canvas," said Beard.
Pedram juggles a double life of engineering student and rock musician, but Qasem has dropped out of college to pursue art and music full-time. "Pedram got harassed at school with people saying he was a lover of Satan," Shaghasi said.
On a recent Sunday night both the Foushanji and Shaghasi families watched their sons perform for the first time.
"I was always very worried about what he was doing, but now after seeing him perform I feel a lot better about it," Shaghasi's mother said after the show.
Beard said it is a common misconception for rock music to be labeled as Satanic or anti-Islam by conservatives.
"If you come to a show though you'll see it's all just innocent fun, with really loud and sometimes hard-to-listen-to noise," he said.
Nevertheless, Beard said the musicians take safety precautions and sometimes cancel concerts. Kabul might be accepting of the school but it would be unrealistic to play rock music in other parts of the country under Taliban influence.
"Kabul's a bubble, we wouldn't be able to go to Kandahar and do this," he said of the southern province that is the birthplace of the Taliban.
The acceptance of Western music in Kabul has seen the "Rock in Kabul" festival grow to six concerts a year. Organized by Beard, the festival draws in an audience of around 450 people. At first only 10 percent were Afghans, but now the split between foreigners and Afghans is 50/50.
FEMALES STILL STRUGGLE TO BE HEARD
Kabul's school of rock is also allowing young Afghan girls to strut their stuff on stage. Unlike most schools in Afghanistan there is no segregation of sexes here.
"I always wanted to learn to play rock music and tried to learn in other courses, but there were taught by men and had all male students, so they used to harass us," said Sahar Fetrat, wearing a black scarf while strumming her guitar.
Fetrat, a 16-year-old high school student learning to play guitar, said she attends the school with her sister Sadaf, 20, who is learning to play drums.
"The teachers at this school are used to being around women. The students too. They don't make it uncomfortable. I want to learn to play rock because I'm a very active and hyper person, and rock is wild and I can be wild playing it," she said.
Students have to produce mixed-sex performances every week.
"Segregation of sexes causes a lot of unnecessary problems in this country," said Beard, who plans to form a girlband.
"The male population in the music scene here do not even want to give the girls a chance. They laugh at them before they've even started to play music," he said.
"What's really annoying is that these are not the mullahs or the conservatives. We're talking about the Afghan youth who are already playing music here, who are going to parties and living a semi-Western lifestyle. They're still close-minded about women, which is ridiculous."
(Editing by Michael Perry)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/young-afghans-seek-solace-war-heavy-metal-rock-220649537.html
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Sunday, July 1, 2012
EU oil embargo on Iran comes into effect
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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/eu-oil-embargo-iran-comes-effect-110542768.html
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Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Yep, Kickstarter Is Pretty Much a Scam for Useless Crap [Watch This]
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To Rent Or Not To Rent Construction Equipment | South Jersey Real ...
No matter how you look at construction projects, you cannot contest that they are complicated. This is because of the money, time and labor resources involved, not to mention the careful planning that has to be done prior to day 1 of the actual construction. Taking into account the significant investment being made, it is a must that those who oversee the project make smart decisions. An important thing to think about is whether you should rent or buy construction equipment. Just like any other choice you would make, you first need to know how you will benefit from a particular option. In this case, if you are more inclined to rent rather than make a purchase, it makes sense to learn what the advantages are of renting. One of the biggest advantages perhaps, is that renting doesn?t involve as much capital to be invested since you only have to pay for the equipment when you need it. Considering these economically-challenged times, any company would benefit from freeing up its capital. This capital can then be directed to other business needs.
Other than the fact that it saves you capital, it can also save space or storage costs. A significant percentage of businesses today are challenged with limitations in available funds as well as space. For this reason, construction equipment rental options are something you can consider. In addition, leasing your equipment gives you access to more advanced features. Imagine if you purchased the equipment a year ago, there will have been a lot of new features with the current crop of models. This means if you require the latest features, you would have to shoulder the cost of upgrading your current equipment or buy newer models. Moreover, leasing offers you the chance to try out specific equipment in case you are planning a purchase in the future.
When you rent equipment, you don?t have to give much thought on maintenance. Maintenance costs money, time and effort. That?s why renting your equipment is a more economical option. Other benefits that rentals offer is the possibility of saving through online rental companies. Regardless of the kind of equipment you need, whether it is dump truck or skid steer loader, you should consider shopping around online for reliable companies that offer equipment rentals. This won?t be difficult as everything can be purely done on the Internet. However, make sure that before you proceed with your search, you already know what equipment you need. When faced with having to make a decision between renting and buying, just go back to all the benefits that renting offers.
?Mail this postPosted under Local Real Estate News
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