For six years, I made a practice of working long hours at my little urban elementary school in Oakland, then after a brisk two-mile bike ride home, I would switch hats and head up the hill to my son's elementary school to volunteer my time as a parent. In my teacher's head, I constructed elaborate "Compare and Contrast" lessons. Sometimes I wondered how these two things could really be the same, much in the same way that a Saint Bernard and a Chihuahua are both dogs. But it really was at their core that I found similarities that made me comfortable. It took me most of those six years to become accustomed to my dual role, and that's when my son had to go and get promoted to middle school.
Tonight I went to my first PTA meeting. For that past half-dozen years, I had avoided this experience by sticking strictly with the Dads' Club. They were the Delta Force of parental involvement. They were an action-oriented group that moved in to fill the gaps left by buildings and grounds, or organized fundraisers that could be done in a weekend. Whatever we talked about in our monthly meeting, we were generally acting on before we all got together again at the neighborhood coffee shop. We pulled a lot of weeds, built a few benches, and performed a lot of amusing skits in those six years. The meeting I attended tonight wasn't about action, it was about procedure.
Don't get me wrong, I have an appreciation of process, but I don't care to discuss it. That's why I was intrigued when a woman stood up as the principal was concluding her report and said that she had something that she believed needed immediate action. She said that her grandson had been shot with a BB gun the other day, and she wanted to know what was going to be done about it. I had the impression that she was more in the mood to see somebody lose their job, but instead there was a great deal of talk about what could, should and would be done. Apparently this girl had shown a number of other kids at school her weapon, and nobody had reported it. She shot three different students, including the grandson, who nearly lost an eye. Suddenly I found myself wishing desperately to be discussing the pizza and cookie dough fundraiser for the Fall.
When the meeting finally ended, I came home and asked my son what he knew about a girl at his school carrying a BB gun. He sheepishly admitted that he had seen this girl showing off her weapon. They had gym class together. He didn't tell anyone. "Everyone knew that Shelly had a gun," he said.
"Sherry?" I asked. "She's in sixth grade?"
"Yeah."
I felt my stomach roll. I knew that one of the kids from our school had moved on to go to middle school where my son goes. Small world. Too small. "Sherry Crawford?"
"Yeah."
I went and got one of my old class pictures just to be certain. The same troubled little girl who had struggled to control her temper in my fourth grade class was now set to be expelled from my son's middle school for shooting another kid, a friend of my son's, in the eye. And now my two worlds have a nexus. I think I'll skip the next PTA meeting.

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Michael Steinberg submits: The Wall Street Journal  Price Strategy Puts WellPoint in Bind reports that the CEO of Americas largest health insurer, Angela Braly, is having difficulty balancing shareholders' need for profits with unaffordable premiums. To cope with rising medical expenses,  WellPoint WLP, sharply increased premiums. WellPoint lost 189,000 members...
Thu Sep 4, 2008 @ 5:09 AM PDT
Tags: Healthcare, UnitedHealth Group Inc.

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Learning fiddle tab is so intuitive and so easy that a student picks it up in five minutes. This is true even for five-year-olds.
Before starting this examination of fiddle tab, lets recall what standard musical notation looks like. The familiar dot-shaped notes on or between the five lines of the musical staff represent exact pitches of musical notes.
The dots show the pitch. Sharp signs or flat signs influence that pitch. The clef sign also has an effect.
Rhythm symbols that show the relative duration of the notes. Other musical terminology, often Italian, indicates the speed of the rhythm. Allegro con brio, for example, means lively, with enthusiasm.
Musical notation tells nothing about how to play the music on any given musical instrument. It is designed to be used with all musical instruments.
Fiddle tab, on the other hand, tells exactly what string to play and what finger to use. Its intuitive and easy to learn.
But it shows the information in a form that only fiddle players can use. It is not universal. Because it is so focused, it is simpler.
On the fiddle tab staff each space represents a string. The top space represents the E-string, the next one, the A-stringand so on.
If you placed a violin with its side, with the neck extending to the left of the body, you would see the strings in exactly the same relationship. If you then reached both hands to pick up the violin, with your left hand under the neck, you would be in position to finger the strings the normal way.
Numbers indicate what finger to use. The number 1 is the first fingerthe pointing finger, 2 is the middle finger, 3 the ring finger and 4 the pinkie. An 0 means use no finger. Leave the string open.
The only question remaining is placement of the fingers. We begin with the placement that would produce a major scale. This is the most common tradition in Western music. Its common to all the melody instruments that Im aware of, and to singing as well.
All music teachers start with this basic instruction: the do-re-mi of music. These first three notes of the scale are found in countless childrens songs: Are You Sleeping, Brother John?, Row, Row, Row your Boat, and, in the inverse order, Hot Cross Buns, Mary Had a Little Lamb, London Bridge is Falling Down, Three Blind Mice.
That sound, and the relationship of the fingers that produce that sound, underlies fiddle tablature, as I teach it. Any variation from that finger placement will be indicated by the letter L or H. These letters guide the student to place the finger lower or higher than usual.
Rhythm indication in fiddle tab is similar to musical notation, but simplified.
A simple line under a number is called a stem, just as in music notation. It shows the same thing, one beat of rhythm. Two numbers that have stems joined by another line (called a in music notation) would be played in one beat.
The development of standard musical notation in Western music was a great achievement. It led to the richly complex beauty, power and mystery of great music.
Learning this system is no easy matter. In Europe, a hundred years ago, kids going into music learned to sing solfeggio. This meant translating musical notation into do-re-mi.
In current practice, the difficulty of learning to read music is overcome by fingering notation over the particular note. This is true for keyboard, violin, or brass and woodwinds. Numbers over certain notes aid the student in translating the symbolism of the notational pitch into physical actions.
The American Suzuki Method also uses finger notations over every note. The student has only to intuit when to change string. In this respect it differs not at all from classical violin pedagogy.
In the method that I use, which we may call the fiddle tab method, I show the student tab charts after the initial stage of learning to play a scale. I have never had a student fail to learn how to read tab charts in one lesson. It is intuitive, natural and easy.
Making the transition to reading music later has, likewise, been no great challenge. Some students simply begin Suzuki Violin Book One, with its easy pieces. They quickly learn to read.
Students who prefer fiddling can use Beginning Old-Time Fiddle, by Alan Kaufman. It has both fiddle tab and musical notation. Its an excellent resource for the transition from tab to music notation.
For more information about learning how to play fiddle using tab charts, set your web browser to Learn to Play Fiddle. You will find an abundance of information and free tab charts.

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 Denver residents should grab Barack Obama and get him to talk about what he plans to do about transit funding before he leaves town at the end of the week.
It seems the city could be in quite a transit mess, according to various published reports out of the Mile High City.
The cost of the 12-year-FastTracks comprehensive transit plan is spiraling out of control.
Approved in 2004 with a 0.4 percent sales tax, the massive transit project, which includes 122 miles of light rail and commuter rail, was supposed to cost $4.7 billion.
Forget that. News reports out of Denver have priced the project at $7.9 billion, leaving transit planners with some very hard choices. Among other things, transit planners are looking at delaying some of the rail lines or  eliminating some of the lines entirely to get the project done with the current tax and within the orginally proposed nine-year schedule.

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Is  now  the  right  time to look  at an  HSA Plan  for  your  health insurance needs? It  may be!
What is an HSA  Plan?  It is  a type of Health insurance plan authorized  by the  federal government  several years ago. They  passed the  authorizing legislation  because they  felt  that health  care premiums  were too high and  rate  were increasing too rapidly. They  felt that if they  provided a family a .fiscal incentive to  reduce a families excessive utilization of  health care services they  could slow the  rate of  premium growth in  health insurance. They  have  had some success with this  strategy. All  HSA  plans  are two part plans. You  have a  traditional premium to  cover the  costs of a  High Deductible health  plan. The plan typically provides  no  coverage for  health expenses until the high  deductible  has been  met  for  the  year. That introduces us to  the  second  feature of  the  HSA plans. You  are  also  authorized to fund a savings  account with dollars equal to  the High  deductible of the HSA Plan  up to  an inflation adjusted limit set by  the federal government. This  account  is  called  an HSA Saving account at a qualified financial institution.You  receive a  tax deduction  for  the contributions you  make to  the  account  each  year and all  withdrawals used to  pay qualifying medical  expenses  come out  tax free. Any funds  not  used for medical  expenses remain in  your  account and continue to  grow tax free. Unlike the  situation  with  the  Flexible Spending Account (FSA) corporate benefit program. The  money is  yours forever. Unused  balances are not forfeited at the  end of  the  calender year.
Why  do I  feel  that  this might be a good time to  look into  HSA Plans for your  health  needs? The  IRS has changed some  rules and increased the  benefits of setting up HSA plans. They  are permitting some  tax free transfers  from IRA plans to pay for medical  expensed incurred  by people insured with HSA Plans. There is also some  IRS  activity underway  which will provide incentives to  the employers to offer  HSA  Plans for their employees.
W  can  help provide  HSA plans for you, your  family  and your business in  much of the  midwest  and mid atlantic region. How  can  we  help you?
financial-services@live.

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Last Updated: 4:18 PM 12/22/06 - Doctor’s offices and emergency room waiting areas are on the brink of overcrowding. Apparently many people, who aren't quite feeling up-to-snuff, are running to get a quick fix before the holidays. However, doctors say many of the patients aren’t sick enough to be taking up valuable emergency care.

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• It was an inheritance.
• Somebody dug up a tree and there it was.
• It was found in a suitcase buried in an alfalfa field
• A relative found a treasure map.
That buried treasure stands to make someone rich. It could also send someone to jail. Felhabers is a customs broker. His company, F.C. Felhaber Co., navigates the customs bureaucracy in El Paso, Texas, where tens of billions of dollars in Mexican goods enter each year. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials say he unsuccessfully tried to get a Bank of America armored truck dispatched to the Mexican border to retrieve the money. Weeks later, they say he gave a fake name at two banks while inquiring about exchanging millions.
Once, the explanation was that he discovered the money while excavating a tree in Chihuahua, Mexico. Another time, the story was that it had been buried in an alfalfa field, investigators say. Felhaber denies nearly all of this, including giving a fake name. But he is tough to pin down on details. At times he acknowledges helping exchange a $20 million inheritance. Minutes later, he contradicts himself and says theres nowhere near that much. And he has no idea where the money came from.

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n","published_date":1214355997,"sort_score":-1214355997,"user_article_author":null,"id":3596173,"title":"Beech Grove Fire Depart. first to make switch to digitalnn","type":"NewsplacerArticle","article_source":"WISH","body":"Last month, I-Team 8 exposed the concerns of Marion County's firefighters about the new technology.nn"}}},"range":"month","u":"username","lat_min":39.7045453576255}],"west":-86.193151473999}); MapModel.setCoords(39.7684,-86.158,13); MapItemManager.

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First of all, I will say that I was a STAUNCH supporter of the war in Iraq, and staying as long as we needed to. Then, I turned off Fox News and started reading. I was Shocked and in Awe, all right. I read the 9-11 Commission Report in 2006 and then three books by bi-partisan analysts and advisors, one of which was an advisor to three Republican Presidents. br /br / This entry is so long because it will essentially answer the allegation of exactly what President Bush about, since the sliver of supporters he has left cant seem to understand exactly what that was. Not that I should be so acerbic about it because until Obama came on to the scene and I turned off Fox News, I was one of those in the sliver. br /br / This is the quick and dirty (and I do mean quick and dirty) history of our conflict with the Middle East:br /br / To truly address this issue we have to go back to the 70s. Reagan was obsessed with confronting the Soviet Union and putting our military in regions there, essentially to throw Moscow off balance. He did that by confronting them in Afghanistan, inserting the U.S. military into the Persian Gulf, and strengthening Israel as a sort of flank against the Soviet Union. Not bad for a days work. br / These were strategically correct moves but the details created this brand new political equation about the Middle East due to a sea change in ideology, details, and the impression of the U.S. globally.br / The Iranian Revolution and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan both rekindled radical Islam at the beginning of his (Reagans) administration, which made the State Dept. (the Bureau of Politico-Military Affairs) focus entirely on the Persian Gulf. br / The Shah of Iran had guaranteed the sale of oil safe from the boycott of the 70s (the one that made us all freak out because we realized how dependant we actually were on oil). Taking advantage of the Shah could provide the U.S. a strong military on the southern flank of the Soviets. Aha - strategy.br / The Soviets could beat us into the Gulf because we had no forces in the area, and certainly no plan to project them there at any time (ah, the days….). The Soviet Union didnt either, but our cultural milieu at the time was to see everything through the lens of fear of the Soviets. Interesting to consider as you read through this and realize that everyone President Bush II chose for his cabinet and advisory team were from his fathers progeny of Soviet experts. br / The Carter and Reagan administrations were feverish in attempting to establish military capability there, to be able to project force into that area at any time, and to create bases for that force, again, because we had realized our dependence on oil economically and we couldnt stand the thought of the Soviet Union establishing themselves there and dominating the worlds oil supply. br / The BPMA sought bases, and then sought access, but no one wanted to offend the Soviet Union or any of the other super powers by hosting the United States military, so secret agreements were reached. Richard Clarke (Director of the BPMA and terrorism advisor to the past four Presidents) made these deals. They are not a conspiracy theory.br / The Saudis agreed to facilitate though, and the U.S. poured into Saudi Arabia. This set off a resistance and radical ideology among Muslims who interpreted the Koran to say that infidels couldnt be in the country with Islams two holiest sites. br / Saddam Hussein, the new president, launched a preemptive attack on Iran to seize their oil fields. The U.S. wasnt exactly buddies with Iraq because they had supported the Soviets (the Russians are the root of all evil, evidently), but our relations with Iran were worse.br / The Iranian government held the U.S. embassy staff hostage for over a year, Iran screwed with the turmoil in Lebanon which was an ally to the U.S., Reagan saw Iran as anti-American in Lebanon and also a threat to Israel which was a new ally, so he ordered Marines to Beirut and therefore gave license to terrorists to attack the U.S. with impunity.br / Reagan said we went to Lebanon because of oil…. There is none there.br / 278+ Americans died, and then there was the Libyan attack on the Pan Am flight under the first Bush… neither President retaliated. Hmmm. Reagan kept U.S. presence diplomatically but didnt attack Iran or Syria, both of whom were implicated in the embassy attacks. Reagan ordered forces out of Lebanon when we failed to defeat Iranian/Syrian faction and their religious fervor. The Middle East then noted that the U.S. could easily be driven off, especially after our recent defeat in Vietnam. Bin Laden would actually say this after 9-11.br / The Iran-Iraq war became a high casualty stalemate and the U.S. Departments were pressed for any strategy possible that would prevent the defeat of Iraq. Why? Good question. Although Reagan didnt make Iraq and ally, it was decided that Iraq could not be defeated by a radical, anti-American regime. In 1982 Reagan removed Iraq from the list of countries that sponsored terrorism, so Iraq could apply for U.S. export-promotion loans. A presidential envoy was sent to show support for Hussein in 1983, and American intelligence began to flow to Iraq until full diplomatic relations were established in Iraq by 1984. Fantastic.br / The Iran-Iraq War, still going, had begun to attack oil tankers, so Iraq transposed its oil to Kuwaiti tankers, which the Soviet Union offered to protect. This horrified the U.S., of course, so… and this is really oddly game-like and simplistic… the U.S. simply reflagged Kuwaiti oil tankers under the U.S. Navy. So, American ships holding Saddams oil filled the Gulf, and we had to, first the first time, preemptively consider an Iranian conflict.br / At the same time, Reagan was responding to the S.U.s intervention in the Middle East by bringing the U.S. closer to Israel. We had an alliance just short of a military one. br / Saddam was building a nuclear weapon in 1981, and the Israeli cabinet wanted to bomb the plant. Long story short: we hesitated, they said theyd do it anyway, so we just did it. Great. The U.S. funds the Israeli missile development system, a strong relationship imposed by the Pentagon and the Reagan WH. That close relationship fueled anti-Americanism and inflamed radical thought.br / So, between the buildup in the Gulf and our growing relations with Israel, ta-da, we get tangled up in the Middle East. Reagan had strengthened Saddam and therefore checkmated Iran, and we had a HUGE military presence in the Gulf. br / BUT THEN… our mission became overtaxing the Soviet economy. Draining them in Afghanistan seemed like our best bet because the Soviets had overcommitted there. Although Reagan hadnt fully funded the Afghan resistance, he sent a of Stingers there, and the Soviets pulled out in 1988, when our covert expenses had grown from $35 to 600 million. Note that I am in no way suggesting that these Stingers were eventually used against us or our soldiers. They were all used then or have since ceased to function.br / Although Reagan MAY have been strategically correct in a few of his moves, here are some problems…br / The CIA became dependant on Pakistan intelligence to aid the Afghans, so we didnt get to establish loyalty with them despite our millions of dollars intended to do so. We made the same mistake in the 90s when we could have taken out Bin Laden ourselves but we paid Afghans to do it.br / Most pertinent of the effects was that the U.S. had asked the Saudis to assemble a group of or into Pakistan and Afghanistan. We had no idea who they were, where they came from, and had even less of an idea what we would provide for them when we left. They were society misfits in the first place. This group of essentially amassed by the United States, became Al-Queda. Stuff this good I cant make up. We pulled out, and there was an Afghan civil war. The U.S. did nothing about it, and also did nothing about the mass influx of refugees into Pakistan from Afghanistan. This was a mix of Afghan refugees and wealthy misfit Arabs. The U.S. cut aid to the country (because of its nuclear program). Therefore, the only thing the U.S. ensured in all of this was that a country deploying nuclear weapons was politically unstable and threatened by a fanatic takeover.br / In 1985, Bush experienced the first power in Afghanistan being the tribal chiefs who had lead the fighting forces, the Pakistan military intelligence officers who had conveyed American supplies to Afghanistan, and those Among these were every Al-Queda mastermind, empowered by radicalism and the idea that they could overthrow a superpower. Welcome to the cauldron that was the 90s.br /br / Now that you have the background, President Bushs advisors didnt mutter the word on 9-11. Reems of paperwork from the years leading up to 9-11 will leave out Iraq completely. Saddam Hussien had nothing to do with 9-11. The vast majority of Americans were lead, through a practically fascist propaganda campaign that Ive examined in detail, to believe that Hussein was responsible for 9-11 or that he had aided the masterminds. There really doesnt exist a piece of paper now that doesnt disprove this theory, along with proving that Bushs WH agenda was to go after Saddam Hussein even 8 months before 9-11. The President would literally charge people with finding him a way to invade Iraq. 9-11 was his ticket. br /br / In summation: Despite the Bush Administrations stated interest in liberating Iraq, little formal movement towards an invasion occurred until the September 11, 2001 attacks. According to aides who were with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld in the National Military Command Center on September 11, Rumsfeld asked for: best info fast. Judge whether good enough hit Saddam Hussein at same time. Not only Osama bin Laden. The notes also quote him as saying, Go massive, and Sweep it all up. Things related and not. The rationale for invading Iraq as a response to 9/11 has been widely questioned, as no direct cooperation between Iraq and al-Qaeda was known prior to 9/11 and subsequent intelligence has uncovered none. br /br / So, now were in Iraq and everyone knows why, and meanwhile more American soldiers have died than citizens on 9-11, and the image of the United States is shattered across the world. Not to mention that even Republicans who dont want to admit why are crying at the economy, the housing market, the price of oil… the country is being handed to hell in a handbasket. Oh, and weve COMPLETELY RUINED Iraqs infrastructure and killed tons of innocent people. Please reference Imperial Life in the Emerald City, a great book. Most importantly, what we have done in that country and in the Middle East (not to mention coupling that with what weve done in Gitmo, etc.), has inflamed hatred of Americans to RECORD proportions and we are FAR less safe now than we were before 9-11. Anyone who argues that has literally NO IDEA what the hell is going on there or here or anywhere.br /br / So the answer to this is to… stay there? To protect the Iraqi people? Even hawkish conservatives say its time to hand over the government to their own people. For the sake of our safety, our economy, and for Gods sake USING OUR RESOURCES WHERE WE NEED THEM (on our economy, our school systems, on greening, and on health care, and ON AFGHANISTAN WHERE THE PROBLEM WAS IN THE FIRST PLACE), lets get the heck out of there. And the only way to do that is with a leader who says will get us out, keep a minimal amount of troops there to protect our diplomats, etc., engage representatives in Iraq on all aspects of this conflict like revenue and resource sharing, use diplomacy to secure Iraqs borders, provide badly needed financial support for Iraqs reconstruction, and all the while he understands the grave threat posed to this country by Al-Queda and will combat it. If you dont understand the above, try Obamas words:br /The central front in the war against terror is not Iraq, and it never was. What more could Americas enemies ask for than an endless war where they recruit new followers and try out new tactics on a battlefield so far from their base of operations?br /br / Obama will handle Iraq with diplomacy and MANAGEMENT of which only he is capable. I tend to believe that his detractors paint the picture that he is going to simply pull us out and just leave it alone. Once he is in the WH, he will present ALL options. br /s constant assertions that Obama needs to go to Iraq are a badly drawn political cartoon. He was in Iraq three years ago when the situation was far worse than it is now and everyone knows it, and he was still against it then. He acts like hes fought there since 2003. Hes only been once, too! Obama is more worldly, has more education, more widely varying life experiences, is a far more superior communicator/diplomat, and has lived in a Muslim country. I am far more comfortable with him handling global security than a man who has been dubbed by a politician that I know and that knows him as mentally unstable.

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On December 8th 2003, as part of Congressional legislation called the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003 or (MMA), Medicare Part D came into being. For the first time in American history seniors could count on Medicare to assist them with their prescription drug costs. Though the MMA has been around for the past five years many of my new clients continue to ask me to explain how their prescription drug benefits work, which I always gladly do.

All the insurance companies offering these plans must adhere to a minimum standard of policy design. From this base plan they all enrich their plans and premiums differently. It is this base policy that I will discuss, so it is important to check your actual policy for the details that apply to you.

There are four phases of coverage:

Annual Deductible
Initial coverage
The Gap
Catastrophic Coverage

As of 2008, all insurance companies are required to offer a base plan that has a maximum deductible of $275 in addition to their other plans. It is important to remember that deductibles will change over time. When looking at plans it is important to weigh premium cost against benefit. As of right now there are many generous and affordable plans available that do not have any deductible at all. For those on a MAPD: Most Arizona Medicare Advantage plans do not have any deductible at all.

Initially the plan coverage your drug purchases up to $2510. During this period all you are required to do is pay the co-pays as described in your outline of benefits. Though you are only paying co-pays your insurance company is calculating their true cost for each of your medicines. The true cost being calculated is the insurance carriers pre-negotiated discounted retail price. When you have purchased drugs totaling $2510.00 (true cost) your insurance company will notify you that you have reached the Gap.

During the your insurance company will continue to extend to you their pre-negotiated discounted price (the true cost) but you will pay that cost with your own funds, no co-pays. Some insurance companies will cover generics in the gap but many do not.

Once you have spent $4050 you have entered into the catastrophic phase. During this period or until the end of the calendar year all you will pay is $2.25 for generics and $5.60 for all other drugs.

These plans are annual renewable contracts. Stand alone plans can be purchased or replaced for 11/15 through 12/31 each year for a start date of January 1 of the New Year. For those on a MAPD you can switch again from 01/01 through 03/31 of each year as well.

Because these are annual renewable contract the best way to purchase one is to find an independent insurance agent so you can get multiple quotes from an unbiased source.

For more information feel free to call me at (602) 502-3113 or go to http://www.medicare.

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MONTPELIER, Vt.Enrollment fashionable Vermonts latest state-backed Catamount Success protection path is regulation at in the matter of two-thirds of the common march, nurture questions concerning how swimmingly it is hearing the rationale of face Vermonters who control been uninsured.Consultation that enrollments at the site of May were handling good detached of BARREL,000 -- relatively than the constant line of a band bottom 6,000 -- led sundry workers of the Vermont Company possible Advantage Keeping Trade to quiz what changes demand to continue made.Stuff of customers is to manna from heaven away why humans are not buying your produce, articulate Sen. Doug Racine, D-Chittenden, chief of the Parliament Interest extra Success Council. Is it as well dear? Execute they espy it in that not a great invention?While the state-subsidized history of the advanced safety measure anticipa means lags, efforts to pay for moderate-income Vermonters to notice up in the direction of a method now which participants compromise the filled honour control ruinous much very ultimate projections. At the purpose of May, one and only 470 Vermonters had signed up in the direction of that invention, in defiance of the projected WATER,547.Susan Besio, manager of Success Attention Trade Accomplishment on the road to Gov. Jim Douglas control, oral the enigma may lurch auxiliary modern the projections than the results.Just as general public situate absent projections, it is burdensome to communicate true where we aim up, Besio oral. These are estimates based likely estimates. To go on we hold unproductive is an off beam position.Started ultimate harvest to buy auxiliary Vermonters below ground by virtue of advantage safeguard, Catamount allows those prep below positive resources levels to obtain claim subsidies to aid benefit premiums. It is further offered privately by means of the states two largest safeguard companies.Single contributor of the company articulated provided the asseverate actually wants to adjoining the numbers of citizens below ground, it may hold to draw Massachusetts celebrity coupled with want it.My kneel is that the lone path to pay for a cavernous zone insured is in case you desire it, spoken Sen. Kevin Mullin, R-Rutland.Asseverate officialdom are intention a examine this cascade to attempt to windfall gone how famously Catamount is consultation Vermonters needs. Case from: The Times Argus, http://www.timesargus.

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I wasnt going to say anything but I find its time I make it clear. The whole UPS Mail Innovations system is CRAP. Yes, you heard me right, its nothing but CRAP.
A couple months ago, I was expecting a memory card that was shipped by the vendor via UPS Mail Innovations. While the UPS side of things seemed to go extremely fast, my package sat in Atlanta for 13 days after it was to the USPS.
What happened over the course of those 13 days? Well, it was processed, then processed, and processed, oh yeah, and processed, every day. I contacted the postmaster at our local post office and he took the tracking number and looked into it. That was on day 6. On the 12th day I just happened to run into our mail carrier as she was delivering the mail. I told her what was happening, and she asked for the tracking number. I had the package the next day.
Like I said, that was about 2 months ago and I wasnt going to say anything. Until today. Why? Well, if you watch my Test Pattern videos you learned that I received a $25 gift card from Best Buy as an apology for their customer service. We used that gift card to order a Joby Gorillapod a week ago today. I have wanted a Gorillapod for a long time, and I was excited that I was getting one for a late Fathers Day present.
The UPS tracking information shows the Gorillapod left their warehouse in Groveport, Ohio on June 16th. It arrived in Atlanta on June 18th, and was manifested (USPS postage paid) that same day.
The USPS tracking information shows the electronic shipping information was received at 6:41 am on June 18th, and the shipment was accepted on June 18th at 1:38pm. My package has been sitting there, in that location, ever since. How do I know? Because their own tracking system tells me it was , or left the Atlanta location, at 7:47pm on June 19th (that was yesterday). It also tells me that the package was , or left the Atlanta location a second time, at 9:01pm on June 19th.
How could my package that location twice within hours of itself, unless they are screwing up the shipment again, like the last time. This is exactly what happened with the memory cards. If my package left Atlanta last night at 9:01, it would be at my local post office today, whether or not they delivered it to me. Guess what, its not. The local postmaster is once again looking into it for me, and I bet I wont get it until I can catch the local mail carrier and inform her of the issue.
Thanks again UPS and USPS for working so well as a team. Your reputation in the industry is astounding. I expect better from you. Now pardon me while I sit here setting up camera shots that would turn out much better if I had that Gorillapod youre holding for me.
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Veliquette is an outspoken critic of the Acme Township Board and the current process in Acme for approving proposed development projects. As it happens, opinions like his have been scarce in this blog. Much of the media coverage, which I have included, has focused more on the legal tussle between Acme Township and Meijer. I encourage Gene and others who share or dispute his point-of-view to contribute to this blog, so that all can better understand the issues behind this ongoing controversy. The full text of Veliquette's letter to the editor can be found on page 4 of the June 12, 2008 edition of The Elk Rapids News. For more information on the Acme Township/Meijer controversy, click on Meijer in Categories at upper right.

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(06/11/2008) The quality of care provided to Medicare patients varies widely based on geographic location and the race and ethnicity of beneficiaries, according to a recently released report commissioned by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and conducted by the Dartmouth Atlas Project. "Disparities in Health and Health Care Among Medicare Beneficiaries" is based on fee-for-service Medicare enrollment and claims data for patients 65 and older. Researchers found wide care disparities in the areas of diabetes testing, breast cancer screening, and rates of leg amputations resulting from diabetes and peripheral vascular disease complications.

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Tax cases frequently turn on issues of statutory construction. The statute might be general in nature, such as section 162, which allows a deduction for “all the ordinary and necessary expenses paid or incurred during the taxable year in carrying on any trade or business.” Alternatively, the statute might be highly specific, providing a clear answer to the question at hand. . . . In answering questions of this type, courts will often look to legislative history, statutory structure, or tax policy in an effort to determine exactly what Congress intended when it adopted the provision or term in question. Such an intentionalist approach is, of course, in keeping with conventional rules of statutory construction that call for a determination of congressional intent when no clear answer can be obtained by applying the statutory language to the issue at hand.
In some instances the statute will be highly specific. A court might then adopt a textual or plain meaning approach to statutory interpretation, closing its eyes to legislative history, statutory structure, or tax policy, suggesting a congressional intent at odds with the result dictated by the language of the statute. Indeed, the court might not view such a case as involving an issue of statutory construction at all. To construct or construe a statute implies a need to determine its meaning. But, if the meaning is clear, the court merely needs to apply the statute according to its text. Construction is unnecessary. It is in cases of this type that courts are likely to part company, with some taking a textual approach, and others adopting an intentionalist approach to reach a result viewed as consistent with legislative intent in spite of its inconsistency with the statutory language. As the Supreme Court has observed, “the plain meaning of the statute should be conclusive except in the ‘rare cases [in which] the literal application of a statute will produce a result demonstrably at odds with the intentions of its drafters.’” It is the rare case of this type that is the subject of this Article.

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MONDAY, May 5 (HealthDay News) -- Patients who had private health insurance before enrolling in a U.S. government children's health insurance program called SCHIP still had unmet health-care needs, according to new research.
A waiting period to qualify for the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), a federally funded program offering health insurance to low-income children not eligible for Medicaid and without private coverage, doesn't address chronic health conditions such as asthma, the study by the University of Rochester Medical Center finds.
Thirty-five states require uninsured children to go without insurance for a period of time before they can enroll in SCHIP. The waiting period deters a situation called crowd-out, which can happen if patients switch to SCHIP when they could choose private insurance.
"First of all, we've found that few families switch their children to SCHIP when they have the option of private health insurance... in fact, only 7 percent do," study author Laura Shone, an assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of Rochester Medical Center, said in a prepared statement.
"Second, those who do switch have the same unmet health-care needs as those who didn't have insurance when they enrolled," Shone concluded.
Her team's findings are based on research done on New York's Child Health Plus SCHIP plan. Child Health Plus has never instituted a waiting period, giving researchers an opportunity to study the patients who switch from private insurance.
The study was scheduled to be presented Monday at the Pediatric Academic Societies meeting in Honolulu.
Shone said this study shows that families are not "saving up" health problems to address after enrollment in SCHIP. About 57 percent of children, both with and without prior insurance, had unmet health-care needs when enrolling in the program, she said. In fact, 10 percent who previously had private insurance had asthma and about 7 percent had some other chronic health condition.
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The American College of Emergency Physicians has more about access to medical care for the uninsured.
-- Kevin McKeever
SOURCE: University of Rochester Medical Center, news release, May 3, 2008
Last Updated: May 05, 2008
Copyright © 2008 ScoutNews, LLC. All rights reserved.

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Yesterday Arizona Sen. John McCain delivered what his handlers were hyping as a major address on health care. McCain's plan is a dangerous fraud.
He wants voters to think he is going after health care cost inflation. In reality, he wants to dismantle the employer-provided system that now covers over 60 percent (or about 158 million) of non-elderly Americans, forcing millions of us who now get fairly decent health insurance on the job to instead buy whatever they can find on the individual market controlled by unregulated and predatory insurance companies. And he would drive health care costs upward, not downward.
This is truly amazing: McCain and his handlers knew they had to say something about health care. So they turned to their friends (and financial supporters) in the health care industry and the conservative think tanks. And they have adopted the most extreme right-wing ideological approach, premised on the idea that the big problem in health care is that Americans have too much insurance -- in their words, we don't have enough "skin in the game" -- and that only when we have to buy health care with money that comes directly out of our own pockets will consumers force doctors, hospitals and insurance companies to become more efficient.
So that's the theory. But it is contradicted by the facts. Most of us already pay part of our premiums out of our own pockets, and we increasingly have to shell out for co-pays in order to get to see a doctor. The result -- in practice -- is that most people, even those with good insurance, now think twice or three times about even getting regular preventive health checkups. Having lots of "skin in the game" has meant that millions of Americans don't get health care they need -- and that's one of the big problems in U.S. health care driving costs up, not down.
But McCain, like George Bush, pays more attention to ultra-conservative theory than he does to the facts. So McCain wants to tax workers' health care premiums that are paid for by employers. Ask any expert, conservative or liberal, and they will tell you the result will be companies will stop providing health care as an employee benefit. Fortune Magazine quotes one of their experts on the impact of McCain's plan: "I predict that most companies would stop paying for health care in three to four years," says Robert Laszewski, a consultant who works with corporate benefits managers.
Now keep this in mind: McCain and his corporate advisers don't dispute this. The massive upheaval that would result -- millions of families losing their health coverage on the job and then having to try to find an insurance company that would sell them a new policy that would cover their families -- that's not an unintended consequence of his proposal. That chaotic loss of health security is exactly what McCain intends to happen. He wants us all to buy insurance not as part of a group -- like an employee group or a co-op -- that can negotiate for better coverage at lower premiums, but as individuals, at the mercy of the private insurance companies.
And get this: McCain wants to abolish the regulations that currently exist in most states that require companies to insure people with preexisting conditions, provide benefits that don't exclude some medical conditions, and prevent them from charging huge premiums for crumby benefits. How would he do this? By "giving people the freedom" to buy insurance in other states with weaker regulations. You can bet that most of the big insurance companies are now shopping around for the state that wants to become the corporate headquarters state for the new deregulated health insurance industry -- if President McCain wins. Delaware? Mississippi? Arizona?
But, but, but . . . I can hear some people saying, McCain does give people refundable tax credits to help pay for health insurance. And that is part of his package. But his whole philosophy is that too many millions of American's are getting health care benefits that are too rich, and you certainly can't say that about the level of tax subsidy he would provide -- $2,500 per year for individuals and $5,000 for a family, according to the McCain for President website. Last year the average yearly cost of the most popular type of insurance plan offered by employers hit $11,765, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation study. So the average person with a family would end up paying $11,765 minus the $5,000 tax credit, or $6,765 -- about double the $3,226 Kaiser tells us the average employee paid for his or her share of premiums.
Again, this is NOT unintentional. McCain and his corporate advisers think it is good for individuals and families to pay more because it makes them think twice before seeking health care, and -- in theory -- they will shop around for cheaper care. And if they can't cover the costs of real health insurance with McCain's tax credit, the insurance industry will sell you lower-cost plans with big holes in coverage or costly co-pays -- that is, if you are not already sick and you aren't too old for them to see you as profitable.
And McCain will be glad to help you invest your tax credit in a Health Savings Account -- a savings account coupled with an insurance plan cooked up by his friends in the insurance industry with such high deductibles that it only applies for catastrophic health costs. For those normal trips to the doctor, you just take money out of the savings account until there is nothing left -- and then you really reduce health care costs by forgoing the trip to the doctor altogether.
The ultra-conservatives have a name for this combination of tax credits and HSAs. They call it "consumer-directed health care." A better name is "high-cost health care" -- or "insurance company-directed health care." And although they promote it as saving money for individuals, for our economy and our society, the available evidence shows that it does nothing to reduce health care costs -- but it will leave millions of people with worse coverage, more chronic health problems, and higher levels of health cost-driven bankruptcies. And, perhaps most importantly for McCain's financial backers, it would leave the insurance industry and the drug industry even more in control of America's health care system than ever before.
The release of this McCain health care plan is an important test for the mainstream media. Health care experts who are "reality-based" will, if asked to comment, tell reporters that there is no evidence that McCain's proposals will do anything to reduce health care costs, but will the media fall for the McCain spin.

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NY TIMES - The economic slowdown has swelled the ranks of people without health insurance. But now it is also threatening millions of people who have insurance but find that the coverage is too limited or that they cannot afford their own share of medical costs. . .

Many of the 158 million people covered by employer health insurance are struggling to meet medical expenses that are much higher than they used to be - often because of some combination of higher premiums, less extensive coverage, and bigger out-of-pocket deductibles and co-payments.

With medical costs soaring, the coverage many people have may not adequately protect them from the financial shock of an emergency room visit or a major surgery. For some, even routine doctor visits might now take a back seat to basic expenses like food and gasoline. . .

Already, many doctors say, the soft economy is making some insured people hesitant to get care they need, reluctant to spend a $50 co-payment for an office visit. Parents "are waiting longer to bring in their children," said Dr. Richard Lander, a pediatrician in Livingston, N.J. "They say, 'The kid isn't that sick; her temperature is only 102.'". . .

Since the recession of 2001, the employee's average cost of an annual health care premium for family coverage has nearly doubled - to $3,300, up from $1,800 - while incomes have come nowhere close to keeping up. Factor in other out-of-pocket medical costs, and the portion of the average American household's income that goes toward health care has risen about 12 percent, according to the consulting and accounting firm Deloitte, and is now approaching one-fifth of the average household's spending.

In a recent survey by Deloitte's health research center, only 7 percent of people said they felt financially prepared for their future health care needs. . .

More companies may see themselves as having little choice but to require employees to pay even more of their health expenses, said Ted Nussbaum, a benefits consultant at the firm Watson Wyatt Worldwide. And when a weak economy undermines job security, he said, workers may simply have to accept reduced benefits. . .

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