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POPSGerman Translation Workers Report Mass Protests on University Campuses
According a number of outspoken German Translation students, demonstrations began on Monday and are anticipated to continue through the weekend. Apparently, the protests began at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich sparked these new comments from the Education Minister. Other protests are being held simultaneously on 20 different university campuses throughout Germany. However, German students are not alone in their call for academic reform. In fact, the German protests are more of a display of camaraderie for students in Austria who are also demanding changes. In Austria, complaints range from overloaded degree courses, social inequality within the educational system, chronic funding shortages, and the introduction of tuition fees and the bachelor and master system into German universities problems in restructuring bachelors and masters degree programs. More specifically, student tend to be protesting most for publicly funded education.
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POPSPrivate Health Insurance is a Defective Product DR. STEFFIE WOOLHANDLER: Right. Well, the private insurers are getting millions of mandatory new customers. The taxpayers are going to give subsidies. It’s not going to make healthcare affordable, but it’s going to cost the taxpayers a lot of money to give these subsidies. Private health insurance is a defective product. We know from our studies of bankruptcy that the majority of Americans who face medical bankruptcy start their illness with private health insurance but are bankrupted anyway by gaps in coverage, like co-payments, deductibles and uncovered services.
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POPSObamaCare endorsements: What the bribe was The AARP got a financial windfall in return for its support of the healthcare bill. Over the past decade, the AARP has morphed from an advocacy group to an insurance company (through its subsidiary company). It is one of the main suppliers of Medi-gap insurance, a high-cost, privately purchased coverage that picks up where Medicare leaves off. But President Bush-43 passed the Medicare Advantage program, which offered a subsidized, lower-cost alternative to Medi-gap. Under Medicare Advantage, the elderly get all the extra coverage they need plus coordinated, well-managed care, usually by the same physician. So more than 10 million seniors went with Medicare Advantage, cutting into AARP Medi-gap revenues. Presto! Obama solved their problem. He eliminates subsidies for Medicare Advantage. The elderly will have to pay more for coverage under Medigap, but the AARP — which supposedly represents them — will make more money
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POPSHow Out of Touch Is This White House? Two possible explanations: (1) Gibbsy was trying to say something else and it came out very wrong; (2) Gibbsy was in a deep, deep coma for much of the past decade. Either way, maybe "White House press secretary" isn't the optimal line of work for him. I'm stammering at the moment myself from sheer frustration at deciding where to begin to answer him, but thankfully has pulled the necessary links together to do the job.
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POPSShut Up or We'll Shut You Down No longer able to sit idly by while the President and his chief minion in the House amateurishly try to revamp one-sixth of the U.S. economy, the health insurance industry released a study they commissioned that analyzes the costs of the Obama-Pelosi plan. The results are quite sobering. The study shows that "between 2010 and 2019 the cumulative increases in the cost of a typical family policy under this reform proposal will be approximately $20,700 more than it would be under the current system." (Emphasis mine.)
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POPSObama and The Democrats Want You to Know They Had a Good Week
During his campaign, in effect, Mr Obama promised to be the constraint: to oversee Congress and guide it with a moderating hand. That was the difference he promised to make. There were always going to be limits to what he could do, but his failure so far even to try has been total. He has let nearly every agenda be set by the Democrats’ left-leaning congressional leadership. This comes in a country in which 40 per cent of voters call themselves conservatives, 36 per cent moderates and 20 per cent liberals. Voters are confused and concerned about the policies coming forward " above all by their mounting cost " but he has made little effort to explain or reassure, let alone influence. He has chosen to act as cheerleader for whatever congressional Democrats cook up. On healthcare, Mr Obama stood aside during months of chaotic haggling in Congress. By the summer, unsurprisingly, voters opposed to reform outnumbered voters in favour " again, above all, expressing worries . . .
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POPSAyn Rand on Rights of An Embryo "Observe that by ascribing rights to the unborn, i.e., the nonliving, the anti-abortionists obliterate the rights of the living: the right of young people to set the course of their own lives. The task of raising a child is a tremendous, lifelong responsibility, which no one should undertake unwittingly or unwillingly. Procreation is not a duty: human beings are not stock-farm animals. For conscientious persons, an unwanted pregnancy is a disaster; to oppose its termination is to advocate sacrifice, not for the sake of anyone’s benefit, but for the sake of misery qua misery, for the sake of forbidding happiness and fulfillment to living human beings." "By what right does anyone claim the power to dispose of the lives of others and to dictate their personal choices?" ---- This quote is precisely the way I feel about mandating people to buy health care / insurance! I agree we need reform (of some type), but not to mandating coverage with penalties.
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POPSFrom both sides of his mouth!!!!! This latest move by the administration follows a pattern replicated countless times by Obama since assuming the presidency in January: denounce the lawless behavior of his Oval Office predecessor while continuing, even expanding, the reach of unaccountable security agencies that subvert constitutional guarantees barring "unreasonable searches and seizures."
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POPSPages, Costs, and Agencies Added To The Obama/Pelosi Health Care Behemoth
“Additionally, this bill cuts critical Medicare and Medicaid funding by $628 billion, accounts for nearly $1.2 trillion in tax and fee increases and will explode the scope of government by putting the nation’s health care system in the hands of Washington bureaucrats. The $3 trillion price tag defies common sense " we simply cannot add all this new spending to the government rolls and claim to control the deficit. “If we continue to pile more and more debt on the next generation, they will never be able to get out from under it. The health care system needs reform, but this massive expansion of government, financed by our children and grandchildren, is the wrong way to proceed.” And listen…this is what our government believes will be the cost. But look at programs our government has run historically and you find decades of added costs and overruns that our forced onto the taxpayer. Insanity http://www.bizzyblog.com/2009/11/07/how-to-go-from-1200-to-2000-pages/
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POPSHealth Care Takeover Roll Call Vote — and What GOP Rep. Joseph Cao Got from Obama
Well, since he was elected, Cao has backed the S-CHIP expansion, the $108 billion IMF bailout, and the omni-waste spending bill. And he voted to rebuke GOP Rep. Joe Wilson for calling out President Obama on his health care lies. That is a steep price to pay for Rep. William Jefferson’s removal. Can’t the GOP do better? For what it is worth, here is the cheap price the Democrats paid for Cao’s vote: Louisiana Congressman Anh “Joseph” Cao on Sunday morning released a statement after he voted as the only Republican in favor of the Democratic health care reform bill. The health care reform bill, dubbed the “Affordable Health Care for America Act” (H.R. 3962), passed the U.S. House of Representatives in a 220 " 215 vote. “Tonight, I voted to keep taxpayer dollars from funding abortion and to deliver access to affordable health care to the people of Louisiana,” Cao said in a statement released by his office. “I read the versions of the House
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POPSKucinich: Why I voted NO I'm so torn. I think we should have fought harder for a single-payer bill, even though I know that would have been a much harder battle. But I don't think that voting no on this was the solution, either. As much as I would like BIG CHANGE, I know that can't happen in one fell swoop. Baby steps, unfortunately, will get us to that final goal. Hopefully, the public will realize, soon, that we need single payer!
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POPSPublic option If we let public option pass. we will destroy our health programs. we need reform but not this one
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POPSGovernment health care rescues protesters at anti-government health care rally. By the end of the day, “medics had administered government-run health care to at least five people in the crowd who were stricken as they denounced government-run health care.” Bachmann=proof that being severely developmentally and emotionally delayed does not preclude Government service. Ironically, she's the best argument that the government should not be running anything.
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POPSOwens Breaks 4 Campaign Promises in First Hour in Congress
Mr. Owens also indicated during his campaign that he was firmly opposed to cutting Medicare benefits, taxing health care benefits, and increased taxes on the middle class in any way as you can see clearly in the screenshot taken directly from Mr. Owens' campaign website. http://www.gouverneurtimes.com/images/stories/2009/11/06/oewns-screenshot.jpg The House Health reform bill contains sections that cut Medicare benefits, tax existing health care benefits, and increases taxes on the middle class, yet Mr. Owens stated today that he will now vote in favor of those things contrary to what he had promised the voters of NY's 23rd Congressional District that he would vote against. Mr. Owens indicated in his press release today that "This legislation will reform the insurance industry and provide increased access to affordable healthcare without taxing healthcare benefits, cutting Medicare benefits or raising taxes on the middle class, and that is exactly the direction.....
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POPSCoerciveCare Bill Passes House 220-215, Sat Night Mandatory health care insurance reform bill passes House. Socialist Security 2.0. Never mind that half the population opposed this. And the "public option" is not optional--it is now mandated that you must buy health insurance. How is it that the Federal government can force you to buy something? Private property rights are trampled, the government thinks it can tell you to buy something or face jail and/or tax penalties. This also then means every American's private and personal health information will be put into a data-base system, the end of privacy. Your health care, and body, will belong to the Collectivist Society now and the Government , which will no doubt link this to your National ID Card (REAL ID and PASS ID system) --increasing the Electronic Leash on "free" Americans.
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POPSHouse passes health care reform bill! This is our first victory of historical significance. We did it! It will be much less injustice and suffering in the society, where taking advantage off weak and defenseless is not viewing as breaking the right of every human for decent existence.
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POPSREALLY, ALLYSON I bet Rep.Schwartz would not know what unaffordable and unsustainable even means. Sorry, I have to run, my car has a flat so I have to change the engine. Do everyone a favor if you have to say something stupid, please don't after all we do not need to be reminded.
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POPS Tom Tancredo Walks Off MSNBC Set Because Of Markos Moulitas "You're not going to do that. You're not going to try to insult me that way and then pretend like we're just going on and talk about that. You either apologize ..." When Moulitas did not apologize, Tancredo simply took out his earpiece and walked away. As a Republican student activist, Tancredo spoke out in favor of the Vietnam War but did not serve. After graduating from college in June 1969, he became eligible to serve in Vietnam. Tancredo said he went for his physical, telling doctors he'd been treated for depression, and eventually got a deferment.