city beekeepers are staying stealthy and undercover

8/14/2009

Brooklyn's Urban Beekeepers: Breaking The Law For The Planet (Part I) from SkeeterNYC on Vimeo.

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Thousands Line Up for Free Health Care

These doctors and nurses will receive their reward in the heavenly kingdom/karma...

For the second day in a row, thousands of people lined up on Wednesday — starting after midnight and snaking into the early hours — for free dental, medical and vision services, courtesy of a nonprofit group that more typically provides mobile health care for the rural poor....

....Ana Maria Garcia, who works for Orange County, has health insurance that covers her husband and 3 ½-year-old daughter, but her dental deductibles are too high for them all to get care, she said.

Ms. Garcia’s husband, Jorge, who was laid off from his custodial job last October, arrived from their home — a 90-minute drive away — at 4 p.m. on Tuesday to get the family’s spot in line.

But the Garcias’ number never came up, so they slept in their car for a few hours and lined up again early Wednesday morning, awaiting a chance to get root canals and cleanings that Ms. Garcia figured were worth thousands of dollars. They made a friend in the bleachers outside, who gave the family some coffee and hot biscuits for breakfast....

....On Tuesday, volunteers provided 1,448 services to about 600 patients, including 95 tooth extractions, 470 fillings, 140 pairs of eyeglasses, 96 Pap smears and 93 tuberculosis tests, the organizers said. Hundreds of volunteer doctors, dentists, optometrists, nurses and others are expected to serve 8,000 patients by the end of the eight days.


http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/13/health/13clinic.html?em

here is a video report on the same organization's activities in LA from MSNBC

http://video.nytimes.com/video/2009/08/13/us/1247463980461/doctors-on-call.html

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GM: New Chevy Volt To Get 230 Miles Per Gallon

8/11/2009


WARREN, Mich. — General Motors said Tuesday its Chevrolet Volt electric car could get 230 mpg in city driving, making it the first American vehicle to achieve triple-digit fuel economy if that figure is confirmed by federal regulators.

But when the four-door family sedan hits showrooms late next year, its efficiency will come with a steep sticker price: $40,000.

Still, the Volt's fuel efficiency would be four times more than the popular Toyota Prius hybrid, the most efficient car now sold in the U.S.


more here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/11/gm-new-chevy-volt-to-get-_n_256369.html

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Bartering For Health Care On The Rise

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/11/bartering-for-health-care_n_256596.html

Cash, check or a cord of wood for that doctor visit? As health care costs climb, old-fashioned bartering has seen brisk growth since the economy soured.

Hillsborough, N.J.-resident Robert Josefs traded his Web site designing skills for nearly $1,000 in dental work last year when he had no insurance, and many other patients are learning that health care debts don't always have to be settled with sometimes-precious cash.

Health care bartering has risen dramatically since the recession began, as people lose their health insurance and consumer spending drops, said Allen Zimmelman, a spokesman for the Bellevue, Wash.-based trade exchange ITEX Corp.

ITEX Corp. has seen its health care business rise 45 percent over the past year. The exchange, which has 24,000 members, now fosters about $1 million a month in health care bartering.

The Web site Craigslist says overall bartering posts have more than doubled over the past year as the recession took hold.


full article here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/11/bartering-for-health-care_n_256596.html

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Cities Begin to Tolerate Homeless Tent Camps

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Last summer, police responding to complaints about campfires under a highway overpass found dozens of homeless people living on public land along the Cumberland River.

Eviction notices went up -- and then were suspended by Nashville Mayor Karl Dean who said housing for the homeless should be found first.

A year later, little has been found -- and Nashville, with help from local nonprofits, is now servicing a tent city, arranging for portable toilets, trash pickup, a mobile medical van and visits from social workers. Volunteers bring in firewood for the camp's 60 or so dwellers.

Nashville estimates that on any given day, the city has 4,000 homeless people and 765 shelter beds. About 25% of the homeless have jobs, Mr. Harris said, but can't afford housing.

David Olson, 47 years old, said last week he and his wife wound up under the Nashville overpass after he lost a job making cement pipes in Iowa four months ago. The couple came to Nashville for a remodeling job that turned out to be a scam. "I've got five years' experience in carpentry and 10 years' roofing and I can't find a job," he said.


article here: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124994409537920819.html

slide show here:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124994409537920819.html#project%3DSLIDESHOW08%26s%3DSB124992474170320027%26articleTabs%3Dslideshow

i know that camden has been tolerating one hidden in the middle of the woods in the middle of an exit ramp jughandle for some time now - one of the reasons is that there is a leader of the camp who is respected by the folks who have come to live there and his rules and presence seems to keep the violence and drug dealing to a minimum, and the police would rather know where these folks are if they need to come looking for them, and social service organizations feel the same way. several mentally ill people have been located through this camp and re-united with their families who are helping them get back on track as much as possible.

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Where the Wild Wthings Are Trailer

a must see and hope not a disappointment for all of us of a certain age!

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Kathy Griffin hosts larry king live with Levi Johnston


Kathy Griffin was guest-hosting the show Monday night and she welcomed Levi Johnston for multiple segments of flirting, sexual innuendo, deep thoughts and a Teen Choice Award show recap.

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"Death Panels" already decide who will live and die

"Death Panels" already decide who will live and who will be denied essential life saving treatments every day:


we just call them "health insurance companies" instead.

The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Jonathan Cohn
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full EpisodesPolitical HumorMeryl Streep

  • 29 percent of people who had health insurance were "underinsured," with coverage so meager they often postponed medical care because of costs. A 2006 study found that 10 percent of insured patients with cancer had out-of-pocket expenses of more than $18,500.

  • 49 percent overall, and 43 percent of people with insurance, said they were "somewhat" to "completely" unprepared to cope with a costly medical emergency over the coming year.

  • 20 percent of people in our separate subscriber survey said they were so disappointed with their HMO or PPO that they wanted to switch plans (see "Rating the Health Plans").

  • 16 percent had no health plan at all, including many working respondents whose jobs didn't offer insurance, or who couldn't afford the premiums or deductibles of the available plan.
The U.S. spends an average of $7,000 per capita on health care. According to a 2007 analysis by McKinsey Global Institute, that's 28 percent more than any other industrialized country, even after adjusting for its relative wealth.

In 2006 the annual premium for family coverage averaged $11,480--more than the annual paycheck of a full-time worker earning the minimum wage.

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current tv's "that's gay" takes on tv commercials

8/10/2009

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