He was born in İstanbul on July 25,1988. His professional career started at Beylerbeyi. Between 2009-2014 he served for Eskişehirspor and signed with Galatasaray during the last winter-break. He played 10 games for Galatasaray that season and also he has 2 caps with the Turkish National team and 7 caps with the A2 Turkish National Team.


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Adelaide Fringe Review: Rip, Drag and Ruminate showcases final year dancers – Adelaide College of the Arts (28.02.20)
John Goodridge
Rip, Drag and Ruminate is a collection of short works from the Adelaide College of the Arts 3rd Year Dancers. Six pieces were presented. The opening sequence by Isobel Stolinski, "To Whom it May Concern", dealt with art censorship and scrutiny. The Acid Arab soundtrack helped to create an uplifting message which contrasted with the grotesque contortions of the dancers. This was a humorous start to the show.
The next piece was titled "I need a Minute or Ten" by Neil Campbell and was influenced by thoughts on ADHD and social interaction. The monochromatic set and sketchy sounds and movements conveyed the feeling well. Static filled the room which gave a real sense of the feelings inside the head of someone suffering.
Mess and cleanliness, order and structure were the focal themes of the third piece by Amelia Watson, reflecting some of the minimalist trends of modern life. As the dancers start in a pile of rags, they seem forever destined to sort and fold, only for the mess to build up even more. Once again this was a humorous take on modern life.
Jess Minas' "Salute" tackled a darker subject. An individual's struggle with PTSD. Lead dancer Neil Campbell offered an artistic take on post war PTSD. The lighting, poses and music all combined strongly to create more of a story than simply a dance. By this stage the audience were aware that this troupe are not afraid to address issues affecting our society.
Which leads on to the next portion of the show. The audience are directed on stage and become voyeurs to a simple living room setting, where two girls are watching a static television. Their world is shattered when masked men break in and assault them. As their screams die down the visibly shocked and numb audience are led back to their seats. "It's Oh So Quiet" by Alix Kuijpers was easily the most difficult piece to watch, as powerful as it was.
Emma Ivens closes the show with "Fruitti Tutti", a bass pulsing nightclub act that both mocked and glorified the party lifestyle. Despite the over-the-top drug references it was, at least, a light end to the performance.
The overall standard of the dancers and choreography was very high. It was an enjoyable taste of the talents of the third year dancers, with some support from a few second years as well. I'm expecting that we will see much more of these young dancers in the future.
The reviewer attended the performance on February 28th. Adelaide Fringe runs until March 15th. To find out more about the Adelaide College of Arts head HERE
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Tags: Adelaide college of the arts, Adelaide Fringe, dance

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Der Flugplatz Taucha befindet sich nordöstlich der sächsischen Stadt Taucha, am Nordostrand von Leipzig. Er wurde 1928 als Segelflugplatz gegründet. Seit den 1990er Jahren ist er als Sonderlandeplatz zugelassen. Neben regelmäßigem Segelflugbetrieb nutzen auch Motorflugzeuge und Ultraleichtflugzeuge den Flugplatz.

Weblinks
 Fliegerclub Leipzig-Taucha e.V.
 Flugsportzentrum Leipzig

Taucha
Taucha
Verkehrsbauwerk im Landkreis Nordsachsen
Bauwerk in Taucha
Taucha

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Partula snails Partula conservation Euglandina
The first Partula
The first Partula snail to be brought to public attention was a specimen of Partula faba collected on one of Captain Cook's expeditions. The Royal Navy had been sending expeditionary vessels to far sees for many years, especially mapping expeditions. Cook's 1767 expedition broke the pattern when a charming, rich young naturalist talked his way onto the ship's company. Joseph Banks thus became the first official naturalist on a British ship. Banks missed being the world's first official naturalist by just a year, that honour going to the French captain Bougainville's naturalist Philippe Commercon.
Among the shells collected on that expedition was the first Partula to be described. This Partula faba was illustrated in Thomas Martyn's 'Universal Conchologist' in 1784, still the most striking shell book ever produced. What happened to this shell is a mystery, all we know of it was that it was collected on a Cook expedition and was in Martyn's personal collection. Sadly it then vanishes from history.
Martyn's book was followed a few years later by another classic shell collector's publication: Johann Chemnitz's 'Conchylien Cabinet' in 1786. This time Partula faba and Partula otaheitana were illustrated, both from shells that had been collected on Cook's first voyage, in 1769. Chemnitz recorded the fact that the Partula faba had been collected by the Swedish naturalist Daniel Solander. Solander was a leading biologist of his generation and the adopted son of Linnaeus, the founder of the scientific naming system. He had been sent to England to introduce the new system to Britain and had accompanied his close friend Joseph Banks on the 1768-71 expedition.
Chemnitz's collection was auctioned after his death in 1800 and the Partula faba specimen was thought to have been lost during the sale. In fact it had been picked out as worth including in the private collection belonging to Prince Christian (later King Christian VI) of Denmark. This formed the basis of the Zoological Museum of the University of Copenhagen's collection, where the specimen remained overlooked for 200 years. The specimen was recognised as being the basis for the Chemnitz illustration in 2014. Unfortunately Martyn's is still missing.
Full details of all notable shells and collections, and the fate of Partula faba, are published in Partula - icons of evolution.
Martyn's 'Limax faba' (top left), Chemnitz's illustration (top right) and the same specimen today (bottom)
Compiled by Justin Gerlach: contact
@jstgerlach
Hosted by Island Biodiversity


Plates on the Square opened in 2008 with the mission of bringing a new type of dining experience to Adamson Square and the West Georgia region. Many years later, we are blessed not only to have received the support of our customers but to have learned from them as well. This menu and this restaurant are the results of both our efforts and the tastes of the community. We are grateful for your patronage and welcome any feedback.
You will find the menu is large and wide-ranging, capable of accommodating just about any taste or occasion. However, we never allow diversity to compromise our quality. If it is on our menu, it is because we feel it is the best around. Naturally, the lunch menu is quick and casual. The dinner menu offers the region's best entrees, but we continue to offer pub items for the casual dinner as well. Plus, our wine and spirit menu is unparalleled in the Carrollton market.


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Introducing VentureBoard, a marketplace for start-ups
Matt Marshall	 October 10, 2006 10:46 AM
VentureBeat is pleased to introduce VentureBoard, a marketplace for the technology start-up community of Silicon Valley and other regions.
VentureBoard serves two main purposes, and we think it is particularly relevant for the post-YouTube acquisition era.
(1) It is a place where individuals or emerging tech companies can advertise their products, assets or teams for sale and where established companies can find them.
(2) It is a place for service providers, such as financial, debt, accounting, legal and PR companies, to advertise their services, and for emerging companies to locate services they need.
Over the past year, it has become clear that the really big IPOs and sales that used to happen in IT are now few and far between. YouTube's acquisition by Google is big news in part because it is so rare.
VentureBoard serves thousands of other entrepreneurs, who have built a cool prototype or product, and are now looking for a buyer (and not necessarily going out of business).
Also, it gives the large network of service providers in Silicon Valley and elsewhere a place where they can advertise their offerings — legal, accounting, marketing, office space, and so on — to the start-up community.
Already, three companies have posted "for sale" listings at VentureBoard (see listings for Open Communications, Zookoda and Nuvvo), and some service providers have listed too. Listings cost $149. We'll place the most recent listings on the homepage, too, above the Google Maps on the right.
See more details in the "About" section of VentureBoard. You'll find an FAQ, tips and other issues about listing company assets for sale.
Also worth reading is Brian McConnell's piece today at VentureBeat's contributors area. He explains how the idea for VentureBoard came about, and why he wants an alternative to eBay.
We've seen a number of Web 2.0 companies list themselves on eBay recently. Fact is, YouTube is an exception. The median acquisition price for venture-backed companies was a mere $47.15 million last year, according to industry tracker VentureOne. That's pretty low. It is a buyer's market, because there are so many entrepreneurs who have built cool technologies. It is time entrepreneurs have a way to get exposure to their ideas and plans, and VentureBoard is a way.
Here's another notable fact: Before the Skype deal, the last time a venture-backed company was bought for more than $1 billion was in 2001, when publicly traded Ciena Corp. bought telecom start-up Cyras Systems for $1.15 billion. This rarity is challenging the venture capital model. Even with MySpace's robust sale to NewsCorp last year, it wasn't enough to even push the performance of its major venture backer, VantagePoint into positive territory (see VentureBeat's story today). Sevin Rosen Funds, another venture firm, has thrown in the towel on raising another fund, saying the environment is "terrible." Entrepreneurs need different buyers and backers.
They've also been telling VentureBeat that they want an alternative to eBay, which requires a seller to accept the highest bidder and live by a specific close date. TechCrunch recently ran a table of these companies:
"Ebay smells a little bit of desperation, Nick McNaughton, founder of Zookoda told us, explaining why he was avoiding the auction site. "We felt it wasn't allowing us to control our own destiny. We wanted to have a dialogue with our potential acquirer. We wanted to get to know the people. The money side is important, but it is not the most important. We wanted an opportunity for Zookoda to be taken to a good home, cherished, and nurtured and taken to the next step." He has listed Zookoda for sale at his own site too.
Let us know what you think of VentureBoard, and how we can improve it. We will point to the more relevant listings as they appear, and will develop the Board over time.


Gail Hastings' page 28 from 'Encyclopaedia of Time in Art: pp. 28–30' graces the cover of the upcoming Architecture Bulletin – The room issue, Autumn 2017, available in mid-March.
The Autumn issue of Architecture Bulletin explores what the room means to a cross section of practitioners, academics and friends of architecture. Is it internal or external? Does it provide shelter? Is it public or private? Is it grand or intimate, old or new? Does it have a function? Does it even exist in a literal sense? At its most elementary it seems reasonable to assume that a room is defined as space – however scale, enclosure, function, form and materiality are all up for negotiation. The other critical thing is that for a room to have any meaning at all there needs to be a relationship to the body, either through inhabitation or observation – and this reminds us that architecture has no meaning without people.
The autumn issue of Architecture Bulletin will be distributed to members of the NSW Chapter of the Australian Institute of Architects. Anyone can collect a free printed copy from the Institute at 3 Manning St, Potts Point. A digital edition can be found here after mid-March: www.architecturebulletin.com.au.
'Encyclopaedia of Time in Art: pp. 28–30' is one of 12 works from the 36 pages about time edition first exhibited in 1996 at the Chicago Art Fair. It is one of four works from the edition collected by the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, in 1996. Seven of the remaining eight works from the edition are in either public or private collections. The last remaining work is the first in the edition, pp. 1–3. Originally in the artists' collection, it is now available and can be found here.


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Falling Out of Love With BBC Sherlock
Yesterday there was a fake birth announcement for Rosamund Mary Watson in The Telegraph. A promo picture of John and Mary with the baby was also released. Expectedly, the fandom exploded. I, however, realised that I just DGAF anymore. My strong suspicion is that the baby (like every other character in the show) will just be a prop whose only function is to facilitate a twist in a plot that has been meandering off course for some time. The "I love you" trailer didn't move the needle much for me either.
The truth is I fell out of love with Sherlock at the end of season 3 but couldn't really admit it to myself. When that Moriarty animation turned up asking, "Did you miss me?" my answer was an emphatic no. Whenever a show doubles back to the vanquished supervillain to pique our interest, don't we all know deep in our hearts that it's over, that things aren't really moving forward? I tried to keep my hopes up even after The Abominable Bride (which I would have enjoyed more had they just done the Victorian one-off). Explaining away huge chunks of a story that you spent millions of pounds producing with "It was all a dream!" is another huge red flag that the writers are running out of interesting ideas.
I got out of Lost early (season 3, I think) and ditched Heroes after the first episode of the second season because I could tell the series had been front-loaded, and there wasn't a clear path to a satisfying resolution in either show. I've seen enough promising TV flounder to recognise the symptoms of a show that has fallen off and probably isn't going to make its way back to its glory days:
The plot becomes unnecessarily convoluted. The soccer Mom/assassin espionage plotline is preposterous and hasn't been skilfully executed thus far. "That was surgery" is one of the most ridiculous sentences I've ever heard uttered on a TV show I was meant to be taking seriously. Shooting someone in the chest at close range isn't surgery. It's the opposite of surgery. It's shooting someone in the chest - WHERE THEIR HEART AND LUNGS ARE LOCATED! The line doesn't even make sense as a bluff. (More on why I hate this storyline is here (I get a bit sweary…))
The central relationship becomes muddled. The argument over whether or not Johnlock will become canon (it won't - Sherlolly has the best chance) has been flogged like a dead horse, so I won't rehash it here except to say Moftiss teed all that up with the "date scene" in the first episode and the steady barrage of John's "I'm not gay!" protestations. There are so many ways to write a platonic male friendship without invoking homosexual attraction, and Moftiss has somehow managed to avoid every single one of them. (Heteronormativity is a helluva drug, man…) Re-starting your stopped heart for someone and coming back from the dead to save them is the purest declaration of true love a person could possibly make. That whole set-up is basically a re-mix of The Pit of Despair from The Princess Bride. Actually, the more I think about it, the more Princess Bride-y the whole show seems. Sherlock is Westley, John is Buttercup and Mary is Humperdink.
Heavy eyelids. Feeling bored during appointment TV is the surest sign things have taken a turn for the worse. The middle episode of every season of Sherlock always drags, but The Sign of Three just seemed to go on forever. I actually nodded off a couple of times. The 90-minute episodes are a problem. They're having to put in a lot of filler material, and it's compromising the quality of the show. The longer the series goes on, the more I wish they would just ditch the 90-minute format, make one-hour episodes and force Moftiss to tighten things up.
The writers don't stay in their lane. Everything coming out of the season 4 set indicates that the next instalment will be "dark" and more action-packed. These developments do not encourage me, because neither of those things are in Moftiss's wheelhouse. Both require a mastery of timing to work, and their struggle with the 90-minute format is a huge stumbling block on this front. As much as I loved the first two seasons, the show has always been erratically paced. Moftiss are good at sudden dramatic highs ("I'M SHERLOCKED"; Mary shooting Sherlock, etc.), but maintaining tension throughout isn't one of their strengths, nor is building a crescendo. The long episodes exacerbate their weaknesses and downplay their strengths. I'm beginning to fear that much of season 4 will be a snooze fest punctuated with decreasingly effective plot twists that are little more than jump scares.
The writers become self-indulgent. Moftiss describing season 4 as "massive wish fulfilment" is what really got me thinking the show might actually jump the shark as opposed to just continuing down the path to becoming middling. The Empty Hearse scenes winking at Sheriarty and Tumblrverse conspiracies served no real purpose in the narrative. A meta, self-referential piss-take is the triple Axel of TV writing, and almost no one can land it cleanly except when it's just a throwaway line. Moftiss created a whole new cast of characters incorporated into a mini-subplot to show Sherlock almost kiss Moriarty and provide implausible explanations for him surviving the fall. It's a bad sign that such extended, indulgent self-references doing nothing to advance the plot or develop the characters were there just for their own sake. It means they're heavily invested in seeking audience reactions and think stopping the actual story to get them is a winning strategy. The integrity of the narrative isn't being protected.
Season 4 of Game of Thrones had me wondering if the show had lost the plot. It just didn't seem interesting or invigorating anymore. They brought it back with a vengeance in Season 5, though. The battle scene in the penultimate episode is among the best I've ever seen. I'm hoping Moftiss can do the same and find the magic in season 4 of Sherlock. The three-episode run means it's not much of a time commitment, so I will still watch, but if the quality doesn't pick up significantly, I'm out.
ETA: The use of the dog in so many promos worries me too. Animals are an easy way to elicit humour and get cheap laughs. If they're relying on "cutting to the dog"… This might go even more badly than I thought…
ETA (28/12/16): Steven Moffat saying that the finale of season 4 is the episode he's proudest of writing has me concerned that it might be a raspberry. It indicates that it is unlikely anyone reined him in, and he was allowed to revel in his bad habits and wander farther afield from his strengths. Him getting everything he wants is a bad sign. The trajectory of Sherlock has made it pretty clear that the show Moftiss has always wanted to produce is a well-budgeted actioner, and it is my deep fear that they have been allowed to. The constrictions of budget in the earlier seasons forced them to find more interesting ways to advance the plot. Now that they have the money for explosions and car chases and gun fights, that's what we're going to get. Ironically, everyone except the "casuals" has galactically misapprehended their intentions - an action/espionage plotline has always been the endgame, and they've obviously doubled down on the silly Mary Watson/AGRA storyline. There's room for them to write their way out of the nonsensical plot, but doing so would require them to recognise there's a problem, and there's nothing to indicate that they do.
I really, really hope I'm wrong about all this. I genuinely want season 4 to be as good as season 1, but as more promo material gets released, it's looking less and less likely...
ETA (30/12/16): Yeah... So Mark Gatiss has joined Steven Moffat in talking about how exceedingly clever Sherlock is and how this will be the cleverest season yet... Given the problems with S3 and the Christmas special, and everything indicating that they've gone all in on all that, the overweening confidence has me ready to take the brace position. I'm worried they're heading further into the weeds with the twists and tricks and may not have bothered to underpin them with a story that makes sense (and the Mary Watson/AGRA story does not make sense as they've presented it). All this time I've been thinking they might be heading for a giant iceberg, but everything in the promos has me seriously considering that the moment Mary Watson said "It's a skip code" was when they rammed the ship into it, and they have been taking on water ever since.
Again, REALLY hope I'm wrong, and nothing would make me happier than for them pull out a GOT-esque season 5 comeback.


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Nairobi 100% Arabica Colombian Coffee Beans are also a great choice for hotels, cafes and restaurants who may wish to buy in bulk.


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The History of Mozambique Orphanage Fund
Mozambique Orphanage Fund (MOF) was formed when several interested churches and individuals gathered in 2009. Originally organized as a donor advised fund within the United Methodist Frontier Foundation, MOF began with a board of directors composed of members from across the country including Flower Mound (TX), New Milford (CT), Platte Woods (MO), and Sedalia (MO). MOF committed to increase fundraising and coordination of projects at the Carolyn Belshe Orphanage. As a result, the goal of sharing the love of Jesus Christ to orphans and vulnerable children in Mozambique began to come to fruition. After some years of transitioning leadership, in 2014, MOF reorganized and gained IRS approval as a 501(c)3 nonprofit public charity. In 2019, MOF hired it's first employee, Sarah Bollinger. Sarah serves as the Executive Director.
Carolyn Belshe Orphanage
Mozambique gained its freedom from Portugal at the end of the War of Independence in 1975, only to be plunged into civil war from 1975 through 1992. These long and brutal wars resulted in many deaths and created untold number of orphans and homeless children.
In 1990, a United Methodist missionary, Carolyn Belshe, who worked as an Administrator at a Rural Hospital in Mozambique, began what would later become the Mozambique Orphanage Fund. The Mozambican Bishop asked her to start an orphanage for the many children who were victims of the wars. She found a former leper colony in an extremely rural area and brought about 6-8 children there. This was the start of the Carolyn Belshe Orphanage in Mozambique.
In 1999 and again in 2002 members of New Milford United Methodist Church (NMUMC) in Connecticut visited the orphanage and came back determined to raise funds. They desired to build a new orphanage at a location that would allow access to church, schools and social opportunities for the children. The United Methodist Mission Station of Cambine, which contained a church, schools, a clinic, and an agriculture program existed 25 miles away from CBO's primary location. Due to the immense amount of centralized resources, it became the ideal location for the new orphanage.
By 2005, NMUMC raised the funds, completed the buildings, and moved the then 30 children from the leper colony to the new orphanage in Cambine. Kay Jones, one of our current Board Members, was one of 6 volunteer in missions from NMUMC that went to Cambine in August 2005 for the dedication. During the dedication, the Methodist Church officially named it Carolyn Belshe Orphanage (CBO).
From 1990 to 2008, churches from three United Methodist Church Conferences in the US – including New York, Missouri, and Texas – sent volunteer in missions teams to raise funds for the orphanage.
Today there are approximately 60 orphans at CBO at any point in time.
Dondo Orphanage
Dondo is a suburb of Beira, which is the third largest city in Mozambique. It is on the main East-West highway leading to the Port of Beira, a major seaport receiving and shipping goods and raw materials from inland Mozambique, Malawi, and Zimbabwe. As a result, trucks are rolling through Dondo 24 hours a day/365 days a year. Metropolitan Beira has the highest rate of HIV+ individuals in all of Mozambique in large part because of this heavy traffic. The incidence of orphan children is also very high for this reason.
As far back as 2004, the United Methodist Church in Mozambique had plans to build an orphanage to provide food and shelter to many of these children. For the past 8 years, the local church has operated a feeding program to provide shelf-stable food on a weekly basis. During a mission trip to visit Carolyn Belshe (CBO) in Cambine, Mozambique in 2014, two of our Board Members had the opportunity to meet with the United Methodist Bishop, Joaquina Nhanala, to discuss a variety of topics. She raised concerns about the needs of the orphans of Dondo. She asked if MOF would be willing to look into the possibility of helping fund this project.
In 2015, five MOF Board Members visited Dondo and met with the church leaders for that area. The team learned that the plans to build an orphanage went back to 2004. The desire was to have an orphanage in Dondo to help alleviate the great need. MOF does not build orphanages, but we do interact with other organizations that provide funds for construction in support of the care for orphans and vulnerable children. Foundation for Orphans (F4O) is one such organization, and upon hearing of this need they began the planning process for supporting the construction of an orphanage in Dondo. In 2016, funds were raised and construction began in 2017.
The new orphanage at Dondo opened in 2018, and MOF is a major funder of the ongoing operating expenses of the orphanage.
MOF Annual Report 2012
MOF Annual Report 2015-new logo
MOF Financial Summary 2018
MOF Accountant's Report 2018
Form 990N – 2018
MOF Revised Bylaws
info@mzorphans.com


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The true cost of Obamacare
End Times and Current Events > Forum > General Category > The Economic Collapse > The true cost of Obamacare
Author Topic: The true cost of Obamacare (Read 22649 times)
Denny's to charge 5% 'Obamacare surcharge' and cut employee hours to deal with cost of legislation
President Obama's election victory ensured his Affordable Care Act would remain the centerpiece of his first term in power - but that has left some business owners baulking at the extra cost Obamcare will bring.
Florida based restaurant boss John Metz, who runs approximately 40 Denny's and owns the Hurricane Grill & Wings franchise has decided to offset that by adding a five percent surcharge to customers' bills and will reduce his employees' hours.
With Obamacare due to be fully implemented in January 2014, Metz has justified his move by claiming it is 'the only alternative. I've got to pass on the cost to the customer.'
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2233221/Dennys-charge-5-Obamacare-surcharge-cut-employee-hours-deal-cost-legislation.html#ixzz2CIkC9OWv
Re: The true cost of Obamacare
Darden tests limiting worker hours as health-care changes loom
In an experiment apparently aimed at keeping down the cost of health-care reform, Orlando-based Darden Restaurants has stopped offering full-time schedules to many hourly workers in at least a few Olive Gardens, Red Lobsters and LongHorn Steakhouses.
Darden said the test is taking place in "a select number" of restaurants in four markets, including Central Florida, but would not give details. The company said there has been no decision made about expanding it.
rest: http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2012-10-07/business/os-darden-part-time-workers-20121007_1_darden-restaurants-health-insurance-olive-gardens
Olive Garden, Red Lobster to Cut Hours Instead of Giving Health Insurance
Darden Restaurants, Inc., which owns omnipresent suburban chains Red Lobster and Olive Garden, is gearing up to deal with new federal health care requirements. According to the AP, the restaurant group — which employs 180,000 people at over 2,000 restaurants — is running an experiment in four markets that increases the number of part time employees. (Darden isn't giving out specific numbers at this time.) This is an effort to curb full time employees, as the federal government — because of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (aka ObamaCare) — will begin fining employers for not providing basic health coverage to full time employees starting January 1, 2014. It also means servers at Red Lobster now manage four tables at a time instead of three, in case you're wondering why your endless popcorn shrimp refills were taking so long.
http://eater.com/archives/2012/10/10/olive-garden-red-lobster-to-cut-hours-instead-of-giving-health-insurance.php
Man kills himself b/c of Obamacare
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/11/14/key-west-man-writes-fck-obama-on-will-and-then-kills-himself/
A tanning salon owner in Key West who blamed the president for his personal problems has killed himself after writing "**** Obama" on his will.
Michael Cossey told police that his partner, 64-year-old Henry Hamilton, had promised that "if Barack gets re-elected, I'm not going to be around," according to the Key West Citizen.
Friends of Hamilton had requested that police conduct welfare checks on Hamilton because they were concerned about his state of mind. When Officer Pablo Rodriguez stopped by the condo on Nov. 8, he woke Cossey and the two found Hamilton dead with two empty prescription bottles, one for the anxiety medication Xanax and one for the schizophrenia medication Seroquel.
Cossey said that Hamilton had been "very upset about the election results" and "very stressed about his business."
Hamilton was the owner of Tropical Tan off Duval Street, which may have been hit with a 10 percent excise tax by President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act.
Police spokesperson Alyson Crean said that autopsy results would determine the official cause of death but there was "absolutely no evidence of foul play."
GOP-led states start warming up to health care law
http://news.yahoo.com/gop-led-states-start-warming-health-care-law-182557927.html
WASHINGTON (AP) — From the South to the heartland, cracks are appearing in the once-solid wall of Republican resistance to President Barack Obama's health care law.
Ahead of a federal deadline Friday for states to declare their intentions, Associated Press reporters interviewed governors and state officials around the country, finding surprising openness to the changes in some cases. Opposition persists in others, and there is a widespread, urgent desire for answers on key unresolved details.
Thursday evening, the Obama administration granted states a month's extension, until Dec. 14. A check by the AP found that 16 states remain in the undecided column.
The law that Republicans have derided as "Obamacare" was devised in Washington, but it's in the states that Americans will find out if it works, delivering promised coverage to more than 30 million uninsured people.
States have a major role to play in two of the overhaul's main components: new online insurance markets for individuals and small businesses to shop for subsidized private coverage, and an expanded Medicaid program for low-income people.
States must declare if they'll build the new insurance markets, called exchanges, or let Washington do it for them. States can also opt for a partnership with the feds to run their exchanges, and they have until February to decide on that option.
Some glimpses of grudging acceptance across a shifting scene:
— One of the most visible opponents of Obama's overhaul, Florida Republican Gov. Rick Scott, now says "if I can get to 'yes,' I want to get to 'yes.'"
Florida was a leader in the failed effort to overturn the law in the Supreme Court, and a group formed by Scott ran TV ads opposing it before it passed Congress. But the governor told the AP this week he wants to negotiate with the federal government to try to help the nearly 4 million uninsured people in his state.
— In Iowa, GOP Gov. Terry Branstad says he is postponing a decision because Washington has not provided enough information about key details. But his spokesman, Tim Albrecht, said Iowa is exploring a partnership exchange that could include several states. Albrecht said they're confident they can get to a state option if needed.
Ohio, like Florida and Iowa a state Obama carried in the election, is leaning toward a partnership with the federal government despite GOP officials' continued misgivings about the law.
— In Mississippi, Republican insurance commissioner Mike Chaney formally notified Washington on Wednesday that his agency will proceed with a state-run exchange, disappointing GOP Gov. Phil Bryant, who remains staunchly opposed to Obama's law.
Chaney, too, says he wishes the law could be repealed, but he worries that "if you default to the federal government, you forever give the keys to the state's health insurance market to the federal government."
As for trying to fight the feds, Chaney observed: "We tried that 150 years ago in the South, and it doesn't work."
— In New Mexico, the administration of Republican Gov. Susana Martinez had been quietly working to put the law into place as the political storm swirled. With a fifth of its population uninsured, the state is planning to run its own exchange.
"The party is over. The opposition is over," New Mexico Human Services Secretary Sidonie Squier told the AP. "Whatever states didn't think they were going to do it, I think they're going to have to do it whether they like it or not. It's a done deal now."
Policy experts in Washington are noticing the shift.
"I think it's a very practical decision for states now," said Alan Weil, executive director of the nonpartisan National Academy for State Health Policy. "We are going to have a significant number of states running their own exchanges, a significant number where the federal government is running the exchange, and a significant number of partnerships. The bottom line is we are going to have to figure out how to make all three models work."
Although the public remains divided about the health care law, the idea of states running the new insurance markets is popular, especially with Republicans and political independents. A recent AP poll found that 63 percent of Americans would prefer states to run the exchanges, with 32 percent favoring federal control.
The breakdown among Republicans was 81-17 in favor of state control, while independents lined up 65-28 for states taking the lead. Democrats were almost evenly divided, with a slim majority favoring state control.
There are several potential benefits to a state operating its own exchange, experts say.
The biggest advantage may be that states would be more closely involved in coordinating between the exchanges and Medicaid programs. Because many people are going to be going back and forth between Medicaid and private coverage in the exchanges, states would probably be better served by a hands-on role.
States can also decide whether to allow open access to all insurers, or work only with a panel of pre-screened companies that meet certain requirements.
Also, the exchanges will offer coverage to people buying in the individual and small business markets, areas that states have traditionally regulated. Without a state-run exchange, states could be dealing their own regulators out of the equation, as Mississippi's insurance commissioner Chaney noted.
When the legislation was being considered in Congress, Democrats in the House wanted to have a national exchange administered by the federal government. But they lost the argument with their centrist Democratic counterparts in the Senate, who wanted state exchanges in order to preserve a state role.
Despite signs of movement toward going along with implementation of the overhaul, some major Republican-led states are holding fast. In Texas, the election results did not change any of the opposition to expanding Medicaid or to setting up insurance exchanges. The same holds for Louisiana, South Carolina, Missouri, Kansas and others.
"Adding more people to an already sinking ship with money that is either being borrowed from China or coming out of taxpayers' pockets is bad policy and bad for Texans," said Catherine Frazier, spokeswoman for Gov. Rick Perry. Twenty-seven percent of that state's residents are uninsured, the largest percentage for any state.
Many Republican state officials complain that the Obama administration simply hasn't given them enough information. Indeed, several major regulations affecting the exchanges have yet to be released. But that doesn't seem to have stopped states that made an early decision to proceed. Republican governors requested the extension granted Thursday.
Virginia, a Republican-led state that voted for Obama on Nov. 6 and also elected a Democratic U.S. senator, is among those defaulting to Washington. But a spokesman for Gov. Bob McDonnell said things may change.
"This is not a final decision," said Jeff Caldwell. "The fact is, states still need far more information before any final decisions can be made on behalf of Virginia's taxpayers."
Associated Press writers Gary Fineout and Kelli Kennedy in Florida, Grant Schulte in Nebraska, Ann Sanner in Ohio, Jeff Amy and Emily Wagster Pettus in Mississippi, Barry Massey in New Mexico and Chris Tomlinson in Texas contributed to this report.
From the South to the heartland, cracks are appearing in the once-solid wall of Republican resistance to President Barack Obama's health care law.
They had cracks in it way back when this was being debated on the floor when the republicans had there "own" plan. What do you mean own plan? You shouldn't have had any plan!! Why is it when the socialists introduce a piece of legislation the republicans have to have their own version? NO if its un-constitutional its just a plain and simple NO. Not an alternative. Just NO. This is why we are in the mess we are in. Lets pick plan or plan b, when it should have been NO PLAN AT ALL!! [/endrant]
Quote from: Mark on November 15, 2012, 07:13:09 pm
Yep, even Mitt Romney's VP mate Paul Ryan showed his own plan, which was to give anyone tax credits if they sign up for health insurance. It's pretty much the same thing, really - you don't have to pay the fine if you don't enroll, but nonetheless if you don't enroll you won't get that nice tax credit on your 1040.
Looks like the GOP-runned states are slowly but surely caving in...Yep, there's 30 GOP governors. A majority, eh?
http://news.yahoo.com/u-gives-states-another-month-meet-health-exchange-015345526.html
Ohio, Wisconsin say they will not run their own health exchanges
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Republican governors of Ohio and Wisconsin on Friday rejected a major provision of President Barack Obama's healthcare reform law that calls on U.S. states to set up online health insurance markets.
The news, which came a day after the Obama administration gave states an extra month to decide their participation, demonstrates the differing political whirlwinds that reform has spawned in Republican-led states since Obama's re-election ensured implementation of the healthcare law.
The federal government will now be required to create exchanges in both states. While Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker issued an all-out rejection of the exchange provision, Ohio Governor John Kasich indicated that his state would partner with the federal government on exchange operations.
As a result, experts say Wisconsin could wind up ceding control of its individual health coverage market to the federal government, while Ohio would retain command of its market.
Ohio's decision, a step most states are expected to pursue, could also better ensure smooth exchange operations and enable the state's government to increase its participation down the road.
"What this reflects is the difficult position of some of these governors," said Jennifer Tolbert of the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation, which tracks healthcare issues. "While they may oppose the new reform law and its requirements, some also don't want the federal government to come in and run the exchange and take over that responsibility."
The two governors, who both represent swing states where voters backed Obama in the November 6 election, claimed the administration has been slow to divulge details about how exchanges should work while the law has provided insufficient flexibility to meet state needs.
"At this point, based on the information we have, states do not have any flexibility to build and manage exchanges in ways that respond to unique needs of their citizens or markets," Kasich said in a November 16 letter to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Resources. "Regardless of who runs the exchange, the end product is the same."
He said Ohio's position could change as details about federal exchange requirements including essential benefits for consumers become available.
SIGNS OF CHANGE
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which Republicans deride as "Obamacare," is scheduled to extend health coverage to more than 30 million uninsured Americans beginning January 1, 2014. About half of those would be covered by exchanges, designed to allow working families to purchase coverage at subsidized rates.
More than a dozen mainly Democratic states including California, New York and Maryland have told the administration that they intend to set up their own exchanges.
As many as 15 states from Georgia and Texas to Wyoming and Maine had opposed Obamacare outright before the election, while many more hoped Republican nominee Mitt Romney would defeat Obama and repeal the health reform act along with it state requirements.
Friday's announcements from Wisconsin and Ohio followed similar decisions by Republican governors in Kansas and Nebraska. Like Wisconsin, Kansas opted for all-out rejection. Nebraska took the same road as Ohio, saying it would participate in a federally run exchange.
But since Obama's reelection, there have been growing signs that some states once thought to oppose healthcare reform may now be mulling the possibility of running their own exchanges or working in partnership with the federal government.
That list includes Florida, where Republican Governor Rick Scott has shown a willingness to work with the administration. "He has said that just saying 'no' is not an acceptable answer, and he looks forward to having a conversation that is solution-oriented," said Scott spokeswoman Jackie Schutz.
Friday was the original deadline for states to declare whether they would set up their own healthcare exchanges and submit blueprints showing how they would do so. But the administration has extended the deadline twice over the past week in response to requests from states.
States now have until December 14 to say whether they will run their own exchanges and demonstrate how they intend to do so. State-operated exchanges are scheduled to be certified by the administration by January 1, 2013.
States also have until February 15, 2013, to say whether they would prefer a federal partnership exchange.
Whatever the choice, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius pledges that Americans in all 50 states will have access to coverage through exchanges by January 1, 2014, when the Affordable Care Act comes into full force.
(Editing by Leslie Adler)
Arizona's Brewer hasn't decided yet, and will wait till December 14 to decided.
Kaiser to Let Go of Hundreds of Workers
The company was laying off more than 500 people. Areas from the San Gabriel Valley and beyond would likely feel the affect.
http://monrovia.patch.com/articles/kaiser-to-let-go-of-hundreds-of-workers-c5e5304a
woops...
Quote from: Mark on November 19, 2012, 08:52:24 am
If we see more of this, could this lead to a government takeover of pretty much everything?
At church this morning, one of the deacons told the pews that churches in America are challenged to give more money to international missionary ministries b/c 1) The dollar is inflating/devalueing, and worst of all 2) Obamacare, b/c supposedly it's putting a big affect on funding missionaries overseas.
Seriously - I agree that Obamacare IS a very big concern all across the board, but nonetheless some of these denominations and groups are transferring the burden onto the PEWS to help make up for this?
Whatever happened to the local church body preaching the gospel LOCALLY? There is ALOT of work to be done at every local area you can imagine. There are at least enough believers in other countries to let them preach the gospel to the lost where they live!
Southwestern Pa. hospital to stop baby deliveries
A southwestern Pennsylvania hospital will stop delivering babies after March 31 because its obstetricians are either leaving or refocusing their practices, and because hospital officials believe they can't afford it based on projected reimbursements under looming federal health care reforms.
The Windber Medical Center, about 60 miles southeast of Pittsburgh, is losing two obstetricians and two others are shifting their focus more to gynecology.
Hospital officials say the population of women of child-bearing age is dropping and that the number of births the hospital would be called upon to perform isn't enough for it to provide the service in the face of lower reimbursements under the federal Affordable Care Act.
The hospital delivered about 200 babies each year since restarting its obstetrics program in 2005.
Officials aren't sure how many jobs will be lost.
Read more: http://www.myfoxny.com/story/20603065/southwestern-pa-hospital-to-stop-baby-deliveries#ixzz2IF1VMwaR
Seems I remember a hospital here in the Phoenix area stopped doing deliveries. They basically shut down their pediatrics department altogether, which wasn't big anyway.
Big changes are coming in health care. I think if any major part of The Mark will be mandated as I think it will, they will do it through the health care system. At some point they had to mandate certain things, and they've done that now, under risk of penalty. How far away is that to changing that mandate be a penalty of death? Just a stroke of a pen.
"...that no man may buy or sell..." appears to me to say that people who refuse to "take the Mark" will literally be put to death. Likely charges in some way, then convicted of some crime based on not participating in their wicked system, some charge like, "public health risk", or "intentionally putting the public health at risk from not maintaining proper vaccine protocols". Basically, they theoretically kill you through casting you out of society, physically and digitally. Death by isolation.
It is "the image of the beast..." that does the "cause". Sounds to me like it's talking about the "system" of the carnal world society. It's not the beast, but the image of the beast that ultimately points the finger. This to me matches how Jesus tells us not to do as the Pharisee, but hear the words because "they say and do not". It's a misdirection for the unlearned. The beast will be as it will be, all the while it is the "image of the beast" that will "cause" people to be killed. How might that be? Is it only a metaphor, or is there a literal "mark"? I believe both. The physical action of choice has spiritual consequences. And we know we are to walk in the Spirit. While we are in the Spirit, the world is in the flesh, living by the "law", and fulfilling prophecy that things described will literally take place. The world will do these things literally in the flesh, but with that there is the spiritual aspect. Consider, it is the world that claims prophecy isn't true, it's just a "metaphor" is their claim.
34 All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables; and without a parable spake he not unto them:
35 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world.
Matthew 13:34,35 (KJB)
IRS: Cheapest Obamacare Plan Will Be $20,000 Per Family
In a final regulation issued Wednesday, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) assumed that under Obamacare the cheapest health insurance plan available in 2016 for a family will cost $20,000 for the year.
Under Obamacare, Americans will be required to buy health insurance or pay a penalty to the IRS.
The IRS's assumption that the cheapest plan for a family will cost $20,000 per year is found in examples the IRS gives to help people understand how to calculate the penalty they will need to pay the government if they do not buy a mandated health plan.
The examples point to families of four and families of five, both of which the IRS expects in its assumptions to pay a minimum of $20,000 per year for a bronze plan.
"The annual national average bronze plan premium for a family of 5 (2 adults, 3 children) is $20,000," the regulation says.
Bronze will be the lowest tier health-insurance plan available under Obamacare--after Silver, Gold, and Platinum. Under the law, the penalty for not buying health insurance is supposed to be capped at either the annual average Bronze premium, 2.5 percent of taxable income, or $2,085.00 per family in 2016.
In the new final rules published Wednesday, IRS set in law the rules for implementing the penalty Americans must pay if they fail to obey Obamacare's mandate to buy insurance.
To help illustrate these rules, the IRS presented examples of different situations families might find themselves in.
In the examples, the IRS assumes that families of five who are uninsured would need to pay an average of $20,000 per year to purchase a Bronze plan in 2016.
Using the conditions laid out in the regulations, the IRS calculates that a family earning $120,000 per year that did not buy insurance would need to pay a "penalty" (a word the IRS still uses despite the Supreme Court ruling that it is in fact a "tax") of $2,400 in 2016.
For those wondering how clear the IRS's clarifications of this new "penalty" rule are, here is one of the actual examples the IRS gives:
"Example 3. Family without minimum essential coverage.
"(i) In 2016, Taxpayers H and J are married and file a joint return. H and J have three children: K, age 21, L, age 15, and M, age 10. No member of the family has minimum essential coverage for any month in 2016. H and J's household income is $120,000. H and J's applicable filing threshold is $24,000. The annual national average bronze plan premium for a family of 5 (2 adults, 3 children) is $20,000.
"(ii) For each month in 2016, under paragraphs (b)(2)(ii) and (b)(2)(iii) of this section, the applicable dollar amount is $2,780 (($695 x 3 adults) + (($695/2) x 2 children)). Under paragraph (b)(2)(i) of this section, the flat dollar amount is $2,085 (the lesser of $2,780 and $2,085 ($695 x 3)). Under paragraph (b)(3) of this section, the excess income amount is $2,400 (($120,000 - $24,000) x 0.025). Therefore, under paragraph (b)(1) of this section, the monthly penalty amount is $200 (the greater of $173.75 ($2,085/12) or $200 ($2,400/12)).
"(iii) The sum of the monthly penalty amounts is $2,400 ($200 x 12). The sum of the monthly national average bronze plan premiums is $20,000 ($20,000/12 x 12). Therefore, under paragraph (a) of this section, the shared responsibility payment imposed on H and J for 2016 is $2,400 (the lesser of $2,400 or $20,000)."
http://cnsnews.com/news/article/irs-cheapest-obamacare-plan-will-be-20000-family
Medical Company Blames 'Obamacare' For Layoffs Of Nearly 100 People
A medical company is blaming President Obama's health care law for the layoffs of nearly 100 people.
Smith & Nephew says a 2.3 percent excise tax on medical devices in the "Obamacare" law caused the layoffs in the Memphis and Andover, Mass., offices.
"The nearly $30 billion tax on medical devices that took effect Jan. 1, 2013, has impacted a number of companies across the U.S.," the company said in a statement to WHBQ-TV.
Joe Metzger, senior vice president of corporate communications for the company, tells the Memphis Business Journal that they were "not immune" to the tax burden.
"Unfortunately, and in order to absorb this cost burden into our business, this has meant less than 100 positions have been made redundant across various departmental functions in our Tennessee and Massachusetts sites," Metzger told the Business Journal. "The company is providing the affected employees with a comprehensive severance package and outplacement support."
The Business Journal reports that the company announced last February it would lay off 7 percent of its workforce worldwide.
The tax took effect on Jan. 1.
http://washington.cbslocal.com/2013/02/01/medical-company-blames-obamacare-for-layoffs-of-nearly-100-people/
Is the U.S. Clinically Insane?
Insanity is often defined as doing the same thing over and over while expecting a different result. The British National Health Service (NHS) has a history of such "insanity." They maintain their healthcare system without change despite repeated episodes of preventable patient deaths. So what does the U.S. do? President Obama wants to emulate their system here. Insanity!
We start our story with the Bristol (England) Royal Infirmary, which enjoyed a reputation as a world-class surgery center for children with heart problems. When someone began to question that reputation and asked for outcomes data, a cover-up started, just like Watergate.
Patient results were fabricated. Potential whistleblowers were intimidated. There were public distortions and denials. Eventually, the British government empaneled a "Commission" (their term for blue-ribbon panel), which released its Bristol Report in June 2001.
After confirming the terrible patient outcomes, the Commission did the unexpected. Instead of blaming specific individuals, the Commission identified the root cause: the system and its culture, one of intolerance and corruption. The system that was supposed to protect the patients protected itself instead, at the patients' expense, literally to their deaths.
A few years later, similar events were made public at the Stafford (England) Trust Hospitals. "Trust" is the word the NHS uses for a division, like the old Cook County Hospital System. Despite outcries over Stafford and reminders of Bristol, there was no change in the system -- just in the names of some players.
In 2010, the chief of the United Lincolnshire (England again) Hospitals Trust was concerned about needless deaths in his hospitals. When he tried to move these concerns up the NHS corporate chain, he was gagged (legally) and then fired. A new cover-up started, which took over two years to see the light of day.
A 14 Feb 2013 headline read, "Deaths, lies and the NHS: Shocking new healthcare scandals emerge in UK." As previously documented in other NHS hospitals, there is evidence of "filthy wards ... understaffing ... excess deaths ... [and] avoidable deaths." The NHS chief, Sir David Nicholson, clearly wanted to protect the system's reputation more than protect sick Britons.
Obvious "insanity" in England, but maybe it is just a British problem? Let's look at a different government-controlled healthcare system to our north: Canada.
In 2010, Dr. Ciaran McNamee, formerly a surgeon in Alberta, now at Harvard, sued the Alberta Provincial Government for similar reasons as at Bristol, Stafford, and Lincolnshire: inadequate allocation of resources, too few doctors and other providers, not enough beds and equipment. Canadians died needlessly and avoidably. Treatments that would have worked were either Not Approved or Approved for some time in the distant future, rather than when the patients needed care. In my new book, Not Right! - Conversations with We The Patients, I call the former death-by-bureaucracy and the latter death-by-queueing.
The recurring pattern is clear. When the government is in control, the budget and rule-following are more important than patient outcomes. When a bureaucrat decides your health care, you lose. The root cause of needless patient deaths is the system, not the individuals.
ObamaCare is replicating the British NHS here. The president certainly can't want Americans to die. Thus, he must be insane: he is doing the same thing (as elsewhere) and thinking that the result will be different.
His insanity has a medical diagnosis: megalomania, "a psychopathological condition where delusional fantasies of wealth, power, or omnipotence predominate." The everyday term is "God complex."
Someone who has the God complex knows what is best for you better than you do. This person therefore must decide for you because you might make a mistake, and he (God) won't. He takes away your freedom to choose in your best interest.
No doubt you demand proof of such an outrageous (!) charge.
Proof #1: Examine the substance of ObamaCare. We The Patients are not in control -- the government is, just like Great Britain and Canada. Guess what will happen here.
Proof #2: Review how ObamaCare was imposed on We The Patients against our will, for our own good!
Proof #3: Watch President Obama's face as Dr. Ben Carson tells him that God knows better than he does.
If patients suffer and die needlessly and avoidably under government-controlled healthcare systems, what kind of a system would actually put patients first? Answer: a system where patients are in control of their medical care, and no one else is.
What we need as We The People and particularly as We The Patients is the return of our freedom. We need personal control over our own persons. We want to decide for ourselves. We will accept the consequences of our choices.
We want to place the responsibility for our welfare, and thus both financial as well as medical controls, in the right hands: ours.
Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/2013/02/is_the_us_clinically_insane.html#ixzz2LlJmWVEb
Follow us: @AmericanThinker on Twitter | AmericanThinker on Facebook
Joh 5:24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.
Mat 6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
Subway CEO says don't worry about Obamacare
He argues that while it will make his industry less competitive, at least all operators are facing the same problem.
Subway CEO Fred DeLuca, who founded the sandwich chain 47 years ago at the age of 17, has urged his franchisees not to "worry about" Obamacare, according to Nation's Restaurant News, a trade publication.
"It's going to affect the food business and it's going to make it less competitive, compared to eating at home, for instance," he said. "But probably every operator will have to deal with this. It will be an extra cost on the average hour that you have to pay for. And probably people will raise their prices and pass it on to the consumer."
Dunkin' Brands (DNKN +0.60%) and other companies that depend on part-time workers are lobbying the Obama administration to relax requirements that they provide health insurance for people who work as little as 30 hours per week. Employers with 50 or more workers are required to offer what's known as "minimum essential" health insurance. Critics say the mandate would create onerous financial burdens on many businesses.
For Subway, Obamacare would apply to franchisees with multiple locations becaues the typical store has about 12 employees. The closely held Milton, Conn., company is taking a more measured tone toward Obamacare than others in the restaurant industry with good reason. As NBC News recently noted, Papa John's (PZZA -9.14%), Denny's (DENN +1.43%) and Applebee all saw their reputations suffer among consumers because of critical comments their executives made about the Affordable Care Act.
Speaking later on CNBC, Deluca said Obamacare was the "biggest concern of our franchiees because they don't have enough information" on its potential impact. Their unease understandable. A company spokesperson could not be immediately reached for further comment.
As my colleague Aimee Picchi recently noted, employers pay about $4,664 to insure a single worker and $11,329 for a family on a yearly basis, which is far more expensive than the $2,000 per worker penalty companies face for not following Obamacare starting next year. Many critics say business will find it financially sensible to pay the penalties rather than provide health insurance.
According to data from the Congressional Budget Office cited by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, Obamacare will result in 6 million fewer Americans enrolling in employer coverage by 2016. However, the nonpartisan FactCheck.org disputes the idea that Obamacare is a "job killer."
"As we've said before (a few times), experts project that the law will cause a small loss of low-wage jobs -- and also some gains in better-paid jobs in the health care and insurance industries," FactCheck says. "Furthermore, some small businesses with fewer than 25 employees are already getting tax credits under the new law to help defray the cost of providing worker coverage."
The debate over Obamcare's impact on the economy won't be over for a long time.
http://money.msn.com/now/post.aspx?post=19b081ab-de2e-419c-9687-8a507c391fab
And probably people will raise their prices and pass it on to the consumer."
Probably? No question businesses pass cost increases on to the customers.
We have no idea how bad Obamacare will affect things. But we'll find out!
http://news.yahoo.com/repubs-texas-house-oppose-medicaid-152013084.html
Repubs in Texas House oppose Medicaid expansion
Republicans in the Texas House vote against Medicaid expansion, in its current form
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- Republicans in the Texas House voted Monday against expanding Medicaid in its current form, but left open the door to negotiations with the federal government.
The House Republican Caucus met behind closed doors and voted against expanding Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act's current regulations, said Rep. Lois Kolkhorst, Republican chairwoman of the Public Health Committee. In return for spending $15 billion over the next 10 years on Medicaid, Texas would get $100 billion to provide health care to an additional 1.5 million poor people.
But Texas Gov. Rick Perry is adamantly opposed to enrolling more people in the joint federal-state health care program for the poor and disabled. As expected, Republican House members voted to back him.
Perry and House Republicans, though, remain open to expanding Medicaid if given a waiver from federal regulations in order to tailor the program to fit Texas' needs. Democratic lawmakers have said they are talking to Obama administration officials about what kind of deal is possible.
"That was kind of a vote to say, 'we're going to continue conversations,'" Kolkhorst said of the caucus meeting. "We have so many doctors who won't even see the current Medicaid population, so you're actually promoting a system that hasn't worked extremely well in the state of Texas. Instead, we're working toward a Texas solution."
Last week, federal officials granted a waiver to Arkansas that allows Medicaid expansion by subsidizing private health insurance, rather than using the state Medicaid program.
Sen. Tommy Williams, the Republican chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, wrote an op-ed distributed to paper's across the state last week saying that Republicans would like to see people on Medicaid contribute, if even a small amount, toward their health care through deductibles, co-pays or premiums. He also wants a program that encourages people to see their regular doctor rather than rely on expensive emergency room visits.
Kolkhorst said a bill spelling out what kind of federal waiver Texas wants could be introduced this week, setting in motion the possibility of a compromise. Friday is the deadline for introducing new bills for this legislative session.
Like they always do...they will find the right moment to sneak it past everyone!
« Last Edit: March 05, 2013, 09:47:43 pm by BornAgain2 » Report Spam Logged
http://news.yahoo.com/ap-exclusive-applying-obama-plan-not-easy-183514024.html
AP Exclusive: Applying for Obama plan not easy
WASHINGTON (AP) — Applying for benefits under President Barack Obama's health care overhaul could be as daunting as doing your taxes.
The government's draft application runs 15 pages for a three-person family. An outline of the online version has 21 steps, some with additional questions.
Seven months before the Oct. 1 start of enrollment season for millions of uninsured Americans, the idea that getting health insurance could be as easy as shopping online at Amazon or Travelocity is starting to look like wishful thinking.
At least three major federal agencies, including the IRS, will scrutinize your application. Checking your identity, income and citizenship is supposed to happen in real time, if you apply online.
That's just the first part of the process, which lets you know if you qualify for financial help. The government asks to see what you're making because Obama's Affordable Care Act is means-tested, with lower-income people getting the most generous help to pay premiums.
Once you're finished with the money part, actually picking a health plan will require additional steps, plus a basic understanding of insurance jargon.
And it's a mandate, not a suggestion. The law says virtually all Americans must carry health insurance starting next year, although most will just keep the coverage they now have through their jobs, Medicare or Medicaid.
Some are concerned that a lot of uninsured people will be overwhelmed and simply give up.
"This lengthy draft application will take a considerable amount of time to fill out and will be difficult for many people to be able to complete," said Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA, an advocacy group supporting the health care law. "It does not get you to the selection of a plan."
"When you combine those two processes, it is enormously time consuming and complex," added Pollack. He's calling for the government to simplify the form and, more important, for an army of counselors to help uninsured people navigate the new system. It's unclear who would pay for these navigators.
Drafts of the paper application and a 60-page description of the online version were quietly posted online by the Health and Human Services Department, seeking feedback from industry and consumer groups. Those materials, along with a recent HHS presentation to insurers, run counter to the vision of simplicity promoted by administration officials.
"We are not just signing up for a dating service here," said Sam Karp, a vice president of the California HealthCare Foundation, who nonetheless gives the administration high marks for distilling it all into a workable form. Karp was part of an independent group that separately designed a model application.
The government estimates its online application will take a half hour to complete, on average. If you need a break, or have to gather supporting documents, you can save your work and come back later. The paper application is estimated to take an average of 45 minutes.
The new coverage starts next Jan. 1. Uninsured people will apply through new state-based markets, also called exchanges.
Middle-class people will be eligible for tax credits to help pay for private insurance plans, while low-income people will be steered to safety-net programs like Medicaid.
Because of opposition to the health care law in some states, the federal government will run the new insurance markets in about half the states. And states that reject the law's Medicaid expansion will be left with large numbers of poor people uninsured.
HHS estimates it will receive more than 4.3 million applications for financial assistance in 2014, with online applications accounting for about 80 percent of them. Because families can apply together, the government estimates 16 million people will be served.
Here are some pros and cons on how the system is shaping up:
— Pro: If you apply online, you're supposed to be able to get near-instantaneous verification of your identity, income, and citizenship or immigration status. An online government clearinghouse called the Data Services Hub will ping Social Security for birth records, IRS for income data and Homeland Security for immigration status. "That is a brand new thing in the world," said Karp.
— Con: If your household income has changed in the past year or so and you want help paying your premiums, be prepared to do some extra work. You're applying for help based on your expected income in 2014. But the latest tax return the IRS would have is for 2012. If you landed a better-paying job, got laid off, or your spouse went back to work, you'll have to provide added documentation.
— Pro: Even with all the complexity, the new system could still end up being simpler than what some people go through now to buy their own insurance. You won't have to fill out a medical questionnaire, although you do have to answer whether or not you have a disability. Even if you are disabled, you can still get coverage for the same premium a healthy person of your age would pay.
—Con: If anyone in your household is offered health insurance on the job but does not take it, be prepared for some particularly head-scratching questions. For example: "What's the name of the lowest cost self-only health plan the employee listed above could enroll in at this job?"
HHS spokeswoman Erin Shields Britt said in a statement the application is a work in progress, "being refined thanks to public input."
It will "help people make apples-to-apples comparisons of costs and coverage between health insurance plans and learn whether they can get a break in costs," she added.
But what if you just want to buy health insurance in your state's exchange, and you're not interested in getting any help from the government?
You'll still have to fill out an application, but it will be shorter.
This is shaping up to be a complete nightmare!
— Pro: Even with all the complexity, the new system could still end up being simpler than what some people go through now to buy their own insurance.
Yeah right! And the earth is flat too I guess. There is hardly anything to getting insurance now. Fill out like one page, maybe two pages, and submit. That's it.
45 minutes to fill out offline? 16 pages? Are they serious? Wow.
Something tells me this is much more than paying medical bills. They want WAY too much info. This is looking like a precursor to mandating that people participate in general, just the beginning to requiring citizens do things instead of it being an option. No "opt out" here.
In our situation, I'm not sure how we are going to deal with this. We cannot afford the massively useless coverage ($10,000 deductable) my wife's employer offers, and due to my past cardiac issues, coverage for me is through the roof expensive, so no coverage there either. And then there is my religious beliefs that are the most important. I refuse to be required to participate in their joke of a scam that props up insurance companies and does absolutely NOTHING to address the insanely high costs of medical.
I think this is going to push a lot of people over the edge when they realize just how far the government is pushing people into a corner.
I dont think they really want anyone on obamacare, thats why its so hard to qualify for it. What they want is people to not have insurance and just pay the $2000.00 fine every year. Its nothing but a hidden super tax.
Obamacare May Bite You At The Vet's Office
Pet owners listen up: You may want to start saving more money for veterinarian care this year. The reason goes all the way back to Washington and an unintended consequence from medical reform.
Dog owner Lori Heiselman was surprised where her veterinarian posted a warning on Facebook.
The notice read: "Because medical equipment and supplies will be going up in cost, that extra expense will have to passed on to the customers."
Why the increase? Its part of a new 2.3-percent federal excise tax on certain medical devices that just went into effect. The tax will help fund the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare, intended for people, not pets. Manufacturers pay the tax, but a recent survey found more than half plan to pass it along.
Some vets say they can't afford it. Dr. Mike Hatcher is one of them. He explained, "I'm extremely concerned how this is going to be a hidden tax to our consumers that is going to be passed on."
How does this work? Medical devices used only on animals are exempt. However, items including IV pumps, sterile scalpels and anesthesia equipment, which are medical devices that have a dual use, meaning they can be used on people and animals, will be taxed. Hatcher said, "Putting off an equipment purchase is something that can terribly affect our clients' ability to have quality care."
The American Veterinary Medical Association represents 82,000 vets. At this point, they don't know how much this new tax will indirectly cost them. The organizations members are waiting to hear from more device makers.
http://miami.cbslocal.com/2013/03/11/obamacare-may-bite-you-at-the-vets-office/
Quote from: Kilika on March 13, 2013, 04:34:05 am
Quote from: Mark on March 13, 2013, 06:17:24 am
Or maybe playing a part in driving this country into Civil War(with the whole gun control agenda being another reason) - this country(and other world countries for that matter too) is so far in debt, that not even the biggest tax increases can save it. Obviously, the role the Federal Reserve is playing is playing into the end times scenerio.
And yes, now is the time to start making preparations to bug out - if it means everything connected to us gets disconnected from the world, then so be it. Jesus says we're not of this world.
Well, time and again, Jesus brought our brethren out of harms way, and those brothers hadn't prepared for calamity, but rather were faithful that God would deliver them from evil. My "bug out bag" is the Holy Ghost.
1 But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.
2 And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.
3 And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.
2Pe 2:4 KJV - For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast [them] down to hell, and delivered [them] into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;
5 And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth [person], a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;
7 And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked:
8 (For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed [his] righteous soul from day to day with [their] unlawful deeds;)
9 The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:
10 But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government. Presumptuous [are they], selfwilled, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities.
11 Whereas angels, which are greater in power and might, bring not railing accusation against them before the Lord.
12 But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption;
2 Peter 2:1-12 (KJB)
Obamacare gives the government access to your bank account
H.R. 3590 gives the federal government specific access to individual bank accounts and medical records as provided by that individuals health plan. The government may monitor an individuals finances and medical records electronically, for the purposes of determining an individuals eligibility for certain programs under the bill. They may also monitor an individuals finances and medical records to ascertain whether that individual has health insurance and is making regular premium payments to an approved health insurance plan; this will allow the federal government to determine each individuals financial responsibilities with respect to penalties and fees prior to or at the point of care as outlined in the bill. This clause also gives the government the ability to transfer funds electronically to or from an individuals bank account for the purposes of debiting his/her account for fees and penalties.
The stated purpose of this clause is "to reduce the clerical burden on patients, health care providers, and health plans."
Quick note for those of you who say "the government already had access to our bank accounts." That's true, but it was previously required that they obtain a court order to access any individuals personal finances. This bill provides them free reign to do so whenever they please.
http://libertyandpride.com/obamacare-gives-the-government-access-to-your-bank-account/
Christian40
http://communities.washingtontimes.com/neighborhood/common-sense/2013/mar/26/hooking-kids-sex-start-saturation-process-kinderga/
Hooking kids on sex: PP starts "saturation process" in kindergarten
WASHINGTON, March 26, 2013 ― While the White House says sequestration has eliminated funds for children touring the White House, President Obama has no problem spending $350 million federal tax dollars for sexual indoctrination programs starting in kindergarten for those same children.
This is not your grandmother's sex education about how things work and what can go "wrong." In fact, the exact opposite is the essence of the Personal Responsibility Education Program (PREP): Obamacare funnels $75 million annually into PREP, which must be used exclusively for Planned Parenthood-style "comprehensive" sex ed programs where no type of sex is wrong and the only sexual behavior PP considers "unsafe" is becoming pregnant.
More than one-fourth of the funds ‒ $20 million ‒ has been awarded to a coalition of six Planned Parenthood affiliates, operating under the name Northwest Coalition for Adolescent Health, to implement HHS's TOP program across Montana, Oregon, Idaho, Washington, and Alaska at over 50 sites. In Oregon schools, Planned Parenthood is paying children cash incentives to participate.
PP is funded with our tax dollars to market sex to our children in our schools under the guise of sex education, anti-bullying, diversity, and tolerance. Once sexualized, those children then become PP sex customers for contraceptives, STD testing, and abortion.
"A glance at the teacher outline for Lesson 1A, the introductory lesson (page 12 of the linked PowerPoint presentation), shows exactly how abstinence plays out in the sex-encouraging scheme at Planned Parenthood. 'Abstinence,' it says, 'means choosing not to do any sexual activity that carries a risk for pregnancy or STD/HIV,'" says Rita Diller, national director for STOPP.org. "In other words, abstinence has nothing do with abstaining from sex acts. So long as the student avoids STDs and pregnancy, and is comfortable with what he or she is doing, it's an anything goes."
Last year Diller's parent organization, American Life League, released a video titled "Hooking Kids on Sex," graphically detailing just what Planned Parenthood sex education is. It went viral and was viewed almost one-quarter million times in the first week before a PP activist got YouTube to suspend it. ALL came back with Hooking Kids on Sex (II). Even those who thought they knew Planned Parenthood were shocked.
The video's moderator, Michael Hichborn, argues that PP follows the same business model as a drug dealer: Young children are encouraged to masturbate and explore their bodies with mirrors to introduce them to sexuality. Hichborn says of the graphic pictures used to "educate" pre-pubescent children, "If a dirty old man showed these things to a ten year old in a park, he would be arrested. But when Planned Parenthood shows them to kids in a classroom, it gets government money."
Back in 2000 at Tufts University, a state-funed sex education workshop targeting 14-21 year olds caused a scandal dubbed Fistgate. A Massachusetts state official who spoke to teens at the conference said:
"Fisting (forcing one's entire hand into another person's rectum or ****) often gets a bad rap … [It's] an experience of letting somebody into your body that you want to be that close and intimate with … [and] to put you into an exploratory mode."
This bizarre and dangerous sexual act was presented to children as young as 12-14 as run-of-the-mill normal sex. When PP participated the next year, in 2001, recording devices of any kind were banned and the media was not allowed in to any of the workshops.
Kevin Jennings, cofounder and executive director of the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), a sponsor of the conference, wrote it off as a glitch but also criticized those who filmed the precedings as proof. Jennings was later appointed by President Obama as America's "safe" schools czar: assistant deputy secretary of the Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools inside the Department of Education.
Jennings told attendees at a GLSEN conference over a decade ago that he looked forward to the day when promoting homosexuality in schools will be seen in a positive light. GLSEN activist and kindergarten teacher Jaki Williams has said that during kindergarten children are "developing their superego," and "that's when the saturation process needs to begin."
So if you ever wonder why more and more young people accept homosexual behavior and same-sex marriage as ho-hum, look no further.
Thanks to Obamacare, both Jennings and Williams are getting their wish.
In the carnal, wicked world, anything does go. They don't go by our "laws" and standards of morality.
How can we expect the unbelieving to go by what we as Christians believe? We hope and pray they will repent and believe the gospel, but till then, "they are of the world...". and is the very reason that if parents don't like the way the world is, they either must force change in public education, or abandon secular public education and leave the world to itself.
Unfortunately, those who pull their children are still paying for the world's ways of doing things, being citizens that are taxed by Caesar, who then doles out the cash as needed.
If you live and go about your daily life in and around the world, your paying taxes into Caesar, via property ownership, sales taxes when you buy their goods and services, through a worldly job, etc. Just consider how tied to the world you are by owning or renting a home, or owning and driving a car. Look how much people must give up to refuse the "mark of the beast".
14 Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?
15 And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?
16 And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in [them]; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean [thing]; and I will receive you,
18 And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.
2 Corinthians 6:14-18 (KJB)


Along with designing and coding the pages, Edina Menje created original graphics; most notably the top banners/logos, and did image manipulation/editing on some of the photos while maintaining the color pallette and background of the original site done by Larry Rickert.
Here is a larger version of the favicon that displays in the browser tabs, address bar and favorites menu. I wanted to show it larger so that you could make out more details of the cypress tree taken from the center's logo which loses some definition when reduced to the favicon's 16x16 pixels.
The arrows for navagating the ceramics class slideshow were obtained at clker.com, a site of free clipart which can be integrated into OpenOffice.org as a plug-in for managing clipart in that office suite from the clker site. They were resized and stretched from the originals.
Photos on the site were taken by Larry Rickert, Jim Cianelli and Ed Menje.
With additional photos from our members.
The drop-down menu used on the site was based on CSS and HTML developed by Stu Nicholls. I needed code that would work for older browsers and Stu had a solution posted on his website here.
From Lokesh Dhakar comes the "Lightbox 2" script used to present the slideshows on the Performances and Luncheon pages. I did some work to adapt it to conform to the site's style and pallette. The script is available at http://www.huddletogether.com/projects/lightbox2/.


3 And cast for it foure rings of golde for the foure corners of it: that is, two rings for the one side of it, and two rings for the other side thereof.
5 And put the barres in the rings by the sides of the Arke, to beare the Arke.
¶ 6 And he made the Merciseate of pure golde: two cubites and an halfe was the length thereof, and one cubite and an halfe the breadth thereof.
7 And he made two Cherubims of gold, vpon the two endes of the Merciseate: euen of worke beaten with the hammer made he them.
8 One Cherub on the one ende, and another Cherub on the other ende: of the Merciseate made he the Cherubims, at ye two endes thereof.
9 And the Cherubims spread out their wings on hie, and couered the Merciseat with their wings, and their faces were one towards another: towarde the Merciseat were the faces of the Cherubims.
¶ 10 Also he made ye Table of Shittim wood: two cubites was the length thereof, and a cubite the breadth thereof, and a cubite and an halfe the height of it.
11 And hee ouerlayde it with fine golde, and made thereto a crowne of golde round about.
12 Also he made thereto a border of an hand breadth round about, and made vpon the border a crowne of golde round about.
13 And he cast for it foure rings of gold, and put the rings in the foure corners that were in the foure feete thereof.
14 Against the border were the rings, as places for the barres to beare the Table.
15 And he made the barres of Shittim wood, and couered them with golde to beare the Table.
16 Also he made the instruments for the Table of pure golde: dishes for it, and incense cuppes for it, and goblets for it, and couerings for it, wherewith it should be couered.
¶ 17 Likewise he made the Candlesticke of pure golde: of worke beaten out with the hammer made he the Candlesticke: and his shaft, and his branche, his bolles, his knops, and his floures were of one piece.
18 And sixe branches came out of the sides thereof: three branches of the Candlesticke out of the one side of it, and three branches of the Candlesticke out of the other side of it.
19 In one branche three bolles made like almondes, a knop and a floure: and in another branch three bolles made like almondes, a knop and a floure: and so throughout the sixe branches that proceeded out of the Candlesticke.
21 That is, vnder euery two branches a knop made thereof, and a knop vnder the second branch thereof, and a knop vnder the thirde branche thereof, according to the sixe branches comming out of it.
22 Their knops and their branches were of the same: it was all one beaten worke of pure gold.
23 And he made for it seuen lampes with the snuffers, and snufdishes thereof of pure golde.
24 Of a talent of pure golde made he it with all the instruments thereof.
¶ 25 Furthermore he made the perfume altar of Shittim wood: the length of it was a cubite, and the breadth of it a cubite (it was square) and two cubites hie, and the hornes thereof were of ye same.
26 And he couered it with pure gold, both the top and the sides thereof rounde about, and the hornes of it, and made vnto it a crowne of golde round about.
27 And he made two rings of gold for it, vnder the crowne thereof in the two corners of the two sides thereof, to put barres in for to beare it therewith.
28 Also he made the barres of Shittim wood, and ouerlayde them with golde.
29 And he made the holy anointing oyle, and the sweete pure incense after ye apothecaries arte.


Kale health benefits includes promoting eye health, detoxifying the body, promoting wellbeing of the skin, helps with blood clotting, powerful anti-oxidant support, helps with reducing cholesterol and help managing diabetes. Other benefits includes supporting bone health, promoting weight loss, help prevent stomach ulcers, help treat anemia, can help prevent cancer and helps promote healthy pregnancy.
Kale is today one of the most nutritionally important vegetables in the world, possessing the highest levels of lutein of all vegetables contained with the USDA's database, and also belonging to the important family of cruciferous veggies. Kale grows best in cooler climates, especially Mediterranean regions, but also in many other regions of the world, including North America and throughout Europe. Currently available commercial kale has actually been cultivated over thousands of years, gradually evolving from a wild grown variety to the one we know today.
The most common type of kale found today is the species Brassica oleracea, even though there are other species as well. In terms of appearance, kale leaves can appear flat, curly, with kale growing to as much as six feet in height, with colors including green, purple and ornamental white and lavender varieties as well.
Most standard green kale available today is believed to have originated in the Mediterranean region first cultivated about 2 millennia ago, even though it has only been around in North America since the 16th century.
In an unknown twist to many, kale is actually the highest natural source of lutein found in nature. Lutein, along with other carotenoid anti-oxidants, play an important role in preservation of eye health, including preventing premature age related macular degeneration, cataract development and deterioration of vision. Kale consumed in addition to other carotenoids rich foods which have zeaxanthin in them offer strong protection for your eyes.
Kale is well known for its ability to promote detoxification of waste by the body, thanks largely to the presence of specialized compounds in kale. One of these most important compounds are known as isothiocyanates, formed from glucosinolates. During detoxification, the body used specialized enzymes to breakdown strongly toxic compounds into more tolerable metabolites, something that kale helps optimize. Kale also supports the role of the liver in metabolism, as its enzymes can become elevated and cause adverse effects on the body.
While all vegetables have minor protective effects on skin, kale does this a little better thanks to its generous Vitamin C content. Vitamin C is an essential pre-requisite for collagen synthesis, which in turn helps to support the health of skin and joints. Collagen is a structural protein that keeps skin's physical properties intact, so that premature wrinkling, sagging and age spots do not manifest as easily. A cup of kale comparatively has more vitamin C than a large orange, so rest assured knowing you have other options.
The exact uses of Vitamin K are somewhat mysterious, as even searches do not necessarily reveal its total importance. However, what we do know is that it is important that you get enough of this vitamin, as it does play an important role in various processes. For example, Vitamin K helps with blood clotting, improving calcium mineralization in bone, and can prevent heart disease and osteoporosis from occurring. Consuming kale provides an excellent source of Vitamin K, as a single one cup serving supplies over 700% the RDA of this vitamin.
Kale shares characteristics with many of its cruciferous family, including its generous amount of natural anti-oxidants. These include common ones such as the carotenoids and Vitamin C, but also unique polyphenols and flavonoids. Two of these flavonoids include quercetin and kaempferol, which possesses powerful anti-oxidant abilities can help to buffer the stress of free radicals. This in turn, can slow down premature aging, damage to the skin, as well as reducing your cardiac risk factors and cancer risk.
Cholesterol has many important functions in the body, but can often be elevated to levels that are considerably unhealthy. Among these functions is the production of bile acids, which contain enzymes that promote fat metabolism. After this metabolism is complete, much of these bile acids are broken down and re-converted into cholesterol. Kale contains compounds which prevent this reconversion, and promote the excretion of bile. The end result is the use of more cholesterol to make back bile acids, leading to decreased circulating blood cholesterol levels.
Diabetics have a hard time finding suitable foods which will not spike their blood sugar levels, but often by simply including more veggies in their diets that problem can be solved. Kale is virtually sugar free, extremely low carbohydrate on a larger scale, and nutrient dense. All these factors contribute to the blood sugar modulating effects of kale, but also the fact that it contains ample fiber. A single cup serving of kale supplies approximately 5% of your daily recommended intake of fiber, which can help to blunt the speed of glucose absorption into the blood when consumed with other carbohydrate rich foods.
Vegans who are looking for ways to meet their calcium requirements will be pleased to discover that kale is an excellent source of calcium, helping promote bone health and ward off osteoporosis. One cup of kale provides almost 10% RDA, which can go a long way especially if you do not consume dairy products. But this does not mean that you have to eat kale every day, as you can simply blend it into a smoothie and have it for breakfast, mixed with other fruits or veggies of your choice.
Kale is an extremely filling, low calorie food which consumed on a calorie restricted diet can go a long way. For one, it allows for a greater amount to be eaten without a heavy calorie burden, plus the presence of fiber helps increase satiety of the meal. Consuming kale in smoothie form with breakfast not only increased nutritive density of your meal many time over, but can also help you stay filled until the next mealtime.
In a unique mechanism, kale consumption can help prevent the occurrence of H-pylori related stomach ulcers, which are bacteria that can cause erosion or ulceration of the stomach walls. This benefit is believed to be due to kale's glucosinolate content, which prevents adherence of the bacteria to the stomach's mucus lining.
Many people develop anemia simply because they fail to consume enough iron in their diets. However, there are people who fail to absorb the iron in an efficient manner, due to Vitamin C deficiency or other factors. Kale is loaded with Vitamin C which helps improve iron absorption, plus contains modest amounts of iron as well. These co-factors are also intimately involved in production of new red blood cells, helping offset low blood count as well.
Kale works via various mechanisms in cancer prevention, including promoting removal of waste from the body, and minimizing exposure of healthy cells to waste in the intestines. Kale is also loaded with anti-oxidants, which buffer free radical damage that can precipitate cancerous changes in cells.
Intake of folate is extremely important during pregnancy, as it can prevent the development of several neurological defects of the fetus, as well as preventing spina bifida and deformities. Kale contains modest amounts of folate, which can help you meet your quota, especially if not using a prenatal supplement. Folate is also important for normal DNA synthesis and cell replication to prevent unwanted mutations from occurring.
Kale is an extremely versatile vegetables that can be included in many meals, and even consumed as a smoothie. Its nutritional density is second to very little, warranting the fact that you include this vegetable in your diet.
Written by: Michael Jessimy on March 21, 2019.