Supreme Court Set To Hear on Obama’s Health Care Law in March. * Healthcare seen as major issue in 2012 elections* Close vote likely, Justice Kennedy may control outcome* Obama administration, 26 states appealed to high court (Adds political analyst and health https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSL2E8ESKN320120328
BOSTON–Chanting “hands off” and “no cuts,” hundreds of seniors rallied here to warn Congress’s deficit-cutting supercommittee to stay away from Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. “When you get older, you need help, not cuts,” said Steve Ciardi, a former pipe fitter who has multiple sclerosis and was in a wheelchair being pushed by his wife, Patty. http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2011/11/09/seniors-rally-in-boston-against-cuts-to-social-programs/ … Read more
Nearly half of students age 12-17 sexually harassed in school. Sexual harassment of fellow students is downplayed in schools, experts say. Forty-eight percent of surveyed middle and high school students said they were sexually harassed at least once, typically by their peers, during the 2010-2011 school year, according to a report released Monday by the American Association … Read more
Technical Fix for Social Security may reduce benefits significantly over the long haul according to this opinion post in The Nation by William Greider. Do you agree? The ugly part of this gimmick is that it punishes most severely the very people who most need help. http://www.thenation.com/blog/164450/technical-fix-social-security-will-shrink-benefits-poor
The 2019 Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) is set for a 2.8% increase based on the final CPI calculations for 3rd quarter inflation measurement period. This is the largest COLA increase since 2011 when it was 3.6%. Last years increase was 2%. COLA increases are based on the inflation measurement period of the 3rd quarter … Read more
Documentarian Susan Saladoff explores how the media and corporate America manipulated the public into believing the civil justice system is broken. Susan Saladoff explains tort reform and discusses the myth of frivolous lawsuits. She explains that the system works because of jury trials and that attorneys will not represent clients that have frivolous lawsuits. http://www.cc.com/video-clips/wsqtx0/the-colbert-report-susan-saladoff … Read more
Sexual harassment in the military still an issue as many cases go unreported. In a 2010 Defense Department survey, 41 percent of service members – 52 percent of women and 38 percent of men – said that in their work group, people would be able to get away with sexual harassment to some extent even … Read more
Is Small Business the “Job Creators” we keep hearing about in the current economic and political discussion. This NY Times author doesn’t believe so – what’s your opinion? To the extent that size matters at all for job growth, it’s really about new companies that will start small and, if they survive, perhaps grow large. … Read more
“The fact that these women sought sanctuary in the United States — only to find abuse at the hands of officials they thought would protect them — is wholly inconsistent with America’s self-proclaimed reputation as a beacon of human rights,” Lisa Graybill, legal director of the ACLU of Texas http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/nationnow/2011/10/aclu-sexual-abuse-detainees.html ACLU: The ACLU has released … Read more
The COLA, announced Thursday, Oct. 11, will increase the average Social Security retirement benefit by $39 a month or roughly $468 a year. The average single retired Social Security recipient is expected to receive $1,422 in December 2018 before increasing to $1,461 a month later. The COLA affects household budgets for about 1 in 5 Americans, … Read more