HEALTHCARE:
If you feel confused about this $940 billion dollar health care plan, then check out this New York Times Health Care Chart. And clearly the Huffington Post, which never wants to impose itself upon your time, has the hearing condensed into ten minutes and laid out some of the challenges facing the bill. Furthermore, NPR, the smartest people in the world, have a variety of resources on Health Care on their health care page.
Also, if you missed it the first time around, This American Life did two great shows about health care a few months back which are definitely worth a listen (and I would not understand health care if I hadn’t listened to them): More is Less and Someone Else’s Money.
Further Reading:
RUSH LIMBAUGH:
+ Rush Limbaugh said he would go to Costa Rica if health care passed. So is he gonna go now? We’re ready. He can go now.
LGBT FEELINGS:
+ NGLTN: Executive Director of the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force Rea Carey released a statement about this historic measure and the importance of GLBT people being counted and getting equal rights.
+ Joe my God has a list of all the house Dems who voted against Health Care Reform.
+ The HRC is “disappointed” that Congress abandoned the LGBT health care provisions. (@queerty)
+ Andrew Sullivan: “This is an important victory — the first true bloodied, grueling revelation that his persistence, another critical Obama quality, finally paid off in the presidency. He could have given up weeks ago, as the punditry advised (because they seem to have no grasp of substance and mere addiction to hour-to-hour political plays). But he refused. That took courage. And relentlessness.” (@the daily dish)
WOMYN FEELINGS:
+ Abortion: “Baby Killer:” Or, How The Abortion Health Care Compromise Pisses Off Everyone. (@jezebel)
+”In the end, after all the posturing and breast-beating and fighting over abortion and health care reform, we’ve come back full circle to the Hyde Amendment. That would be the same old familiar old restriction on federal funding for abortion Congress passed in 1976.” (@slate)
+ Pelosi: Should women be happy with Nancy Pelosi for making health care happen? “It’s hardly an open question whether this was more a political victory than a policy victory: a year ago, Pelosi swore there would be a public option. There is none. There is no cap on what insurance companies can charge people with so-called pre-existing conditions, including being a victim of domestic violence or sexual assault — insurance companies just can’t refuse to cover you, but they can charge what they like and, worse yet, you’ll be required to buy it or pay a fine.” (@jezebel)
OTHER FEELINGS:
+ Michael Moore: The Great Thing About the Health Care Law That Has Passed? It Will Save Republican Lives, Too.
+ Reports of Health Care’s death greatly exaggerated.
+ Let the lawsuits begin! States start suing over Health Care Reform. (@phb)
+ John McCain is a crabby old man: “John McCain phoned in to Good Morning America today to announce that the GOP intends to overturn the health care reform bill via “lawsuits, tea party rallies, and the ballot box.” (@jmg)
PROM:
A hearing will be held today to hear a motion brought against the Itawamba School District by the ACLU. Constance McMillen is also suing the school district in federal court; both suits ask the school to overturn their decision. Since the official prom’s cancellation, a private prom has been set up by parents at the suggestion of the school, and Constance and her girlfriend have not been invited.
This is sad because who would not want to attend a prom at the Tupelo Furniture Mart, which is where the private prom will be held. ELVIS WAS BORN IN TUPELO you guys. ELVIS PRESLEY. So wtf. (@examiner)
TEA PARTIERS:
A bunch of tea partiers said crazy and offensive stuff, which seems like it shouldn’t even be news but it was so crazy and offensive we can’t not talk about it. Specifically, they shouted the n- and f-words at Representative John Lewis and Barney Frank respectively. Rep. James Clyburn, a veteran of the civil rights movement along with John Lewis, said “It was absolutely shocking to me… I led the first demonstrations in South Carolina, the sit ins… And quite frankly I heard some things today I have not heard since that day. I heard people saying things that I have not heard since March 15, 1960, when I was marching to try and get off the back of the bus.” Just to remind you who these people are and what they value, here’s a video of their protest in DC via Gawker:
Since the incident this weekend, several prominent Republicans have spoken out to denounce the racist and homophobic behavior. GOP Chairman Michael Steele said that “the incidents were “reprehensible,” and added, “we do not support that… What you had out there yesterday were a handful of people who just got stupid and said some ignorant things.” Some people, on the other hand, were less apologetic: Rep. Devin Nunes from California said that “When you use a totalitarian tactic, people, you know, begin to act crazy,” Nunes said on CSPAN. “I think that people have every right to say what they want. If they want to smear someone, they can do it.” (@gawker) (@pamshouseblend) (@wapo)
DISCRIMINATION:
A former partner at Korn/Ferry International, the world’s largest executive recruitment firm, tried to sue her company for discrimination against its gay employees, but the California Superior Court has refused to hear her case. “The lawsuit claims that Jeff Rosin, president of Korn/Ferry Canada, cautioned employees against associating with gay employees, including Ms. Smye, and that Mr. Rosin fired another Korn/Ferry employee, Denise Tobin-McCarthy, after learning that Tobin-McCarthy and Smye were dating.Today the Superior Court of California, Los Angeles, through a successful summary judgment proceeding, threw out Dr. Smye’s action, before she was even heard on the facts of her case, based on Korn Ferry’s assertion that the California Court does not have jurisdiction to hear the case; that the law of Florida applies, due to a choice of law clause that appears in the employment agreement between Korn/Ferry and Smye.” (@lezgetreal)
INDIA:
Plans are in the works in Delhi to change legislature that currently defines same-gender sex as criminal. “A communication from the MHA to the Ministry of Law and Justice, sent earlier this week, asks the latter to prepare a draft of an amendment Bill to the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the most striking feature of which is that Section 377 would no longer deal with the offence involving voluntary “carnal intercourse against the order of nature” between consenting adults of the same gender. ” (@indianexpress)
CENSUS:
You already know you should be queering your census, but do you know about, you know, all the rest of it? Mary “Bside” Buckheit is here to help you queermos out. (@queerty)
EDUCATION:
A college instructor in California is facing punishment from his university for teaching anti-gay rhetoric in the classroom. “An instructor at Fresno City College who made anti-gay remarks is in trouble with the administration after students complained that he was using the Bible to teach his Health Sciences class.
Administrators at the publicly funded school promised to take appropriate action against Dr. Bradley Lopez, who told his students that homosexuality is a mental disorder and should be treated with psychotherapy.
Students also complained that Lopez told students to use the Bible to explain climate change, the genetic makeup of Jesus, among other study assignments.” (@sdgln)
WALES:
A gay couple was turned away from a private bed & breakfast when they tried to go for a weekend trip near Maidenhead, Berkshire on Friday. The bed & breakfast owner claims it’s her right to refuse service to whomever she wants, as she runs a private business out of her home. “A spokesman for Stonewall, the gay rights campaign group, said turning a couple away because of their sexual orientation was illegal. Derek Munn, director of public affairs, said: “Stonewall was delighted when the law changed in 2007 so that lesbian and gay couples could go on their holidays like anyone else. In open-and-shut cases of discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation the law’s quite clear – it’s illegal for businesses to turn away gay customers or discriminate against them when providing goods or services, and this can’t be overridden by personal prejudice.” (@walesonline)
