Category Archives: healthcare

GOP’s Boehner Endorses Sharia for Closely Held Muslim Firms? The Political Repercussions of the Hobby Lobby Decision – NYTimes.com

“Today’s decision is a victory for religious freedom and another defeat for an administration that has repeatedly crossed constitutional lines in pursuit of its Big Government objectives,” Speaker John Boehner said in a statement. A more honest statement of the party’s thinking came in this tweet from Erick Erickson, the conservative blogger: “My religion trumps your ‘right’ to employer subsidized consequence free sex.”

via The Political Repercussions of the Hobby Lobby Decision – NYTimes.com.

So, if a firm is owned by someone who “religiously” supports FGM, child brides, honor killings, polygamy, or opposes all forms of medical assistance, blood transfusions – be careful of what you support, in case you think it’s just for you!

Charitable? Red Cross Cites ‘Trade Secrets’ to Redact Details of Sandy Donations | News | PND

If those details were to be disclosed, it argued, “the American Red Cross would suffer competitive harm because its competitors would be able to mimic the American Red Cross’s business model for an increased competitive advantage.”

via Red Cross Cites ‘Trade Secrets’ to Redact Details of Sandy Donations | News | PND.

Banned biter Suarez returns home, loses sponsor, receives support | Sports | DW.DE | 27.06.2014

Even Chiellini, whose shoulder bore the marks of Suarez’s jaw on Tuesday night in Natal, questioned the severity of the sanction for repeat-offender Suarez, who has made the headlines for biting in the past with both Liverpool and former club Ajax Amsterdam.

“Now inside me there’s no feelings of joy, revenge or anger against Suarez for an incident that happened on the pitch and that’s done,” Chiellini said in a statement on his website. “I believe that the proposed formula is excessive.”

via Banned biter Suarez returns home, loses sponsor, receives support | Sports | DW.DE | 27.06.2014.

McCullen: A view from a thousand feet

Of course, there is nothing theoretical about abortion for one in three women and many trans men and gender queer people. Abortion isn’t a symbol. It isn’t an idea. It’s a medical procedure they chose to undergo. And the sidewalk outside the clinic isn’t a metaphor for the American abortion debate or the polarization of public opinion, but an actual sidewalk through which their actual bodies must cross in the face of actual harassment. To treat it as an abstraction is disrespectful to those who know too well the very real impacts of impeded access — and also betrays the Court’s distance from the on-the-ground dangers it now exacerbates. In McCullen we see the Justices looking down on the sidewalks of America’s clinics from a thousand feet. From this great height, every walk through the crowds looks shorter and every death threat sounds softer. It must feel very safe up there.

via McCullen: A view from a thousand feet.

Eat Drink Better | Healthy recipes, good food: sustainable eats for a healthy lifestyle!

Dutch farmers actually bought in (which is amazing since the Netherlands is Europe’s biggest meat exporter). And in 2013, the ministry announced that between 2007 and 2012, the Netherlands saw a 56% decrease in antibiotic sales to farms without any significant negative impact on efficiency or financial results. Modern Farmer describes the impact on animal and human health:

So has all this attention to detail actually helped animal and human antibiotic resistance? Early data says yes. The 2013 edition of the Netherlands’ annual report on antibiotic usage in animals shows resistant bacteria declining in pigs, veal, chickens and dairy cattle. What will really prove its worth, though, is whether antibiotic-resistant infections decline in humans too.

Evidence shows that there has been no further increase in the number of human infections. But we’ll have to wait to see if the number goes down.

So the Dutch took a risk that paid off — prioritizing animal and human health by redesigning agricultural norms. Will other countries follow their example? Why shouldn’t they?

via Eat Drink Better | Healthy recipes, good food: sustainable eats for a healthy lifestyle!.

Blessing the Body – Beauty for all Genders –

The most frequently asked questions I receive from people have to do with my skin, teeth, the brightness of my eyes and overall looks; they want to know what’s my beauty regime. The secrets? So few & simple! And yet so important & profound!

What people need to understand is that the state of my skin, thick nails, white teeth, lustrous hair, etc. are all a byproduct of self love. It frustrates & disappoints me that, whenever I start telling the questioneer about what I do to & with my body, which starts on the inside -not the outside-, they either roll their eyes and zone out until I shut up, or they interrupt “Yeah yeah, but what do you put on your skin, hair, teeth…”. People’s obsession with disregarding their inner world (both the physical and the non-physical) irritates me. And I wonder Why do you ask for an honest answer if you don’t want to hear it?

The way I care for my body often sounds strange to people who want a fast and practical solution, “fast food” style. But if you’ve known me for any substantial amount of time, you’ll know that I don’t do quick fixes. Everything I do in life, I do in a slow, deep deep deep-to-the-core, progressive, curiosity-fuelled, self adoring style, leaving no stone unturned as I make love to myself. Uh-oh, have you already zoned out, dear reader? 😉

via Blessing the Body – Beauty for all Genders –.

The US supreme court’s abortion buffer zone ruling protects a gauntlet of horror | Jessica Valenti | Commentisfree | The Guardian

Imagine trying to walk into a building, trying to get a medical treatment – and someone screams at you. Someone is two inches from your face – two feet from the front door – and that someone is videotaping you, calling you a whore. There’s ketchup poured in the snowbanks around you, made to look like spurted blood. You try to take a step forward, but people block your way, yelling that you’re going to be “mother to a dead baby”. They hold signs in your faces, whisper “murderer” in your ear as you pass. Maybe they shove you.

Don’t believe portrayals to the contrary – from anti-choice activists and the news media – that these kinds of protestors outside abortion clinics are not grandmas praying, or kindly “counselors” who just want to talk reasonably to women. These people wait outside clinics to shame and to harass; they are there to scare.

via The US supreme court’s abortion buffer zone ruling protects a gauntlet of horror | Jessica Valenti | Commentisfree | The Guardian.

6 Books That Helped Me Recover From Depression –

“This is what you shall do: Love the earth and sun and the animals, despise riches, give alms to every one that asks, stand up for the stupid and crazy, devote your income and labor to others, hate tyrants, argue not concerning God, have patience and indulgence toward the people, take off your hat to nothing known or unknown or to any man or number of men, go freely with powerful uneducated persons and with the young and with the mothers of families, read these leaves in the open air every season of every year of your life, re-examine all you have been told at school or church or in any book, dismiss whatever insults your own soul, and your very flesh shall be a great poem and have the richest fluency not only in its words but in the silent lines of its lips and face and between the lashes of your eyes and in every motion and joint of your body”

via 6 Books That Helped Me Recover From Depression –.

To Fix VA Waits, Hire More Staff | Labor Notes

“I love the VA and would never work in the private system again,” said one provider. “I used to spend an hour or two a day on the phone with private insurance companies or writing letters to them… [At the VA] it’s not about making a buck.” (The agency tries to rein in press contact, so some providers asked us not to use their names.)

The real solutions to the agency’s problems may sound familiar. The VA needs to hire more frontline staff, fewer managers. It needs to update an antiquated computerized scheduling system, expand facilities where need is growing, and reduce missed appointments by offering rides.

It needs to use data such as wait time statistics as tools for improvement, not bludgeons. And it needs to act on feedback from concerned workers, instead of squelching it.

via To Fix VA Waits, Hire More Staff | Labor Notes.