Category: Health

There’s a lot of confusion, we find, about government or public health care programs. Medicare, Medi-Cal, Medicaid … just what are the differences?

Well, some would argue that Medicare actually helps adult people, whereas Medi-Cal really is better for children and prenatal mothers than the general population it serves. My opinion? They could all be better. But I’ll stop with opinions now…..

Medicare – Federal Health Insurance plan for seniors and the disabled. Contrary to what some may believe, you can be a 20 year old with Medicare.

Sam Hargrove, a junior at High Tech High, organized a group of students to hold a candle-lit vigil in support of Copenhagen climate agreements. He did it in conjunction with the organization “350.org”. Here is his brief report:

Small but loud, we stood at street corners and conversed with numerous passersby as we held our candles and signs. We were ten recognizably sentient humans, two babies, and one puppy.

We made a big 350 on the ground and in the air with candles and flashlights. Overall, it was really fun and we definitely got our voices heard and got to show our commitment to the cause. Thank you everyone who came!

A psychologist asks: Have consumerism, suburbanization and a malevolent corporate-government partnership so beaten us down that we no longer have the will to save ourselves?

Can people become so broken that truths of how they are being screwed do not “set them free” but instead further demoralize them? Has such a demoralization happened in the United States? Do some totalitarians actually want us to hear how we have been screwed because they know that humiliating passivity in the face of obvious oppression will demoralize us even further?

We got an email from a student at High Tech High International, Sam Hargrove, asking us to spread the word about a candlelight vigil that is happening this weekend. The following is from the message he sent to us. ~ Editor

THE SAN DIEGO COMMUNITY JOINS THOUSANDS OF CANDLELIGHT VIGILS TO DEMAND A REAL DEAL AT THE COPENHAGEN CLIMATE TALKS

As climate negotiators gather in Copenhagen, local residents will hold a candlelight vigil throughout San Diego on Sunday night to demonstrate public support for an agreement strong enough to actually slow climate change. This local action will join thousands of coordinated vigils happening in more than 100 countries as part of “The World Wants a Real Deal” campaign to demand a fair, ambitious and binding climate agreement.

It’s the time of year when I really start to dread opening the gas and electric bill. It got cold yesterday, didn’t it? Sometimes, no matter how many layers you wear, you just gotta turn on some heat.

I’ve been reading (with interest) about SDG&E’s intent to change electric rates so people that use less electricity will pay a little more and people that use more will pay a little less. I know this has a lot of people up in arms because they think that those of us that conserve will be hit with rate hikes while the energy hogs will get a break, and to some extent it’s true, but they’re talking about 4-5%, and that’s not going make much difference to most folks. But there are other sides to this issue…

By Mike Laude / North County Times / December 4, 2009

I love searching the ocean for fish and other good things to eat. But the ocean has been changing, and so have I.

My addiction began on a day when the surf at Windansea was, at best, knee high. I swam from Windansea to Bird Rock, gawking at halibut, lobsters, abalone, moray eels, starfish, urchins, garibaldi, schools of sargo, barracuda, opal eye, and bait fish. From that first day, some 30 years ago, I was hooked.

I grabbed abalone and lobsters, pole-speared perch, calico bass, sheephead, and halibut, then started using a speargun for yellowtail and white seabass.

Diving in a kelp forest on a clear day is magic.

by Molly Macquire

America IS – still – the richest country in the world. Yet Americans cannot afford to live here. Let me share two brief stories with you of friends I have run into recently. Both friends are leaving America because they can’t do it any longer – they cannot afford to live here.

[Editor’s Note: I have published this list – followed by a progressive critique – as a counter-pole to the anguish progressives and leftists feel right now, on the eve of President Obama’s announcement of additional US troops being sent to Afghanistan. Some progressives are ready to throw Obama out of office because of his Afghanistan “surge.” This is basically a list of positives and there are many items on this list that progressives will disagree with, will consider to be cosmetic, or will fault for a lack of follow-through — and there are without doubt a lot of negatives not included. But we think this is an impressive list just the same.]

By Robert P. Watson

I am always being asked to grade Obama’s presidency. In place of offering him a grade, I put together a list of his accomplishments thus far. I think you would agree that it is very impressive. His first six months have been even more active than FDR’s or LBJ’s — the two standards for such assessments.

Photographers Jim Grant’s view of the Ocean Beach leg of the San Diego 3-Day walk for Breast Cancer. Do you…

OCEAN BEACH, CA. Many of the respondents in our recent poll about the Swine Flu expressed doubts about vaccinations and believed it was much to do about nothing. 73% of those who voted either felt it was not important for them to be vaccinated or the whole thing was “a lot of hype and hysteria.”

34% stated that it was not important for them to be vaccinated. And even more, 39%, …

by Bill Maher

While America is still in the grips of swine flu mania, let me use this opportunity to clear up a few things about my beliefs concerning the flu shot, vaccines, and health in general. I do this because there is obviously a lot of curiosity about this subject of vaccines — it comes up in every interview I do these days, and I’ve been finding that people, including doctors, are privately expressing a skepticism that is still not very prevalent in public. I feel like I’ve become a confessor for people who want someone to be raising questions about vaccines.

The nation’s economic crisis has catapulted the number of Americans who lack enough food to the highest level since the government has been keeping track, according to a new federal report, which shows that nearly 50 million people — including almost one child in four — struggled last year to get enough to eat.

At a time when rising poverty, widespread unemployment and other effects of the recession have been well documented, the report released Monday by the U.S. Department of Agriculture provides the government’s first detailed portrait of the toll that the faltering economy has taken on Americans’ access to food.