Monthly Archives: March 2014

Obama extending health care sign-up deadline

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by Kelly Kennedy, USA TODAY

NWCN.com

Posted on March 26, 2014 at 6:21 AM

Updated today at 6:21 AM

WASHINGTON President Obama has extended the health care exchange deadline for those who start the process before March 31, Health and Human Services officials say.

"Open enrollment ends March 31," said Julie Bataille, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services spokeswoman. "We are experiencing a surge in demand and are making sure that we will be ready to help consumers who may be in line by the deadline to complete enrollmenteither online or over the phone."

When the website, HealthCare.gov, was overwhelmed by people trying to enroll in late December to gain health coverage by Jan. 1, the administration enacted a similar stretch of the deadline for those who tried to enroll but did not make the deadline.

This time, officials said they would loosen the deadline for those with "complex or extenuating" circumstances that keep them from fully enrolling by March 31, the last day of open enrollment, and the last day to buy health insurance to avoid paying a fine with 2014 taxes.

Officials expect a high volume of last-minute enrollees, and while they say the website can handle the numbers, they don't want to penalize those who need extra help. Some households will need to file paper forms and complete paperwork over the phone, officials said.

Officials recommend setting aside some time for enrollment to gather family information, investigate whether a doctor is within a plan's network, and ensuring that those new to the insurance world understand basic terms like "deductible" and "premium," which are explained at http://www.HealthCare.gov.

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Obama extending health care sign-up deadline

Rahul Gandhi's Congress Party offers India free health care in re-election bid

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In its last two terms at the heart of the ruling United Progressive Alliance coalition, Congress has championed a number of popular schemes to guarantee work for the poorest and free school meals for their children.

Its "pro-poor" credentials, however, have been undermined by high food inflation and a slump in economic growth, which has put a number of major investments on hold. Mr Modi supports fewer subsidies but is admired for higher rates of economic growth in Gujarat.

Mr Gandhi said his partys manifesto was Indias first to be drafted on the basis of five months of consultation with Indias lower paid workers and that a partnership between the economic sectors of this country and the poor was the only route to growth.

His mother Sonia said Congress would guarantee housing for all families below the poverty line but stressed the election would not simply be about prosperity and growth but upholding constitutional values of the country and striving for a united society.

Congress is expected to target Mr Modis failure to stop an anti-Muslim massacre in Gujarat in 2002 when more than 1000 people were killed in communal violence. It is expected to portray him as a divisive figure that inspires violence.

The partys health pledge was welcomed by campaigners who said the high cost of treatment had plunged more than 40 million people into poverty.

India is bottom of the table of public health financing. Forty to 50 million people have been pushed into poverty because they have had to pay for treatment they cannot afford. The poor and the near-poor will benefit most, so the right to health care is welcomed, but it must be translated into a cogent plan, said Dr Srinath Reddy of the Public Health Foundation India.

Two pilot projects for universal health care have been launched in Kerala and Karnataka and Congress pledged to focus on improvements to primary health provision. It said every district will have five mobile clinic vans with facilities for x-rays, mammography and blood testing.

It also pledged a toilet for every home to end Indias dubious status as the site of 60 per cent of the worlds open defecation.

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Rahul Gandhi's Congress Party offers India free health care in re-election bid

Campaigners call for urgent meeting with mayor over future of historic cinema

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Joe Anderson claimed the Futurist on Lime Street would be too expensive to save

Campaigners fighting to save a derelict cinema have called for an urgent meeting with the Mayor of Liverpool - after he claimed the building would be too expensive to save.

Mayor Joe Anderson told the ECHO earlier this week that the historic Futurist cinema on Lime Street would not be part of a regeneration masterplan for the area.

Futurist campaign leader Lesley Mullally launched the Save the Futurist campaign in September 2012.

She raised more than 1600 signatures on a petition to save the faade and enlisted the support of the mayor, who promised he would do everything he could to retain the unique frontage.

She said: "Weve had an amazing response from Liverpool people, especially creative businesses, who have given their time for free to come up with alternatives to demolition.

"Weve had incredible contributions from architects, artists, urban designers, engineers and digital media firms who believe the front of this building can still be saved and must be saved!"

She said she has written to Mayor Anderson calling for an urgent meeting with the building's owners Neptune.

The cinema has been empty since it closed in 1982.

Now campaigners have enlisted the help of local planning and digital media specialists to come up with an alternative vision for the building.

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Campaigners call for urgent meeting with mayor over future of historic cinema

Austrian MEP candidate compares EU to Nazis: Jewish leader calls on Freedom Party to take action – Video

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Austrian MEP candidate compares EU to Nazis: Jewish leader calls on Freedom Party to take action
The leader of Austria #39;s Jewish community has appealed to an EU Parliament member to drop his re-election campaign after comparing the European Union to Nazi ...

By: JewishNewsOne

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Austrian MEP candidate compares EU to Nazis: Jewish leader calls on Freedom Party to take action - Video

What does freedom in business mean?

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A successful organisation is one that offers individual freedom without losing its sense of direction

No matter where you are on the political spectrum, for capitalists, free enterprise is sacred and an inherent good. But what if we looked at free enterprise another way and asked: What is the role of freedom in the corporate setting? And how do levels of freedom affect the bottom line?

Freedom is widely accepted as a basic human right in our societies. Yet while strategists and organisational experts have explored many forces that drive success, they have paid too little attention to the impacts and implications of freedom.

Research into how freedom affects business performance reveals that the right kind of freedom can indeed underpin competitive advantage, across different measures of financial performance, innovation and long-term success. This is not an abstract notion. There is a clearly defined structure freedom from and freedom to through which companies need to approach the quest for freedom.

Freedom from is a necessary condition for success in life, society and business. It speaks to the liberation of individuals from hierarchy, oppression and stultifying rules, whether from a tyrannical government or from a top-down corporate management style. Relationships created by freedom from have the potential to be open and two-way because power is appropriately distributed, information is shared and decision-making is inclusive. Freedom from can shape the space for multiple actors to make broad contributions.

But freedom from, in and of itself, is not sufficient; while empowering to individuals, it doesnt establish moral and ethical frameworks in which to operate. Freedom from needs to be followed by a meaningful journey towards freedom to the shared condition where we are inspired to act in the common interest. Freedom to is alignment towards shared objectives and mutually positive outcomes.

The breakdown of traditional power structures is leading to a rise of freedom from, leaving behind a power vacuum as old controls wither. We see it in West Asia where the Arab Spring was a manifestation of the powerful drive for freedom but also in the startup culture, among millennials who want freedom from conventional corporate trappings. But how do we contend with and benefit from this abundance of newfound freedom?

Companies need to fill that vacuum with freedom to if they are to create a competitive advantage. For example, organisations can increase employees choices about what projects to work on and reward high performers with additional responsibilities in their areas of interest. In so doing, leaders can relocate freedom from something conferred externally to a force that arises organically.

Organisations need to start viewing relations with all stakeholders employees, customers, supply chain partners and even communities through this lens of freedom from/freedom to. Business, after all, is about relationships relationships with employees, customers, supply chain partners and other stakeholders

Today, freedom particularly freedom from is on the march. The interdependencies of todays business, culture and communications expose us to the freedom of others, increasing our demand for the newfound freedoms we see others exercising. Technology is a great liberator, powering interactivity and commerce that support the rise of freedom from in our business and personal lives as never before.

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What does freedom in business mean?

Freedom of Conscience and Religious Liberty

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(Photo: Reuters/Larry Downing)

Protester Julia Mitchell holds a sign at the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court as arguments began to challenge the Affordable Care Act's requirement that employers pay for contraception and abortion-inducing drugs as part of an employee's healthcare, in Washington, March 25, 2014.

March 26, 2014|10:45 am

What if the federal government ordered you to act against your conscience - to take part in something you believed to be objectively wrong - or else be punished with huge fines?

This is no idle question. It describes exactly what is happening in America today: The Obama administration is ordering businesses and other organizations with 50 or more employees to have their insurance plans cover drugs and devices which can cause early abortions. To many business owners, that means either cooperating in grave evil, dropping insurance they have always provided their workers, or being forced out of business.

Just ask David and Barbara Green, owners of the giant chain of Hobby Lobby stores. Just ask the Hahn family, Mennonites who own Conestoga Wood Specialties. These courageous Americans are defending not only their own rights but also those of all Americans who wish to live their lives and run their businesses in accord with their free consciences and their deepest beliefs.

That is why the public policy groups and the women's coalition that we represent signed an amici curiae ("friends of the court") that was filed with the Supreme Court of the United States in two lawsuits against Obama Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. While we do not take a position on contraception, we do assert fiercely our freedom of conscience and religious liberty.

The cases center on ObamaCare's Health and Human Services mandate, which uses the threat of ruinous fines to coerce private individuals and organizations into becoming complicit in abortions - to, as our brief says, "violate religious beliefs by covering in health insurance plans devices and drugs that can prevent an embryo from implanting in the womb." In doing so, the Mandate directly attacks the First Amendment's guarantee of religious freedom. It also contradicts several federal laws that protect the people's conscience rights concerning abortion, such as the Church Amendment of 1973.

The mandate's departure from respect for conscience rights is deepening our nation's social and political divisions. It plainly creates a national conflict over religious freedom by trampling upon the conscience rights of the many Americans who oppose abortion. Those Americans, it should not even be necessary to point out, include millions of women such as ourselves who cherish and champion the right to life and who prize and defend Americans' rights of conscience and religious liberty.

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Freedom of Conscience and Religious Liberty

Ed Asner helps lead Freedom Seder at Temple Emanu-El

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Actor Ed Asner will help lead a Freedom Seder, which celebrates the Jews freedom from Egyptian slavery and all those who have fought for freedom.

The event is co-sponsored by Temple Emanu-El and Humane Borders.

The Freedom Seder will take place April 21 at 6:15 p.m. at Temple Emanu-El, 225 N. Country Club Road.

The first Freedom Seder took place in Washington, D.C., on the one-year anniversary of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.s death, on April 4, 1969.

Participants of many faith traditions met in an African-American church in Washington, D.C., combining for the first time the biblical story of freedom and the African-American struggle for full civil rights, according to a news release from Temple Emanu-El. Since that time, Freedom Seders have embraced stories of people of color, refugees and others who have fought for basic human dignity.

The event is open to people of all faiths.

The Freedom Seder includes a Passover meal.

Reservations are $28 and can be made by calling 327-4501 or at http://www.templeemanueltucson.org

The deadline to RSVP is April 14.

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Ed Asner helps lead Freedom Seder at Temple Emanu-El

Eco campaign to clean up Abu Dhabi mangroves

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Abu Dhabi: Eco tour operator Capt. Tonys, hotel Park Hyatt and Yas Marina conducted a clean up drive at the mangroves near Yas Island as part of the UAE Green Festival.

Several students from two Abu Dhabi schools - Al Muna and The British International School also took part in the drive. Called Dolphin Bay due to the number of dolphin sightings here, the eco initiative on the uninhabited island near Yas Island resulted in the collection of 20 bags of waste.

We wanted to do something to celebrate the UAE Green Festival and thought we could start by cleaning up the mangroves in Abu Dhabi, said Arabella Willing, Marine Biologist at Park Hyatt.

We went deeper into the mangroves where we split the children into teams. We also told the children about the importance of mangroves and why they are so important.

Capt. Tonys said school children were involved to create awareness about the fragile eco-system. We are an eco-conscious company and use these areas regularly for our eco tours and cruises. We wanted to also raise awareness amongst children to protect the environment and therefore tied up with the schools, said Antonio Neto, owner of Capt. Tonys.

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Eco campaign to clean up Abu Dhabi mangroves