BARBARA'S TCHATZKAHS

Out-of-network insurance practices face scrutiny Ever wonder how that bill was calculated if you had to pay to see a doctor outside your insurance network? Might be a scam, says a senator investigating the issue. Sen. Jay Rockefeller, chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, wants answers at a hearing Tuesday from the chief executives of UnitedHealth Group Inc. and its subsidiary Ingenix Inc., a claims database used by insurers nationwide to calculate out-of-network rates. The inquiry follows lawsuits and an investigation by New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo alleging that UnitedHealth and Ingenix manipulated rate data so insurers had to pay less and patients more for out-of-network services. "They're lowballing deliberately. They deliberately cut the numbers so the consumer has to pay more of the cost," Rockefeller, D-W.Va., said in an interview with The Associated Press on Friday. "It's scamming. It's fraud," he said.

By Sarah Tofte Human Rights Watch released a report Tuesday finding that Los Angeles County has at least 12,669 untested rape kits sitting in storage facilities. Sarah Tofte, a researcher for that study, calls it a case of major injustice to rape survivors. Catherine, who lives with her young son in Los Angeles, was awakened at midnight by a stranger who raped her, sodomized her and forced her to orally copulate him -- repeatedly. When it was over, the police brought her to a rape treatment center. As with all rape victims, her body was a crime scene. She consented to the collection of evidence. The lab said it would take at least eight months for it to analyze the evidence gathered from Catherine's body, known as a "rape kit." For the detective, that was too long to wait. He personally drove the kit to the state lab, where it still sat for months. When it was finally processed, it generated a "cold hit" -- the DNA matched someone in the offender database, and C

By James Kirchick With Benjamin Netanyahu set to become Israel's prime minister, critics around the world are proclaiming the death of the peace process. And the fact that Avigdor Lieberman - who has called for all Israeli citizens (not just Arabs) to swear a loyalty oath and supports population transfers with the Palestinians - may become Israel's foreign minister has only exacerbated the fervor of these predictions. In this analysis, it is the incoming conservative government of Israel which poses a threat to regional stability, not Palestinian rejectionism or the machinations of Iran and Syria and their proxies Hamas and Hezbollah. The height of this thinking was apparent at Tuesday night's White House press conference, when Agence France-Presse reporter Stefan Collison asked President Obama, "How realistic do you think those hopes \[for Middle East peace\] are now, given the likelihood of a prime minister who is not fully signed up to a two-state solution and a for

(HUMOR) An overwhelming sense of restlessness and impatience engulfed the U.S. this week when citizens determined that everything — the morning commute, phone conversations, getting a table at Chili's, making coffee, commercial breaks, everything — was taking entirely too long. "This is ridiculous," said Boston resident Joe Sosnoff, waiting for a subway train running behind schedule. "I don't have time for this. I seriously do not have time for this." "Oh, for crying out loud," said Atlanta native Ashley Rose, standing in line at a local Rite Aid pharmacy. "Open up another register if you have to. What are these people doing? Hanging out?" Between eye rolls, sighs, and repeated glances at wall clocks, a majority of Americans are reporting that the nation badly needs to pick up the pace. In some cases, including those where things are taking so long that it's not even funny, citizens urged all present to hurry the hell up. According to

by Reuven Hammer "This month shall mark for you the beginning of the months; it shall be the first of the months of the year for you" (Exodus 12:2). One might have thought that Nisan, the month of springtime, was designated the "first of the months for you" because it is the time of the renewal and rebirth of nature, but that is not the case. Nisan is the first because it is the beginning of the renewal and rebirth of the people Israel, the time when Israel gained its freedom and emerged from Egyptian slavery. "Remember this day, on which you went free from Egypt, the house of bondage, how the Lord freed you from it with a mighty hand... You go free on this day, in the month of Abib" (Ex. 13:3-4). It is part of the revolutionary nature of the religion of Israel that it downplayed the cult of nature, which was so important in many pagan religions. It did so mainly in order to stress the idea that nature is subservient to God, the creation of God, and is not

I've found a guy who can do this better than I can By Dave Barry Before we get to today's column, I have an important announcement regarding outsourcing. "Outsourcing" is a business expression that means, in layperson's terms, "sourcing out." It's a trend that started years ago in manufacturing, which is a business term that means "making things." You youngsters won't believe this, but there was a time when Americans actually made physical things called "products" right here in America. Workers would go to large, grimy buildings called "factories" where they would take a raw material such as iron ore and perform industrial acts on it, such as "forging" and "smelting." By the end of the day, as you can imagine, they smelt terrible (rim shot) but they had turned the ore into something useful, such as a locomotive, or a toaster, or (this was not a big seller) a toaster-locomotive. The making of thin

SHABBAT SHALOM IF YOU'RE ON AN AGGREGATOR CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE ABOVE VIDEO and me!

This was such great stuff I am reposting it here: from OyVaGoy!: by Chas Newkey-Burden This is an interesting video from 1978 of a 28-year-old Benjamin Netanyahu (then known as Benjamin Nitay because Netanyahu sounded too much like a native American name for U.S. circles) speaking during a televised debate in America. His words are prescient. He says that a Palestinian state would become a terrorist state that threatened Israel. Fast forward to the 21st century. Israel withdraws from Gaza, Hamas takeover and bombard southern Israel with rockets. As he says of the Palestinian aims: “What were are talking about here is not the attempt to build a state, but to destroy one.” (Looking good, Bibi!) IF YOU ARE ON AN AGGREGATOR, CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE GREAT ABOVE VIDEO SOURCE

"It is very tempting to take the side of the perpetrator. All the perpetrator asks is that the bystander do nothing. He appeals to the universal desire to see, hear, and speak no evil. The victim, on the contrary, asks the bystander to share the burden of the pain. The victim demands action, engagement, and remembering. ...In order to escape accountability for his crimes, the perpetrator does everything in his power to promote forgetting. Secrecy and silence are the perpetrator's first line of defense. If secrecy fails, the perpetrator attacks the credibility of his victim. If he cannot silence her absolutely, he tries to make sure that no one listens. To this end, he marshals an impressive array of arguments, from the most blatant denial to the most sophisticated and elegant rationalization. After every atrocity one can expect to hear the same predictable apologies: it never happened; the victim lies; the victim exaggerates; the victim brought it on herself; and in any case

When will they realize a broken heart is a serious disease? This is a story about a boy who loved a girl, and suddenly his heart was smashed. This is my story by Gil Rozen An old woman once told me that "for men having their hearts broken is a much more traumatic experience than for women. You keep your feeling bottled up inside." She may have been right. How do I know who suffers more? All I know is that the girl decided "it was just a fling" and left. It happens, but this time – I l-o-v-e-d her!" This is a story about a boy who loved a girl, and suddenly his heart was smashed. I wish I was just a bystander. But, this is my story. One morning she said we needed to talk. By noon we were over. A year tossed aside carelessly. It was that simple. "Forget about her!" the friends say. "She was no good." No good? She was an engineer, intelligent girl. "She'll be back! She'll be sorry she ever left you!" they said. Nonsense! Dream

(REPOST FROM JULY 2008) My least favorite musical was always THE MUSIC MAN. Oh, the music itself was masterfully scored, lovely and the play itself is well-written. But it's Meredith Wilson's love story about a con man reformed by real love. It presents the same false hopes that Disney's been selling to females for years now. Love cures all. And the musical is a complete con in itself. In my ongoing education about the interpersonal exploitation and abuse of trust in emotionally/ psychologically damaging relationships, and the personality disorders that cause this endless trauma, I (and many others) see Harold Hill for what he is. A Destructive Narcissist. .. that's on the 'low end' of the Cluster B Personality Disorder Spectrum. Even that 'Think Method' of the mythical Hill is pure narcissistic lure. Don't get me wrong though -- Destructive Narcissists (if you have been reading this blog) are just that: DESTRUCTIVE. They leave a wake of rap

Obama's POTUS less than Three Months and already he's exposed that he really is The Music Man! Not Your Sweetie writes: Credit for the cartoon Only yesterday (see update) I was mentioning Rasmussen’s +4 indicator (down from +30). Today, Zogby comes with the new numbers which tell us : Americans split on the president’s performance. He said the score factors out to “about 50-50.” According to Boston Herald, Zogby attributes this to : “It’s not because of the gaffes, but a combination of high expectations and that things aren’t moving fast enough with the economy.” To which they add the disastruous media appearances, where the teleprompter was left behind and the “gallows humor” brought along. Here’s my theory. Zogby is of course right - the lack of economic change is a good part of the reason. Some of the 50% who now disapprove may also know the definition of insanity - doing the same thing and expecting different results. A few of us noticed Obama is repeating the B

FAT BIAS WORSE FOR WOMEN It only takes a modest weight gain for a woman to experience weight discrimination, but men can gain far more weight before experiencing similar bias , a new study shows. The notion that society is less tolerant of weight gain in women than men is just one of the findings suggested by a new report from the Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity at Yale University, published this month in the International Journal of Obesity. For the study, researchers documented the prevalence of self-reported weight discrimination and compared it to experiences of discrimination based on race and gender among a nationally representative sample of adults ages 25 to 74. The data was obtained from the National Survey of Midlife Development in the United States. Overall, the study showed that weight discrimination, particularly against women, is as common as racial discrimination. But the researchers also identified the amount of weight gain that triggers a discriminatory backl

This is no surprise to me, considering a violent schizophrenic was out among the public in February 2007 and murdered my therapist with a meat cleaver. All because some Medicaid doctor wouldn't keep him under lock and key - despite him being arrested and put in medical detention numerous times. Next time some elderly or infirmed person refuses the Nursing Home? You'll know why. We have to do something MORE about the mentally ill in this country. Starting with stopping thinking we can change or cure everyone! by Carla K. Johnson Ivory Jackson had Alzheimer's, but that wasn't what killed him. At 77, he was smashed in the face with a clock radio as he lay in his nursing home bed. Jackson's roommate — a mentally ill man nearly 30 years younger — was arrested and charged with the killing. Police found him sitting next to the nurse's station, blood on his hands, clothes and shoes. Inside their room, the ceiling was spattered with blood. "Why didn't they do

From Cinie's World: Have you had the thrill of an Obamaniac, clipboard in hand, goofy, KoolAid addled, Hoover vac salesman smile plastered across their too-eager, hopey-changey face, happily dingdonging your doorbell like a days-gone-by Avon Lady or modern-day teenage religious missionary, earnestly selling rainbows and half-price Unity pony rides? No? Me neither. Luckily for the Obots, I’m sure my name is number one atop the Don’t Even Bother Do Not Call list. Unlike millions of my fellow Americans, determined to remain huddled behind furniture with their families, cowering in fear as they shush the children and wait for the crazed ObArmy members in their neighborhood charged with getting in their faces to collect signatures for their Dear Leader, Just Barely President Baracus Hubris Maximus (Hail! Ceasar!) to get tired and leave, I would welcome the opportunity to put my own counter-program to their Operation Pledge Project Canvass -- Operation Get The Hell Off My Porch, in ef

U.S. furious over Israel's demolition of East Jerusalem homes By Barak Ravid and Natasha Mozgovaya The dispute between the United States and Israel over the razing of Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem is intensifying and will likely become the first clash between the Obama administration and the government of Benjamin Netanyahu. The U.S. argues that the destruction of homes constitutes a violation of commitments made as part of the road map. Israel says this is a domestic issue of law enforcement and that the future status of Jerusalem is only to be discussed in the final status negotiations. "Apart from a dispute this issue will lead to nothing," a senior government official told Haaretz. U.S. attention to the demolitions began after the visit to the region by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, catching Israel by surprise. Clinton was highly critical of Israel regarding the matter during her visit. She said that the demolitions of Palestinian homes in East Jerusa