March 2012

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA)^[1]^[2] is a United States federal statute signed into law by President Barack Obama on March 23, 2010. The law (along with the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010) is the principal health care reform legislation of the 111th United States Congress. PPACA reforms certain aspects of the private health insurance industry and public health insurance programs, increases insurance coverage of pre-existing conditions, expands access to insurance to over 30 million Americans,^[3]^[4] and increases projected national medical spending^[5]^[6] while lowering projected Medicare spending.^[7]

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Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Supreme Court Health Care

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Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (March 27, 1886 – August 17, 1969) was a German-American architect.^[1] He is commonly referred to and addressed as Mies, his surname. Along with Walter Gropius, Le Corbusier and Oscar Niemeyer, he is widely regarded as one of the pioneering masters of modern architecture.

Mies, like many of his post-World War I contemporaries, sought to establish a new architectural style that could represent modern times just as Classical and Gothic did for their own eras. He created an influential twentieth century architectural style, stated with extreme clarity and simplicity. His mature buildings made use of modern materials such as industrial steel and plate glass to define interior spaces. He strived towards an architecture with a minimal framework of structural order balanced against the implied freedom of free-flowing open space. He called his buildings "skin and bones" architecture. He sought a rational approach that would guide the creative process of architectural design. He is often associated with the aphorisms "less is more" and "God is in the details".

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Frank Martin

Frank Martin (15 September 1890 in the Eaux-Vives quarter of Geneva – 21 November 1974 in Naarden) was a Swiss composer, who lived a large part of his life in the Netherlands.

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Mega Millions

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Frank Martin

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Bobby Brown Arrested

Robert Barisford "Bobby" Brown (born February 5, 1969) is an American R&B singer-songwriter, occasional rapper, and dancer.

Brown started his career as one of the frontmen of the pop group New Edition, from its inception as The Bricks in 1978 until his forced exit from the group in 1986 following a period of misbehavior on his part. Starting a solo career, he became a hit success with his second album, Don't Be Cruel, which spawned a number of hit singles including the co-self penned "My Prerogative", which became his signature hit. Brown had a string of top ten hits on various Billboardcharts between 1986 and 1992, and is a recipient of a Grammy Award. Brown is noted as a pioneer of New Jack Swingmusic, a fusion of hip-hop and R&B.

Brown was most noted in recent years as the ex-husband of late pop singer Whitney Houston. Brown and Houston later gained notoriety co-starring in the reality show, Being Bobby Brown.

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Steve Smith

Steve Elliott Smith (born on August 21, 1954 in Whitman, Massachusetts) is an American drummer who has worked with hundreds of artists in his career, but is mostly known for being the drummer of the rock band Journey^[1] during their peak years of success. Modern Drummer magazine readers voted him the #1 All-Around Drummer five years in a row. In 2001, Modern Drummer named Steve as one of the Top 25 Drummers of All Time, and in 2002 he was voted into the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame.

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Al Sharpton

Alfred Charles "Al" Sharpton, Jr. (born October 3, 1954) is an American Baptist minister, civil rights activist, and television/radio talk show host.^[1]^[2] In 2004, he was a candidate for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. presidential election. He hosts his own radio talk show, Keepin’ It Real,^[3] and he makes regular guest appearances on Fox News (such as The O'Reilly Factor)^[4]^[5]^[6] CNN, and MSNBC. He has recently been named the host of MSNBC's PoliticsNation, a nightly talk show which premiered on August 29, 2011.^[7]

Sharpton's supporters praise "his ability and willingness to defy the power structure that is seen as the cause of their suffering"^[8] and consider him "a man who is willing to tell it like it is".^[8] Former New York Mayor Ed Koch, a one-time foe, said that Sharpton deserves the respect he enjoys among African Americans: "He is willing to go to jail for them, and he is there when they need him."^[9]

His critics describe him as "a political radical who is to blame, in part, for the deterioration of race relations".^[10]Sociologist Orlando Patterson has referred to him as a racial arsonist,^[11] while liberal columnist Derrick Z. Jacksonhas called him the black equivalent of Richard Nixon and Pat Robertson.^[11] Sharpton sees much of the criticism as a sign of his effectiveness. "In many ways, what they consider criticism is complimenting my job," he said. "An activist’s job is to make public civil rights issues until there can be a climate for change."^[12]

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Geraldo Rivera

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Extenze

ExtenZe is a herbal nutritional supplement claiming to promote "natural male enhancement", which suggests a euphemism for penis enlargement.^[1] However, television commercials make few definitive claims, employing suggestion and euphemism or promising a "better" or "more fun" sexual experience. Websites selling the product make several more detailed claims, including acquiring a "larger penis". Their enlarging effects are described as "temporary." Early infomercials featured a studio audience and porn star Ron Jeremy.^[2] Former Dallas Cowboys head coach Jimmy Johnson has also appeared in an ExtenZe commercial.^[3] NASCAR driverKevin Conway is a current spokesman for ExtenZe.

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Obamacare

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Zou Bisou Bisou

"Zou Bisou Bisou" or "Zoo Be Zoo Be Zoo" is a 1960 single that was Gillian Hills' first single that summer^[1] and is a single released following its performance on the March 25, 2012 Mad Men's season 5 premiere episode "A Little Kiss" on the AMC Channel. Jessica Paré performed the song on the show as Megan Draper. The French recording was produced by George Martin and sung in English by Sophia Loren.^[2] Loren performed her version, which was titled "Zoo Be Zoo Be Zoo", inThe Millionairess.^[1] Several sources state that Hills did not produce her version until 1961, after Loren's October 1960 movie,^[2] including a posting at AMC's website.^[3] Roughly translated from French to English Zou Bisou Bisou means Oh! Kiss Kiss.^[1]

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Supreme Court Health Care

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Black Panther Party

The Black Panther Party (originally the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense) was an African-American revolutionary leftist organization active in the United States from 1966 until 1982. The Black Panther Party achieved national and international notoriety through its involvement in the Black Power movement and U.S. politics of the 1960s and 1970s. The group's "provocative rhetoric, militant posture, and cultural and political flourishes permanently altered the contours of American Identity."^[1]

Founded in Oakland, California by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale on October 15, 1966, the organization initially set forth a doctrine calling primarily for the protection of African American neighborhoods from police brutality.^[2] The organization's leaders espoused socialist and communist (largely Maoist) doctrines; however, the Party's early black nationalist reputation attracted a diverse membership.^[3] The Black Panther Party's objectives and philosophy expanded and evolved rapidly during the party's existence, making ideological consensus within the party difficult to achieve, and causing some prominent members to openly disagree with the views of the leaders.

The organization's official newspaper, The Black Panther, was first circulated in 1967. Also that year, the Black Panther Party marched on the California State Capitol in Sacramento in protest of a selective ban on weapons. By 1968, the party had expanded into many cities throughout the United States, among them, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Cleveland,Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Newark, New Orleans, New York City, Omaha, Philadelphia,Pittsburgh, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington, D.C.. Peak membership was near 10,000 by 1969, and their newspaper, under the editorial leadership of Eldridge Cleaver, had a circulation of 250,000.^[4] The group created a Ten-Point Program, a document that called for "Land, Bread, Housing, Education, Clothing, Justice and Peace", as well as exemption from conscription for African-American men, among other demands.^[5] With the Ten-Point program, “What We Want, What We Believe”, the Black Panther Party expressed its economic and political grievances.^[6]

Gaining national prominence, the Black Panther Party became an icon of the counterculture of the 1960s.^[7] Ultimately, the Panthers condemned black nationalism as "black racism" and became more focused on socialism without racial exclusivity.^[8] They instituted a variety of community social programs designed to alleviate poverty, improve health among inner city black communities, and soften the Party's public image.^[9] The Black Panther Party's most widely known programs were its armed citizens' patrols to evaluate behavior of police officers and its Free Breakfast for Children program. However, the group's political goals were often overshadowed by their confrontational, militant, and violent tactics against police.^[10]

Federal Bureau of Investigation Director J. Edgar Hoover called the party “the greatest threat to the internal security of the country,”^[11] and he supervised an extensive program (COINTELPRO) of surveillance, infiltration, perjury, police harassment, assassination, and many other tactics designed to undermine Panther leadership, incriminate party members and drain the organization of resources and manpower. Through these tactics, Hoover hoped to diminish the Party's threat to the general power structure of the U.S., or even maintain its influence as a strong undercurrent.^[12] Angela Davis, Ward Churchill, and others have alleged that federal, state and local law enforcement officials went to great lengths to discredit and destroy the organization, including assassination.^[13]^[14]^[15] Black Panther Party membership reached a peak of 10,000 by early 1969, then suffered a series of contractions due to legal troubles, incarcerations, internal splits, expulsions and defections. Popular support for the Party declined further after reports appeared detailing the group's involvement in activities such as drug dealing and extortionschemes directed against Oakland merchants^[16] By 1972 most Panther activity centered around the national headquarters and a school in Oakland, where the party continued to influence local politics. Party contractions continued throughout the 1970s; by 1980 the Black Panther Party comprised just 27 members.^[17]

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