Lead ammunition is illegal in California.

LOS ANGELES 

October 29, 2013 (AP)

Officials say a record 21 California condors (click here) have been treated for lead poisoning this hunting season in California.

Veterinarians at the Los Angeles Zoo and Botanical Gardens say three birds were critically sick when they arrived. They were malnourished, had stopped eating and had a disease that causes the stomach to stop moving food.

Dr. Curtis Eng says it's scary to see so many sick birds, but two of the condors are recovering, and one remains in critical condition.

Vets say 18 of the condors were mildly ill.

The birds are trapped twice a year to check for lead poisoning. The condors are getting the lead in carcasses of animals shot by hunters.

California has a new law that will ban lead ammunition, but it won't be phased in until 2019. 

California outlaws lead ammo to safeguard an iconic bird.(click here)

 

By Geoffrey Giller

Published: 09/03/2013

UPDATE: California Governor Jerry Brown signed AB 711 into law on October 11. The California State Senate approved it on Monday, September 9, by a vote of 23 to 15. On September 10, the amended bill was confirmed by the State Assembly.

The toxicity of lead and the dangers it poses to humans and wildlife alike are a given. After all, it was banned from house paints and phased out of gasoline in the 1970s after the long-term neurological damage it could cause in young children became clear. And birds, especially waterfowl, were known to suffer from lead poisoning as far back as the 1890s. George Bird Grinnell, who founded the first iteration of the National Audubon Society, wrote in 1894 about "the destruction of ducks, geese, and swans by lead-poisoning." Although the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service banned the use of lead shot for waterfowl hunting in 1991, lead-based ammunition is still widely used by hunters for other types of birds and game animals.
A bill signed into law on October 11 by Governor Jerry Brown aims to stop that. But it has sparked a fiery debate among environmentalists, hunters, and legislators across the state and the country. The bill, AB 711, bans the use of lead from all hunting ammunition in California; non-lead ammo is to be phased in by 2019. The bill was passed in the State Assembly in May, and the California Senate approved it on September 9....

Exactly. These policies cost the taxpayer money.

By Alex Nussbaum 
Oct 29, 2013 12:40 PM ET

...The cancellations (click here) come as a result of the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which says that health insurance policies that fail to offer added benefits, such as prescription drug coverage and free preventive care, can’t be sold after this year even if they’re cheaper. With the online site expected to face difficulties through November, Americans may have only weeks to find replacement coverage, and many may end up paying higher premiums....

The inadequate offerings have to go. Just that simple. The insufficient policies will drive health care costs up around the country. It should never be tolerated and I blame Secretary Sebelius for allowing the waivers. She should not have issued them. It only postpones the inevitable, puts Americans at risk and delays the best premium options for all those enrolling in the State Exchanges today. The law should have applied to all Americans equally. She is wrong about issues waivers.

Representative Gardner is inappropriate in attempting to defame Secretary Sebilius.

The exchanges are open to people needing coverage, not all people with existing health care meet the law. A person(s) can't go out and purchase many insurance policies through the exchanges in order to have their care paid without reasonable deductibles and co-pays. Such a practice would effect the cost to others in the exchange. 

It is discriminatory to ask a person in the government to give up their healthcare for political dogma. They no different than any other employee in the government are entitled to benefit packages offered in order to keep them working for the government. If such a demand was made by the federal government, it would be overturned in court.

No Congressional District should receive a general waiver to The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Representative Gardner is too hostile to be a valid authority in office. He should be seeking to make the transition easier rather than fighting the outcome.

The map are the districts of Colorado. (click here) The 4th District in the lower right corner of this map.The map to lower right is the income distribution of Colorado. Again, the 4th District is in the lower right corner. Nearly every measure of the 4th District of Colorado has incomes of $60,000 or above. There is absolutely no reason for belly aching to Congress except to cause an opportunity for political grandstanding. 

Mr. Gardner's constituents will have no problem affording the health care insurance they want. On rare occasion would I expect his district to need the subsidized Medicaid.

By Michael Booth
The Denver Post

Posted:   10/22/2013 05:23:18 PM MDT

Updated:   10/23/2013 10:58:44 AM MDT

...The Denver Post reported (click here) Tuesday that in addition to numerous consumer complaints about being frozen out of signups, other states are enrolling people faster. Maryland, Washington and Oregon, all of similar size to Colorado, have thousands more enrollees by now. Other states may be reporting new Medicaid enrollees under that expanded program, while Colorado's exchange does not....

Secretary Sebelius is being harassed by desperate Republicans. It is outrageous for Republicans to pass PUNITIVE laws and then ask others to be a part of it. The punitive laws requiring Congressional staff to be in the exchanges will be defeated in court. It is completely hideous for a government employee to be asked to throw out their benefit package. It is part of what is an incentive to be in the employment of the government.

A single male of 32 may not need maternity coverage for a woman not his wife, but, pregnant; but he is part of a health exchange and NOT a designer insurance policy. The complaints are getting to be more and more bizarre with uneducated Congresspersons unable to discern the  best interests of their constituents.

The "Live Chat" at Healthcare.gov is operating just fine!

Plaintiffs say now is the time to address same-sex marriage (click here)
 

Posted: Tuesday, October 29, 2013 9:44 pm 
BY DAVID HARPER World Staff Writer 

The plaintiffs in a Tulsa federal court lawsuit challenging Oklahoma’s same-sex marriage ban argued in a pleading filed Tuesday that the issues they have presented address claims of “ongoing unequal protection and treatment” and that their resolution “should not be postponed indefinitely.” 
The document filed on Tuesday says that the case is one of several pending in state and federal courts throughout the country addressing same-sex marriage in the aftermath of a ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court in June.
The high court’s majority opinion in United States v. Windsor found that the federal Defense of Marriage Act’s section defining marriage as being between one man and one woman was unconstitutional.
The Tulsa case, challenging both DOMA and Oklahoma’s 2004 constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage and the recognition of such marriages, was stayed while the Windsor case was pending....

There is no reason for this review by the Supreme Court of the same sex marriage case or the abortion laws.

These so called abortions all happen within the First Trimester. Women are legally allowed to carry out abandonment of an unwanted pregnancy in the First Trimester.

Posted: Wednesday, October 30, 2013 12:00 am 
Updated: 3:06 am, Wed Oct 30, 2013 
By BARBARA HOBEROCK World Capitol Bureau

OKLAHOMA CITY —- The Oklahoma Supreme Court (click here) on Tuesday further explained its recent ruling that a 2011 law putting restrictions on medical abortions is unconstitutional. 
The response came following a request from the U.S. Supreme Court, which indicated it would take a look at the case following Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt's appeal to the nation's high court. 
The U.S. Supreme Court asked the lower court to answer two specific questions about the law.
The justices wanted to know whether the measure prohibited the use of misoprostol to induce abortions, including its use with mifepristone, also called RU486, according to a protocol approved by the Food and Drug Administration.
The nation's high court also wanted to know whether Oklahoma law prohibited the use of methotrextate to treat ectopic pregnancies. 
The state's high court said it did both.... 

I would like to bring to the debate The Robert's Court is corrupting the practice of physicians.

Contraception 1997 Dec;56(6):367-71 

Medical abortion with methotrexate 75 mg intramuscularly and vaginal misoprostol. (click here)

Creinin MD.

Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Magee-Womens Hospital, PA 15213-3180, USA. mcreinin@mail.magee.edu

Abstract

Methotrexate (50 mg/m2 intramuscularly and 50 mg orally) followed by vaginal misoprostol have proven to be > 90% effective at causing abortion in women at less than 49 days' gestation. Although the effectiveness of the oral dose (which has a lower serum bioavailability) demonstrates that a methotrexate dose of 50 mg/m2 may be more than necessary, an intramuscular regimen is more advantageous because it is less costly....

Mifepristone (click here)

...Early vacuum aspiration using a rigorous protocol (which includes magnification of aspirated material and indications for serum βhCG follow-up) may be used at gestations below 7 weeks, although data suggest that the failure rate is higher than for medical abortion....  

Misoprostol and Pregnancy (click here) 

Alisa B. Goldberg, M.D., Mara B. Greenberg, B.S., and Philip D. Darney, M.D.

N Engl J Med 2001; 344:38-47

January 4, 2001DOI: 10.1056/NEJM200101043440107

Misoprostol is a prostaglandin E₁ analogue that has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to be taken orally for the prevention and treatment of gastric ulcers associated with the use of nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs. It has also become an important drug in obstetrical and gynecologic practice because of its uterotonic and cervical-ripening actions. Misoprostol is useful for elective medical abortion, cervical ripening before surgical abortion, evacuation of the uterus in cases of embryonic or fetal death, and induction of labor. The drug may also be used to treat and even prevent postpartum hemorrhage. However, misoprostol is . . .

It is discriminatory for any health insurance company to provide a SPECIAL designation regarding abortion coverage.

To begin, health insurers do not carry abortion coverage. Those words will not appear in any description of the procedure. The medical terms involved are as silly as abortion.

Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System (HCPCS)

Current Procedural Terminology (CPT)

Codes for Surgery: 10021-69990

• (10021 - 10022) general
• (10040 - 19499) integumentary system
• (20000 - 29999) musculoskeletal system
• (30000 - 32999) respiratory system
• (33010 - 37799) cardiovascular system
• (38100 - 38999) hemic & lymphatic systems
• (39000 - 39599) mediastinum & diaphragm
• (40490 - 49999) digestive system
• (50010 - 53899) urinary system
• (54000 - 55899) male genital system
• (55920 - 55980) reproductive system & intersex
• (56405 - 58999) female genital system
• (59000 - 59899) maternity care & delivery
• (60000 - 60699) endocrine system
• (61000 - 64999) nervous system
• (65091 - 68899) eye & ocular adnexa
• (69000 - 69979) auditory system

People need to read their policies and decide if they want it or not. The idea a policy is suppose to designate 'abortion' is a deceptive and victimizing practice. There is an involuntary abortion commonly known as a 'miscarriage.' There needs to be language in ANY health care policy that provides for those health problems. 

The other reason this is a discriminatory demand is that employers can look into the health care provided and know whether the woman has abortion coverage or not. That would impact her desirability as an employee in some instances. 

In addition, any religious organization has already been given an opportunity to object to such inclusions in their policies. The demand is discriminatory and out of the question. No one person knows what the future holds and quite frankly why would any person, religious or not rule out the genetic mistakes of DNA?

Not every genetic disorder of a fetus is Trisomy 21 with a hope of leading a reasonably normal life within the understanding the USA provides for disabilities. 

There are some very terrible genetic disorders in utero that should never see the light of day. There is a malformation within the genetic content of some discovered upon testing that shows the fetus to have O shaped disorders. The gene itself has taken on the shape of an O. These fetus need to be aborted by a surgeon. Those fetus will suffer mercilessly if they were to be born outside the uterus. Why do that? It is not necessarily the genetic content of the parents that cause these issues. 

While it is a good idea that potential parents with known genetic disorders within their family history should receive genetic counseling, it does not solve the problem. Pregnant women are exposed to the environment and where toxins exist in the air and water it effects the fetus. Additionally, virus and bacteria can become an issue should the mother be exposed. Virus can't be given a magic pill to make them disappear and why should a fetus have to carry this level of grievance because a radical extremism within the society wants to punish it's existence forever.

The decision to terminate a pregnancy has very valid reasons. No one uses abortion as a way of reproductive contraception. The decision lies with the woman with or without her partner/spouse. 

The idea a health care insurance company has to add to it's cost by instituting special designations due to hideous ideas of a society is outrageous! If a company wants to be SPECIALIST insurances to these nut cases they can pursue that venue, but, no doubt IT WILL COST!

W.Va. DEP investigates well site fire, 2 injured (click here)

Posted: Oct 29, 2013 6:36 AM EST  
Updated: Oct 29, 2013 7:44 AM EST

WEST UNION, W.Va. (AP) - State regulators are investigating a flash fire that injured two workers at an Antero Resources gas-drilling site in Doddridge County.
Media outlets report that the fire occurred Sunday morning at a well pad near West Union.
Antero Resources chief administrative officer Alvyn Schopp says there was a condensate leak as the workers were installing a new separator.
Department of Environmental Protection spokesman Tom Aluise says the vapors ignited, causing the flash fire.
Both workers suffered burns. Schopp says one worker remains hospitalized at West Penn Burn Center in Pittsburgh. The other was treated at a Clarksburg hospital and released.
The DEP is investigating the incident.
In July, two workers were killed and three others were injured in a fire at another Antero drilling site near New Milton in Doddridge County.

October 28, 2013 11:45 pm

By Lauren Donovan

It appears a tiny hole the size of the point of a pen (click here) in an underground saltwater disposal line caused some 150 barrels of the water to leach into the Blacktail Creek drainage on U.S. Forest Service and private land north of Belfield.
The well company Encore Energy is working round the clock, setting pumps into a deep, nearly inaccessible ravine to pump water from a beaver dam on the creek, said the company’s environmental coordinator, Bart Brinkerhoff.
It appears from early water samples that the salt infusion is relatively low. The state Health Department’s water quality director, Dennis Fewless, said that may be because less water reached the creek than initially thought.
The pipe leak was discovered Oct. 22 at a remote saltwater injection well site on the Little Missouri National Grasslands....

Governor Asks For Pipeline Safety Review  (click here)

Posted: Oct 29, 2013 10:47 PM EST  
Updated: Oct 29, 2013 10:47 PM EST 
 

Governor Jack Dalrymple has asked the federal government to review its oversight of pipeline safety.

In a phone conference with the administrator of the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, Dalrymple says he's worried that pipeline regulations fall short in protecting rural areas from spills.

He asked the administrator to look over the requirements for rural pipeline safety.

The governor also requested that the agency keep him abreast of the investigation into the Tesoro pipeline spill near Tioga - the largest pipeline spill in the state.

Dalrymple also contacted a vice president at Tesoro for an update on what the company is doing to improve safety along the pipeline that failed.
The Tesoro exec said the company has monitors along the entire pipeline north of Mandan, as well as shut-off valves on both sides of the Missouri River.

Associated Press in Bismarck 
theguardian.com, Wednesday 16 October 2013 11.08 EDT
 
...Scientists (click here) who helped measure oil spilled from a broken BP well into the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 are questioning the methodology used to estimate the amount of crude that recently leaked from a ruptured pipeline into a wheat field in northwestern North Dakota.
Tesoro said it came up with its more than 20,000-barrel spill estimate using ground analysis. But oil spill experts say a more accurate assessment likely would come from calculating how much crude went into the pipeline versus what was supposed to come out at its terminus.
Farmer Steve Jensen discovered the North Dakota oil spill the size of seven football fields while harvesting wheat 29 September. Tesoro first estimated the spill at its underground pipeline near Tioga at 750 barrels. About a week later, the San Antonio, Texas-based company increased the estimate to 20,600 barrels, or some 865,000 gallons, making it one of the largest spills in North Dakota history.
Tesoro said in a statement to the Associated Press that it based its calculations on "data collected during our field investigation work. This investigation included a thorough examination of the site spill characteristics including factors such as surface area and depth of soil impacted, and soil porosity." The company would not elaborate....

Congresswoman Blackburn is completely wrong. Americans should not have the choice of a rock or a hard place when deciding about their healthcare.

Solo Cups are NOT a choice, it is entrapment into fraud and danger to lives. It is out of the question.

Good governance demands the choice Americans have to make insuring their well being, including policies implemented with agencies like OSHA, be wholesome choices. Currently, the healthcare insurance market undercuts the well being of Americans and at times even deceived them as to the coverage they could expect. There is no choice between Solo Cups and Crystal Stemware when it comes to keeping Americans healthy and alive. Every human being has the same physiology and there is no difference in protecting them from death and disease. We have Public Health Departments because a single policy can carry forward an important protection for all those within it's jurisdiction.

The opinion of Republicans such as Ms. Blackburn brings danger into the lives of Americans, including children. She is negligent of the public trust and the important work every elected representative is suppose to do. She is unworthy of the office she holds.

Why Ms. Tavernner you mean to tell me you don't have the accounting of the 313.9 million Americans yet?

It has been thirty days, you mean to tell me the 313.9 million Americans haven't jumped to attention and filed their health insurance needs? "Heil."

Marilyn Tavenner, administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, apologized to Americans who had trouble using HealthCare.gov during her testimony at a hearing of the House Ways and Means committee Tuesday.

By Sarah Kliff and William Branigin,  
Published: October 29

The federal official (click here) who oversees new health-insurance exchanges apologized publicly Tuesday for the troubled launch of a Web site that is supposed to allow millions of uninsured Americans to buy coverage, but she said the problems are “fixable” and pledged that the site would soon work as promised.

Testifying before the House Ways and Means Committee, Marilyn Tavenner, head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), said: “To the millions of Americans who’ve attempted to use HealthCare.gov to shop and enroll in health-care coverage, I want to apologize to you that the Web site has not worked as well as it should. We know how desperately you need affordable coverage.”...

Fine, don't do it again.

I'll tell you what the real problem is, Sebelius and her waivers. She is undermining the rollout of the program. By providing waivers for LOSER HEALTH CARE INSURANCE, she is postponing millions of Americans from joining the exchanges and effecting the outcome.

She should not have done it. She has postponed their free physical exams and preventive care for another year making the USA less healthy. She has prolonged the entire population within the exchanges to bring market pressures to determine premiums.

She has made a huge mess and it should have not occurred in the first place. There was plenty of time to tell all these LOSER HEALTH CARE INSURERS to get out of the way so people's lives can be protected. If one American is denied coverage next year for treatment that will save their lives, she needs to be held accountable.