health/housing

Grady Hospital Gets Less Trauma Money than Expected

Sat, 21 Jun 2008 05:02:50 -0700

By Jonathan Springston, Senior Staff Writer, The Atlanta Progressive News (June 15, 2008)

(APN) ATLANTA – The Georgia Trauma Care Network Commission released its final report Monday, June 09, 2008, on allocating $58.9 million from the State of Georgia for the State’s network of 15 trauma care hospitals.

Grady Memorial Hospital, north Georgia’s only Level I trauma center, will receive $12.7 million, 26.6 percent of the $58.9 million total and far more than any other hospital, however, still well short of the $20 to $30 million figure Grady officials had projected.

"It’s disappointing when they only got half that," State Sen. Vincent Fort (D-Atlanta), Co-chair of the Grady Coalition who had urged officials to provide at least double the final $12.7 million figure, said on June 09.

Many State lawmakers had been urging Grady Hospital to undergo privatization, implying that their support would follow. It is unclear what benefit from the State, if any, Grady Hospital has received from privatizing.

The nine-member commission, formed two years ago by State legislation, began meeting late in 2007 and worked for months on devising a formula that would fairly distribute the money.

The Commission’s final complex formula factored in the volume of patients at each trauma center, the severity of injuries, the cost of treating uninsured patients who cannot pay their bills, and the cost to keep hospitals prepared for delivering trauma care.

In addition to allocating a portion for the trauma centers, the Commission provided the rest to numerous doctors and EMS firms who specialize in treating traumatic injuries.

The Mortgage Crisis in the USA

coyote — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 19:51:40 -0700

The Mortgage Crisis in the USA
by Randy - Capital Terminus Collective

An Ancient Alternative to Oil

Fri, 23 May 2008 14:16:04 -0700

Billion Dollar Crop

The ONLY way our past foreign policy, and present war, can be justified is if we accept the fundamental premise that WE NEED OIL TO SURVIVE. We must believe that oil is our only source of energy and without it civilization as we know it would collapse. In order to justify more "precision bombing" and selling weapons to terrorists, we must believe that protecting our oil-based economy is the same as protecting the people of America.

This quickly leads to the concept of "overpopulation" and the idea that our planet cannot support this many people, so some have to die. The people of the First World take all the oil we need, while the people of the Third World have to fight for clean food and water, because it is better for them to die than for us to die. Better for Arabs to die than Christians. Better black people die than white people. Better for my neighbor to die than me.

At every level, we allow the fundamental fear of starvation to justify our ignorance and hatred toward anybody who seems different and is therefore perceived as a threat to our family and friends. When self-preservation is our only goal, we can safely justify any actions that seem to protect our lives, no matter how violent, because it is "self-defense."

Unfortunately, this desperation and fear of death is based on a century of lies.

WE DON’T NEED OIL AND NEVER HAVE.

Our forced dependence on the limited supply of petroleum is due entirely to greedy politicians protecting their own business interests instead of the American people.

Everything now done by fossil fuels can be done cheaper and better with renewable natural resources grown on American soil by American farmers. For more than 12,000 years before it was banned in 1937, the world’s number one natural resource for food, fiber, fuel and natural oil was hemp.

Making Sense of Barack Obama, What He Says and the American Dilemma

Mon, 05 May 2008 00:57:18 -0700

I need to preface this commentary and say that I have been a member of the Republican Party since the Eisenhower administration of the 1950's.

I need to say that because there will be quite a few folks pointing their fingers and tongues at me as a "Liberal" and that's just not true.

I am just like so many people who are trying to make some sense of the past several decades of Democratic and Republican mismanagement of our nation, and also more or less "soul-searching" and wading through the seemingly endless well-practiced speeches of the candidates of the current presidential "primary", which has evolved into an Ironman marathon of candidate "two-stepping", media rhetoric and political gamesmanship.

Honestly, how the heck can you make any real sense of all this chaos?

I have been forcing myself to listen to the speeches of each of the candidates: John McCain, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. I have come to some conclusions that some people may or may not agree with, but I have based my presumptions and opinions with careful consideration.

Consequently, it is my opinion that Barack Obama is the more intelligent of the 3 candidates. Please note that I am NOT stating that he will win come election day or that he is the best candidate for the position.

I simply am saying that Obama is the "brightest" of the bunch.

That said, let's review a few of what Obama and I believe are urgent issues:

The war in Iraq
Middle East Nations
U.S. Budget and Expenditures
A Stagnated Congress
U.S. Economy / Recession
High Cost of Gasoline
A National or Socialized Health Care Program
Creation of Jobs
Education
Transportation

Long Road Home 2008

coyote — Sat, 03 May 2008 14:26:04 -0700

Join Long Road Home 2008

For a Weekend of Celebration
Of the Olmstead Decision

June 21st & June 22nd

To help people in nursing homes and institutions, who don’t belong there,

To get back to their own homes!

Community Fun, Walk & Roll Run

Resource Fair

Voting Machine Demonstrations

Saturday, June 21, 2008 from 9 am to 2 pm

At the old Home Depot parking lot at

2581 Piedmont Rd, NE.

Atlanta, GA

Across from Target, behind the Quick Trip on Sidney Marcus

3 ½ blocks from Lindbergh Train Station

We welcome anyone of any ability or disability

To gather pledges of support for their entry in the fun run

Every Runner will get a free t-shirt

There will be a children and Adult category for every race.

The races will be broken down in 2 main divisions: Wheels and Feet

Wheel races will have a power and manual wheelchair categories

The feet races will be just adult and children categories

Film Festival

Georgia Disability Civil rights exhibit

Silent Auction

On Sunday, June 22, 2008 festivities continue with a

4 pm to 7 pm

Film Festival on the

Georgia Disability Civil Rights Movement

Shepherd Center

2020 Peachtree Rd.

Atlanta, GA

Films include the award winning Long Road Home documentaries, where donations will be gladly accepted.

Help us raise funds for the Long Road Home March

In celebration of the

10th Anniversary of the Olmstead decision in 2009.

Southern Nuclear Company Seeks Early Site Permit for Georgia Power's Two New Nuclear Reactors at Plant Vogtle

diannevalentin — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 08:45:26 -0700

The first step Georgia utilities are taking to try to get federal approval to build new nuclear reactors along the Savannah River is to apply for an “early site permit.” If the permit is issued, concerns such as water, land, public health, and safety cannot be brought up again even if we learn new information. For example, the new reactors will require tens of millions of gallons of water above and beyond the tens of millions Vogtle is already pulling from the Savannah River—this issue cannot be revisited again if the “early site permit” is granted. If approved, this permit essentially allows the Southern Company and its utility partners in Georgia to use the permit at any time for up to 20 years in any future applications with the NRC. Together, Atlanta WAND, Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League, Center for a Sustainable Coast, Savannah Riverkeeper, and Southern Alliance for Clean Energy legally challenged the permit.

The Savannah River basin and nearby communities are already suffering; building more nuclear reactors will only make this situation worse. Since the Early Site Permit (ESP) process allows a company to potentially ‘bank’ a site for up to 20 years, the NRC should have to look not only at Georgia ‘today,’ but the Georgia we are likely to live in several decades from now.

Water Use & Supply:

Comments Plant Vogtle's Two New Nuclear Reactor Early Site Permit Applications

diannevalentin — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 08:05:39 -0700

Start: 04/27/2008 - 4:00pm

End: 04/27/2008 - 6:00pm

Atlanta Women’s Action for New Directions

Community Action is Needed

This is a Request for Your Support

!A Call-Out to the Community!

Tell the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board that you have concerns about the proposed expansion of Plant Vogtle from two nuclear reactors to four. Tell the Board that you are concerned about water use, accident risks, security, nuclear waste, and health impacts.

The Action: Email, fax, or mail the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board by noon, April 25^th to register* to speak at the public hearing being held at the DoubleTree Hotel in Augusta on Sunday, April 27^th or Monday, April 28^th.

The other USA - The Atlanta CTC

coyote — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 04:42:48 -0700

Interview with 3 members of the Capital Terminus Collective in Atlanta, Georgia. Interview covers hospital privitizations, housing, police corruption, segregation of the working class and ends with the usual question about the US election.

It's about 40 minutes long

http://www.indymedia.ie/attachments/apr2008/ctc.mp3

Defend Jamie ‘Bork’ Loughner

coyote — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 09:36:12 -0800

Jamie ‘Bork’ Loughner, a housing activist, and disabled worker, who has relied on public housing for safe and affordable shelter, was arraigned on a politically inspired charge of possessing a false explosive device in Orleans Parish Criminal Court on January 29th, 2008. The Orleans Parish District Attorney filed the felony charge against Loughner in response to her participation in the December 19th protest that temporarily halted demolition of public housing apartments at the B.W. Cooper Housing Development in New Orleans. The demolition work at Cooper is part of an ongoing plan by HUD, the New Orleans City Council and the New Orleans Mayor--and the real estate and other corporate interests they represent--to destroy 4,500 easily made habitable public housing apartments in storm devastated New Orleans.

Bork and two other local housing activists occupied apartment buildings at the Cooper Development for expressed purposes of stopping the demolition of public housing and to send a message to the New Orleans city council, then preparing for a vote the next day on whether to approve demolition permits for the 4,500 units, that the community did not support destruction of public housing. The DA is accusing Loughner of intentionally making the device used to chain herself to a B.W. Cooper apartment building appear as an explosive device. The unspoken truth is that the DA is treating an act of peaceful civil disobedience as an act of terrorism in the hope of silencing Loughner and other opponents of HUD’s plan to demolish New Orleans public housing.

The Real State of the Union with Jay Bookman and Rev. Dr. Joseph E. Lowery

diannevalentin — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 17:08:59 -0800

Atlanta, Georgia February 1, 2008

On February 19, 2008 Atlanta WAND will be presenting its 6th Annual Real State of the Union with Jay Bookman and Reverend Dr. Joseph E. Lowery. Jay Bookman will be giving his talk on the “real” state of the union and Dr. Lowery will be responding to Jay’s talk. This year Jay's talk will be around the theme: Chickens Coming Home to Roost.

Each year the talk and response have been more interesting, enlightening, and timely. With the state that our country is in as we move into the final stages of the current administration, we anticipate this year’s event will be even more interesting, enlightening, and timely.

The event is brought to you by Atlanta WAND and hosted this year by Rev. Dr. Gerald L. Durley and Providence Missionary Baptist Church.

When: Tuesday, February 19, 2008 at 7 pm