Follow on TwitterWATCH: Insurance Company Aetna Sues Out-Of-Network Surgeons For Price Gauging Their Patients By 2,500%
Bloomberg reports that health insurer Aetna is now suing seven ‘out-of-network’ California surgery centers, for over-billing them by as much as 2,500% for standard medical procedures. A few examples of the excessive charges include:
$66,000 to treat a bunion (normally costs $3,600),
$56,980 for a ‘bedside consultation,’
$99,750 to get earwax removed,
$119,671 for lower back disc-surgery (normally $6,000)
WATCH:
This serves as a perfect example of how the U.S. ‘for-profit’ healthcare industry price gauges, not only at the payer level, but also at the provider level.
WATCH: Max Blumenthal Discusses Israel And The American Elections
Max Blumenthal discusses the significant roles several key right-wing, pro-Israel political donors have played, and continue to play, in American elections:
On Haim Saban:
He got rich with this show Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, and now he has established an entire, you know, wing within the establishment, the major establishment think tank in Washington, Brookings Institute.
He funded the construction of the Democratic National Committee’s headquarters.
He was the largest individual donor to President Bill Clinton and came forward to support Clinton’s campaign during the impeachment crisis. He was the largest individual donor, I think, to President Barack Obama’s campaign. And Haim Saban says he’s also a donor to the Israeli army. Every year he gives millions of dollars to the Friends of the IDF. And Saban has said, I’m a single issue guy; my issue is Israel. He is funding the Democratic Party to make sure that the Democratic Party remains in the pro-Israel camp.
On Sheldon Adelson:
He’s sort of just like the Jewish Donald Trump. He got into Israel after he broke up with his first wife. He had a divorce, and he decided that he wanted to meet Israeli women. And he’s sort of a hovercraft elite who can go around the world and pretty much get whatever he wants. So he went to Israel and met a woman who is extremely right-wing, became his wife, and she’s pumping money into Gingrich’s campaign. And now Adelson has said, according to Gingrich, that his life’s mission is supporting Israel. And he’s one of the key donors to the Republican Party, as well as to the Israel lobby.
WATCH:
WATCH: The Go-Betweens Perform “Streets of Your Town”
In 1977, in Brisbane, Australia, songwriters Robert Forster and Grant McLennan — two Queensland University students enamored with the U.S. punk scene — met and formed The Go-Betweens.
Over the course of ten years, the band released a succession of memorable albums, culminating in their final LP for the 80′s era, 16 Lover’s Lane (released in 1988 by Beggars Banquet Records).
Their music has been described as something “Lou Reed could have written if he had fallen for Brian Wilson, not David Bowie.” (The Guardian)
The band called it quits shortly after 16 Lover’s Lane, and would remain apart until 2000, when Forster and McLennan reformed the group. Their 2005 release, Oceans Apart, duly won the ARIA award for “Best Adult Contemporary Album,” and garnered a five-star rating from Mojo Magazine.
On May 6, 2006, Grant McLennan died from a heart attack, which effectively ended The Go-Betweens. Robert Forster continues to record and perform to critical acclaim as a solo artist.
The single, “Streets of Your Town,” from 1988′s 16 Lover’s Lane, is perhaps one of the band’s most recognized songs. It became their biggest chart hit to date in both the UK and Australia, mixing upbeat guitar rhythms with lyrics that shift between ‘dreamy’ to lights-out-dark.
Filmed on the streets of Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne, here is the video for “Streets of Your Town.”
ENJOY:
The following are links for those interested in downloading the final two releases of The Go-Betweens (Oceans Apart, and their live CD/DVD release That Striped Sunlight Sound), as well as Robert Forster’s 2008 release, The Evangelist, all at YepRoc Records.
VP and Assist. General Counsel Of NY Times: How Can Corporations Blacklist WikiLeaks, But Not The NY Times?
At the ‘Media Law in the Digital Age‘ conference at Kennesaw State University last weekend, the Vice President and General Counsel of the New York Times, David McGraw, addressed the disturbing trend in which private for-profit corporations have been doing governments’ bidding by shutting down publishers like WikiLeaks: Lucy Dalglish, Exec. Dir. RCFP: Even organizations like [...]
WATCH: The Origins Of #OccupyWallStreet: An Interview With Adbusters’ Micah White
For those wondering how the revolutionary #OccupyWallStreet movement — which now spans the entire globe — came into being, look no further than Vancouver’s activist magazine & website, Adbusters, and its Senior Editor, Micah White. In this interview, White discusses the movement’s origins, its leaderless (general assembly) decision-making model — vital to ensuring it doesn’t get [...]
Progressive Leaders’ Call For ‘Democratic Primaries’ Is Really Just A Q&A Session For King Obama
There’s no better way to bury all chances for a REAL Democratic presidential primary contest — though the odds of such a challenge was highly unlikely — then to call for “Democratic Primaries”, with the assurance that the sitting incumbent will “emerge from the primary a stronger candidate as a result.” Yet that’s exactly what Progressive leaders, led [...]
WATCH (Video): Footage And Interviews Of #OccupyWallStreet Protesters
RT heads downtown in New York City to cover the outrage behind the largest anti-Wall Street rally since the credit crunch:
WATCH: Max Blumenthal Discusses Role Of US Media In Normalizing Israel’s Occupation
Sternchen Productions recently recorded a must-watch series of interviews with Max Blumenthal, where he discusses a wide gamut of Israel/Palestine-related topics. In the video entitled “The role of the media in the Israel/Palestine conflict” (the video follows) Blumenthal describes instances of the US media insidiously crafting pro-Israel narratives to overshadow if not to flat-out whitewash Israel’s brutal policies: [...]
WATCH: Jon Stewart Blasts MSM For Trying To Marginalize Presidential Candidate Ron Paul
Last Saturday (August 13), Presidential candidate Ron Paul came within 152 votes (behind Michele Bachmann) of winning the Iowa straw poll, only to find himself completely ignored and marginalized by ALL the mainstream media outlets who covered the contest. Here are the straw poll results: 1. Congresswoman Michele Bachmann (4823, 28.55%) 2. Congressman Ron Paul (4671, [...]
WATCH: Tracey K and the RTÉ Concert Orchestra Perform ‘The Cure & The Cause’ Live
Ireland’s Tracey K — a singer/songwriter who frequently collaborates with DJ/producer duo, Fish Go Deep (from Cork, Ireland) – is best known for her UK chart-topping dance track “The Cure & the Cause”. She has been writing and recording House music for much of the last decade — ever since her college days at Galway University. You can learn [...]
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