Health Insurance Rates Going Up for Federal Employees September 27, 2008
Posted by healthandsurvival in Society, Survival, health.Tags: blue cross, blue shield, health, insurance, Life, medicine, news
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Friday, September 26, 2008; Page D01
Health insurance premiums for federal employees will jump almost 8 percent, on average, in 2009, a sharp increase over the 2.9 percent increase this year and the 2.3 percent increase in 2007, the Office of Personnel Management announced yesterday.
Premiums for most workers, however, will climb even more next year — about 13 percent — which is the increase for enrollees in the Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans. Sixty percent of federal workers are enrolled in one of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans.
“We worked very hard to contain premium costs, and we were more successful with some health plans than with others,” said Nancy Kichak, OPM’s associate director for strategic human resources policy. The rates, she said, are the lowest possible in keeping with preservation of benefits and stability in the program…..read rest of story here…
GM to Release 100 MPG car in 2010!!! September 27, 2008
Posted by healthandsurvival in Society, Survival.Tags: auto, car, cars, economy, energy, family, fuel, Global Warming, gm, Life, news, transportation
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This may save GM from collapse. When and if this car hits to streets, it will by far become the number 1 selling vehicle in America… Prius better watch out! I hope it does not get “squashed” by big oil and automakers like the prior electric cars! (http://www.whokilledtheelectriccar.com/). Great job GM!!! Don’t let this one fail..
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Sept. 26 (Bloomberg) — General Motors Corp. said it reached a preliminary agreement that clears the way for U.S. regulators to certify the Chevrolet Volt, an electric vehicle that can be recharged at home or with a 1.4-liter gasoline engine, as the first 100 mile-per-gallon car.
The country’s biggest automaker, whose sales of pickup trucks and sport-utility vehicles collapsed this year as gasoline topped $4 a gallon, is cutting the mileage deal while urging Congress to approve $25 billion in government loans to help the industry meet new federal fuel-economy standards.
Earning a 100 mpg certification would give Detroit-based GM the holy grail auto companies began seeking following the oil shocks of the 1970s. The Environmental Protection Agency agreed to a testing method that will produce a rating at least that high, said Tony Posawatz, 48, vehicle-line director for the Volt in Warren, Michigan. The four-passenger car, which goes on sale in November 2010, will be able to travel 40 miles (64 kilometers) before the internal-combustion engine needs to recharge the battery.
“It’s a huge milestone to beat 100 mpg. It’s bragging rights,” said Rebecca Lindland, an analyst at Global Insight Inc. in Lexington, Massachusetts. “To many people, GM is just about gas-guzzling SUVs. They never get credit for fuel economy. If Toyota were doing the Volt, they would be having parades and waving flags.”
While the Volt is classified as an electric car, GM will still be able to claim it’s the most fuel-efficient vehicle on the road because the gasoline-powered generator will start after the sedan exceeds the battery’s 40-mile range.
`Final Policy’
The EPA won’t confirm how it gauges fuel economy of plug-in models until testing methodology is complete, spokeswoman Catherine C. Milbourn said in a statement. The agency “hopes to have a final policy soon,” she said…..read more here.
Wall Street Executives Made $3 Billion Before Crisis September 27, 2008
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The Poor CEOs of these companies, we need to help them America! You need to be willing to sacrifice your family’s well being for them as I think it is really important they upgrade their Mercedes to the latest model…Are you not willing to be homeless so they can survive. Would not they do the same for us? Lets Bail them out… 
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By Tom Randall and Jamie McGee
Sept. 26 (Bloomberg) — Wall Street’s five biggest firms paid more than $3 billion in the last five years to their top executives, while they presided over the packaging and sale of loans that helped bring down the investment-banking system.
Merrill Lynch & Co. paid its chief executives the most, with Stanley O’Neal taking in $172 million from 2003 to 2007 and John Thain getting $86 million, including a signing bonus, after beginning work in December. The company agreed to be acquired by Bank of America Corp. for about $50 billion on Sept. 15. Bear Stearns Cos.’s James “Jimmy” Cayne made $161 million before the company collapsed and was sold to JPMorgan Chase & Co. in June.
Democrats and Republicans in Congress are demanding that limits be placed on executive pay as part of the $700 billion financial rescue plan proposed by U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson. The former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. CEO, who received about $111 million between 2003 and 2006, said in testimony to Congress on Sept. 24 that he would accept such limits as part of the plan, after initially opposing them..…read more here.
Republican Conservative Says Governor Palin Should Step Down! September 26, 2008
Posted by healthandsurvival in health.Tags: government, health, Life, news, palin, politics, president
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CNN) – Prominent conservative columnist Kathleen Parker, an early supporter of Republican VP candidate Sarah Palin, said Friday recent interviews have shown the Alaska governor is “out of her league” and should leave the GOP presidential ticket for the good of the party.
The criticism in Parker’s Friday column is the latest in a recent string of negative assessments toward the McCain-Palin candidacy from prominent conservatives.
It was fun while it lasted,” Parker writes. “Palin’s recent interviews with Charles Gibson, Sean Hannity, and now Katie Couric have all revealed an attractive, earnest, confident candidate. Who is clearly out of her league.”...read more here….
Warning Labels for Caffeinated Energy Drinks September 26, 2008
Posted by healthandsurvival in Diet and Nutrition, Diseases, Society, Wellness, health.Tags: caffeine, energy, family, health, Life, monster, news, red bull, Survival
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Warning Labels for Caffeinated Energy Drinks
By Tara Parker-Pope
Should energy drinks note the caffeine content? (Tony Cenicola/The New York Times)
Super-caffeinated energy drinks popular with teenagers, with names like Red Bull, Monster and Full Throttle, should carry warning labels, says a group of prominent caffeine researchers.
In an article published this month in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence, researchers from Johns Hopkins University say caffeinated energy drinks should carry labels that note caffeine doses and warn of potential health risks for consumers.
The caffeine content of energy drinks varies from 50 milligrams to more than 500 milligrams per serving. A regular 12-ounce cola drink has about 35 milligrams of caffeine, and a 6-ounce cup of brewed coffee has 80 to 150 milligrams of caffeine.
Some energy drinks contain the caffeine equivalent of 14 cans of Coca-Cola, said Roland Griffiths, a professor of behavioral biology and one of the study authors. “Yet the caffeine amounts are often unlabeled, and few include warnings about the potential health risks of caffeine intoxication,” he said.
Dr. Griffiths notes that caffeine intoxication is a recognized clinical syndrome included in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders and the World Health Organization’s International Classification of Diseases. It is marked by nervousness, anxiety, restlessness, insomnia, gastrointestinal upset, tremors, rapid heartbeats, restlessness and pacing, and in rare cases, even death.
In a 2007 survey of 496 college students, 51 percent reported consuming at least one energy drink during the last month. Of these energy drink users, 29 percent reported “weekly jolt and crash episodes,” and 19 percent reported heart palpitations from drinking energy drinks, the report stated. This same survey found that 27 percent of the students said they mixed energy drinks and alcohol at least once in the past month…..…read more here..
