AMA endorses $940 billion health care reform bill
In a slap to the face to the opponents of the $940 billion health care reform bill, the American Medical Association endorsed the legislation “as a step toward providing coverage to all Americans and improving our nation’s health system.”
J. James Rohack, M.D., AMA president, stated, “While the final product is certainly not what we would have devised, we strongly support the parts of this bill that are desperately needed by millions of Americans who are struggling to get or keep health insurance coverage.” Read more
Florida judges and lawyers can't 'friend' each other on social networking sites
In a ruling last month from the Florida’s Judicial Ethics Advisory Committee, judges and lawyers can no longer ‘friend’ each other on social networking sites. Facebook, MySpace, and LinkedIn were mentioned specifically in the ruling, but it was not limited to those sites. The committee did rule that judges can have lawyers as “fans”. A judge may also post comments and such on another judge’s page on a social networking site, assuming the material does not otherwise violate the Code of Judicial Conduct, according to the committee. Read more
Proposed "war tax" being considered to end borrowing
What’s being called the “Share the Sacrifice Act”, is being proposed to end borrowing to pay for the war in Afghanistan.
House Representatives Dave Obey, the Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, John Murtha, the Chairman of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, Congressman John Larson, the Chairman of the Democratic Caucus, and eight other Democratic Members introduced the legislation last week that would impose a war surtax beginning in 2011. Read more
Senate Commitee investigates aggressive Internet sales tactics
The U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, chaired by Senator Jay Rockefeller, is conducting a hearing into customers unwittingly being duped into joining online loyalty programs when making a purchase. According to Senator Rockefeller, companies like Affinion, Vertrue, and Webloyalty “have made more than $1.4 billion dollars through these tactics and charged more than 30 million Americans.” Rockefeller estimates that 4 million American consumers are currently having their credit cards billed for these loyalty programs and most are unaware of it. Read more
