I think this is a great idea. We might find out all sorts of things about the “non-profitability” of blood banks and the for-profit places they associate with.
Bill aims to make Florida blood banks more transparent with finances
Florida State Rep. John Tobia, R-Melbourne, has filed House Bill 509, a measure that would mandate the six biggest blood banks in Florida to annually disclose financial data to the state Agency for Health Care Administration. A spokeswoman for Florida’s Blood Centers chose not to comment on the bill while a representative of Community Blood Centers of South Florida said the center would have no problem with disclosing nearly all of its financial records. Orlando Sentinel (Fla.) (12/23) (from AABB newsletter)
Two new studies seem to provide more evidence that post-traumatic stress disorder is a chemical change in the brain caused by trauma — and that it might be possible to diagnose, treat and predict susceptibility to it based on brain scans or blood tests.
Here’s an article on a new treatment for PTSD involving dogs. Gotta love dogs and Soldiers togethter:
That's the way things are with G.I. Joe, a psychiatric service dog, and Peacock, a veteran of the Iraq war: She gives him breaks from his work, and he gives her breaks from the fears and anxieties that plague her.
One in eight Soldiers returning from Iraq or Afghanistan report symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, according to the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research. Peacock, an honorably retired Army sergeant, is among them.
I get the system here but the execution is very poor. Stopping these payouts now will leave a reservoir of ill will that will last:
The bill makes clear that troops who re-enlisted or extended their contract and collected a bonus while being held under stop-loss do not qualify for the compensation.
The temporary halt will last until the Army gets a list of soldiers who received a re-enlistment or retention bonus while being stop-lossed, said Army spokeswoman Jill Mueller.
“The services didn’t decide this,” Mueller said on Wednesday. “This was decided by the legislature and we are executing their will.”
Rarely the brightest bulbs on the Christmas tree of life:
THOMSON, Ga. – An east Georgia man trying to get revenge on his estranged girlfriend by firebombing her home was being held without bond after he threw the device into the wrong house, police said.
Think Progress caught a chilling moment on C-SPAN this morning. A “teabagger,” apparently taking Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) at his word, called in tears, worried that his prayers for Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV) to die before the early morning procedural vote on health care had backfired. The caller was distraught over the absence of Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK).
From Politico – love how these most hateful and duplicitous politicians are on the public dole in more ways than one. Will the teabaggers take a look at the farm subsidy bill?
Liberal site Truthdig links to an Environmental Working Group analysis of federal agricultural subsidies and found that the Bachmann family farm, managed by her father-in-law until his recent death, received $251,000 in farm payments between 1995 and 2006.
Bachmann’s financial disclosure forms indicate her stake in the Wisconsin farm is worth up to $250,000. Her income from the farm has grown from $2,000 a year a few years back to as much as $50,000 for 2008.
