Results tagged “healthcare”

We were reminded yesterday of the recent Whole Foods boycott that's been gaining steam in the past month. Whole Foods CEO John Mackey wrote a Wall Street Journal editorial last month opposing the single-payer option of health care reform and claiming health care is not a "right," further perpetuating myths propagated by the for-profit health insurance and pharmaceutical industries.

What with all this ballyhooing over health care, would you like to test drive some alternative medicinal practices? Take, for example, the prickly art of acupuncture, the popular practice of inserting tiny needles into points on your body to relieve pain or promote therapeutic processes. As luck would have it, Community Acupuncture of Marin is offering free treatment for newbies in Tuesdays. "New patients receive the first treatment at our clinic for free when scheduled on a Tuesday. Returning patients who schedule to bring a new patient in with them will also receive their treatment free. Appointments required, mention the promo please." Visit Healing Arts of Marin for more details.

On Saturday, your grandfather and his Shriner buddies protested Barbara Boxer's book signing in Danville. According to Mercury News, "[a]bout 100 people, many with picket signs, covered the sidewalks outside Rakestraw Books on Hartz Avenue and chanted such slogans as 'Boxer must go' and ''Save our freedoms'" and other things a drug-addled radio personality told them to say.

Call it what you will, but hometown gal Nancy Pelosi's push to get the President's health care initiative through Congress before their August recess appears to be failing, and among those stalling it is another hometown gal, Senator Dianne Feinstein, who still doesn't know how we're going to pay for any of this shit. Her actual words relate more to creating new health care entitlements that the country's budget can't afford. To wit: "Entitlements are well over 50 percent of every dollar the federal government spends this year and are going straight up. If you add more entitlements, it's a problem." We would agree that a feasible plan for covering the costs of this plan should be laid out, but President Obama promises it won't add to the deficit. DiFi calls bullshit. Who to believe?

Mario Pacheco, whose makeshift home dental clinic in Oakland was raided by authorities, guns drawn on Friday, tells CBS 5 today that he was "just doing what [he] could to help people." As it happens, he didn't have a license to practice dentistry and allegedly never called himself a dentist, but through referrals he performed dental work on low-income and uninsured patients, sometimes for free. He was wearing a white doctor coat when arrested, and according to reports his office was "filled with bloody gauze and dirty syringes," which doesn't sound all that nice and benevolent (especially the syringe part -- remind you of anything?). Yet another reason Pelosi better push that health care bill through the House!

Delightful news, folks. The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (a stem cell research funding agency established thanks to Prop 71 in the 2004 election) put their seal of approval on 15 grants to help fund blessed and beneficial stem cell know-how. Awesome. Said funding will go to Stanford ($3,930,000), UC Berkeley ($3,371,686), UCSF ($3,899,912), and the J. David Gladstone Institutes ($2,517,888) to "fund graduate students, postdoctoral scholars and clinical fellows working in stem cell research labs," reports SF Biz Times. After handing out the much-needed funds, CIRM President Alan Trounson said "'It’s important that we continue supporting these future stem cell scientists who are already making significant contributions.'"

                

Steve Rhodes was at last night's vigil for Dr. George Tiller, the activist who was murdered this past weekend by an anti-abortion zealot.

Because city health care programs are under the false impression that they are untouchable bastions of altruism and benevolence, a coalition of community groups, labor, and concerned citizens will hold mock funeral at 12:30 p.m. this afternoon, protesting budget cuts. However, the procession -- which starts at the Civic Center Plaza on the Southwest Green -- will march to City Hall and attempt to offer an alternate list for cuts (e.g., "police collecting overtime to investigate pedestrian right-aways," something called firehouse chauffeurs, Mayoral staff dudeskis, etc.).

The American Academy of Dermatology is launching a new campaign to get girls from 16 to 29 years old (and boys in the same age range who live in district 5) to stop using indoor tanning beds. The campaign is called, fittingly enough, "Indoor Tanning is Out." How so? Because: a) only trash uses indoor tanning facilities, and b) indoor browning is associated with a significant increase in the risk of melanoma. (Though we think the AAD is primarily concerned with the latter.)

After a federal judge blocked "a key provision of a new city program providing basic health care to uninsured residents, City Attorney Dennis Herrera is scheduled to petition the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals today for an emergency stay pending appeal to help SF maintain the "Healthy San Francisco" program. The program, which would help uninsured San Franciscans receive health care, was scheduled to begin on January 2, 2008. According to CBS 5:

Yesterday, presidential hopeful Joe Biden released details of his plan for the health care system, and coincidentally, we spotted this sign in an area of San Francisco that our 2001 Muni map calls "Apparel City."

-- Magic Bullets: Along with Bonde do Role and JuiceBoxxx, this local outfit (heavy on the bass lines, rhythmic keyboards, and melancholic vocals) performs tonight at 9 p.m. at The Independent, 628 Divisadero; $13.

Man, we can tell how long we've been doing this by the number of Zagat posts we've amassed!

At 4:30 p.m. today, a rally and march led by a cast of security officers will take place in the financial district. (We'll try to grab some shots of the officers getting all Norma Nae-y.) Unionized security officers of the Service Employees International Union Local 24/7 are in a huff and not taking it anymore. According to the Chronicle:

That idea of congestion pricing in San Francisco, meaning charging people to drive in certain places around the city, has moved from crazy pipe dream stage to crazy pipe dream planning stage. Recently, the city was awarded $180 million to study the idea and there are already two potential places being mapped out by the people mapping it out. Instead of charging cars to go downtown, the idea would be to take it to the bridge as it were. The first place would be on Doyle Drive, one of the roads that takes you to the Golden Gate Bridge . In fact, one of the conditions of all this money is that the city would just have to do such a thing. Another spot being considered is right outside of Treasure Island. They're thinking up the idea of maybe charging $1 or $2 a car and it could work by having people use the FastTrak system, or at least we hope so as being from the East Coast, having to stop constantly for tolls gets kind of tedious. Also a bad place to be if you've just started a mob war against the Tattaglia and Sollozzo families.

Tom Ammiano announced a plan yesterday to give city IDs to those who don't have IDs, mainly immigrants-- legal or otherwise. The idea, pushed by immigrant advocates, will allow those without an ID to be given access to a whole range of city services they would not normally be open to, including health care, library privileges, and the ability to use municipal golf courses. Ammiano also said he's going to work with financial institutions to let people use the Ids to open accounts.

Someone else viewed as unbeatable has a hail-Mary opponent from the progressive left -- and we're not just talking about Gavin Newsom and Chris Daly! That's right -- the stridently anti-war soldier's mom Cindy Sheehan has declared her candidacy against San Francisco's House representative, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.

Gay marriage, GLBTQQGQQ$#@ discrimination, HIV issues, queers in the military, Donna McKechnie (we can only assume), health care, and more are what's on tap for tonight's presidential debate. Disgusting, we know. But 84% of eligible gays voted in the last election, so why not? (Who knew gays could even vote? Huh.)

Just passing along the latest news on Roisin Isner, the 17-year-old drummer hit by a firecracker in Dolores Park on July 4.

A four-year-old boy drowned to death in the 2-foot deep section of the wave pool at Great America in Santa Clara yesterday. There were six lifeguards on duty at the time, but there are no age limits on who can use the pool. Authorities have not identified the boy, or said whether or not he was supervised at the time of the accident. This is the first drowning at Great America but not the first death -- the Chron lists the other four people who've died since the park opened in 1978 (one person hit by a roller coaster, two people fell out of rides, and one person was killed when two roller coaster trains collided.)

Now, you could either watch the trailer for Michael Moore's new movie (about HMOs and universal health care) here on your computer (above)... OR, you could go outside and watch it projected onto the side of buildings in downtown SF and Oakland tonight!

Everyone knows the Saturday of Pride Weekend is the Dyke March! Put on your motorcycle helmet and take off your top. The theme this year (for the 15th anniversary) is "Healthcare for All," so there's going to be a mammogram truck on site, as well as the usual diverse array of religions, performers, and peoples. The rally and stage show starts at 3 at Dolores Park; the women go marching at 7.

There's Wal-Marts is California? Apparently so -- and we paid about $50 million for them to be built, according to Wal-Mart Subsidy Watch. We're lucky enough to live in a city with lots of locally owned businesses and healthy jobs, but not so in such Steven-Kingishly named towns as Covina, Lake Elsinor, and Redlands.

At a conference yesterday hosted by people trying to find a solution to the increasing amount of families leaving the city, Gavin said things were improving. In the speech, he rattled off a bunch of things the city is doing to help families stick around, including new housing, tax credits, the improving school district, and the upcoming attempt at universal health care. Also: free ice cream!

Gavin Newsom was all raspy voice and bulletproof hair at last night at Cesar Chavez Elementary in the Mission. Despite somebody's command to "Go back to Nob Hill!" Gavin asserted "I'm not going away." He's used that phrase a couple times now. Is that your campaign slogan, homie? We hope not, because you're not exactly the underdog. It's almost April and you still don't have an opponent.

Our feelings regarding the sneaky scheduling of Gavin Newsom’s Third Fake Question Time this Monday can best be expressed through American Idol runner-up Katharine McPhee’s latest single, “Over It.” The purple halter dress she wears in this video is pretty cute, too.

Remember how members of the Golden Gate Restaurant Association have been whining about increases in minimum wage and the newly mandated health care initiative? Well, they're talking about turning whining into action and the association is threatening to go on strike.