Iran: Protesters swarm former US Embassy in Tehran

 ALI AKBAR DAREINI
4 Nov 2013

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Tens of thousands of demonstrators packed the streets Monday outside the former U.S. Embassy in Tehran in the biggest anti-American rally in years, a show of support for hard-line opponents of President Hassan Rouhani's historic outreach to Washington.

Such protests occur every year outside the former embassy compound to mark the anniversary of the 1979 takeover following the Islamic Revolution. But the latest demonstration is the largest in years after calls by groups such as the powerful Revolutionary Guard for a major showing, including chants of "death to America" that some of Rouhani's backers have urged halted.

The crowds also send a message to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who cautiously has backed Rouhani's overtures to the U.S. and efforts to end the impasse with the West over Tehran's nuclear program.

Opponents of thawing relations with the U.S. say they will not back down, opening the prospect of deeper internal rifts and tensions that could put pressure on Khamenei to reconsider his backing of Rouhani's groundbreaking exchanges with the U.S.

In September, Rouhani accepted from a call from U.S. President Barack Obama following the annual U.N. General Assembly in New York, where U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry held talks with Iran's foreign minister. Ties between the two countries were severed after the embassy siege, which began a hostage crisis with 52 people held for 444 days.

Critics of the dialogue made their views immediately known, hurling insults and eggs at Rouhani's entourage upon their return from New York. Late last month, huge banners appeared around Tehran depicting the U.S. as a sinister and deceitful adversary that seeks to weaken Iran. Tehran officials ordered the signs removed, but they appeared in poster form at the demonstration Monday outside the former embassy compound.

Protesters also stomped on images of Obama and the U.S. flag. Others carried well-known banners reading "We trample America under our feet" and "The U.S. is the Great Satan." One image showed Obama in a wrestling uniform with Star of David earrings, symbolizing Israel.

On Sunday, Khamenei appeared to chide hard-liners by denouncing any attempts to undermine Iran's nuclear negotiators. Talks with world powers are scheduled to resume Thursday in Geneva.

Diplomats "are on a difficult mission and nobody should weaken those who are on assignment," the official IRNA news agency quoted Khamenei, who has final say on all matters of state, as telling a group of students.

Iran seeks to have painful economic sanctions eased in exchange for concessions in its nuclear program to address concerns by the West, which fears Iran's uranium enrichment could eventually produce weapons-grade material. Iran insists it only seeks reactors for energy and medical applications, but has not made public its possible confidence-building offers at the talks.

Outside the former embassy's brick walls - covered with anti-U.S. murals - students carried a model of a centrifuge used in uranium enrichment. A slogan on it read: "Result of resistance against sanctions: 18,000 active centrifuges in Iran."

Another banner quoted Khamenei: "The aim of sanctions is to make the Iranian nation desperate."

Khamenei's backing of Rouhani also puts him in an unfamiliar spot of having to reassure hard-liners he has not abandoned their views.

Khamenei on Sunday praised Iranian militant students who stormed the U.S. Embassy in 1979.

"Thirty years ago, our young people called the U.S. Embassy a 'den of spies.' ... It means our young people were 30 years ahead of their time," he said, a reference to a series of reports of U.S. eavesdropping on foreign leaders, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Countries the US have bombed since WWII

While this list demonstrates the basis of America's foreign policy, one that promotes force and military response over diplomacy and negotiation, it in no way should condone the militaristic actions of the forces that target civilians in response to these wretched attacks.

Countries the USA has bombed since the Second World War:

China 1945-46
Korea 1950-53
China 1950-53
Guatemala 1954
Indonesia 1958
Cuba 1959-60
Guatemala 1960
Belgian Congo 1964
Guatemala 1964
Dominican Republic 1965-66
Peru 1965
Laos 1964-73
Vietnam 1961-73
Cambodia 1969-70
Guatemala 1967-69
East Timor 1975-1976
Lebanon 1982-84
Grenada 1983-84
Libya 1986
El Salvador 1981-92
Nicaragua 1981-90
Iran 1987-88
Libya 1989
Panama 1989-90
Iraq 1991
Kuwait 1991
Somalia 1992-94
Bosnia 1995
Iran 1998
Sudan 1998
Afghanistan 1998
Yugoslavia – Serbia 1999
Afghanistan 2001
Libya 2011

What permissions allow the US to attack sovereign nations?  What gives the US the right to kill indiscriminately?  What have these crimes accomplished?

Turn these actions around - bombs dropped on US soil - and we'd have witnessed the third world war.

http://www.globalresearch.ca/list-of-countries-the-usa-has-bombed-since-the-end-of-world-war-ii/24626

Working To Death: Stress and Its Deadly Effects

By Dan Wesley

Taking a day off work is a luxury many people don’t have. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that 50 percent of the US workforce receives 7 or fewer paid holidays every year while the average worker receives a paltry 8 days. So whether it’s Labor Day, Thanksgiving or even Christmas, more employees than ever are busy working and stressing out.

More Stress Than Ever

Forbes recently reported that 92% of US workers say their workplace has become more stressful within the past five years! While the cause of this stress might be linked to lower wages, higher benefit costs or longer hours, the result can lead to catastrophic consequences, including mental breakdowns, health deterioration, workplace violence and even death.

Psychological Effects of Workplace Stress

The American Psychological Association defines the cause of stress as a “feeling of powerlessness.” This powerlessness leads to harmful psychological effects ranging from tension headaches to workplace violence. One of the top reasons is a lack of sleep. 63 percent of workers report having levels of stress so high that extreme fatigue and feelings of being out of control are common. Another 34 percent report difficulty sleeping, while 12 percent call in sick due to a stressful work environment.  However, simply taking a day off  can add more stress for some!
One of the most damaging psychological effects is the risk of developing depression. Working at a stressful job can increase this risk by 80 percent when compared to those who work in less-stressful environments. Of course, the headlines may declare that stress is responsible for workplace homicides, yet clinical depression has a $51 billion impact on the US economy, about the same amount as heart disease or AIDS.

Physical Effects of Workplace Stress

The physical effects of workplace stress include minor conditions that are easily treated as well as major problems that can lead to early death. The minor problems include eyestrain, dry eyes or blurred vision, work-related hand, joint or neck pain that is not chronic, and even an increase in acne or other skin issues. However, major health problems arise when the cardiovascular system is stressed.



Workers exposed to stress are twice as likely to develop cardiovascular disease, and those who work 10 or more hours a day demonstrate a 60 percent increase in heart attacks and angina. Other physical effects related to workplace stress include lower back pain, increases or decreases in weight, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, as well as an 18 percent greater likelihood of developing type 2 diabetes. The culprit? Sitting too long! Stress causes many people sit at their desks longer than they should. With all this desk time, diets naturally suffer as well.

Reducing Workplace Stress

Reducing the amount of stress at work isn’t difficult. Taking periodic breaks, going for walks and exercising all help. Rest and relaxation outside of work is critical. Yoga, meditation or other deep breathing exercises help the body and mind relax, while time spent with friends and loved ones triggers your body to release a “feel good” hormone called oxytocin.
What does this mean to you? Simple. Take a break or a day off, spend some time with friends and relax! Your job doesn’t have to kill you.

A summary of long-strained US-Iranian relations

BRADLEY KLAPPER

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama and Iran's new president are scheduled to attend the U.N.'s annual meeting of the General Assembly next week, setting up the possibility of the first exchange between American and Iranian leaders in more than three decades.

Although their disagreements are grave and plentiful, President Hasan Rouhani's recent overtures have raised hopes of a thawing of U.S.-Iranian relations, which have experienced few ups and countless downs since the 1979 Islamic Revolution and subsequent hostage crisis at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran.

No one has confirmed a meeting, though Obama has long said he'd be open to discussion if Tehran shows it is serious about curbing its nuclear program.

A brief history of the long-strained relations between the United States and Iran:

CIA COUP

The aftermath of World War II and the advent of the Cold War make Iran a U.S. policy focus for the first time. Washington sees the country as a bulwark against Soviet expansion and a source of stability in the oil-rich Persian Gulf. It cultivates a friendly relationship with Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. The partnership is threatened with the 1951 appointment of Prime Minister Mohamed Mossadegh, who moves to nationalize Iran's oil industry. A CIA-backed coup ousts Mossadegh in 1953. The shah returns from his brief exile and resumes control.

COLD WAR ALLIES

The United States provides the shah hundreds of millions of dollars over the next quarter-century. The U.S. helps set up Iran's intelligence agency in 1957. Iranians come to revile the agency for its repression. Iran's oil exports expand and the economy grows significantly. The shah recognizes Israel and becomes a dominant figure in the Middle East. Some tensions persist, however. Iran refuses to help the U.S. in the 1970s by lowering the price of petroleum. Toward the end of the shah's reign, the U.S. criticizes his government's worsening human rights record and crackdown on democracy. Still, the U.S. publicly stands by Pahlavi. President Jimmy Carter visits Iran in December 1977 and declares, "Iran, under the great leadership of the shah, is an island of stability."

REVOLUTION

Frustrated by the monarchy's brutality, corruption and autocracy, and faced with economic slowdown, Iranians overthrow the shah in 1979. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini returns from exile, seizes power and declares the U.S. the "Great Satan." The shah seeks exile in the U.S.; Iranians demand he be handed over. In November, militants storm the U.S. Embassy. Fifty-two Americans are held for 444 days. An American rescue operation ends in disaster. Washington freezes billions of dollars in Iranian assets stored in the United States. The U.S. ends diplomatic relations with Iran.

PROXY WARS

Iraq's Saddam Hussein invades Iran in 1980, and the United States provides him with support. Perhaps 1.5 million people are killed over the next eight years, with Hussein even using chemical weapons. The Iranian government kills thousands of political opponents at home and assassinates several higher-profile figures abroad. It gets involved in Lebanon's civil war, providing support to Hezbollah. The new Shiite militant group is blamed for the 1983 bombings of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut and of the Beirut barracks of the U.S. Marine Corps; the two bombings killed more than 250 Americans. Iran places underwater mines in the strategic Persian Gulf. The U.S. responds in 1987 and 1988 by targeting Iranian oil installations, and the Iranians counter with speedboat attacks. Fighter jets skirmish and the two countries approach outright war. In July, the U.S. mistakenly downs an Iranian passenger jet flying above the Strait of Hormuz, killing 290 people, including more than 60 children. In August 1988, Iran and Iraq reach a cease-fire.

IRAN-CONTRA AFFAIR

In the midst of some of the fiercest U.S.-Iranian hostility, the White House covertly sells arms to Iran and uses the proceeds to bankroll a secret war in Central America. Exposed in 1986, the scandal cripples the final two years of Ronald Reagan's presidency.

EXPORTING TERRORISM

Through the 1990s, the U.S. accuses Iran of sponsoring acts of terrorism around the world. Iran and its proxy Hezbollah are blamed for a 1992 attack on the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina, that kills 29 people, and an attack on a Jewish community center there two years later that kills 85. The U.S. and Israel say Iran provides the critical support for dozens of Hamas suicide attacks and other bombings. President Bill Clinton imposes far-reaching oil and trade sanctions on Iran in 1995.

DIALOGUE AMONG CIVILIZATIONS

The 1997 election of Iran's reformist President Mohammad Khatami offers hope for a thaw in relations. Khatami promotes a "dialogue among civilizations" and reaches out to Western leaders. The U.S. lifts some sanctions on Iran.

POST-9/11 WORLD

Limited U.S.-Iranian cooperation continues after al-Qaida terrorists attack the United States on Sept. 11, 2001. Officials from both sides coordinate before the U.S. invades Afghanistan to oust the Taliban. Months later, President George W. Bush enrages Iran by including it with Iraq and North Korea in his "axis of evil." Washington releases information about Iran's nuclear program and rebuffs Khatami's offer of a "grand bargain" to normalize U.S.-Iranian relations. After the U.S. ousts Iraq's Hussein in 2003 and occupies the country, it accuses Iran of providing Shiite militants with sophisticated weapons to kill American soldiers. The U.S. steers clear of European diplomatic efforts to resolve the Iranian nuclear standoff.

AHMADINEJAD'S ARRIVAL

The election of hard-line conservative Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to the Iranian presidency in 2005 weakens the case for rapprochement in both countries. Ahmadinejad calls for the elimination of Israel and declares the Holocaust a myth. He sends Bush an 18-page letter criticizing the U.S. response to the 9/11 attacks. With Iraq in chaos, U.S. officials reach out to Iranian counterparts for some help in stemming the violence. As America turns increasingly anti-war, Bush and his advisers play down talk of war and join nuclear negotiations between world powers and Iran. At the same time, the U.S. rallies international unity against Iran's nuclear activity. The diplomatic effort yields three rounds of U.N. sanctions between 2006 and 2008 demanding Tehran stop enriching uranium and exporting weapons. They also set banking, trade and travel restrictions on Iran. The Iranians say they won't slow their program, insisting it is intended for peaceful energy production.

OBAMA'S ENGAGEMENT

President Barack Obama takes office in 2009 after raising the possibility of sitting down with Iranian leaders without preconditions. Engagement becomes difficult after Ahmadinejad wins another term in an election many believe is fraudulent and is followed by a violent crackdown. On the sidelines of nuclear talks in October 2009, a senior U.S. official meets privately with a top Iranian negotiator for some of the most extensive bilateral talks in decades. Iran quickly backs out of a deal reached with world powers to ship out much of its higher-enriched uranium.

CRIPPLING SANCTIONS

A fourth round of U.N. sanctions against Iran passes in 2010. Meanwhile, the U.S. and Israel covertly cooperate in a campaign to sabotage Iran's nuclear program. After Syria's civil war erupts in 2011, Iran actively supports Syrian President Bashar Assad while the U.S. slowly escalates aid to the rebels. Obama faces pressure at home and abroad over Iran's nuclear program. He urges patience from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who threatens an Israeli military intervention. But Obama also says all U.S. military options are on the table. With engagement failing, he focuses on "crippling" international sanctions. The most severe hit Iran's oil industry, slicing exports in half and leaving the Iranian economy in tatters. Several more rounds of nuclear talks take place, though no progress is made. During his re-election campaign, Obama vows to prevent Iran from reaching nuclear weapons capacity.

MODERATION PREVAILS

Promising a new course of moderation, Hasan Rouhani becomes Iran's new president in August 2013. He exchanges letters with Obama, raising hopes for a nuclear breakthrough. He makes a series of public statements suggesting a new flexibility in talks with the West.

AP-NORC Poll: Demographics divide views of schools

JENNIFER AGIESTA and PHILIP ELLIOTT

WASHINGTON (AP) - Minority and low-income parents are more likely to see serious problems in their schools - from low expectations to bullying to out-of-date technology and textbooks - than those who are affluent or white, according to an Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research Poll.

Overall impressions of the nation's schools and teachers are similarly positive among all groups of parents, but deep demographic differences emerge in the details of how parents see teachers, schools and even their own roles in their children's education.

The divisions fall along the familiar fault lines of income, education and race that drive so much of American life. In many cases, it's as though parents are looking at two very different sets of schools in this country.

Most parents say the school their child attends is high-quality and rate their children's teachers positively. White parents are only slightly more likely than others to give their child's school high marks, and parents of all races give their local schools similar ratings for preparing students for college, the workforce, citizenship and life as an adult.

A majority of parents say their children are receiving a better education than the one they received, but blacks and Hispanics feel more strongly than whites that this is the case. The poll also shows minorities feel they have a greater influence over their children's education.

And the ways parents assess school quality and the problems they see as most deeply affecting their child's school vary greatly by parents' race, education and income level.

Sean Anderson, 30, whose children will be in the third and fifth grades in Waxahachie, Texas, this fall, says their schools are probably fine compared with others near him in Dallas, but he worries their education isn't as good as it could be.

"I don't know. Compared to the kids in the U.K.? Probably not," Anderson said.

Among the findings of the AP-NORC poll:

-Parents from wealthier families were less likely than those from less affluent ones to see bullying, low parental involvement, low test scores, low expectations and out-of-date textbooks as serious problems.

-Parents with a college degree point to unequal school funding as the top problem facing education, while parents without a college degree point to low expectations for students as the biggest challenge.

-Black and Hispanic parents are more apt than white parents to see per-student spending, the quality of school buildings and the availability of support resources as important drivers of school quality.

"Schools in many ways are being parents, role models, providing after-school care. Especially middle schools; they're babysitting because they're providing after-school care," said John Dalton, a 49-year-old father of two from Canandaigua, N.Y, who teaches high school English.

Dalton acknowledged his Finger Lakes-region town is affluent and said money isn't determining whether the students succeed or fail. But he said he would like his son Patrick's public Canandaigua Academy to spend more time on rigorous studies.

"The focus isn't really on learning, it's on so many different things, and the social aspect has taken over for so many of our students," he said.

When asked about problems facing students, parents from households earning less than $50,000 a year were more worried than parents making more than $100,000. For example, among less affluent families, 52 percent said bullying was a problem and 47 percent worried about too little parental involvement. Among wealthier parents, those numbers were 18 percent and 29 percent.

Responsibility falls to the parents because teachers aren't doing their jobs, said John Barnum, a father of five who lives in Las Vegas.

"The educators are not there to participate. They're there to do a j-o-b," Barnum said. "The teachers are sending kids home with so much homework. They're being sent home with homework to have the parents teach them or have to teach themselves."

Digging into these numbers reveals another wide gap based on race. Fifty-four percent of Hispanic parents and 50 percent of black parents think they have a great deal or a lot of influence over their child's education. Only 34 percent of white parents share this view.

When asking about school funding, artistic programs and technology, racial identities divided perceptions.

Sixty-one percent of black parents saw inequality in school funding as a problem, compared with 32 percent of white parents. Thirty-six percent of black parents saw insufficient opportunities for musical or artistic pursuits, but just 21 percent of white parents did. And 50 percent of Hispanic parents said a lack of computers and technology was a problem, while 34 percent of black parents and just 16 percent of white parents said the same.

Hispanic parents were significantly more likely than white parents to see keeping good teachers as a problem, by a 67 percent to 24 percent margin. Fighting, violence and gangs were a serious concern for 53 percent of Hispanic parents, but only 13 percent of white parents.

There also are clear socio-economic divides on what qualities parents see in good teachers. Parents with less formal education or lower incomes are more likely to emphasize teachers' academic credentials and experience in the classroom, as are black and Hispanic parents.

The survey was sponsored by the Joyce Foundation, which works to promote policies that improve the quality of teachers, including the development of new teacher evaluation systems, enhance early reading reforms and encourage innovation in public schools.

The AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research survey was conducted June 21 through July 22, 2013. The nationally representative poll involved landline and cellphone interviews in English or Spanish with 1,025 parents of children who completed grades K through 12 in the last school year. Interviews were conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago. Results for the full sample have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4.1 percentage points; it is larger for subgroups.

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Associated Press News Survey Specialist Dennis Junius and writer Stacy A. Anderson contributed to this report.

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Follow Philip Elliott and Jennifer Agiesta on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/philip_elliott and http://www.twitter.com/jennagiesta

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Online:

AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research: http://www.apnorc.org

Ball State U. Bars Teaching of Intelligent Design as Science

From the Chronicle of Higher Education

By Peter Schmidt

Ball State University's president, Jo Ann M. Gora, on Wednesday sought to quell the controversy surrounding two faculty members who espouse the concept of intelligent design—a rejection of evolution as it is commonly understood—by offering assurances that intelligent design would not be taught in Ball State's science classes or otherwise presented there as truth.

In a statement issued to the Indiana university's faculty and staff, Ms. Gora said intelligent design, which argues that an intelligent force guided the shaping of the universe and life on earth, "is overwhelmingly deemed by the scientific community as a religious belief and not a scientific theory," and therefore it "is not appropriate content for science courses."
Intelligent design and creationism can appropriately be discussed at Ball State in social-science and humanities courses that deal with religion, Ms. Gora said, but cannot be presented as more valid than other views.

"Teaching intelligent design as a scientific theory is not a matter of academic freedom—it is an issue of academic integrity," Ms. Gora said. She said that allowing intelligent design to be presented in a science course as a valid scientific theory "would violate the academic integrity of the course as it would fail to accurately represent the consensus of science scholars."

In a separate statement issued on Wednesday, Joan Todd, a Ball State spokeswoman, said Eric Hedin, an assistant professor of physics and astronomy who had been accused of teaching intelligent design in an honors symposium, and Terry King, the university's provost, had reviewed the findings of a faculty panel charged with investigating the allegation and "are working together to ensure that course content is aligned with the curriculum and best standards of the discipline."

Ms. Todd said Mr. Hedin had actively cooperated with the process and "remains an important and valued member of our physics and astronomy department."

The university continued on Wednesday to stand by its decision to hire Guillermo Gonzalez, a leader in the intelligent-design movement, as an assistant professor of physics and astronomy. The university has argued that Mr. Gonzalez, who was denied tenure at Iowa State University in 2007, is qualified to teach science at Ball State.

Evolution of a Controversy

Andrew Seidel, a lawyer for the Freedom From Religion Foundation, an advocacy group that sent the university a letter of complaint over Mr. Hedin's teachings, said on Wednesday that his organization was "very, very pleased" with President Gora's statement.

Although Ball State has not released the results of the review of Mr. Hedin's class and it remains unclear exactly how the class will be changed, the university appeared to be taking the foundation's concerns "very seriously," Mr. Seidel said.

But John G. West, vice president of the Discovery Institute, a group that promotes the teaching of intelligent design, said in an e-mail that Ms. Gora's position is "anti-academic freedom and Orwellian in the extreme."

"Academic freedom was designed to protect dissenting and unpopular views among faculty," Mr. West said. "Redefining it as the freedom to teach only the majority view isn't academic freedom; it's an academic straitjacket."

Mr. West argued that Mr. Hedin's honors symposium, "The Boundaries of Science," was interdisciplinary and covered not just science but the bigger questions that science raises. He said science courses can cover the debate over intelligent design without teaching intelligent design as scientific theory.

He asked whether Ms. Gora's ban on discussing intelligent design in science classes bars scientists from attacking intelligent design because, he argued, according to her logic, an attack on intelligent design would amount to an unconstitutional attack on religion.

The controversy over how Ball State deals with intelligent design began in April, when Jerry A. Coyne, a professor of ecology and evolution at the University of Chicago, published a blog post accusing Mr. Hedin of teaching religion in the context of science courses. He cited as evidence the syllabus for "The Boundaries of Science," which said students would examine "features of our existence which may lie outside the naturalistic boundaries of science" and provide "possible indications of the nature and existence of God."

The Freedom From Religion Foundation sent its letter of complaint to Ball State in May, and the university announced its review of Mr. Hedin's course the next day.

Column: The real cost of the NFL's business

JIM LITKE

In the past few months, more than two dozen NFL players and a sprinkling of front-office executives have been arrested for crimes ranging from petty to deadly.

No matter how bad it looks, remember that's not a crime wave by any fair measure, let alone by league standards. Think of it instead as just the cost of doing business. Everybody in the NFL already does.

To be fair, any company with that employs 9,000 people is bound to have some bad apples. And this year's number of arrests, give or take a few, lines up with last year's pace.

So no one should have been surprised to awake Thursday morning to news reports that Patriots cornerback Alfonzo Dennard was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving in Lincoln, Neb. But because the NFL is all about image, about "protecting the shield," as commissioner Roger Goodell never tires of saying, Dennard's team pretended to be.

Another jersey trade-in offer may be in the works even as you read this.

"The New England Patriots are extremely disappointed to learn of Alfonzo Dennard's arrest," a team statement said. "We take this matter very seriously and are working to get more information on the incident."

Please. Let's not forget the bottom line is always personal responsibility, and that Dennard climbed into his car likely knowing that the entire league and his team in particular - former Pats tight end Aaron Hernandez is being held on a murder charge -was already feeling the heat.

And that he was on probation after punching a cop during a fight in the same town a week before the 2012 draft.

But let's not forget, either - because the Patriots certainly can't - that the reason they were able to pluck him all the way down at the seventh round of that draft is because Dennard had several previous scrapes on and off the field.

Once you stop to think about it, the cynicism that underpins the whole "crime-in-the-NFL" phenomenon is almost breathtaking.

A respected agent said earlier this week that just about every time he meets with one of the league's general managers or personnel chiefs, the guy knows exactly how many potential troublemakers are on his roster. There's even a code word for those players: "turds," as in "I can't risk a chance on another turd. We've already exceeded our quota."

There's upwards of 10 on just about every squad, the agent estimates. He said they tend to be clustered around a handful of defensive positions where meanness and a short memory are essential, with wide receivers being the most notable exception on the other side of the ball.

"They want guys who say 'gimme the damn ball," and guys who can turn around the play after they get beat and start talking trash right away about how it won't ever happen again," he said. "Without those nasty, selfish guys, competing on a regular basis is practically impossible."

According to the agent, who asked that his name be withheld because he's still negotiating deals, the number of headaches a team takes on can generally be calibrated by how desperate it is to win. Think of the Cincinnati Bengals a few years back, or on a smaller scale, how Cowboys owner Jerry Jones hired a bodyguard to make sure wide receiver Dez Bryant didn't find himself in any more compromising positions.

The problems in New England at the moment may spring from a different source - hubris, or as the agent put it, "too much faith in the 'Patriot Way.'" But in every case, teams know exactly what they're doing when they draft, trade or take a flyer on a knucklehead like Dennard. The only thing they can truly be "extremely disappointed" about is when one or another does something stupid or dangerous while they were his enablers.

There were at least 17 different teams touched by the more than two dozen arrests these past few months, and anytime a problem extends that wide, it usually runs top to bottom as well.

As noted above, this is first and foremost about personal responsibility. And to be fair, Goodell hasn't been shy about doling out harsh punishment to any employee, and even harsher punishments to the league's higher-ups. But what's clear is that his message, no matter how many times he warns rookies to "protect the shield," is still being greeted in too many corners of the league with little more than a wink and a nod.

So why not just spare us the lecture?

___

Jim Litke is a national sports columnist for The Associated Press. write to him at jlitke@ap.org and follow him at Twitter.com/JimLitke.

REUTERS: Ecuador offers U.S. rights aid, waives trade benefits

Ecuador offers U.S. rights aid, waives trade benefits
10:06am EDT
By Alexandra Valencia and Brian Ellsworth

QUITO (Reuters) - Ecuador's leftist government thumbed its nose at Washington on
Thursday by renouncing U.S. trade benefits and offering to pay for human rights
training in America in response to pressure over asylum for former intelligence
contractor Edward Snowden.

The angry response threatens a showdown between the two nations over Snowden,
and may burnish President Rafael Correa's credentials to be the continent's
principal challenger of U.S. power after the death of Venezuelan socialist
leader Hugo Chavez.

"Ecuador will not accept pressures or threats from anyone, and it does not
traffic in its values or allow them to be subjugated to mercantile interests,"
government spokesman Fernando Alvarado said at a news conference.

In a cheeky jab at the U.S. spying program that Snowden unveiled through leaks
to the media, the South American nation offered $23 million per year to finance
human rights training.

The funding would be destined to help "avoid violations of privacy, torture and
other actions that are denigrating to humanity," Alvarado said. He said the
amount was the equivalent of what Ecuador gained each year from the trade
benefits.

"Ecuador gives up, unilaterally and irrevocably, the said customs benefits," he
said.

An influential U.S. senator on Wednesday said he would seek to end those
benefits if Ecuador gave Snowden asylum.

Snowden, 30, is believed to be at Moscow's international airport and seeking
safe passage to Ecuador.

The Andean nation's government denies reports that it provided a travel document
to the former National Security Agency contractor, whose U.S. passport has been
revoked.

The government has not been able to process his asylum request because he is not
on Ecuadorean territory, another government official said.

COMBATIVE CORREA

Never shy of taking on the West, the pugnacious Correa last year granted asylum
to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to help him avoid extradition from Great
Britain to Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning over sexual assault
accusations.

The 50-year-old U.S.-trained economist won a landslide re-election in February
on generous state spending to improve infrastructure and health services, and
his Alianza Pais party holds a majority in the legislature.

Ecuadorean officials said Washington was unfairly using the Andean Trade
Promotion and Drug Eradication Act, which provides customs benefits in exchange
for efforts to fight the drug trade, as a political weapon.

The program was set to expire at the end of this month.

An OPEC nation of 15 million people, Ecuador exported $5.4 billion worth of oil,
$166 million of cut flowers, $122 million of fruits and vegetables and $80
million of tuna to the United States under the Andean trade program in 2012.

Termination of the benefits could hurt the cut flower industry, which has
blossomed under the program and employs more than 100,000 workers, many of them
women.

Critics of Correa say Ecuador's embrace of Assange - and now possibly Snowden -
is hypocritical given what they say is his authoritarian style and suppression
of media at home.

Supporters of Correa say he has simply taken on media and business elites who
were trying to erode what the president calls his "Citizens' Revolution."

(Writing by Brian Ellsworth and Andrew Cawthorne; Editing by Doina Chiacu)

Iran's new president looks westward for nuke talks

BRIAN MURPHY

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) - Hasan Rouhani knew there was an element of risk.

Just a week before Iran's election gatekeepers announced the presidential ballot, Rouhani said one-on-one talks with Washington are the only way for breakthroughs in the nuclear standoff, given that the United States - as he put it - is the world's "sheriff."

Such a public portrayal of America's importance and the need to make overtures to it undoubtedly rattled a few among Iran's ruling clerics, who decide which candidates are cleared to run. Yet they allowed Rouhani to enter the race, and to the surprise of many, he surged to a runaway victory.

Rouhani's repeated emphasis on direct outreach to Washington may now have a chance for real traction among the ultimate decision-makers in Iran - the ruling clerics and the powerful Revolutionary Guard. They have long opposed bilateral talks, insisting they would do no good. But the lack of major blowback to Rouhani's speech in mid-May signaled that the idea is no longer a taboo for the establishment, even if it is not yet entirely convinced. Another sign came from Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who in March hinted he would not stand in the way.

"We have disagreements with the U.S. on regional and international matters, but obviously friendship or hostility with the world is not permanent," Rouhani told an audience at Tehran's Sharif University in his May address. "Every country can improve its relations with others."

Rouhani was Iran's chief nuclear negotiator from 2003 to 2005 and he has said he is convinced he could have sealed a deal if Tehran had been talking directly to Washington at the time. Efforts are under way for a new, fourth round of the multilateral nuclear talks bringing together Iran and the U.S. and other world powers. Earlier rounds have brought no headway.

It's far too early to gain anything more than hints from Iran on whether Rouhani's election this month could shift tactics in nuclear negotiations.

Rouhani does not formally take office until August. Washington has said it appreciates Rouhani's appeals for more engagement, but knows the meaningful decisions are made higher up by Iran's theocracy.

Moreover, Rouhani has made clear he has the same red lines as the ruling clerics: He said in his first post-victory news conference that Iran will never surrender its ability to enrich uranium - the central issue of the disputes.

Still, the next chief nuclear envoy on the Iranian side is almost certain to side closer to Rouhani's view that seeking one-on-one talks with Washington is a worthy pursuit. It's widely expected that hard-liner Saeed Jalili - who finished a distant third behind Rouhani in the June 14 election - will be sent packing by the ruling clerics to avoid internal tensions.

It may be weeks before a shortlist for successors is known. But some possible names mentioned include former Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Velayati, who finished next-to-last in the presidential race; Mohammad Javad Zarif, a former envoy to the U.N., and Amir Hossein Zamaninia, a former member of Iran's negotiating team.

No dates have been proposed to possibly resume talks between Iran and a six-nation bloc, the permanent U.N. Security Council members plus Germany. The four previous rounds since last year have foundered on a central deadlock: The U.S. and others insist Iran sharply scales back its uranium enrichment as a first step, while Iran says the West should ease sanctions as an opening offer.

The West and allies fear Iran's enrichment labs could eventually produce material for a nuclear weapon - and some critics in Israel and elsewhere believe that extended negotiations will only give Iran more time to advance its program.

Rouhani "may well create an opening," wrote Dennis Ross, a former White House envoy for the Middle East and South Asia, in a commentary published Tuesday in The New York Times. "But we should be on our guard: It must be an opening to clarify what is possible and to test outcomes, not to engage in unending talks for their own sake."

Iranian officials, including Rouhani, say that Iran will not give up control over the entire nuclear cycle, which turns uranium ore into reactor-ready fuel, but that it only seeks the technology for energy production and medical uses.

"The bottom line is that Rouhani's views are not a wholesale change from the ruling system's. They are pretty much the same on all the central points on what Iran wants," said Mohammad Ali Shabani, a British-based Middle East expert concentrating on Iranian affairs. "The issue is over tactics and how to get there."

For Rouhani, that likely means pushing the ruling clerics to see the value in direct nuclear talks with the U.S., which broke off ties with Tehran after the seizure of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in the wake of the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Rouhani's frequent references to a failed 2005 accord help explain his views.

He said he was close to a French-backed deal that would have allowed the maximum level of inspection by the U.N.'s nuclear agency in exchange for keeping Iran's nuclear case from reaching the U.N. Security Council, which set in motion layer after layer of economic sanctions over the years. The deal was not backed by France's European partners, and Rouhani now believes it was a mistake not to deal directly with Washington.

"The American are, as the saying goes, the sheriff. So it would be easier if we rather hammer things out with the sheriff than deal with lesser authorities," he told the university audience in May.

The scholar Shabani said Rouhani now hopes to "redeem himself" for letting the 2005 deal slip away.

"It's a mistake to think Rouhani is soft," he said. "He's not. He has a clear view that the only talks that matter - the only talks that are meaningful in the end - are with the Americans."

Whether Rouhani can sell this with the ruling establishment is not so simple.

The supreme leader opened the door in March for one-on-one nuclear talks with the U.S. in a significant reversal of policy. But it was far from a ringing endorsement. "I'm not optimistic about these talks, but I'm not opposed to them, either," Khamenei said.

In the past, Iran has insisted that any unilateral negotiations with Washington deal with a host of disputes between the two countries beyond the nuclear issue. The U.S. has rebuffed such multitasking talks.

One major sticking point could be efforts by Iran's establishment to use any new openings for nuclear dialogue as a back channel forum to discuss the civil war in Syria, where Washington backs the opposition and Iran is firmly behind its crucial alliance with Bashar Assad's regime.

"For much of the Iranian leadership at the moment, Syria is more of a priority than the nuclear talks," said Mustafa Alani, a regional analyst at the Gulf Research Center based in Geneva.

"Rouhani, though, believes the nuclear issue is the key to everything else. You resolve that and then move on to other things. This view may be logical, but may be not what Iran's rulers are thinking. This could leave Rouhani trying to swim against the current."

In Memoriam Carol Eileen Jaglowski

In memoriam Carol Eileen Jaglowski.  

I keep hearing these words but it still doesn’t seem real.  

In memory of Carol Jaglowski.  

We’ve lost her far too young.  She was 64.  She and her husband, my father-in-law, Dan, were planning their retirement together.   She had become a routine presence with her grandchildren, my three sons, her only daughter Jessica’s children.   A few times a week, Grammy, as our kids called her, would be hanging out with the older boys, Owen and Tenzin, sitting on the ground putting puzzles together, sorting Legos, teaching them to fold paper airplanes, listening to bird calls, and playing kid’s games.  Or she’d be holding the baby and watching the other lads while allowing their mother a much needed respite.

And now she’s gone.  We buried her on Friday in a wicker basket in a prairie in a cemetery decorated with giant memorials with bold, renowned names, like Dreyfus and Paul.  But grand memorials and ostentatiousness were not Carol’s way.  She was an unassuming, peaceful, and loving soul who should have had more years to live.  She was an accepting, open-minded person who early on in my marriage to her daughter asked that I call her mom, which from that time on I did.  

And at the drop of a quarter-note, she’s gone.  And however hard that is for us, for me, to accept, we have no choice.  That’s all we have.  Steven Wright said, “First you don't exist; then you exist; then you don’t exist; so this whole thing is just an interruption from non-existence.”

And Ecclesiastes reminds us, “all is vanity” that just like other animals humans “are of the dust and will turn to dust again.”  A lot of what happens to us is just a matter of chance or fate that we have little or no control of.   We can’t talk about being alive without talking about being dead.  

A few months ago, a few of us sat in a room with doctors and nurses who told us that when the feeding tube and the continuous dialysis were stopped, mom would die.  She wanted to go home in the worst way.  She wanted out of the hospital after two months of being stuck in bed.  As a show of her resolve and her strength, she proved the doctors wrong.  When one doctor walked in, his nose in her file, he looked up at her startled, and said “Wow, you look a lot better than your numbers.”  Even in this short part of her life, the last few months of it, mom was showing how she lived with fortitude and perseverance and a strong will.

Mom believed in life and that belief extended into death.  She was an organ donor and her final wish was to be put to rest naturally where she’ll be among the wild flowers she so adored and the birds and animals she vowed to protect.  It was a wonderful side of her.  She believed in standing up for those who cannot defend themselves.  She took refuge and found peace in watching the birds and would have given anything to protect the wildlife sanctuaries across the country.  To protect some of the least regarded among us.  

Mom was a thoughtful person who trusted in family.  A couple of years ago out of the blue she called her Aunt Arlene and they enjoyed getting together for lunch.  They planned on searching through photographs, retracing their past through pictures.  

She was a loyal and committed wife who shared 42 years of marriage with Dan.  They travelled together to Alaska, Horicon Marsh, Florida, anywhere as long as it was together.  Dan was with her nearly every moment she was hospitalized.  When Mom died peacefully at home, she was fittingly with Dan in just the way she wanted to go.

She was a devoted mother and Grammy who would have done anything for her daughter and our family and often did, taking the kids to the domes, the botanical gardens and parks, flying kites, going for walks.  When she was sick, just hearing their voices returned the color to her face, and the brightness in her eyes.

She loved music.  A rocker at heart, she attended countless Kansas shows then would sit down at the piano and play a Beethoven sonata.  One day I got home from work to the sound of Hoagy Carmichael from the piano.  She was teaching our oldest son to play “Heart and Soul.”

Mom’s life was not an easy one.  She lost her biological father at a young age and was raised along with her brother Dale by her mother, Betty.  Years later, after Betty had remarried to Frank, when little Mark came along, mom helped care for him.  She learned a lot about living during those years, traits and qualities she learned from her mom that she passed on to her daughter.  And that Jessica will pass on to our kids.

Mom was an invaluable role model and resource for Jessica.  Mom taught her daughter the value of generosity and kindness.  And Jessica always admired her for that.  

There were times when we would be trying to solve a dilemma, we’d call mom and she’d know the answer.  One day on the other end of the phone, mom walked me through making pecan fingers.  Somehow, mine never turned out like hers though.   Isn’t that strange how that happens? We follow the same recipe but something’s just not the same in the end. 

Mom could be temperamental, especially in the face of a bad pun, but in the 18 years I knew her, I never heard her utter a disparaging word about anyone even when others were less kind.

In the end each of us comprises pages of snapshots some flattering, some regretful that we hope people will look at with fondness.  We hope that when we die, others will sit around talking about the good we brought to the world and hopefully we’ve contributed more benefit than harm.  We are who we surround ourselves with, whether they are our children or friends or relatives.  And we live through them and because of them.  We carry mom’s memory, we remember her through these pictures and a not-too-distant voice in our heads.  “It’s all in the grand scheme of things,” she would have said. 

The last time I saw her was two days before she died.  We were talking about the dialysis she had to suffer through three times a week.  It was hard on her.  She confided in me, “I don’t know how long I can do this.”  Five months of constant pain had finally worn her out.  

I’ll miss her.  I’ll miss her effervescence, her rambunctiousness.  I’ll miss sharing a cold drink with her.  I’ll miss her laugh and the twinkle in her eye when she’d feign disgust after hearing an awful play-on-words from her husband.  I’ll miss her uncanny ability to remember anything because in the end that’s all we are – memories.  We are only what we remember ourselves to be and what others remember us to be.  I ask that we remember Carol Eileen Jaglowski today for who she was, a daughter, a sister, a wife, a mother, an aunt, a cousin, a woman with a huge heart who loved life and gave her all to what she did.  Look at her pictures, she was full of vitality.  

However hard we try, words can never adequately express how we feel.  That’s why there is music.  Hammerstein said, “All the sounds of the earth are like music.”   

    

The song you’re going to hear is a rock song by Kansas, mom’s favorite musical group.  This was the song she wanted played at her funeral.  It’s a little loud and poorly edited by the man at the podium but as you listen to the lyrics try to understand what the song means.  It reveals a lot about the woman we memorialize here.  For the underlying message is one of hope. 

(cue to play edited version of Lamplight Symphony)

G8 exposes rift among leaders on Syria

G8 exposes rift among leaders on Syria

JULIE PACE

ENNISKILLEN, Northern Ireland (AP) - Deep differences over Syria's fierce civil war clouded a summit of world leaders Monday, with Russian President Vladimir Putin defiantly rejecting calls from the U.S., Britain and France to halt his political and military support for Syrian leader Bashar Assad's regime.

But there were also fissures among the three Western nations, despite their shared belief that Assad must leave power. Britain and France appear unwilling - at least for now - to join President Barack Obama in arming the Syrian rebels, a step the U.S. president reluctantly finalized last week.

The debate over the Syria conflict loomed large as the two-day summit of the Group of 8 industrial nations opened Monday at a lakeside resort in Northern Ireland. The lack of consensus even among allies underscored the vexing nature of the two-year conflict in Syria, where at least 93,000 people have been killed as rebels struggle to overtake Assad forces buttressed by support from Hezbollah, Iran and Russia.

Obama and Putin, who already have a frosty relationship, did little to hide their differing views on the matter while speaking to reporters following one-on-one talks on the sidelines of the summit Monday evening. The two-hour meeting marked the first time the leaders have met in person since last year.

"We do have different perspectives on the problem," Obama said of their divergent views on Syria.

The Russian leader, speaking through a translator, agreed, saying, "our opinions do not coincide."

But despite their seemingly intractable differences, Obama and Putin did express a shared desire to stop the violence in Syria and convene a political conference in Geneva, Switzerland. U.S. officials said they were still aiming to hold the summit next month, though that prospect was looking increasingly unlikely given the deepening violence.

It's also unclear who would participate in such a meeting or whether the rebels, given their weakened position, would have any leverage if they did.

U.S. officials say Obama's decision to send the rebels weapons and ammunition for the first time was an attempt to increase their military strength in order to bolster their political bargaining power. But the American inventory for the rebels is not yet expected to include the high-powered weaponry sought by the opposition, raising questions about whether the deepening U.S. involvement will be effective in changing the situation on the ground.

The White House also announced Monday an additional $300 million in humanitarian aid for Syria and neighboring countries absorbing refugees escaping the violence. The new money brings the total U.S. humanitarian assistance to $800 million, according to the White House.

Obama's decision to arm the rebels coincided with the White House's announcement last week that it had definitive evidence of multiple instances of chemical weapons use by Assad's regime against the opposition. Britain and France have also accused Assad of using the deadly agent sarin, while Russia has publicly questioned the credibility of chemical weapons evidence.

"It's necessary to refrain from unproven claims by either party," Putin adviser Alexei Kvasov told reporters at the summit Monday. "We have no evidence proving it."

Moscow's continued support for Assad is based in part on Russia's deep economic and military ties with his regime. Last month, Russia acknowledged it has agreed to sell Syria advanced S-300 air-defense missiles, which are considered to be the cutting edge in aircraft interception technology.

The Russian president's divisions with Western leaders on Syria were also on display in his separate meetings with British Prime Minister David Cameron and French President Francois Hollande. Both European leaders have previously indicated a willingness to arm vetted Syrian rebels and successfully pushed for the European Union to allow an arms embargo preventing the flow of weapons to expire.

Still, neither country is yet to join Obama in arming the opposition. Following the U.S. decision, there has been growing public concern in both countries over the wisdom of delivering weapons to a country where groups affiliated with al-Qaida are supporting elements of the rebellion.

"I am as worried as anybody else about elements of the Syrian opposition, who are extremists, who support terrorism and who are a great danger to our world," Cameron said Monday.

Hollande, following his own meeting with Putin, did not commit to sending weapons to the rebels. But he did appear to open the door to some form of deeper involvement from Paris.

"How can you allow Russia to continue to send weapons to the regime of Bashar al-Assad while the opposition gets so few weapons?" Hollande asked. "How can we accept the fact that we have proof of the use of chemical weapons without a unanimous condemnation by the international community, and that includes the G8?"

Obama, who has long signaled a preference for deepening U.S. engagement in Syria in conjunction with international partners, was expected to urge his British and French counterparts to join the U.S. in boosting lethal aid to the opposition. Syria was the primary topic among the G-8 leaders at a working dinner Monday night.

Britain, which is hosting the summit, has pressed leaders to ensure the meeting results in a statement on Syria, including the need for greater humanitarian access. The U.K. floated the possibility of releasing a statement even without Russia's approval, but a British official said the dinner resulted in broad consensus among the leaders on key points.

While Putin did not publicly criticize the U.S. decision to arm the opposition during his meeting with Obama, he exhibited far less restraint Sunday following his meeting with Cameron.

"One hardly should back those who kill their enemies and, you know, eat their organs," he said, referencing a gruesome Internet video purportedly showing a rebel commander committing an act of cannibalism.

"Do we want to support these people?" Putin asked. "Do we want to supply arms to these people?"

Among the other options being considered by the U.S. - though reluctantly is a no-fly zone to stop Assad from using his air power to crush rebel forces of kill civilians. But European nations are so far opposed to that idea, and Obama's own aides have publicly questioned the feasibility, given Assad's air defenses and the significant costs of such a program.

Perhaps signaling another fight to come between the U.S. and Russia, the foreign ministry in Moscow said Russia would veto a motion to set up a no-fly zone if the U.S. sought authorization from the United Nations Security Council.

___

Associated Press writers Jim Kuhnhenn, Shawn Pogatchnik, Vladimir Isachenkov and Cassandra Vinograd in Northern Ireland and Nataliya Vasilyeva in Moscow contributed to this report.

___

Follow Julie Pace at http://twitter.com/jpaceDC

Two Articles on Healthcare Changes in Wisconsin

http://www.jsonline.com/features/health/enrolling-uninsured-in-obamacare-will-be-a-challenge-b9930926z1-211703801.html Enrolling uninsured in Obamacare will be a challenge

Statewide coalition prepares to help with health insurance sign-up

By Guy Boulton of the Journal Sentinel June 15, 2013

Ray Bochas had little reason to learn about the details of the Affordable Care Act before February. That's when the InnoWare paper napkin and plate factory in Menomonee Falls shut down, and he lost his job and his health insurance.

"The loss of insurance really hurt me," said Bochas, who takes seven prescriptions.

He has heard that he's supposed to get health insurance next year but doesn't know what he and his wife will need to do.

"It's so complicated," Bochas said.

The Affordable Care Act's main goal of increasing the number of people with health insurance could hinge on reaching people like Bochas who will be eligible next year for coverage through Medicaid or through subsidized health plans sold on marketplaces known as exchanges.

Yet one recent poll found that two-thirds of those without health insurance were unaware of how the Affordable Care Act would affect them.

It suggests the challenge ahead in reaching the hundreds of thousands of people in Wisconsin who will be eligible for coverage and helping them through the complex process of signing up for Medicaid or a private health plan.

A statewide coalition of more than 70 groups is quietly preparing to take on the challenge.

The Wisconsin Primary Health Care Association, which represents community health centers, and several other groups began working more than a year ago to create the coalition that is calling itself the Wisconsin Access Network.

"It became evident that there might not be anyone else if we didn't take the lead on this," said Lisa Davidson, director of government relations and advocacy for the Wisconsin Primary Health Care Association.

The idea is to build on the existing network of financial counselors at community health centers, hospitals, city health departments and community groups that help people enroll in state health programs.

"We need all hands on deck to make this work," Davidson said.

Money for navigators

The Wisconsin Primary Health Care Association, which represents the clinics that provide primary care to many of the state's low-income residents in urban and rural areas, has applied for the limited federal money available to help people sign up for coverage.

The application is for the $829,000 that the federal government allocated for Wisconsin for so-called navigators who will provide consumer assistance.

Funding for the program will increase in subsequent years, but it is considered woefully inadequate for the first year, given the challenge of helping potentially hundreds of thousands of people as well as small employers understand the new law and their options.

Here's how inadequate: The Wisconsin Primary Health Care Association's proposal calls for hiring six full-time navigators statewide as well as two staffers to oversee coordination. It estimates that the six navigators will be able to sign up a total of only 6,000 of those hundreds of thousands of people statewide who may need help.

That's based on each application taking an hour — an estimate that the association admits is optimistic.

The enrollment period runs from Oct. 1 to March 31.

One of the quirks in the law is that states such as Wisconsin that aren't setting up their own exchanges are getting far less federal money for consumer assistance.

Maryland, a state with a population of 5.9 million, about 200,000 more than Wisconsin, plans to spend a total of $24.6 million for its assistance program, including $8.6 million in state funds in addition to $16 million from the federal government, according to Kaiser Health News. That will pay for an estimated 300 consumer assistance counselors.

In Wisconsin, the community health centers have received a $1.7 million federal grant to help people sign up for coverage. There also will be a federal call line that may be able to help consumers, although details on its role aren't available.

And Gov. Scott Walker requested, and the Joint Finance Committee's proposed budget includes, $10.3 million in state and federal state dollars to hire an additional 88 people to implement the law, including 70 people in Milwaukee County to help people enroll in Medicaid.

Brokers, who can earn commissions on health plans sold through the exchanges, also could have a key role.

'A huge task'

All that will help. But seemingly no one underestimates the challenge.

"It's a huge task," said Bobby Peterson of ABC for Health, a public interest law firm based in Madison. "They are going to have to pull in a lot of people."

He remembers the initial glitches with the introduction of Medicare Part D, the prescription drug benefit.

"This is going to be worse," he said.

Many people will be buying health insurance for the first time. Some may need little help. But some will have limited education or problems with literacy.

People will need to provide financial information to determine if they are eligible for Medicaid or for subsidies for plans sold on the exchange for individuals and families.

Some will not have checking accounts or credit cards, which may prevent them from signing up online. And even with the subsidies, the health plans on the exchange will be costly for many people on limited incomes.

Adding to the challenge is many people without health insurance know little about the law and how it could benefit them.

Bob Berndt, uninsured since losing his job in January 2012, wasn't aware that he could be eligible for coverage next year. "Not at all," he said.

He isn't alone.

"Most people don't have a clue about it," said Steve Ohly, manager of Aurora Walker's Point Community Clinic, which provides care to the uninsured.

Aurora Walker's Point Community Clinic tentatively plans to train a staffer to help people through the process.

Little time to prepare

Encouraging others to do the same is the goal of the Wisconsin Access Network.

Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare and Columbia St. Mary's Health System said they plan to help with enrollment, and other health systems are expected to join the effort.

"We have to take advantage of every group in the state that's doing enrollment," said Sara Eskrich, a health care policy analyst at the Wisconsin Council on Children and Families, one of the groups that took the lead in creating the Wisconsin Access Network.

The hope is to train people as "certified application counselors" who can help people go through the process, answering questions as they fill out an application and help them determine what health plans are available and their cost.

By law, navigators and certified application counselors can't say that one health plan is better than another. But they can show people the information available to help them make a decision.

Navigators and certified application counselors will be required to take 30 hours of training under the federal regulations. They also could be required to have 16 hours of state training under a provision pushed by the Independent Insurance Agents of Wisconsin and now before the Legislature.

The Wisconsin Primary Health Care Association will not find out until August whether its application — perhaps the only one for the state — was accepted. That will give it less than two months to prepare before enrollment begins on Oct. 1.

But the real work will be done by the certified application counselors who work for the groups in the coalition.

"We are doing a lot of behind the scenes work to be prepared," said Joy Tapper, executive director of the Milwaukee Health Care Partnership, which includes the health systems in Milwaukee County, the community health centers and other groups.

"There is a real commitment by this collaborative to do the best job we can," Tapper said.

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http://www.jsonline.com/features/health/more-in-state-must-shop-for-health-care-coverage-b9930935z1-211703541.html More in state must shop for health care coverage

Gov. Scott Walker's decision means thousands more will enter new health marketplace

By Guy Boulton of the Journal Sentinel June 15, 2013

Gov. Scott Walker rejected federal money to expand the state's Medicaid program because he would like more people to get coverage through commercial health plans instead of government programs.

But the decision also means that tens of thousands more people will need to shop for a commercial health plan on the new marketplace known as an exchange.

That, in turn, will put additional demands on people at hospitals, community health centers and community groups who are expected to do much of the work in helping people sign up for coverage.

"We unfortunately are going to see a very different marketplace in Wisconsin than we have the opportunity to create," said Sara Eskrich, a health care policy analyst at the Wisconsin Council on Children and Families, an advocacy group. "And we are going to have to work with that."

One advantage of Walker's plan is that health insurance sold on the exchange will pay higher rates to doctors and hospitals and generally provide better access to care.

At the same time, people who get subsidized coverage through the exchange will have to pay a premium of as much as 3% of their income and will have higher deductibles than with BadgerCare Plus, the state's Medicaid program for families with children under 19.

They also are going to have to sign up for coverage, a process that will entail shopping for a health plan and determining the federal subsidies available to make the coverage more affordable.

Karla Ashenhurst, director of system advocacy and public policy for Ministry Health Care and Columbia St. Mary's Health System, said that conceivably fewer people in Wisconsin could have health insurance coverage a year from now, although both health systems plan to help people enroll.

The governor's proposal will cost the state almost $150 million more in the next two years — and potentially more than $450 million through 2021 — than if the state had accepted the federal money available under the Affordable Care Act, according to estimates by the Legislative Fiscal Bureau.

That includes $30 million in state dollars for the $73.5 million added to the proposed state budget by the legislative budget committee to compensate hospitals for an expected increase in people without health insurance under the governor's proposal.

The governor's proposal means that an estimated 80,000 to 90,000 people who would have gotten coverage through Medicaid will need to buy subsidized health insurance through the exchange.

Some now have coverage through BadgerCare Plus. Others previously hadn't been eligible for coverage.

The Legislative Fiscal Bureau as well as critics of the governor's proposal said that many people who would have been eligible for coverage under Medicaid will not shop for private plans.

"We know that not everyone is going to make that transition," Eskrich said.

--SaraEskrich Health Care Reform ProjectCoordinator Wisconsin Alliancefor Women's Health P.O. Box 1726 |Madison, WI | 53701-1726 |[c] 608.669.6979 | [f] 608.256.3004 www.supportwomenshealth.org rwwv.wordpress.com

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