SNAP & EBT: Farmers' Markets or Fast Food?

1. The USDA has announced new funding to bring EBT card readers to direct sale farms and farmers markets, both rural and urban, to increase access to fresh foods direct from the farmer to the consumer:

http://www.takepart.com/article/2013/05/07/snap-farm-stand-usda-expands-access-fresh-local-food

2. California is one of the states which has exercised an option to allow specific categories of SNAP recipients to use their benefits to purchase hot food at restaurants. The categories usually include those who are homeless, over the age of 60, disabled, or if they do not have adequate cooking facilities at home.

Some restaurants are also accepting EBT cash benefits, such as TANF, and that would not require anyone to be in a category per the above, however they would be limited to the amount of cash benefits and the SNAP funds could be used in this case.

http://www.ebtproject.ca.gov/clientinformation/calfreshrmp.shtml

http://www.ladpss.org/dpss/restaurant_meals/participant.cfm

http://www.ladpss.org/dpss/restaurant_meals/pdf/Restaurants_list.pdf

The restaurants are required to sell a complete meal to the participant, and at the best discounted rate available to any member of the general public, and usually the SNAP acceptable meals are limited to the "value meals" due to this regulation, as that is considered a discounted complete meal.

The specific meals which can be sold are defined on page 8 of this MOU:

http://www.ladpss.org/dpss/restaurant_meals/pdf/RM%20MOU.pdf

The SNAP purchases are also exempt from sales tax, so the recipient must only pay the actual cost.

Another resource site on this program:

http://www.snaprmp.org/

Notably, this is a state option. Each state can choose to participate in Restaurant Meals or not.

This article discusses:

http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2011/09/using-snap-benefits-for-fast-food-restaurants-is-a-state-decision/245085/

More on Medicaid Expansion in Indiana

The IBJ's The Dose column points out that 232,000 Hoosiers hang in the balance of pending negotiations between the Pence administration and the Obama administration.

Viewed in percentage terms, nearly 12 percent of Indiana’s 6.5 million people are currently uninsured. The onset of Obamacare, including an expansion of Medicaid coverage, would cut that number by nearly half, to 6 percent.
But if Indiana does not expand Medicaid coverage, its uninsured population will remain at nearly 10 percent.

In better Medicaid news, the state of Indiana has reversed some recession-era rate cuts, restoring provider rates for Traditional Medicaid & Hoosier Healthwise back to pre-2010 levels.

Michigan continues to negotiate both intrastate and with the federal government regarding just how restrictive state lawmakers may make the Medicaid program while still receiving new expansion funds under the Affordable Care Act.

Health Affairs studies the impact on both numbers and rates of uninsured by state, whether each state opts in or out of Medicaid Expansion.

Affordable Care Update

The Huffington Post reports refusing Medicaid Expansion could cost states billions of federal dollars.

The Rand Corp. analyzed 14 states with governors who oppose the Medicaid expansion. It found their actions will deprive 3.6 million people of health coverage under Obamacare, forgo $8.4 billion in federal funding, and cost them $1 billion for programs that partially compensate medical providers who care for the indigent, according to the report published in the journal "Health Affairs." 

The New York Times Economix blog suggests the Affordable Care Act could be a boon to enterpreneurship.

A Fiscal Times report offers the border between Kentucky and Indiana as an illustration of the "haves and have-nots" with Medicaid Expansion.

On a good day it only takes nine minutes to drive across the Ohio River between Clarksville, Ind., and Louisville, Ky.  But for hundreds of thousands of uninsured poor and disabled people who live throughout Indiana and Kentucky, that short span defines a boundary between winners and losers in the political battle over expanding Medicaid coverage as part of the Affordable Care Act.

For the record, I personally do not believe that Indiana should expand Traditional Medicaid, nor should it be forced to. I do believe that Indiana should work with the federal government, as they are right now, to reach a compromise solution that uses the best practices Indiana has developed while including important guarantees under the Affordable Care Act. This means, yes, there should be cost sharing, but there should be reasonable out of pocket limits, which apply on a sliding scale according to income. Yes, there should be an emphasis on preventive care, but the annual and lifetime dollar limits should be removed from the current HIP program if it becomes the basis for an expansion. The structure of the POWER account should be built upon, including the health incentive payments, as well as nonprofit and employer contributions contained in state law. Participants ought to understand that they must take responsibility for their individual health.

Mississippi offers a case in point, where a lack of cooperation could mean a massive loss of federal funds in a state that can hardly afford the hit. The state may be left with no enabling legislation that authorizes any part of the Medicaid program due to the partisan, bitter environment in the state legislature. It is possible the Governor may attempt to at least maintain the existing program with an executive order, but the legal authority to do so is unclear at best.

Potential new Sirius / XM channels

As a result of a voluntary merger commitment, at least twelve channels (six on XM and six on Sirius) have been set aside for leasing to "qualified entities."
Here's a breakdown of applicants and what they might plan to program on each of their potential satellite radio channels:

3MR, LLC - No idea. Googling inconclusive.
Bill Bragg DBA Yesterday USA Radio - Obviously, Old Time Radio from http://www.yesterdayusa.com/.
BYU Broadcasting - Probably http://www.byuradio.org/about/.
Common Frequency, Inc - Student & community broadcasters? http://beta.commonfrequency.org/node/1
Corelink Radio - Christian Hip Hop / Holy Hip Hop / Rhythm & Praise http://www.corelinkradio.com/
Creative Hyperbole - News/Talk - perhaps some sort of interactive format trying to advance civil discourse? http://creativehyperbole.com/
CRN Digital Talk Radio - Talk - Seems like this could be a mix of talk hosts that have been heard in the past on Sirius and/or XM, but perhaps also a few that have never been heard before. May not make the final cut though, if CRN is deemed to have had a previous relationship with SXM. http://crntalk.com/
Davidzon Media - Russian News/Talk/Music (Full Service?) - They'd need to rerun a few things to get a full 24 hours occupied, but they could probably do it. http://www.davidzonradio.com/
Delmarva Broadcasting Company - Music - Perhaps they would broadcast their "Graffiti Radio" format? http://www.graffitiradio.com/index.cgi?do=top30 www.delmarvabroadcasting.com
DropZone Multimedia - Music / Talk / ? - May be disqualified due to potential previous relationship with XM. Could have "activist" left-leaning talk format. Seems like they would be very open to letting non-profits buy time on their potential satellite channel. - http://www.dropzonedc.com/
Entravision Communications Corporation - Hispanic Music - http://www.entravision.com/
Eventus Marketing, Inc. - Hispanic Music - http://hol.hispaniconline.com/HE/2007_10/Features-S&M.html
Friends of WWOZ-FM, Inc. - Jazz/Blues/R&B - http://www.wwoz.org/
Global Radio Network, Inc. - MOYL (Music Of Your Life?) - http://www.musicofyourlife.com/ (Global also has other formats, so no guarantees.)
Goodrich Radio, LLC. - Humanist Talk (Pacifica & Mix of Podcasts) - "Public Reality Radio - Rational Patriotism" - http://www.publicrealityradio.org/about-wprr
Howard University - R&B and/or Progressive R&B/World - Possibly WHUR-FM http://www.whur.com/ or WHUR World http://www.whurworld.com/ ?
iClick2Media - Long list of formats, see link: http://americaindependentradio.com/ If they only get 1 channel, possibly African American Talk, but the full list is here : http://americanindepenentradio.blogspot.com/2011/01/air-is-nearing-finish-line.html
Inspire Radio Network - Not much online. Anyone got ideas?
Korean Radio Broadcasting, Inc. - Korean Radio - http://www.nyradiokorea.com/
KTV Radio Network - Not much, again - I'm open to ideas on this one.
Living River Ministries dba KDSH-FM - "Messianic Radio" - website at http://www.kdshfm.com/ already says their proposal to SXM was "not" approved.
Mainstreet Broadcasting Company, Inc. - Country - http://www.kspk.com/
Mark Byers - If I found the right person - Calvary Chapel Radio - http://calvaryroyaloak.org/radio/index.htm
Media Ventures Unlimited LLC - Hispanic Music - More at http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/ecfs/document/view?id=6520173588
Mosaic Communications Partners, LLC. - Not much info. Open to suggestions, as above.
NABOB Satellite Ventures, LLC - Presumably African American targeted, but could be any format, or perhaps a block-formatted station.
Native Blend Broadcasters, LLC - Not much info - as above.
New Life Evangelistic Center, Inc - Religious / Renewable Energy Talk - Here's Help Network - http://hereshelpnet.org/
New World Broadcasting, Inc. - African American Blues/Gospel - http://www.kclf1500am.com/
Pacific Horizons Media, LLC - Not much info - as above.
Pacifica Foundation - Left-leaning talk format - http://www.pacifica.org/
Pan Desi - Desi (Second generation South Asian-American) format - http://www.pandesi.com/
Paramount Broadcasting Corp. - Agricultural or Country format ? - http://www.paramountbroadcasting.com/
Port Townsend Seventh-Day Adventist Church - Traditional Christian Radio - http://www.radioofhope.org/article.php?id=99
Powerful Radio Productions, Inc. - http://www.powerfulradio.com/ - 12 step meetings on the radio?
Radio Bilingue - Bilingual Hispanic Talk/Music - http://www.radiobilingue.org/index_en.htm
RSS Network Corp - Hispanic format - Not much info.
Sonlife Broadcasting Network - Jimmy Swaggart preaching & teaching - http://www.jsm.org/sonlife_radio.php
Southern Soul Music Group, LLC - Not much info.
Sunset Recordings, Inc. - Music (?) - http://www.sunsetrecordings.com/
Three Angels Broadcasting Network - Seventh-Day Adventist Christian Talk/Teaching/Preaching - http://www.3abnradio.org/
Unwind Productions, LLC - African American (?) - http://unwindproductions.com/aboutus.html
Urban One Broadcasting Network - African American (?) - Not much info
Veterans Radio Channel - Not much info. Presumably Veteran News/Talk.
Way Media, Inc. - Christian CHR/Rock - www.wayfm.com
Worldband Media, LLC. - "HumDesi Radio" or "Caribbean Radio" (?) - http://www.worldbandmedia.com/

Google Business Solutions

Continuing from the subject of the previous post, Google has a bunch of additional services to offer businesses, small, medium, and large alike.
The Google Business Services page - http://www.google.com/intl/en_us/services/index_a.html - offers these options:
AdWords - buy keyword targeted advertising both within search results and across the entire web.
AdSense - show AdWords on your own website or within your own application to earn revenue for your organization.
Analytics - track visitors and produce reports for management.
Google Enterprise Search - all the power of Google, for your own intranet.
Google Places - post and update business information so consumers can find out more while searching Google or Google Maps.
Google Apps - Gmail, Google Docs, and more, all virtually hosted within your own domain for your organization.
Checkout - a way to accept money online. An alternative to payment systems like PayPal.
Postini - the power of Google to control spam or other undesired email for your entire business.
Merchant Center - Google's tool to upload your business product inventory. This allows your inventory to be accessible and searchable across many Google properties, including Search, Product Search, and Commerce Search. When consumers use Google to shop - your items will be listed.
Website Optimizer - Google helps you optimize your own business or organizational website so that it's easily and thoroughly indexed by Google's search tools.

Google Local Business Referrals

Google LBR was an interesting program that Google discontinued a while ago. But I had to find a solution for the small and medium sized businesses out there that need these services. The answer is proper usage of Google Pages.
The first step is to visit this URL and either create a new Google account or log in with your existing one:
http://www.google.com/local/add
Second, watch these videos:
http://www.youtube.com/googleplaces
Third, go back to the page from step one, and begin creating your own business Google Places Page. This allows you to: manage business information, post coupons and live updates, and see how you're doing with a performance dashboard.

Gas Price Indexes

A friend requested some gas price indexes, so here's a brief survey of the main ones:

GasBuddy.com

Gas Prices @ MSN Autos (Beta)

http://gasprices.mapquest.com/

Gas Price Watch

AAA Fuel Gage Report

Healthcare Price Indexes

In my online travels, I've found a few different interesting providers of healthcare price or cost information on the Internet:

1. PriceDoc at http://www.pricedoc.com/ - seems to be the most comprehensive of all, although its network did not offer a lot of locations particularly close to me, it does seem to have a lot of listings nationwide. Also offers a unique "Priceline" style feature where you can name a cash price, and they'll try to find a physician/professional who will accept your offer.
2. Healthcare Blue Book at http://HealthcareBlueBook.com/ - While they don't offer prices for specific practitioners, this site is great for getting an idea of the average "fair" price for many medical procedures in your own zip code. (Seems to offer nationwide coverage.)
3. Out Of Pocket at http://outofpocket.com/OOP/Default.aspx - Not sure this site is very helpful for the average person. It seemed to be little more than an interface to Google at the time of my review.

Palin vs. Chavez

Imagine - a place where the state levies no taxes on individuals, but instead taxes oil companies a significant amount, and uses those revenues to support the government's own functions, and even to provide significant benefits worth hundreds or thousands of dollars to each citizen.

Is this Hugo Chavez's Venezeula? Or Sarah Palin's Alaska?

idea from:
http://www.newyorker.com/talk/comment/2008/11/03/081103
taco_talk_hertzberg?printable=true

Nuclear waste piling up at U.S. hospitals - Health care- msnbc.com

Nuclear waste piling up at U.S. hospitals - Health care- msnbc.com:

Tubes, capsules and pellets of used radioactive material are piling up in the basements and locked closets of hospitals and research installations around the country, stoking fears they could get lost or, worse, stolen by terrorists and turned into dirty bombs.

Ahmadinejad accepts Israel's right to exist | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk

Peter Tatchell: Ahmadinejad accepts Israel's right to exist | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk:

The Iranian president has said he would accept a two-state solution if the Palestinians agree. So where are the headlines?

privatizing profits, socializing losses - glenn beck @ cnn

Commentary: Financial meltdown is an absolute disaster - CNN.com:

So now that we're here, what do we do? I am massively conflicted about this bailout program. The idea of government stepping in to bail out international banks that were reckless with their own business literally makes my stomach churn. We are privatizing gains and socializing losses.

nuked - daily mail

ALEX BRUMMER: Nuked! Why our children will pay a heavy price for the scandalously short-sighted sale of our nuclear industry | Mail Online:

The very idea that we should trust the future of nuclear power, one of Britain's most strategic industries, to an overseas company is extraordinary enough.


But what makes the £12.5 billion takeover of nuclear generator British Energy by Electricite de France (EDF) even more outrageous is that the buyer is 85 per cent owned by the French state.


In effect, this country is placing control over its energy needs in the hands of a foreign-owned enterprise...

Israel asked US for green light to bomb nuclear sites in Iran

Israel asked US for green light to bomb nuclear sites in Iran:

Israel gave serious thought this spring to launching a military strike on Iran's nuclear sites but was told by President George W Bush that he would not support it and did not expect to revise that view for the rest of his presidency, senior European diplomatic sources have told the Guardian.

US ‘will lose financial superpower status’

FT.com / World - US ‘will lose financial superpower status’:

The US will lose its status as the superpower of the world financial system. This world will become multi polar with the emergence of stronger, better capitalised centres in Asia and Europe, Mr Steinbrück told the German parliament. The world will never be the same again.

Obama camp: McCain's 'stunt'

Ben Smith's Blog: Obama camp: McCain's 'stunt' - Politico.com:

the only thing McCain really wants suspended is the American people’s disbelief. In fact, he’s been in full campaign mode the entire time.

Travelers' Laptops May Be Detained At Border (washingtonpost.com)

Travelers' Laptops May Be Detained At Border (washingtonpost.com)

Federal agents may take a traveler's laptop or other electronic device to an off-site location for an unspecified period of time without any suspicion of wrongdoing, as part of border search policies the Department of Homeland Security recently disclosed.


Also, officials may share copies of the laptop's contents with other agencies and private entities for language translation, data decryption or other reasons, according to the policies, dated July 16 and issued by two DHS agencies, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.


'The policies . . . are truly alarming,' said Sen. Russell Feingold (D-Wis.), who is probing the government's border search practices. He said he intends to introduce legislation soon that would require reasonable suspicion for border searches, as well as prohibit profiling on race, religion or national origin.

ebay and paypal sellers, watch out, the IRS is coming !

Essentially, the bill requires Visa, MasterCard, Discover, American Express, PayPal, Amazon, Google Checkpoint, and virtually every other "electronic payment system" to track, aggregate, and report information on nearly every electronic transaction to the IRS. They must report:

• The gross amount of payment card and third-party network transactions and
• The name, address, and taxpayer identification number of the participating merchant

However, the bill gives these systems more than two years to gear up for these requirements--mandatory reporting won't come into effect until 2011.

Asset Protection BLOG - Mark Nestmann: Housing Bailout Bill: Say Goodbye to Untaxed Internet Transactions

Possible new channels for Sirius XM Radio

Sirius XM radio will soon be adding a total of 12 new channels on each platform. Six that will be awarded to non-profits who wish to provide NCE (non-commercial, educational) informational programming, and another six that will be awarded to Qualified Entities (small businesses, preferably women and/or minority owned).

My thoughts on who would make good use of such channels:
Non-profits:
1. A Native American public radio station/network such as Native Voice One or AIROS. (This one could potentially qualify as minority owned, as well. But Native Americans deserve to have a voice on satellite radio, either way.)
2. A good eclectic public music station such as KEXP or The Current.
3. A quality Christian CHR station that would clearly not overlap with either The Message or Spirit. Perhaps a group like Radio U, WAY FM (Nashville/Nationwide), WaY FM (Michigan), or Radio Y.
4. An alternative point of view station/network such as Pacifica or perhaps Free Speech TV, if they wanted to also offer a Free Speech Radio, or even Link TV might offer Link Radio.

Minority / Female Owned:
1. BTNC (Black Television News Channel) should really put together a radio station (even it's primarily an audio simulcast of their TV channel. This would offer a new voice and source for news from a different perspective.
2. Given their extensive experience owning radio stations, Univision might be a good source for a new channel or two. I'm not sure whether the minority/female block of six channels will be limited to one to a customer, as the non-profit channels will surely be. Nonetheless, Univision could probably do well programming a station with mostly music and some news breaks, funded by national advertising.
3. The Word Network - they used to be on Sirius, and I'm sure they would jump at the chance to get back onto Sirius XM radio.

Any other ideas? Please feel free to leave comments.

energy / survival = what is coming ?

My Way News - Energy fears looming, new survivalists prepare:

Convinced the planet's oil supply is dwindling and the world's economies are heading for a crash, some people around the country are moving onto homesteads, learning to live off their land, conserving fuel and, in some cases, stocking up on guns they expect to use to defend themselves and their supplies from desperate crowds of people who didn't prepare.