 Who Will Win??? Tonight, 10 states have a battle royale to discover which GOP candidate will win their state's 2012 primary election. In the most volatile Republican presidential race in ages, Ron Paul, Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich, as well as a few other candidates, are running. The ten states that are holding primaries/caucuses are Alaska, Georgia, Idaho, Massachusetts, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Vermont and Virginia. In other news, Obama is running against himself in the Democratic primaries in 7 states—I wonder who will win??? Presidential primaries are a big deal—it's how politicians get their name out (Remember Palin...), it determines who could potentially be the next President and it's a show of the American democratic spirit. But what you might not know is that it is because of Presidential elections the famous ASL "I Love You" sign because mainstream... Presidents Ford and Carter used the “I love you” sign in the 1976 presidential campaign.
Hey!!! Unless you've been living in a cave, you probably know that the Iowa Caucus is going on to help determine who is going to represent the GOP in the November 2012 Presidential elections against Obama. There are 8 major candidates: Bachmann, Gringich, Romney, Perry, Huntsman, Paul, Roemer and Santorum. Currently, Santorum, Romney and Paul are leading the primary. Although bf4life-hearing is a non-partisan website, we will in this post examine the three major Republican contenders' general stance on hearing loss and accessibility, as well as the role hearing loss has played in their politics.
 Photo from nymag.com. Hey!
For all of you deaf/hoh t(w)eens dreaming of a career as a police officer, you should know that it is impossible in NYC. I'm sorry. :( Apparently, the NYPD has a policy that prevents deaf/hoh job candidates from being hired as officers if they have a hearing loss.
Even more ridiculous, the NYPD prevents officers who became deaf/hoh (after being hired) from wearing hearing aids. Beginning in 2009, the agency began a crackdown on hearing aids, forcing officers who are deaf/hoh to either retire or work without their aids.
So, many NYPD officers are hiding their hearing loss from their superiors, fearing the harsh consequences. One officer who insisted on anonymity goes as far as removing his hearing aids while on duty. But, it's not just the officers who take the imperative; the NYPD has told officers to stop wearing their hearing aids in three different cases. I don't know about you, but I can barely hear without my hearing aids. So, how can this or any officer effectively do his job aid-less (and sound-less)?
Hey!
This morning, as I was pouring my breakfast cereal and sifting through the newspapers sitting on my kitchen counter, I saw the headline of the NY Post, "Plugging The (Wiki)Leak: White House in Damage-Control Mode After Top Secrets Released" and decided that it was finally time to post an article that I had written during the previous "leak" and had forgotten to post ... Anyways, here it is:
Have you ever had a nightmare where it’s a dark and dreary night; you’re running down the alleyways trying to keep your cover. Every few hundred meters, you pause to see if someone is still following you—there he is, the Man With the Gun. You run faster, but he saw you. Suddenly a rain of bullets starts flying at you and BAM! Abruptly, light seeps through your eyes as you wake up to a beautiful morning, wondering: Who was that crazy shooter? Why was the gun pointed at YOU?
What if I told you that something very similar could happen to you—minus all the gratuitous dramatics and the waking up—simply because you have a hearing loss?
Hey!
Did you know that while 95% of individuals with hearing loss could successfully wear hearing aids, only about 25% of the 34 million Americans with hearing loss (8.4 million people) used them in 2008!!! (According to the most recent 'MarkeTrak' report, the largest national consumer survey on hearing loss.) I was shocked to say the least when I learned this! This statistic is explained;however, when one learns that 33% of individuals who have a hearing loss make (in salary) less than $30,000 per year. (According to the Better Hearing Institute!) Hearing aids are expensive -- costs can go into the thousands -- so many people would rather put food on the table and a roof above their head than hear! I totally understand that, yet I believe it is a basic human right to be able to hear and see! (And that no person should be denied these rights if they can obtain them -- forget about medical reasons!)
In response to statistics like these, the US Gov't is bringing light to these issues in the House of Representative and the Senate! The House of Representative (HR) and the Senate are the two branches of the legislative branch of the US Gov't! The US Federal Gov't is composed of the Legislative, Judicial, and Executive branches! Currently, in the House, there are three bills awaiting votes: HR 1646 (Hearing Aid Tax Credit), HR 3024 (Medicare Hearing Healthcare Enhancement Act of 2009), and HR 3101 (21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2009)! Below, I discuss the three proposed bills!
Hey!
Two days ago, March 22, 2010, politics merged with health care as America watched President Barack Obama sign the Health Care Reform bill into effect. After months of debates, the bill is finally finished; basically, the Health Care Reform bill provides the foundation for Universal Health Care in the United States. Okay, so now you are probably confused; you are probably thinking, "What on earth is universal health care!?!?!?"
Universal healthcare is health care coverage, paid by the government, for all qualifying residents of a country/region that often covers the following: medical, dental and mental health care. It is not a new invention; the United Kingdom has provided universal healthcare since 1948, following WW2.
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