Obamacare hospital layoffs; Romney wants state control over oil and coal; American deserves better ad; GOP Platform; Recruiting those with targeted disabilities of psychiatric disorders and intellectual disabilites; Computer program forecasts Romney victory; Cheering a 17.1% unemployment stat; Nebraska joins Arizona on law; Former marine with no rights; Endowment for tuition for illegals in Massachusetts; Pro-life Dems to protest; ATF official on paid leave while drawing six figures from J.P. Morgan

*Cash-strapped hospitals across the country are sending out pink slips as they prepare for possible Medicare reimbursement cuts and state challenges to expanding Medicaid benefits under federal healthcare reform.
Hospitals in Chicago, Nashville, and Cumberland, Md., already have laid off hundreds of employees, according to various news accounts. And in Englewood, N.J., officials at Englewood Hospital and Medical Center are threatening to lay off 70 registered nurses, The Record reports.
Chicago's Northwestern Memorial Hospital, the primary teaching hospital for Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine, told the Chicago Tribune it had laid off 230 employees, part of an effort to cut costs by 25 percent by 2017.
Nashville, Tenn.-based Saint Thomas Health cut 150 nonclinical positions at Saint Thomas Hospital and Baptist Hospital, The Tennessean reported, including closing a wellness center.
"Hospital executives said Englewood is facing the same financial challenges as other employers and is responding to trends seen in other hospitals, including decreasing numbers of patients, declining federal reimbursement for Medicare patients and uncertainty about whether Medicaid will be expanded in New Jersey to cover more uninsured patients," according to the article.

Read more: Hospitals blame reform, economy for layoffs - FierceHealthcare http://www.fiercehealthcare.com/story/hospitals-blame-reform-economy-layoffs/2012-08-23#ixzz24SVuyGX7 /2012-08-23#ixzz24SVcfP7V

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

By proposing to end a century of federal control over oil and gas drilling and coal mining on government lands, Mitt Romney is making a bid for anti-Washington voters in key Western states while dangling the promise of a big reward to major campaign supporters from the energy industry. -
Subscribe: http://www.fiercehealthcare.com/signup?sourceform=Viral-Tynt-FierceHealthcare-FierceHealthcare http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/24/us/romney-would-give-reins-to-states-on-drilling-on-federal-lands.html?_r=2&pagewanted=all

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The "America Deserves Better" ad -- which assails Obama for a super PAC commercial that suggested Romney's Bain Capital business dealings contributed to a woman's death from cancer because she lost her health insurance -- moved "pure independent" voters not aligned with either party 6 percentage points toward Romney, the Vanderbilt University/YouGov Ad Rating Project study indicated.

Read more: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2012/08/23/Study-Romney-ad-hits-nerve-of-ind-voters/UPI-56101345707000/#ixzz24ScSnDZ3

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thanks to activists like you, the official GOP Platform now includes a full repeal and replace of ObamaCare, a complete Audit of the Federal Reserve, a rejection of Cap and Trade, a strong Balanced Budget Amendment, and even more.  From Freedom Works.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

On May 31, 2012, Assistant Attorney General Tom Perez issued a directive to affirmatively recruit people with these “targeted disabilities.”
This DOJ policy does not merely involve prohibitions against discrimination, but rather the documents reveal deliberate recruitment efforts to hire as attorneys and staff for the Department of Justice people suffering from psychiatric disorders and intellectual disabilities.  Moreover, applicants can “self-identify” their disability by means of the “Standard Form 256, Self Identification Disability.”
Those with “targeted disabilities” may be hired through a “non-competitive” appointment. That means they don’t have to endure the regular civil service competition among applicants, but can be plucked from the stack of resumes and hired immediately instead. http://www.libertynews.com/2012/08/22/obvious-holder-doj-targeting-intellectually-disabled-for-hiring/

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Two University of Colorado professors, one from Boulder and one from Denver, have put together an Electoral College forecast model to predict who will win the 2012 presidential election and the result is bad news for Barack Obama. The model points to a Mitt Romney victory in 2012.
Ken Bickers from CU-Boulder and Michael Berry from CU-Denver, the two political science professors who devised the prediction model, say that it has correctly forecast every winner of the electoral race since 1980. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/22/university-of-colorado-pr_n_1822933.html?fb_action_ids=3685203575842&fb_action_types=news.reads&fb_source=other_multiline&action_object_map={%223685203575842%22%3A10151076286083649}&action_type_map={%223685203575842%22%3A%22news.reads%22}&action_ref_map=[]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-Solis’ statement marked the release of the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ annual youth unemployment report. Solis said that the report showed positive signs for young job seekers, noting that the youth unemployment rate had fallen to 17.1 percent over the past two years.
“The youth unemployment rate showed a significant decline, falling to 17.1 percent — down a percentage point from last year and two points from 2010. Meanwhile, the share of young people employed in July 2012 climbed back up to 50.2 percent from its historic low last year,” she added.
However, the youth unemployment report Solis cited only covers April to July, when youth employment swells as summer job seekers fill hospitality and food service jobs. http://cnsnews.com/news/article/labor-secretary-cheers-youth-unemployment-rate-171-percent
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The state of Nebraska is following the lead of the state of Arizona in announcing that, in the Cornhusker State, illegal aliens that qualify for deferred action under President Obama’s recent administrative amnesty will not qualify for in-state tuition, welfare benefits, or a driver’s license. http://frontpagemag.com/2012/volpe/arizona-nebraska-take-stand-against-obamas-amnesty/
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

On August 20, Raub was sentenced to up to 30 days in a psychiatric facility after he was detained by federal law enforcement on August 16 over some Facebook posts that criticized the U.S. government and questioned the official story behind the 9/11 terrorist attacks. He also referred to “starting a revolution.”

Whitehead said that veterans have since been contacting him from across the country claiming they too were victims of wrongful detention in psychiatric institutes like Raub. Apparently, there are civil commitment laws in other states as well, he said.  “No warrant for his arrest and no search warrant,” Whitehead replied. “They haven’t [charged him with a crime] and they’re not going to.”
Raub complained to his attorney that one of the psychiatrists that he was seeing threatened to “brainwash” him and force him to take medication.
“That really scared him,” he said.  http://www.theblaze.com/stories/attorney-of-former-marine-detained-for-facebook-posts-to-beck-psychiatrist-threatened-to-brainwash-my-client-with-meds/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts has set up an endowment to help pay tuition for illegal immigrants.
Hampshire College has already raised $350,000 for the endowment and plans to give its first scholarship to an illegal immigrant this fall, according to the Daily Hampshire Gazette.

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2012/08/23/massachusetts-college-sets-up-scholarship-program-for-illegal-immigrants/#ixzz24Sg07ZXC

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pro-life Democrats -- including former Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) -- are planning to show up in force at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte on Sept. 4 to challenge the lock that Planned Parenthood and pro-abortion activists seem to have on the Democratic Party.- http://cnsnews.com/news/article/stupak-pro-life-dems-plan-counter-planned-parenthood-naral-democratic-convention

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The long-awaited inspector general's report on the Justice Department's botched gun-running scheme is finished, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) said on Wednesday. But along with that news comes more questions: Issa and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) are demanding to know why a top ATF official involved in Operation Fast and Furious remains on paid leave from ATF -- while simultaneously drawing a six-figure salary from J.P. Morgan, a major investment bank. http://cnsnews.com/news/article/fast-and-furious-atf-official-granted-paid-leave-take-6-figure-job-jp-
morgan
-----------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-