HC Bill elimination of pre-existing condition: True or Bogus?

One of the supposed great benefits of this health care bill, HR #4872, is that starting in 2014, pre-existing conditions & rescission will be made illegal.

However, there is some articles claiming these customer protections are bogus, insofar as a health care insurer could still do rescission existing customers or deny existing customer for pre-existing conditions because

1 No strong enforcement - firedoglake http://fdlaction.firedoglake.com/2010/03/22/signed-sealed-but-not-delivered-six-big-flaws-need-fixing-to-make-new-law-meaningful-health-care-reform/

My sense is that without strong regulation, a sick broke consumer will not get justice, fighting a health ins co & its army of lawyers.

or 

2 Weak fine on health ins co, will be viewed as "cost of doing business" http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/3/22/849097/-want-to-improve-the-ban-on-pre-existing-conditions

This article claims Michael Moore claims the ins co fine is $100/day.  So for costly treatments, such as cancer, an ins co could just say wait 1 year for the patient to day, & pay the $36.5K fine, as opposed to the $50K or $200K or whatever cost of actual health care treatment.

There was another article (don't recall source) claiming this fine was a flat $5K.

I've not been able to figure this out.  I searched online.  I called my House Rep, & Public Citizen.  In each case the operator transferred me to the relevant "expert", which went directly to voicemail.

Do any of you know?  If so could you indicate whether

1 the illegalizing of pre-existing conditions & rescissions is true or bogus?

2 Point to the specific page nbr(s) of the bill with the relevant evidence, along with a url link to said bill

Pls drop knowledge in the comments.

Hiway Credit Union

a friend/existing customer highly recommended Hiway Credit Union, as a great bank for personal finance use. Dude said their rates are dece, the service is dece, & it's reassuring that one can go in & talk to a real manager at the branch.

After all the fraud in 2008-9 Banking Crisis, imho I feel like investigating Credit Unions more.

1 thing I worry about is if Credit Unions enjoy FDIC protection, or if they have an alternate protection, is it dece enough. Hit up the comments if u have a take on this issue.

Equity markets globally ethered in 2008

Check out this Economist magazine link.

I had already known the US equity market (S&P 500) had collapsed 40.8% in 2008.

I was surprised to learn most other countries' equity markets had been more severely ethered.

In particular, the BRIC countries, aka "their takin our US jobbs" coalition aka the 21st Century new superpowers got pwned in 2008, both in their own currency & in USD terms.

In other words, the BRIC caught a brick, dunny! More like a dumptruck of bricks fell on their head.

Damn sonn, this doesn't bode well for labor globally, whether you're in the US or Vietnam. Whether you're a PhD scientist or a HS dropout manual laborer. More justification for more race to the bottom tactics. China is getting ethered despite paying $0.40/hr for factory workers, & India likewise paying $15K/year for PhD engineers & scientists in offshore outsourcing R&D centers? If the "Ownership Society" cats are getting ethered, best believe they will "trickle down" the pain to us wage slave laborers. Maybe Busta Rhymes was prophetic, yet 10 years early in his ELE prognostications.

Country Local Currency USD
Brazil -42.0% -57.0%
Russia -66.6% -71.9%
India -53.0% -61.7%
China -64.8% -62.5%

Question: I like how The Economist lists all this data, but I also want to see Price-to-Earnings (PE) & Price-to-Sales (PS) ratios to see the relevant valuations between countries, & more importantly, the relevant current valuations over the 100+ year historical valuations of the US stock market. Hit up the comments if you know of such a site, help a brother out mayne!

question: rapid play setting on media player apps

I got a question on rapid play settings on media player type apps. I sent the text out below to the Lifehacker editor.

Pls hit up the comments if you can answer my questions or have insight on this:
-----

I have a basic question on media players. Sorry to trouble you, but I think it's 1 that is very common & relevant to your readership, so I figure you might be interested in the question.

I enjoy using the "Play Speed Settings" in Windows Media Player (WMV). I found for podcast/speech/talkshow audio mp3s, I can save time by playing the mp3 at 1.4x speed.

However I hate WMP. WMP sometimes crashes or has other problems.

QUESTIONS
1 Does foobar, VLC or any other player have this "rapid play speed setting" for mp3s?

2 same question for video files, specifically .wmv & .dvr-ms. For instance, I use Windows Media Center to record the Daily Show, this way I can replay it later & skip commercials. It would be even better if I could play that Daily Show .dvr-ms file at 1.4x.

Digital Photo Questions

I'm looking for the 2 following websites or software apps to manage digital photos. I prefer free/open source options, natch. If you have any expertise, pls hit up my comments with your opinion/expertise/analysis:

1 A website to share/archive digital photos to friends/family

2 A software app that allows one to define names, and then tag names to each digital photo. I feel this will be good for me in remembering the names of acquaintances in say 5 years later in digital photos

Help me out yall if you know anything here, in the comments.
------------
UPDATE Lifehacker commenters have some advice here

new music trend - the legally free album

There's a new trend of music, of artists making an album that is legally free and available on the internet, as a compressed (.rar or .zip) file of mp3 tracks.

I believe this trend had already started, but was accelerated by the Jan 2007 arrest of the highest-selling mixtape DJ, DJ Drama

I hope this trend takes gains steam. What better way to sample new music than a free album on the internet? Thus far some "established" artists have made such albums. It's great opportunity for an artist to do a side project album without all the legal hassles & sample clearing that "regular" albums require. Many old rap albums from the early 90s & before sampled many legends like James Brown & Miles Davis - nowadays that's impossible due to strong sample laws. The free album makes any sampling or "mash ups" possible.

The free album trend might be even better for unheard of "myspace" artists. Such an artist already has 4 songs on myspace, so why not make an Illmatic length, 10 song, no filler album downloadable of your website or myspace. If it's really strong, at least a few of the folks will buy your "real album" or go to your concert.

Any of yall have some excellent "legally free albums" to recommend? If so, hit up the comments.

How do I embed a youtube in a blogspot post?

Allow me a dumb question:

How do I embed a youtube in a blogspot post?

Holla at me in the comments. Thx in advance

"When's The Idea Primary" article

fwd - "When's The Idea Primary" article
http://www.tompaine.com/print/whens_the_idea_primary.php

This is an article from "The Nation" magazine. The author Borosage makes a great point that the
1 media is not covering the actual policies of the leading Dem Pres candidates - Obama, H Clinton, Edwards. They are focused on the "horse race" aspect of who leads in polls, and verbal disses from random supporters.
2 Even worse, the candidates themselves are NOT focusing on policy. Instead their opting to be very generic on many issues

Aside from getting more specific policies, I'd also love to see a "resume comparison" of the different candidates. Off hand it seems Richardson has an incredible resume. However I don't really know if he sons everyone else Dem & Repub, or if there are others also on his level experience-wise.

Does anyone know of a site where they reasonably/objectively describe the 08 Pres candidates (both Dem & Repub)
1 policies
2 "resume"/work experience

If so, pls enlighten me in the comments.

I mean there are tons of political sites such as dailykos.com that break down minutiae like the 08 Senate race in Idaho. WTF? And the MSM (mainstream media) like cnn.com focuses mainly on the horse race aspect, and are a big problem themselves by implying only a few big money candidates are viable by ignoring the Richardsons/Dodds/Huckabees/Hagels out there.