TriCare is connected to Medicare. Cuts to Medicare physician reimbursement will make it difficult for our veterans to find necessary medical care that they deserve.

The future cuts to Medicare payments will jeopardize the health care for those who honored our country. Some doctors have said the cuts will force them to decrease or stop seeing new Medicare and TriCare patients. Which means elderly and military families may be forced to travel further for needed medical care, or even go to emergency facilities instead of a doctor’s office for basic care!

Urge Congress to stop ignoring this issue — we need a long-term solution now. America’s veterans deserve nothing less!
Congress Threatens Veteran Health Care

But Republican Senate candidates around the country, some of whom are multi-millionaires, have said that the minimum wage should be lowered, or even eliminated. Republican policies have already caused a great recession; now Republicans want to turn back the clock to the Great Depression.
Americans can’t afford the GOP’s dangerous ideas. Sign this petition urging your senators to defend the minimum wage from Republican attacks.
Don’t Let Republicans Abolish the Minimum Wage!

The idea of a female-headed household is hardly implausible. In many South American countries women have organized to gain independence in their male-dominated clans. In Sri Lanka, what’s impressive is the speed with which these households grow (some 40,000 in the north, according to the Center for Women and Development).

What forced these women to fend for their families is necessity. A fierce civil war that began in the 1970s claimed the lives of thousands of citizens. Many males died, disappeared or are still in the custody of authorities. What might have been an effective strategy to dismantle the opposition has left homes without their traditional breadwinners.

Enter war widows. They tend to their homes, feed the children and work in hard labor jobs by day. The numbers are increasing: 89,000 of them in the east and north according to official figures.

Because of meager salaries from employers, these women require additional help sustaining their families. This is where the aid world can help. At first, the UN World Food Program (WFP) gave out food packages, but it plans to shift its strategy to more sustainable methods. One of the approaches will be a program where food is exchanged for work or skills training. (Sri Lanka’s government already began a similar program for the general population last August.)

Initiatives by other organizations include a $100 grant to help women open small businesses or find farmland for women farmers.

As women climb up the social ladder, the Sri Lankan government must also look out for women’s well being. Employers are reportedly discriminating against women or paying an unfair salary (about half as much as men’s for the same work). The Association for War Affected Women (AWAW) is one of those organizations protecting Sri Lankan women’s rights.  Their work to create awareness is crucial. These women, broken but not defeated after this long civil war, might be the ones carrying the country to economic stability for many years to come.

Photo Credit: World Bank Photo Collection

War Widows: Sri Lankan Women Take Charge

More than 12 million people are currently diagnosed with COPD. An additional 12 million likely have the disease and don't even know it.

The statistics surely prove that more must be done to bring COPD awareness to the public; through media exposure, community efforts’, the internet, educational publications, and simply by word of mouth. Educating lung disease individuals and their families is the key; in regards to living and coping with COPD on a daily basis and bringing us one step closer to reversing this breathless lung disease.
Spread COPD Awareness via US Postage Stamp

It takes two to make a baby. I’m sure we have all heard that before, we don’t always appreciate what a raw deal a father gets in his life as a parent. Sure, the mother does the lion’s share of the caring in a traditional environment, but a father has the added responsibility of being the breadwinner as well as husband, father and man.

The pressure to earn a living, put food on the table and a roof over your head can be acute. There is a thin line between a family who lives and a family who survives, and this pressure often weighs heavily on a father. This leads to long hours, worry, expectations, desperation and the threat of poverty in all but the most privileged homes.

Despite all this, the father also has to be a father, not a distant figure who appears late in the evening then falls asleep as soon as they have eaten. The child loves the father as much as the mother, wants to play with him, be with him, even snuggle up and sleep with him.

The fact that in most cases the father is out at work means the time he is at home is at a premium. Not only does he have to make time for his wife, children, chores and home repairs, he has to make time for himself. It can seem like a father is a second class parent, where the children gravitate to their mother whenever something happens, or they need attention. This isn’t personal, it’s because most of the time the mother is around more, and the child is in the habit of going to her for comfort.

In families where the father is at home, the opposite is true. It is often the father the children go to for comfort and solace. It’s just about the structure and circumstance of the family, not the father being a secondary parent. It’s important for fathers to believe they are an equal part of the Naples family, and feel it as well as act it.

Although we are loathe to give fathers more to do, it’s important that they talk about their hopes and fears with someone. Preferably other fathers in the same situation. Only by getting it off their chest, sharing and hearing that they aren’t alone can they accept the burden and make the most of their lives.

It is important to earn a living and keep a family out of poverty, but it shouldn’t be everything a father should be. Play with the children is important, especially while they’re young in order for the father to be able to bond with them.

Fathers can specialize in physical play. A bit of rough and tumble, football, wrestling and generally messing about to create bonds with their children. Let them win, but not by much, contain strength, keep control and make it so the children love their time with their father.

Often once tired children will express their feelings. This isn’t a request to fix things, it’s more a request to listen to them and offer them comfort once they get if off their chest. Listen to them, let them know you’re listening and you have a friend for life.