The health care reform bill, Affordable Health Care for America Act, would provide all Americans with access to quality and affordable health care under insurance reform legislation. The bill passed in the House on Nov. 7 by a vote of 220-215. It represents Pres. Barack Obama’s goals for health care reform, which include: slowing the growth in out-of-control costs, creating competition in the health care marketplace, protecting people’s choice of doctors, planning to keep them affordable and ensuring Americans to equal and stable access. The total cost of the plan comes to about $900 billion over 10 years, which would cover 36 million uninsured Americans, according to the federal Committee on Education & Labor’s blog, available at http://edlabor.house.gov/blog/2009/10/affordable-health-care.shtml.

The health care reform debate is running rampant in town halls throughout the United States, and Hollywood is no exception. The buzz is being felt from celebrities across the spectrum. More specifically, celebrities have been coming from right and left to weigh in on the debate and share their two cents in press releases and online postings.

Chuck Norris
In a column titled “Dirty Secret No. 1 in Obamacare” on TownHall.com, Chuck Norris has expressed his perspective and strong opposition to the proposed health care reform. Norris remarked, “Obamacare is about the government’s coming into homes and usurping parental rights over child care and development. . . . The bill says that the government agents, ‘well-trained and competent staff,’ would ‘provide parents with knowledge of age-appropriate child development in cognitive, language, social, emotional and motor domains. . . . Are you kidding me?! With whose parental principles and values? Their own? Certain experts’? From what field and theory of childhood development? As if there are one-size-fits-all parenting techniques! . . . Are we to assume the state’s mediators would understand every parent’s social or religious core values on parenting? Or would they teach some secular-progressive and religiously neutered version of parental values and wisdom?”

While Norris brings up valid points about each child requiring specialized and individualized attention relating to his or her social and cultural background, it can be argued that many parents and children require this attention. Child protective services is already a government entity that has the potential to be involved in the life of every family, and before drastic intervention is required for many families and children in the future, the bill could provide the concern necessary from the beginning.

Mark Hoppus

Taking another approach to the health care reform, Blink 182’s bassist, Mark Hoppus, is a strong supporter of the bill. He recently wrote an editorial for the political news site The Huffington Post, stating that “When a person’s best option to pay for health care is to take to the Internet and ask for small donations from strangers, bold changes need to be made. . . . Mr. President, members of Congress, hospitals, doctors and insurance companies, there has to be a better way.”

Moby

The famous musician Moby posted a story on his blog bringing to light the health of his deceased mother that makes it hard to not support the health care reform plan. Moby described how in 1996 his mother complained to her HMO about breathing and other health problems after she had quit smoking. The doctors didn’t take X-rays or perform any other tests and sent her on her way. Three months later, as her respiratory problem worsened, her insurance company allowed her to have X-rays and saw that she had advanced lung cancer. About six months later, she died from lung cancer, and Moby remains an avid supporter of health care reform as a result.

http://www.mainstreet.com/article/moneyinvesting/news/celebrities-sound-health-care-reform

Written by Jasmine Abrams, 2L Staff Writer

By Jasmine Abrams 2L

1. Debbie Rowe, the mother of Michael Jackson’s children, filed suit against Rebecca White for defamation. During an interview on television, White claimed that Rowe sent her an email stating “Do I want the kids? Hell no. Does it look good for me to ask for them? Absolutely.” Rowe is asking the judge to issue a default judgment for $490,000. Who knew lying about Debbie Rowe could cost so much?
2. In February, Elite Maids, a cleaning service company, sued Courtney Love for unpaid services. Love failed to show up in court on and the judge entered default against her in the amount of $3,058.48. Let’s hope her home is spic-and-span by now!
3. The production company that officiates the Miss California pageant filed a cross-complaint against former Miss California Carrie Prejean to recover the $5,200 the pageant provided her with for her breast augmentation. Apparently these alleged “private facts” ceased being private the minute she walked onto the stage in a bikini.
4. The Los Angeles-based 220 Laboratories is suing Kate Hudson for misappropriation of trade secrets and breach of contract, among other things. 220 Laboratories had an oral contract to develop a hair product line with Hudson and a friend. They claim that once Hudson found out about their secret volcanic ash ingredient, she took the samples and ran. That explains her unkempt hair!
5. Roy Pearson, Jr., a judge in Washington, sued a dry cleaning shop for $54 million for losing his pants. A U.S. district judge found for the defendants; and Pearson said he would appeal.
6. Huseyin Kalkan, the Kurdish Democratic Society party major of Batman, a city in southeastern Turkey, sued Christopher Nolan and Warner Bros. for royalties from “The Dark Knight.” He accused the producers of the hit film of using the city’s name without permission. Batman first appeared as a comic book character in 1939, but I guess no one from the town thought to take legal action until recently.
7. Aging German playboy Rolf Eden, who is known for having been a star in the Berlin nightlife scene in the ‘50s filed charges against a 19-year-old ageist. The two spent the night out and when they came back to his home she said that he was too old for her and refused to sleep with him.
8. In 2008, a married Stephen Chang, an investment broker in his 30s, sued a midtown strip club in Manhattan. As he was getting a lap dance, the dancer swung her leg around and her heel hit him in the eyes causing him “to sustain serious injuries.”

By Jasmine Abrams, 2L

On Sept. 12, The Brent Shapiro Foundation for Drug and Alcohol Awareness held a charity event in Hollywood.

The Brent Shapiro Foundation was established by Robert Shapiro, O.J. Simpson’s defense attorney. In 2005, Shapiro’s son, Brent, following a life-long battle with alcohol and drug addiction, died at the age of 25. The Foundation has become “the national leader in the fight against drug and alcohol dependence” by educating parents and schools on how to communicate with students and identify any problems before they escalate.

In 2007, The Brent Shapiro Foundation held a live concert called Sober Day USA in New York to raise awareness about drug use and attracted swarms of people. The event served to shed light on a different approach to drug treatment and educate the general public.

The recent charity event, held at a private home, included celebrity supporters Larry King, Jessica Alba, Sean Combs, Denzel Washington, Barry Bonds, Rod Stewart, Paula Abdul, and Simon Cowell, among others.

Drug and alcohol addiction has become an issue that affects not only celebrities in Hollywood but thousands of people across the United States. The Foundation provides an opportunity to raise awareness about drug and alcohol addiction and means of preventing its occurrence.

The organization is always seeking volunteers in various positions. Visit http://www.brentshapiro.org/ for more information and to get involved.