"Heck of a Job," Harry

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Oh, goody, the Senators are going on vacation while the country goes up in flames.

Members of the lofty "higher body" are going to take 3 weeks to go water skiing and play in their sandboxes--i.e., attend fund raisers. Really, Baucus (D-MT) actually "hosts" "Camp Baucus," a dude ranch experience (for a mere $5000 "donation" per PAC--$2500 per individual).

Well, over those three weeks in America:

• 143,250 people will lose their health insurance coverage [pdf]
  
• 53,507 people will file for bankruptcy because they can't pay their medical bills
• 1,265 people will die [pdf] because they lack coverage

These are real people. Us. Americans. Taxpayers. Voters. Why do we put up with this kind of crap?

The Senators all asked for their jobs, spent many hours seeking their jobs. So, now, why aren't they doing their jobs?

You can sign a petition asking them to stay.

Too bad the President can't require them to attend some kind of special session (as many state governors can their legislatures). Of course, that wouldn't be necessary if Harry Reid would just grow a pair and not allow the session to end.

Medicare for All.
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Some Good News, Some Not So Good

Oh, WOW ! ! "Doctors have given a woman a new windpipe with tissue engineered from her own stem cells."

Good news for a change. I am not sure I can stand it.


And here is the White Paper from Sen Baucus on Health Care Reform 2009. The main problem I see with this is he hopes for "limited expansions of public programs"--and I am an old "single-payer system" gal, myself.


Ah, & now, in the I-knew-it-was-too-good-to-be-true department, big PhRMA is preparing to fight back against reform. Did you really think they wouldn't?

"A national television commercial [is] scheduled to begin airing next week...[to] undercut an expected push ... for price controls of prescription drugs. " & just so you know they are fair and balanced in their objections, "PhRMA would've embarked on exactly the same ad campaign if Mr. Obama's Republican presidential rival, Sen. John McCain, had won last week's presidential election."

In one last parting shot, PhRMA said "We've been moving the pieces on the chess board around for some time now getting ready for next year, and we've got a great game plan in place."

Their game, our money.