The Public Option Is in the Mail...Just like the Check That Never Comes

After watching the Senate vote at 7:00 AM on December 24 on "Health Care Reform," and after hearing the President say this week that "I never campaigned on the Public Option..." I couldn't help but think about that old lie--"the Check's in the mail..."

Remember the euphoria that we felt when we gained a majority in the House and how optimistic we were when 60 Senators finally had a "D" next to their name and we thought we had a "filibuster proof majority?" Ha! The joke of the century....and it's on us.

And, just a year ago, there was our guy, a different kind of Presidential Candidate, elected by our hard work and above all odds because we listened closely and liked what we heard. Finally, there was someone who talked plainly about what was broken in Washington and what we needed to do to fix it. And boy oh boy, were We going to fix it! Yes We Can...

What a difference a year makes. Principles have been traded for principal.

Our Candidate, who indeed said repeatedly during the Campaign that he would not sign a health care bill without a government-run insurance exchange that all Americans could buy into, has been bought by the special interests that he once said that he deplored.

Monty Hall would not have made as many deals as this guy. Apparently, Monty Hall is a piker compared to Rahm Emanuel...

Let's see who the President (and his brain trust--Axelrod, Emanuel, et. al.) thought were worthy of his attention (largesse) and who should be the beneficiaries of his horse trading.

First, there was a huge giveaway to Big Pharma (followed up 2 weeks ago by support for killing a bill that would allow us--remember us??-- to import drugs from Canada--another campaign promise thrown in the trash). Then there was a mighty handout to the for-profit Hospitals. Next, he outsourced the entire health insurance plan bill to Max Baucus who promptly outsourced the writing of the bill to the highest bidders, the Health Insurance Companies, who wrote the language while crying about how bad it was. "Please don't throw me in that briar patch...."

And how about the ill-fated dating of Olympia Snowe, for the entire summer and most of the Fall? He must have been mesmerized by her widow's peak and couldn't (like the rest of us) hear the words coming out of her mouth... But, We all knew that at the end of the day, Olympia was never going to go to the prom with Barack. And indeed, on Dec. 24, as we knew would happen all along, I heard the Clerk of the Senate record Mrs. Snowe's vote on this watered-down insurance company written bill: "Nay."

Don't even get me started on Dick Liberman. I don't call him Joe anymore--and never will again. He's earned the "Dick" title, forever.

And, Ben Nelson? If he weren't in the Senate, he'd be arrested for extortion. So let me get this straight-- Ben Nelson holds up the entire process, supposedly because he's against the Public Option, but then he let's his vote be bought in order to get free Medicaid for Nebraska? I guess he's just against the rest of us getting cheaper health coverage, huh? Yet, everyone acts as if that's ok--the "normal" negotiation process in the Senate, they called it.

Did you see the Senators all patting themselves on the back after the big vote? Even the 39 who voted "Nay" were acting like buddies with the "D's." "Comity of the Senate," is what the commentators on TV called it. I think they misspelled it-- it should be "comedy" of the Senate--and a tragic comedy at that.

So, in the end, despite all the outsourcing and all the compromising and all the abandonment of anything that will save any money, I was left with one overriding thought at the "end" of this ordeal--these elite 100 people--our so-called "representatives"-- have absolutely nothing in common with us. As a group, they don't give a damn about anyone but themselves and their next election.

So, that leaves it up to us. Do your homework. Make a list of the Senators who don't get it. Support their opponents. Also remind them that we have our own Public Option. The Option to vote for someone else.

As for Barack, until his--"I didn't campaign on the Public Option" lie--I was willing chalk this health care debacle up to his naivety and his inexperience and the inability to find his testicles.

But now, to believe that Barack has not also been bought, would make me naive and blind.

So, when Organizing For America comes calling for my help in the next election, I'll just tell them.... the check's in the mail....

An Open Letter to the County Commission To Preserve Cone Ranch

To the Board of County Commissioners of Hillsborough County, Florida:

I am a 55-year old lifelong resident of Hillsborough County and a person who, like all residents of Tampa, relies upon the Hillsborough River as the sole source of my potable water.

Over the years, I have watched our local governmental officials continuously say “yes” to unbridled development, and as a result, we have, over the last 3 decades, casually caused the disappearance of our natural landscape. I am deeply concerned about the preservation of the Cone Ranch property, and I have been fully supportive of the County Commission’s decision to appoint the Cone Ranch Environmental Advisory Panel to study the issue of Cone Ranch and to make recommendations of what would be the best ways to administer this largest undeveloped contiguous parcel remaining in Hillsborough County.

The Cone Ranch Environmental Advisory Panel overwhelmingly recommended a straight forward, easy to understand, course of action to the BOCC “to direct the Water Resource Services Dept. to convey title to the Environmental Lands Acquisition and Protection Program (ELAPP) of the entire Cone Ranch property. We believe this is the best way to protect, preserve, and restore Cone Ranch in perpetuity.”

It is imperative that the BOCC now immediately adopt ALL of the Final Recommendations of the Advisory Panel, including the one that says: “Time is of the essence and the BOCC needs to take immediate action to transfer Cone Ranch to ELAPP; or if a decision is made in the interim to consolidate water utilities, that his Cone Ranch property will not be a part of that transfer….”

Stories have circulated that the BOCC may consider not following the recommendations of the Cone Ranch Environmental Advisory Panel. Those stories suggest that the BOCC may consider obtaining an appraisal for the Cone Ranch property, and only impose Conservation Easements on the property rather than convey the property to ELAPP where it can be restored and protected in perpetuity.

May I remind you that the citizens of Hillsborough County reauthorized the funding of the ELAPP program just last year in a referendum with the largest majority vote in the history of this County (79%)?

The citizens of Hillsborough County do not need an appraisal of this property. Why spend the money for an appraisal---which is nothing more than one person’s opinion of the value of this property? If you are looking for one person’s opinion of its value, let me give you my opinion of what the value of Cone Ranch is-- without spending thousands of taxpayer dollars for an appraisal—it’s Priceless!

Ask yourselves before voting to hire an appraiser: (1) Why are we spending taxpayer dollars on an appraisal? (2) What “Comparable Sale Properties” are there for the appraiser to use in coming up for his or her opinion of the value of Cone Ranch? There simply aren’t any properties which are comparable to Cone Ranch. It is unique.

And finally, in searching for wisdom in making your decisions as the guardians of our publicly owned lands, please be guided by these thoughts:

“We do not inherit the Earth from our Ancestors, we borrow it from our Children.” (Native American Proverb)

“We never know the worth of water till the well is dry.” (Dr. Thomas Fuller, Gnomologia, 1732).

“In our every deliberation, we must consider the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations.” (Great Law of the Iroquois)

And finally, please don’t make Ansel Adams’ words ring true. He said, “It is horrifying that we have to fight our own government to save the environment.”

Please vote to immediately transfer full and complete ownership and control of the Cone Ranch Property to ELAPP.


I've written and sent my letter to the Board of County Commissioners, now it's your turn.

Why Can't We Stop Funding The War?

As I watched the President's speech at West Point, this week, I couldn't help but think of how perfect all of the Cadets looked. Crisp uniforms. Sharply focused eyes. Fit and healthy. Committed and driven. And, oh my, so young.

As the Cadets listened intently to learn what their new mission would be, I could tell from the bewildered looks on their faces that they were hoping for more. So was I.

I was hoping that after all of his careful "studying" of the issue, that President Obama would recognize that there can be no "victory" in Afghanistan. I couldn't help but tear up as I thought of the members of his West Point audience who are essentially being sentenced to death with this horrible decision to escalate the war.

How many of those Cadets will lose limbs, or lose their sharply focused eyes? How many will suffer brain injuries and lose their ability to function normally for the remainder of their lives?How many will suffer that fate during the next 18 months? And for what? So we can keep troops near Pakistan when it hits the fan there? Surely that is the reason that our thinking President wants to keep troops there. Please tell me he doesn't really believe that we can train Afghans to defeat the Taliban in 18 months.....

So, I ask this simple question. If Health Care Reform can be stopped dead in its tracks, why can't funding for this War be stopped? Who will filibuster this?

The President knows we can't afford this war. He admitted so in his speech at West Point.

We can't afford the borrowed principal to fund the cost of one million dollars per soldier per year, or the borrowed interest payments on that ever-increasing national debt, or the loss of human life on both sides of the conflict, or the human casualties on both sides of the conflict, or the stress on the families of our soldiers.

Or the loss of our moral principles....if we still have any left...

Speak out and be heard. Stop this madness. Write to Congress today.

It takes courage to work for Peace. Think of the faces of those Cadets....