Sunday, August 16, 2009

SCORE ONE FOR DEMOCRACY!

Congratulations, people of America! You just scored a major victory, proving that democracy is alive and well in our beloved Republic. The administration is doing two things, due to pressure from the American people:

1) The public option seems to be off the table. The free market is sighing in relief, I'm sure. Instead, they are eyeing co-ops, which will be examined more in-depth as the week goes on. This is a HUGE win, absolutely huge. The fight isn't over yet, though, because it still has to go through committee, where all sorts of interesting things happen to bills.

2)Doctors will no longer get paid to suggest end-of-life counselling (for those 'death panels' that the administration said didn't exist...well, until they took them out). They can still offer it, of course, and there are times when it is necessary. But to offer cash incentives is to open up the possibility of abuse. After all, President Obama himself has told us that doctors are willing to lop off limbs and yank tonsils all the time for the cash, right? What's a little counselling?

Yes, the exchange got heated for a while, and probably will remain so, since there are so many other questionable things still in the bill, but this is a wonderful victory, and something to savor.

Mmmmmm, delicious! Soooo satisfying....

Okay, enough savoring!

Now it's time to get them to take out the access to our bank accounts, reverse the White House deal with big PhRMA so that certain Plan B drugs can be moved to Plan D, saving seniors money - oh, and don't forget the tort reform and insurance regulation allowing it to be transportable and not employer-dependent!

It's unfortunate that we had to shout so loudly (and, apparently, offensively) and take a few shots, both verbal and physical, before they would listen, but at least we finally got their (breathtakingly tone deaf) ear.

Now, let's see if they keep listening.

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