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The planets have sort of aligned.
Two of the hottest topics over the past several days have been Cops and (now) Co-ops.
Well, Co-ops should have been a hotter topic in days and weeks past (for the purpose of lambasting them), but it looks like that now that Chuck Todd (yesterday on the Ed Show) has decided Co-ops are the same as a Public Option -- being the imbecile that he is -- it's now worth covering on the Daily Kos Front Page. Better late than never, I suppose.
Please continue on . . .
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Re: COPS
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It's been almost three (3) years since my Bad Day at the Birmingham Airport, which I diaried (and received lots of support, thankyouverymuch) back in September 2006. Excerpt:
I'm thinking to myself, "This is not happening," and say something to the effect of: "I can't believe this is happening. What have I done?!" My voice is certainly a couple of octaves higher now, I admit. It's not only annoying and angering, but just plain weird, knowing this guy has picked me to screw with because, apparently, I 1 made the evil sign of hands thrown up in exasperation and 2 ran circles of painful logic around him by saying, "I go when you tell me to go, and I stop when you tell me to stop."
He says, "Look, you get 'smart' with me, you're going to get a ticket!"
"For what?!"
"Failure to comply with an officer's order"
Here we go again... "Officer, exactly how have I failed to comply with anything you've told me to do?!"
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I didn't get arrested, but damn close to it. Read the whole thing. Share your own story, if you have a mind to.
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Re: CO-OPS
So it's been several days ago (Wednesday, to be precise) since I diaried the coming fiasco of Kent Conrad's Craptacular Co-ops being shoved down America's throat. Excerpt:
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According to Conrad, this "bridges the gap" between the GOP-endorsed status quo and the Public Option. Of course the Public Option bridges the gap between the status quo and Single Payer. Conrad is a tool of the Health Insurance Industry. Let's get that straight from the start.
. . . [Co-ops will] be political bodies whose Boards of Directors will be captured and populated by the politically-connected, powerful and wealthy. They'll be rife with sell-outs, insurance industry shills and apologists. We'll see scandal after scandal develop in these things over the years as health insurance companies will pull out all the stops to pack them with "their people" and bribes, kickbacks, and all sorts of chicanery, both criminal and generally nefarious will eat-up these Co-ops like so many cancers.
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In that diary I cite (and give links to) three (3) examples of industry capture, of corruption, of criminality exposed (and in the "capture" example, bragged about!) in three (3) different Deep South Electricity Co-ops: in Texas, Georgia and Alabama. And I had to reach way, way back to about 3-90 days to find the stories. Imagine what researching back 5, 10 or 15 years could bring?
So, for those of you unfamiliar with these things, these Co-op things that Chuck Todd's endorsing, that Conrad is getting traction on, and that President Obama may end up backing over a Public Option (which, according to the President a couple of nights ago, is not merely "One of the plans we've talked about"; sort of like this), then please click the link above and read-up on these things.
I have to go out of town within and hour, and need to prep for that, so I'll have only a little time here and there to comment.
BenGoshi
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