Chupacabra Report

When I saw that the front page headline this morning was about a new sign ordinance in the City of Houston, I figured we must be into the dog days already. In the first week in July?

I got online later and found some real news. Watchdog group Common Cause reported last month that spending by the healthcare lobby is up to $1.4 million a week now that Congress is preparing legislation. They will spend half a billion dollars this year to defend the status quo, their gravy train.

They don’t have to kill the bill, they can get the sluts in Congress to pass whatever they like, and call it reform. Remember the Medicare Prescription Drug Act of 2003? What was supposed to be a benefit for seniors became a cash cow for the pharmaceutical industry. Five hundred billion dollars over ten years. The seniors got the donut hole.

Rep. Billy Tauzin, Republican from Louisiana, was Chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee that oversees the pharmaceutical industry that year. The next year he gave up his seat to become the head of the PhARMA trade group, making over $2 million a year.

If this is the sort of reform you’re looking for, you’re in luck. Just sit back and watch American Idle. It’s a lock.

If you have something else in mind, now is the time to tell your Congressman about it. www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml Tell them that they’re gonna lose their health coverage if you vote them out of office next year.