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<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>In part, Garrett wrote:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>“</span><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Courier'>Obama blew it by not insisting on
a single payer health care system. Instead he pandered to the insurance
industry who will be raking it in under the federal proposal.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='min-height: 16.0px'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>Sorry, Garrett, I disagree: Obama couldn’t “insist”
on a single-payer health care system without the support of a sufficient number
of Dems & Repubs, and the sad fact is that we didn’t have them
because there are too many DINOS like Minnick and too many others with personal
– rather than national – agendas.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>Another sad fact is the short-sighted willingness of the current
GOP leadership to successfully demand that their minority elected federal
legislators put on brown shirts and march in lockstep opposition to All Things
Good to the detriment of this country and their constituents. Their
success with that tactic has been in no small part due to feelings of betrayal
by their own previous administration(s), and their ire is completely
misdirected and short-sighted, but there you have it: they are
frighteningly willing to cut of their own noses to spite not only their faces,
but the face of this nation.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>Finally, another sad fact is that the US has absolutely no hope
of regaining any kind of edge in a competitive world market if we don’t
get meaningful <b>and</b> successful health care reform, and the GOP’s
shortsighted obstructionism has made that an impossibility for now. Which
is devastating for any meaningful economic recovery, IMHO, because if we can’t
successfully compete in the global market . . . <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>All of that said, I do agree that Obama made a significant political
mistake by misreading the willingness of the GOP to sink this nation all for
greed, and by leaving the initial stages solely to Congress for far too
long after the GOP’s graffiti was on the wall. It was clear to me
long ago that about all the GOP cared about in the health care reform debate
was protecting insurance carriers & drug companies and putting politics
ahead of policy, just like they’ve been doing on everything else for the
last year. Big surprise there, eh?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>I’m definitely not keen – at ALL -- on the personal
mandate, but I do understand that to have any realistic hope of cost
containment, the pools have to include the healthy who have a tendency to opt
out for various reasons, some of them very valid. It literally makes me
ill to think that people will be forced to deal with the devil (insurance
companies), but absent a single-payer system . . . <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>Plus, the financial drain of one catastrophe with an uninsured
person on those of us with health insurance is huge -- all you have to do is
look at the cost increases for the rest of us from the uninsured to see we’re
not talking chump change. Of course, that gets us back to why a single-payer
system really is the best answer, or perhaps a non-profit hybrid system similar
to Switzerland, but . . . <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>So, am I happy with where we’re headed now? No –
in fact, I’m really angry at the GOP obstructionism.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>However, we have to start somewhere, and something is better
than nothing. Big Business has proven it is all too willing to continue
to sell out the health of its workers for even more greed, and the insurance
industry has proven that it’s all too willing to sink the health of this
nation to <b>more</b> deeply line its own financial pockets. Stupid &
short-sighted, but that’s the way it is.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>Then there are those 45,000+ fellow Americans who DIE each year
because they don’t have health insurance. Compassion alone should
be enough for ALL of us to say that we’re mad as HELL and not going to
take it anymore, but GOP obstructionism doesn’t give a rip about <b>those</b>
fellow Americans.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>We have a patriotic obligation to do whatever we can to make
that STOP, and STOP now, not in another year or five or ten. While the
current proposed plan doesn’t do nearly enough, it’s far, far
superior to doing nothing for another year or generation, which is what the GOP
is advocating. As best as I can tell, they seem to be advocating a kind
of trickle-down health reform, and most of us know what a failure that was with
respect to economics for tens of millions of Americans<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>Doing NOTHING while tens of thousands of Americans continue to
DIE isn’t an option for any real American.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>Saundra Lund<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>Moscow, ID<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good
people to do nothing.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>~ Edmund Burke<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>***** Original material contained herein is Copyright 2010
through life plus 70 years, Saundra Lund. Do not copy, forward, excerpt,
or reproduce outside the Vision 2020 forum without the express written
permission of the author.*****<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<div style='border:none;border-top:solid #B5C4DF 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in'>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>From:</span></b><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'> vision2020-bounces@moscow.com
[mailto:vision2020-bounces@moscow.com] <b>On Behalf Of </b>Garrett Clevenger<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Thursday, March 18, 2010 9:37 AM<br>
<b>To:</b> vision2020@moscow.com<br>
<b>Subject:</b> Re: [Vision2020] Otter fights health care with "sue the
feds" law<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
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<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Courier'>Kenneth writes:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;min-height: 16.0px'><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Courier'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Courier'>"Otter's response to the universal health care
needs and the financial challenges they bring to citizens and providers alike
is increasingly paradigmatic of what not to do to achieve substantive
improvements."<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;min-height: 16.0px'><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Courier'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;min-height: 16.0px'><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Courier'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Courier'>On the other hand, forcing voters to buy health
insurance from a private company is probably not the best way to get
reelected.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;min-height: 16.0px'><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Courier'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Courier'>It's probably not the best way to solve the health care
crises, too.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;min-height: 16.0px'><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Courier'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Courier'>Can you think of anything else the government requires its
citizens to buy?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;min-height: 16.0px'><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Courier'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Courier'>That sounds fascist to me, something I don't support,
and it's certainly understandable why a libertarian governor Otter is
charting this course. It's probably not the best course either, but what else
would you expect?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;min-height: 16.0px'><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Courier'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Courier'>Obama blew it by not insisting on a single payer health
care system. Instead he pandered to the insurance industry who will be
raking it in under the federal proposal.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;min-height: 16.0px'><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Courier'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Courier'>The middlemen need to be cut out of health care if we
really want to cut costs...<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;min-height: 16.0px'><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Courier'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;min-height: 16.0px'><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Courier'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;min-height: 16.0px'><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Courier'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Courier'>Garrett Clevenger<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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