Beyond absurd on Capitol Hill

There is the Absurd. Then there is the Ultra Absurd. And Ultra seems to be flourishing right now on- oh my, what an astounding surprise--Capitol Hill.

Two-thirds of us across the land believe there should be a health care public option.

But Capitol Hill is echoing with strident Republicans and, yes indeed, some Democrats who are getting on the hoarse side with cries of "No" and "Socialism!" (You wonder if they are saving any of their voice to ever talk about the $915,159,472,142 our country has spent on wars since 2001, or the $228,034,100,801 spent so far just on the Iraq war.)

While the rest of the developed world, and especially our closest allies, have some form of universal health care, a tiresome gaggle of Senate and House naysayers continue to make fools of themselves trying to block a public option.

At the peak of their hypocrisy is the fact that they do not tear down Medicare. (For sure they dare not do so in a country where not even Mickey and Minnie Mouse would walk away from Medicare coverage.) Yesterday Senator Charles Grassley looked especially ridiculous in the Senate Finance Committee as he tried to rationalize his position for Medicare and against a public option.

I would love to know how many of the naysayers are owned by United Health Care and the rest of the health insurance industry. Such soul-selling is something even beyond Ultra Absurd.

Healthcare nuttiness

Ye gods. The incomprehensible health care plan now in the Senate Finance Committee has 564 amendments. A public option that would compete with the insurance industry is still being lied about and demonized in the Senate, the House and the country at large.

In the meantime, lots of Americans know that there is universal health care in Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the UK, Denmark, Sweden and Cuba. But the list of countries with some kind of universal coverage goes on: Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Israel, Finland, Luxembourg, Iceland, Costa Rica, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Cyprus, Saudi Arabia, Oman and South Korea, Plus those little places called Russia, Ukraine, China, Japan, New Zealand and Australia.

Here in the US we have that (sssh!) socialist coverage for seniors called Medicare. Instead of 564 amendments and perpetual kowtowing to the ever more voracious profiteers of the health industry, we could extend Medicare to all. But not while legislators float on a sea of lobbyists and sell themselves to corporate greed. Nor while millions allow themselves to be hypnotized by the Fox machine.

It seems we cannot even get that public option. The whole scene is just plain nuts.

Think about these stats

* 4,343 US troops have been killed since Bush & Cheney illegally attacked Iraq on March 19, 2003.

* 4,204 US troops have been killed since Bush proclaimed "Mission Accomplished" on May 1, 2003.

* The number of US wounded in Iraq is estimated to be over 100,000.

* The number of civilians killed in Iraq is estimated to be 1,339,771. (JustForeignPolicy.org)

* In the meantime, US deaths in Afghanistan have now reached 825.

Think about it all.

Obscene Wackenhut madness

I live a half block from a road where the buses of the mercenary Wackenhut corporation regularly pass by on their way to the border to deport their loads of hard-working Mexican migrants. Every time I see one of those buses, it gives me a sick feeling in my gut.

Now Wackenhut gives us a new kind of sickness. Through its subsidiary ArmorGroup, it supplies 450 guards to protect the US embassy in Kabul. A whistle-blower has just provided the world with photos and video showing nearly naked Armorgroup guards and supervisors dancing around a bonfire, urinating on people and eating potato chips out of buttock cracks. Without the photos and video, who could have believed it?

Our very own State Deparatment was warned about these guys, but in June they extended their $189 million contact. Guess whose tax dollars.

Here is just one photo of the obscene madness: