Dear Senator Cardin,

I have emailed you before about health care reform. Please continue to stand firm on enacting the eight health insurance consumer protections as outlined by the President (http://www.whitehouse.gov/health-insurance-consumer-protections/). Please stand firm on the inclusion of a public option, with the ultimate goal being single-payer insurance coverage.

I would suggest you announce at the start of your next town meeting on health care reform that the purpose is discussion and civilized discourse. Those who attend for the sole purpose of disrupting the meeting with disorderly or dangerous conduct should be warned and then removed from the premises if they do not desist. Please don't be intimidated by a bunch of naysayers and idiots.* These "plants" bussed in by right-wingers and the health care industry aren't your constituents who vote for you. Real health care reform should benefit all the people, not health care CEOs. A country as rich as ours should be able to spend money and compassion on the less fortunate. In the end we all benefit.

*In a word: L.O.S.E.R.S. (this part not sent to Cardin).

It amazes me that the people who will most benefit from health care reform (the poor, the elderly, those with no, lousy, or too expensive health insurance) are the ones fighting against their own best interest.

Another message to Congressman Paul Sarbanes.

Please vote to retain the Kucinich amendment to H.R. 3200 that would allow states to establish their own single-payer health care plans.

I am a supporter of the National Organization for Women which, since 1993, has supported a single-payer health care plan as the best way to meet women's health needs, while covering everyone in the U.S. at affordable rates. States must be allowed to adopt single-payer plans to bring down spiraling health care costs and to meet the needs of all their residents.
This would ensure coverage for all Americans. No one should be denied coverage for preexisting conditions or be forced into bankruptcy due to insurmountable medical bills. It would stop the insurance industry from putting profits before people. It would bring down costs and help the economy. Health insurance is a right, not a privilege.

I will be watching your vote on this critically-important issue and hope that you will support this amendment.

More info here.

Latest message to my Maryland Senators Ben Cardin and Barbara Mikulski, and Congressman John Sarbanes:

On health care reform legislation, I would urge you and your Senate colleagues to stand firm on enacting the eight health insurance consumer protections as outlined by the President (http://www.whitehouse.gov/health-insurance-consumer-protections/). Please stand firm on the inclusion of a public option, with the ultimate goal being single-payer insurance coverage. To help pay for it, repeal the Bush tax cuts, and tax the wealthiest Americans in the top 1 and 2 percent income bracket. Why not also fund it through a "sin tax" on cigarettes, soda, and alcohol? Or through the inclusion of sales tax on internet sales (such as Amazon.com)?

Thank you for all your hard work on this and other issues.

Reply from Congressman Sarbanes:

 

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The American people are demanding a public option. What's so wrong about taxing the wealthiest 2 percent to help pay for it? What's so wrong about levying a "sin tax" on soda, booze, and cigarettes? Aren't those options better than raising taxes on those who can least afford it? How about a little karmic justice on the brokers, bankers, CEOs and politicians whose greed wreaked havoc on the economy in the first place? It's Main Street, not Wall Street, who is paying the price. 

In the "I can't believe my ears" department... Pat Buchanan on MSNBC was busy trashing Sonia Sotomayor being helped by affirmative action, implying that she didn't pull herself up by her own bootstraps like Sarah Palin. In addition to hard work and sacrifice, affirmative action gave an equally-qualified poor Latina woman the opportunity to compete on a level playing field. The woman has a solid, impeccable legal resume. A white male nominee for the Supreme Court would not be treated the same way (they would be treated more respectfully).

And I would not hold Sarah Palin up as a model of intelligence, industriousness, and integrity. Her continued popularity rather baffles me, but I guess she (and Rod Blagoevich) are considered by some to be outwardly charismatic and attractive no matter what they say, and are entertaining in a Paris-Hilton-sort-of-way.

Imagine the media reaction if Joe Biden suddenly resigned the vice presidency and went crabbing in Delaware.

Just registered my opinion via email with Senators Cardin and Mikulski:

Dear Senator,

Please continue to support health care reform legislation that includes a public option. Please ensure that this option is not watered down or dropped. Please do your utmost to move our country to single-payer coverage.

Thank you for all your hard work on this and many other issues.