Mod Max Baucus strangles health ins public option

Mod Max Baucus and his Senate Finance Committee Gang of Six have put the finishing touches on gutting the public option on health insurance. And, if you expect a federal government alternatingly lead by neolib Dems and yahoo GOPers to actually regulate health insurance companies tightly enough to save us all money, I have some palm trees in Baucus' Montana to sell you, complete with lobbyist funding to buy them.

Beyond no public option, here’s what else is missing:
• Details of how the government will more tightly regulate health insurers, when the federal government doesn’t even have an office for that right now, and only the semi-toothless Federal Trade Commission to oversee advertising claims.
• Any plan to address fee-for-service doctor payments, which almost everybody agrees is a significant part of the problem.
• Guarantees that big insurers won’t be able to “game” the health-insurance coops that are being proposed as a VERY poor person’s substitute for the public option.

Meanwhile, at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue, Team Obama continues its sellout to Big Pharma.

So relax, folks. You are going to get screwed; the astroturfers could have saved their Tea Party money; the lobbyist money worked just fine by itself.

Obama-Baucus healthcare sellout continues - why the astroturfing?

Texas Sen. John Cornyn claims President Barack Obama is assembling an “enemies list” about people behind disruptions of Congressional town halls and such.

Byron York joins Cornyn on the conspiracy theory of a secret presidential database being compiled.

Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele refuses to denounce any violence, intimidation or threats associated with these groups.

Why are they even worried?

Mod Max Baucus and his Senate Finance Committee Gang of Six have put the finishing touches on gutting the public option on health insurance. And, if you expect a federal government alternatingly lead by neolib Dems and yahoo GOPers to actually regulate health insurance companies tightly enough to save us all money, I have some palm trees in Baucus' Montana to sell you, complete with lobbyist funding to buy them.

Meanwhile, at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue, Team Obama continues its sellout to Big Pharma.

So relax, folks. You are going to get screwed; the astroturfers could have saved their Tea Party money; the lobbyist money worked just fine by itself.

A Sept. 15 Senate Finance health ins deadline, or not?

The Hill first reports that Senate Finance Committee Chairman “Mod Max” Baucus has just such a deadline, but in a separate story, ranking minority member Mike Enzi says it ain’t so.

Kenneth Copeland has a lot of ’splaining for Grassley

That would be Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa, who, earlier this year, asked Copeland and other evangelist$ to appear before the Senate. The goal was not punitive, but to better understand financial organization of megachurches with large electronic ministries, so as to see if IRS code needed to be restructured. Well, Copeland, along with the others, refused to appear, and was one of the most vigorous in his refusal.

Now we know why.

Land use kickbacks to family members. Sweetheart land sales to family members. Too many family members holding too many insider jobs. Board members fobbed off with sinecures.

Plus, Copeland has veto power over everything. Literally.

No wonder Copeland doesn’t wan to appear. He’s probably breaking IRS regs as it stands, and doesn’t want to give it any “fingerprints” via Senate Finance Committee testimony.

The full story has all this financial ugliness and more.