FRANKEN-STUFF

One of the things I loved about the The Al Franken Show on Air America Radio was the rotating list of cool regulars. It is, in fact, Al's show that made me an instant fan of Howard Fineman and Jonathan Alter (just to name a couple). But I think my favorite guest might have been Friday staple Joe Conason. Here's a bit about him from Wikipedia ...

Conason was a regular guest and a guest host on The Al Franken Show, where he had the distinction of being the only guest with two theme songs. He made an appearances every Friday as a commentator, as well as co-judging with Al their weekly quiz show Wait, wait, don't lie to me.

So, anyway, I was kind of excited this week to see that Noozhawk has added Joe to the list of syndicated columnists they carry. And not only that, but the first column they printed is an excellent discussion regarding health care. It starts off this way ...

Popular disgust over the fat premiums that financial executives bestow upon themselves is burgeoning, and rightly so. Those Wall Street piggy banks are filling up with billions upon billions of government-subsidized dollars.

But anyone infuriated by the grossly inflated compensation of the masters of finance should check out the incredible earnings of the top executives in the health-insurance business. They’re among the most highly paid suits in the country — not owing to any skill in providing health care, which they don’t do, but because they have succeeded in denying care, quashing competition, driving up costs and winning federal subsidies for their companies.

Joe goes on to give more details on the evilness that is the health insurance industry and then ends with this ...

They blatantly curtail competition, lobby for federal subsidies, boost premiums, ration care and cut access, while insisting that a public option would cause all those terrible consequences. Obviously, they believe that the rest of us are chumps. And they may well be right.

You go, Joe!

Since I began this post talking about Al Franken, I'd really like you all to watch this brief clip of Al questioning a woman from the Hudson Institute (over health care bankruptcies) ...




Now, THAT is how you fight for Americans!