.

Leaves you speechless, huh?

By golly there Kent there’s a cure for your political schizophrenia–it’s called integrity.

Try it sometime. The public could use a break from corporate slop troughers like you.

Yeah.. replace “irresponsible” with “criminal”.. and I’ll perk up…)

Political and integrity in the same sentence. Now there’s some cognitive dissonance.

Citizen Eureka Springs:

If ya think THAT silence is deafening, ya should drive through North Dakota sometime. And, like Alaska, it’s been heaven for national corporate interests and banks ta buy a couple a senators since the turn a the century (20th that is) and the majority of people of North Dakota have been ruled by the few rich stooges like Kent Conrad and a few car dealers since the 1920′s.

I’ve turned quiet on quite a few matters going on in D.C., because I just can’t stand it anymore.

GOOD! I’m glad that this sniveling piece of shit has been punked by BCBS! The next time this drone opens his mouth about co ops, one of the Dems should stuff that letter down his damn throat! Kent, take those co ops and shove them up your ass!

I hope we get a strong public option. Now, those of you in states with hayseeds as your senators…….TOUGH! Stop voting for these idiots. Oh, and enjoy being raped by the insurance companies until you get wise and stop voting for crooks and idiots! Many of these yokels should have retired years ago.

Is there an email address where we can go call BCBS of N Dakota sicksumbitch fu**ERS?

A week or so ago, I was trying to figure out if there were more buffalo than people in ND. (Kinda like the conventional wisdom that there are more cows than people in VT.) But I couldn’t find the buffalo population count anywhere. So I sent an email to a Buffalo Museum in ND. A day or so later, they responded that no one is quite sure, but an estimate of 250,000 seems reasonable, and most of them are in ND. According to this site, human pop is 637,000. So it seems that buffalo do not yet outnumber peeps in ND, but I suspect the trends are such that the buffalo will win in the not too distant future.

Citizen Norske, You got that right, but we know it’s that way everywhere.

Why just today, in the home state of Wal Mart, Arkansans found out the middle and lower income folks pay twice as much in state taxes as the rich.

And our legislature (70 plus percent) and Governor are solid Blue.

And how did the Arkansans react or is it too soon to ask?

To soon.. and reported on just one blog. Would be interesting to know if any big papers, radio or television give the info any attention at all.

Lincoln’s numbers are dropping like a stone though…)

Just part of the govt’s ongoing effort to redistribute income upward. The private economy isn’t doing a good enuf job at it.

As a North Dakotan, lifelong, and knowing as we all do, our Congresspeople on a first name basis, I take exception to these comments. I know Kent, and I respect him. And I know the difficult task he was asked to take on.

As I said, inadvertently in the wrong thread:

Kent was given the thankless assignment of trying to find something to peg health care reform to that would hold the Dem caucus together.

As such as Lieberliar and Ben Nelson have shown, that may have been an unachievable task. These two tools of Big Insurance will do anything to destroy healthcare reform because they are wholly owned by Big Insurance.

Kent’s a wonk and a bean counter and a chart guy and last time he was back in-state, no, he couldn’t walk on water….

And I’ll add, when you show me you can walk on water, then maybe I’ll come back and listen to what you have to say. Meanwhile, STFU.

Yeah !

Are you saying that

Conrad has been the biggest proponent of health care cooperatives, yet that’s exactly what “irresponsible” BCBS of North Dakota hopes to be under federal legislation.

is not accurate? If so, in what way?

Asking a real question – not trying to be disrespectful. Do you think he was doing the right thing to demand the co-opts? I know little about him but my impression is that he is owned by the insurance industry. Is that true?

From the useless facts file …

I’ll bet the museum is in Jamestown. The biggest claim to fame (and tourist trap) there is the world’s largest buffalo

Schumer sez there’s a tax on union insurance plans.

You betcha. They were very responsive to my queries, and I suggested that when they finally hone in on the buffalo pop, they should figure out how to post it in a way that google didn’t come back with the pop of Buffalo, ND or Buffalo, NY.

Try Bison

Good suggestion. I didn’t think of it. But my advice still applies: most googlers won’t think of trying a search for bison pop instead of buffalo pop.

This is what BCBS is saying in North Carolina.

http://www.reflector.com/news/75-people-attend-health-care-briefing-959829.html

They think alike.

Ha, good catch. Shows how sordid and non responsive our political systems are, you betcha.

All politicians are hypocritical – part of the job of asking for votes.
Perhaps Conrad is starting to see light. He’ll be one of the 60 votes, so that is the next important step. He is one member of our conservative Democratic Party, overall the US is much better off than during the Bush administrations.

Stats as of ’93

I would say no. I will admit I thought the co-ops was a bad idea, but that idea has kind of died. I think it was just that, an idea, he was trying to produce some kind of compromise early on and he threw out an idea, it was shot down. Conrad himself even said it wouldn’t be viable. Conrad now has said he would support the vote for the public option as long as its not tied to Medicare Reimbursement rates. Dorgan said he would also support a public option. I firmly believe both will vote for the Senate bill, in fact I know. Dorgan has a good amendment he is trying to add on that will lower prescription drug costs and allow people to get cheaper drugs from Canada. Something in a state like ND that is on the border is helpful to many people. Conrad does have a strong argument in the Medicare Reimbursement rates. For example, a family practice doctor practicing in ND will be reimbursed practically nothing when compared to a doctor, lets say in Boston, who is dong the same procedure, even if the doctor in ND provides better quality and care. The bill the House passed has this and Pomeroy the Rep from ND voted in favor of it. Pomeroy is probably the most conservative congressman from ND, even though he too is a Democrat. It appears as if Conrad and Dorgan will vote in favor of the Senate bill as it contains the same language regarding medicare reimbursement rates. This was really the only concession they needed to make and it was made. Conrad is not “in the pocket” of the insurance industry, just take a look at the Medicare bill that he sponsored last year.http://conrad.senate.gov/pressroom/record.cfm?id=300092 This too was about Medicare reimbursement rates and its a completely valid argument. I wouldn’t be so quick to pounce. He and Dorgan are probably the two best members in the Senate. They are both policy wonks and respond to their constituents well. It has been messy yes, but to say he is bought and sold by the insurance industry is a stretch. They may not be out there as much as lets say the Chuck Shumers of the world (who I would argue is far more in the pocket of the banking industry than Conrad the insurance industry) but they represent their states well. Plus, no need for the North Dakota bashing. Attack the policy not the state.

I will add that yes, the co-ops are in the current Senate bill, but so is the public option. It is not perfect, but really I think the health co-ops are just going to be a no go. They wouldn’t be viable unless millions of people entered in and that won’t happen. I still don’t like the co-op idea but I really don’t see it as a problem if the public option and the health insurance exchange are in the bill. However, the fact there is no employer mandate in the Senate bill bothers me.