Bad Deeds for 6-11-2009

Over-Paid Insurance CEOs Oppose Public Healthcare Option – The public healthcare option has the potential to make private plans compete and be more affordable by trimming their costs. But the private insurance companies have their obscene CEO paychecks to support:

These people are, of course, compensated based upon the potential profits they’re able to generate for their shareholders. And those profits are generated both by charging ever-increasing premiums and by refusing to pay out to those who are in need.

[Our government, as our parents, are here to protect and empower us. Protection comes in many forms including a military for national protection, police for local protection, basic education for protection against ingorance, and EMTs, the FDA, the EPA, and a national plan for health care/protection. Profit will always trump protection.]

Heath Insurance Companies Invest in Tobacco to Make you Sick – Health insurers around the world collectively hold $4.5 billion worth of tobacco industry stock, according to a new study. The Consumerist has great highlights on the story, including this killer quote from the study’s co-author, David Himmelstein, “[It’s] the combined taxidermist and veterinarian approach: either way you get your dog back.”

Clarcon Skin Products Contain High Levels of Disease-Causing Bacteria: FDA – A recent FDA inspection found that Clarcon skin products contained high levels of disease-causing bacteria. How ironic.

I’m glad that some of our taxes go to protect us from real threats like this rather than imaginary WMDs.

Texas Puts Energy Company Profits and Politics Ahead of Health of Citizens and Planet – Texas state comptroller Susan Combs joined Gov. Rick Perry, also a Republican, at a meeting with industry leaders in the state capitol to discuss the threat of federal climate-change policy and underscore the energy-producing state’s skittishness towards the environmental concerns that are at the core of the Obama administration’s policy-making. “I happen to think that what they are discussing could wreck our traditional energy industry and put a very serious dent in our economy,” said Mr. Perry.

Political observers have pointed out that Mr. Perry has a political agenda for attacking Washington D.C. He will likely face a stiff challenge from within his party next year in the Republican gubernatorial primary from U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison. His critique of Washington regulations has traditionally played well with Republican primary voters, and might be Mr. Perry’s strongest strategy for fending off the challenge from Ms. Hutchison, a three-term U.S. Senator, to win an unprecedented third term.

In contrast, China is planning a vast increase in its use of wind and solar power over the next decade and believes it can match Europe by 2020, producing a fifth of its energy needs from renewable sources, a senior Chinese official said yesterday. Zhang Xiaoqiang, vice-chairman of China’s national development and reform commission, told the Guardian that Beijing would easily surpass current 2020 targets for the use of wind and solar power and was now contemplating targets that were more than three times higher.

Texas Senator John Cornyn Has Highest Travel Bill in Senate – Texas Senator John Cornyn, a Republican, racked up the highest travel bill in the Senate by spending more than $140,000 in taxpayer money on travel in the first half of the fiscal year. Cornyn spent more than $38,000 on a St. Michaels, Md., retreat for 59 staffers and took expensive, multicity charter flights throughout his home state of Texas.

Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, ran up the second-highest bill by routinely flying private charters to cities in New York served by commercial airlines.

Regards,

Jim