Cooper’s hawk visits the neighborhood

Hi there.  Just wanted to let John Karrigan know that Sunday morning around 9 a.m., a Cooper’s hawk visited my back yard, about ten blocks from Powderhorn Park.  It perched on my chain link fence above a shallow wildlife pond I put in a few years ago.  I was only able to observe it for about 30 seconds before it flew off, so I don’t know if it was hunting prey or was attracted by the running water sounds.  I had to look it up in the bird guide because I didn’t recognize it.  Sure hope it visits again. I enjoy your monthly column very much.  Thanks!
Joe Sehl, Central

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Obama’s Double-Cross

Obama has proven to be the perfect shill for corporate America. He smiles, shows empathy with the common person, tells a few heartfelt anecdotes, then slides into his plans that fill corporate coffers and shaft the rest of us.
Where are the tax increases on the rich to pay for this plan? Obama’s claim to tax corporate luxury health care plans will only backfire on we the people, who will ultimately pay for those luxury plans through higher premiums on our own inferior plans.

Where is our right to negotiate with big pharma for affordable drug prices? Obama gave that away early in the game—in fact, it’s not even on the table.
And what about this much-touted public option that candidate Obama promised? Last night [in Obama’s Sept. 9 health-care speech to Con-gress], Obama made it clear that his public option will be small (less than 5 percent of the people) and weak (available only to a limited group of people under very restricted circumstances). It will not be truly “public” because most Americans—95 percent—will not be eligible for it!

Under Obama’s plan, we the people will get a mandate to buy insurance, and the corporations will get a captive audience and the power to charge whatever they want. In other words, Obama’s public option will not be an effective competitor to big health insurance companies. It will not influence their pricing one bit—in fact, it will help them by taking the truly sick and needy off their hands.

The Republicans and corporations are the big winners in Obama’s health-care game—no taxes on the rich and no competition for their beloved insurance and drug companies.  Progressives should not be satisfied with what Obama said about the public option. The public option really is the only way, outside of a single-payer system (another option Obama threw off the table early on), to control costs and make sure insurance companies stop their price gouging. The president’s plan, from the public option to the means to pay for it, is unacceptable, and progressives should let the Congress know that we are not fooled by slick rhetoric.
Janet Contursi