After Barack Obama got elected and we didn't have to deal with George Bush any more, I honestly thought that I could finally relax and take a holiday from intense vexation and frustration with our government -- but no. I'm still fighting mad. I'm still pissed off enough to chew nails. And I'm still out for blood. And it's still High Noon during America's battle for representative government. And as Markos Moulitsus Zuniga once said, "You don't bring a spork to a gunfight." Trust me, I won't.

According to the Baltimore Chronicle, Senator Max Baucus of Montana has received almost two million dollars from healthcare lobbyists alone -- $1,826,652 to be exact. I could live like a princess for the rest of my life on that amount! "Corporate health profiteers who invested in Baucus will now benefit from his stewardship over health care reform," stated the Chronicle. "His 2008 donations from health care profiteers included: Insurance: $592,185; Health Professionals: $537,141; Pharmaceuticals/Health Products: $524,813; Health Services/HMOs: $364,500; Hospitals/Nursing Homes: $332,826. That is $1,826,652 Baucus took from these industries."

With almost two million dollars stuffed into his back pocket and screaming for him to represent the interests of the so-called healthcare industry, why would Max Baucus chose to represent us just plain Americans instead?

I'll tell you why.

That man took an oath!

When Max Baucus was sworn into office as a senator, he made a solemn promise that he would "well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God." And what exactly are these duties, Max? To represent interests of the people who voted for you! You promised! And now you have broken you promise and ditched America at the altar. That's called "Breach of Promise," Max. And that is an actionable offense.

Apparently Senator Baucus has used his position in Congress to kill any hope of American citizens receiving a decent healthcare delivery plan. This man has sold out. "Hitched or Ditched?" This man has become America's runaway groom.

Upon his induction into the Senate, Baucus promised to represent the people who elected him. He hasn't. He promised us. "So help me God." But he sold his soul to the devil instead. And I want this man impeached -- if not jailed. I want to send a very clear message out to Senator Max Baucus -- and to EVERY member of Congress, and to the President too. "You either start representing the people who elected you or else face grave consequences." If you break your promise to us, you are gonna be in a whole bunch of trouble -- much worse trouble than you would be in if you didn't have a back pocket stuffed with cash.

Americans shoulda sent this message to George W. Bush back in 2001 when he didn't sign the Kyoto Agreement to help prevent global warming, when he failed miserably to protect us on 9-11 and when he first began selling America off to lobbyists -- chunk by chunk. But it's still not too late to get the message across to Senator Baucus!

My neighbor's little girl has no healthcare. Her parents are in that inconvenient tax bracket where they have too much income to qualify for Medi-Cal but not enough income to pay for the health insurance that Max's friends are offering. If, heaven forbid, anything happens to this sweet little girl because Senator Baucus blocked single-payer healthcare, I will hold that man personally responsible.

Max Baucus broke his promise. Max Baucus left America at the altar while he ran off with healthcare insurance companies, Big Pharma and other K Street whores. This makes me angry. This makes me fierce. I want that man out of the Senate. I want that man in jail. I want every uninsured man, woman and child in America to join me in an impeachment campaign against Baucus. And I want him to feel the sting of a class-action lawsuit generated by every single person in America who has ever suffered illness and harm because they were turned down for healthcare by Baucus' friends. Given the $1,826,652 Baucus has already received from the so-called healthcare industry, the settlement amount would probably only come out to one dollar per person, and that's not much compensation for the world of pain Americans have suffered and will suffer because of his "Breach of Promise" -- but it would make ME feel a whole lot better.

Please call Senator Baucus's office in Washington DC right now. His phone number is 202-224- 2651. Let's make Max Baucus accountable for breaking his oath.

And, according to my friend Jerry, Senator Baucus is already getting into deep trouble with the citizens who elected him. "Senator Baucus just got slammed by the folks back home in Montana during a series of Town Hall meetings that he ran. He got so spooked by the people that he sent staff out there to cover his [bottom]." Yeah.

PS: As long as I'm venting, here's another thing that truly pisses me off! After June 30, 2009, the State of California will no longer fund acupuncture with Medi-Cal. That's totally whacked! Last winter, drug companies charged $1,600 for a prescription for my knees and all the freaking drug did was cause my legs to swell up like I was an elephant. Acupuncture, however, has actually helped me. But is the expensive prescription that didn't work being dropped from Medi-Cal? No, acupuncture gets the boot instead. Go figure.

PPS: Have you noticed lately that many of the kids that you know who grew up on Ritalin have now become a ready market for drugs as adults -- that they have learned early on to expect drugs to solve all their problems?

_______

Jane Stillwater is a journalist and occasional war correspondent -- whenever she gets allowed into a war zone that is. "It's time for all of us to stop Wall Street and War Street from destroying our world."

