Just how bad is George Allen?--One more reason to Vote for Tim Kaine

Originally posted by: glenbesa on Article XI: To Preserve and Protect on Sat Oct 20, 2012 at 15:55:53 PM EST:

If you didn't live in Virginia when George Allen was Governor you may not understand just how anti-environmental he is. In the US Senate he had an abysmal record but those were only votes. 

It was as Governor where George Allen demonstrated his utter contempt for environmental laws. Right after he was sworn in as Governor, he gutted the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality. Allen, bringing in what we then caused "wise users" at the time to run this key environmental agency is today's equivalent of putting the Tea Party in charge. There were mass firings and mass resignations of agency staffers who refused to follow orders to ignore pollution violations. 

Allen also interfered with an on going EPA lawsuit against Smithfield Foods for water pollution. The CEO of Smithfield at the time, Joe Luter, gave Allen a $100,000 campaign contribution and after Allen was elected he had the state intervene in that EPA lawsuit, effectively neutralizing federal action against Smithfield. As unethical as this may sound, it apparently is not illegal in Virginia where there is no limit on campaign contributions. 

The Allen Administration even lied to the US EPA about the status of data collected on toxic emissions. When the EPA sought the toxic pollution data from the state, the response was that they did not have it, all the while it was actually locked in safe at the DEQ. 

If elected to the US Senate, George Allen will continue his war against the environment, attacking EPA funding and regulations and voting as he has before to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling. We must not let this happen.

Coarse Cracked Corn stands in total agreement with this post. Returning George Allen to the United States Senate would be as disgusting as allowing mountain top removal coal mining in Shenandoah National Park.

Shot in the arm; kick in the butt

I got my seasonal flu shot at CVS yesterday. Because CVS is the prescription provider with a relationship with my insurance company, I figured it would be covered in full or with a copay. After waiting in line for about 15 minutes I was informed that my insurance (covers lots of people in these parts) wasn't one of those accepted. Seems the company giving the shots was a subcontractor. I went ahead and paid the $30 and made sure I held on to my receipt hoping Southern Health would reimburse me.

The retired Navy veteran in line behind me, nudged me and showed me his Medicare card. He was a talkative and well-informed guy who started the conversation by saying "we should have Medicare for all. Works great." He went on to talk about all the misinformation (he actually said "lies") that had been spread a the town hall meetings. We had a long conversation which ended when it was my turn to get stuck. The last thing he said was, "President Obama promised a public option and said he'd veto anything that falls short. We need to hold him to it."

First we need to get a strong public option to the President's desk. And that means getting it through the Senate. Rachel Maddow has a suggestion for cracking heads and twisting arms:

To wrap up my story, I came home and called the insurance company's customer service. After dancing through the phone tree and listening to messages I finally got to a rep. She was very polite and helpful... and seemed surprised that my card wasn't accepted. She promised to mail a reimbursement form and indicated I should get about $20 back.

You might say "all's well that end's well." Perhaps so. But, why should something this simple be such a hassle? How many similarly situated people would forget to call or would lose the receipt... or worse, not gotten the flu shot? It shouldn't be this tough

The Navy vet had it right. We need Medicare for all.