Senator Charles Grassley is the ranking member on the Senate Finance Committee and the chief Republican negotiator in efforts to produce a bipartisan health care bill.  By now you may have seen that Sen. Grassley has jumped on the health care crazy bandwagon, endorsing the notion that his constituents should fear the House bill over what Sarah Palin termed "Obama's `death panel.'"

At an Iowa event yesterday, he said, ""In the House bill there is counseling for end of life...and from that standpoint you have every right to fear...we should not have a government program that determines you're going to pull the plug on grandma." If you haven't seen the video yet, check it out here:

Of course as a significant player in the health care debate, Senator Grassley knows full well that H.R. 3200 simply pays for voluntary end of life counseling from a doctor.  As countless independent organizations and media outlets have stated, there is no "death panel" or any such thing in the health care bill.

My first thought after watching video of Grassley's statements is that he has now disqualified himself from participation in further Senate Finance Committee negotiations.  How can someone act as a good-faith negotiator on a critical and complex issue while simultaneously stoking fear and spreading bald-faced lies about the content of the leading legislation on the topic?  And why should Democratic Senators take him seriously and continue to engage him?  Bipartisanship is helpful; but at what cost?

Progressive Future will be sending a letter to Senator Grassley requesting that he recuse himself from further negotiations, and we're inviting concerned citizens to sign on.  The letter says simply:

To: Sen. Charles Grassley

I am writing to ask you to step down from all further Senate Finance Committee health care negotiations.

On Aug. 12, you told a crowd in your home state that "In the House bill there is counseling for end of life...and from that standpoint you have every right to fear...we should not have a government program that determines you're going to pull the plug on grandma." You know full well that H.R. 3200 simply pays for VOLUNTARY end of life counseling with a doctor.

You cannot act as a good-faith negotiator on health care once you have endorsed the lies and scare tactics of those who will stop at nothing to defeat reform.  You have disqualified yourself from productive conversation on this topic.

Click here to sign on to the letter.

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Sorry, couldn't help but load on the irony, in light of the transformation (or completion of the transformation of the Republican party to the Southern White Peoples Party) it's interesting that THE FIRST TIME those two long serving members of the Judiciary committee voted against a candidate is this time.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/ judicial/2009-07-28-senate-sotomayor_N.h tm

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After rattling the cage of psychiatrists who are on the take, Senator Grassley is reportedly turning his inquisitive eye to toward the cushy world of cardiologists and their corporate benefactors. It got me thinking about what happened to my wife at Johns Hopkins Hospital. http://adventuresincardiology.com/

So I wrote this letter to Senator Grassley and mailed it today:

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Yesterday, a very popular amendment that would have funded programs for super smart kids and created college scholarships for Americans was gutted by the Conferees, yes that's our House representatives and Senators, to the H.R. 3043: Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2008. The amendment would increase fees on H-1B employers by $3,500.  About $3,000 of this fee increase would be targeted to $15,000 scholarships in math, science, engineering, and healthcare.  About $500 of the fee increase would be dedicated to the Jacob Javits Gifted and Talented Program.

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Every megacorp worthy of the name should have its own page in the tax code. It's a time-honored species of corruption.

But - call me naive! - I doubt that many achieve theirs in as sneaky and underhand way as American Airlines and Continental Airlines.

Not that I blame the airlines: what is Uncle Sam after all but a deep pocket to be picked as legally as one's conscience dictates?

Nor do I blame the senators: it's not their fault that they need megabucks to keep their seats.

No - I blame the PR guys who come up with the excuses:

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