Editor, The Transcript:
My thanks to The Transcript for publishing Larry Steele's letter labeled "...power to Pelosi" in the Nov. 8 edition. Although I find myself quite at odds with what he wrote, I am always interested in what he has to say. He was upset because The Transcript printed a cartoon on the editorial page depicting Nancy Pelosi as a doctor about to remove a patient's wallet.
The implication of the cartoon was that the Pelosi plan for healthcare is going to pick the pocket of Americans. Steele's letter admonishes our hometown paper to "...keep misleading and downright false information off the editorial page and on Fox news where it belongs. "
Hey, lighten up Larry -- it's just a cartoon. No, Nancy Pelosi is not really a doctor and the cartoonist is not trying to say she is. ("Trust me -- I'm Dr. Pelosi") The cartoon does imply that her proposal will cost more that the current system. The CBO (Congressional Budget Office) also says it will cost more than the current system, and more than the Republican counter-proposal. And the CBO is not a Republican agency.
As the guest editorial on health care reform ("Financing expanded coverage by adding to national debt isn't the answer") published by The Transcript Oct. 5 stated, "...national debt is growing faster than a malignant tumor on the nation's economy and social welfare..."
Mr. Steele further states "Pelosi is leading a wave of change to help the uninsured get insurance..." Really? I suspect there are more cost effective ways to get the rest of us insured, and apparently the public wants a more cost efficient system than the Pelosi way or the current way. Most Republicans oppose the Pelosi plan. Dan Boren and many other Democrats oppose it. Independent Sen. Joe Liebermann opposes it, saying it is financial insanity that will bankrupt the country. So I predict that the "wave" Ms. Pelosi is leading will crash on the rocks of financial reality, because her plan lacks bi-partisan support -- but the opposition does not.
JIM HELM
Norman
