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. BLUE DOGS BAD NEWS
%
While Blue Dog Democrats pretend to be
concerned about our escalating national debt,
it's their own silk purses they are actually fret
ting about. More than half of their political
contributions regularly come from the health
care and pharma
ceutical industries,
and they are looking
out for Number One
when they block pos
sibilities for average
citizens to awaken •
from the nightmare
that our health care
situation has become.
Not only do insurance and pharmaceutical
industries contribute to the Blue Dogs, but
hospitals and nursing homes also favor them.
The Georgia Blue Dogs, including Reps.
Jim Marshall, John Barrow, David Scott and
Sanford Bishop, have been the beneficiaries of
over $2.1 million from these special-interest
groups. Now, whose interests do you think
they are looking out for?
It should be obvious to us all that insur
ance, health care and pharmaceutical compa
nies are running a strong campaign to defeat
government-run health care options, since
these companies operate on a basis of obtain
ing the most profit for themselves, regardless
of the quality of care or the affordability of
their coverage.
These corporations are meeting with the
Blue Dogs for fundraising breakfasts and
cocktail parties with costs of as much as
$1,000 a plate. (This information was com
piled by the nonprofit Sunlight Foundation
[www.sunlightfoundation.com], which func
tions to facilitate greater transparency in
government.)
Since the greatest cause of bankruptcies
has become the back-breaking cost of medical
care, particularly in
cases of catastrophic
illness, most of us
have known of people
whose lives have
been destroyed by
these tragic circum
stances. Every other
industrialized nation
has put this country
to shame by making it possible for all their
citizens to receive health care at affordable
rates. We can hardly assert the claim of being
the foremost world leader when we treat our
own citizens as dispensable.
Judy F. Brouillette
Columbus, GA
RIVER TOUR
On a recent Saturday morning, six canoes
slid into the calm and sun-dappled waters
of the North Oconee River just north of
downtown Athens for a historical, cultural
and environmental tour of this beautiful
river. Flagpole's own Ben Emanuel and Janet
Clark, a local historian and tour guide for
Classic City Tours, led the tour, one of 13
that comprise the Athens Heritage Walks tour
series sponsored by the Athens-Clarke Heritage
Foundation (www.achfonline.org). The walk
ing tour series celebrates Athens-Clarke
County's designation as one of the 2009 Dozen
Distinctive Destinations by the National Trust
for Historic Preservation.
We traveled the length of downtown,
from the end of College Avenue to the former
Athens Factory (now the Interim Medical
Partnership Building, aka the O'Malley's
Building). Only the metallic echo of cars
crossing the occasional bridges overhead and
the waves of the homeless living under them
gave evidence to the fact that we were hug
ging the edge of downtown Athens. We glided
along the surface of the river, savoring the
overhanging trees and the joy of discovering
what lay around the next bend. We floated
by the pillars of the former railroad trestle
in Dudley Park and underneath the sites of
covered bridges long since gone, learned
about the mills and factories which harnessed
the river's water power to make Athens an
early economic engine and stood on the dam
of the Athens Factory, a former textile mill,
which will serve yet another life educating our
state's future doctors.
We learned about the birds, turtles and
other wildlife that still make the river their
home; we passed by the county's champion
Eastern Cottonwood tree; we saw the shells of
an invasive Asian mollusk and we paddled to
the banks of the old city landfill where layers
of unsightly debris still lined the banks.
As sad as it was to see the damage that
we have wrought to the river, it heightened
our awareness of the need to protect our
water resources and to encourage the public's
enjoyment of the river through venues such as
Athens' North Oconee River Greenway. Thank
you to Mel Cochran, Athens-Clarke County
Greenway Coordinator, for providing canoes
and logistical support and thank you, espe
cially, to Janet and Ben for their knowledge
and insight and their overall enthusiasm for
one of Athens' greatest assets, the North
Oconee River.
Amy Andrews
Trustee, Athens-Clarke Heritage Foundation
SOY SORRY
This is another Tofu Baby hate mail. I will
say this, you can punch me in the face every
single day of the week if you never ever pub
lish another one of those abominations to
comics everywhere.
I walked downstairs a few minutes ago and
read my roommate's copy of Flagpole. This
week's one was beyond stupid. I am sorry that
I am a sucker for the written word. I guess
you sometimes have to pander to the intellec
tually devoid people, but come on. Tofu Baby
must only take five minutes to draw. Notice I
mention nothing about writing. I believe the
curse to comics, Missy Kulik, simply makes
them up as she is drawing.
I offer you again. One punch to my face
every day if you never, ever, ever publish that
awful horrendous turd ever again.
Tom Bagby
Email
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4 FLAGPOLE.COM • OCTOBER 7,2009