Apologies for my horrible formatting.

At any rate, here's the rest of it:

MoveOn Public Option Candlelight Vigils to be Held Nationwide Wed. 9/2

OK, so this just isn't going to be a substantive post. You already know all the reasons why we need the public option, and if you don't, there's not much I can say at this point. But here's a chance to actually do something to help make sure our legislators will listen to us about the public option.

MoveOn is organizing candlelight vigils to be held all accross the country on Wednesday night, Sept. 2. The blurb on the MoveOn site says:

We can't afford to wait

This Wednesday, we're organizing candlelight vigils to read the names and hear the stories of the people suffering under our broken health care system.

Attend a vigil in your town...

More info from MoveOn:

We Can't Afford to Wait Vigil

We're organizing "We can't afford to wait" vigils nationwide just days before members of Congress return to Washington, to make sure they know that an overwhelming majority of voters are counting on them to act quickly to pass health care reform.

Our vigils will put a human face on the urgent need for bold health care reform with a real public health insurance option. We'll deliver an unmistakable message to the media and members of Congress: We can't afford to wait: Public Option NOW!

There's a handy box on the MoveOn site where you can enter your zip and be shown all the events in your area, and they're still looking for people to sponsor more events. Click here: http://pol.moveon.org/event/events/index.html?action_id=186

We've been talking about the public option all August, now let's do something about it!

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If anyone knows what went wrong with this post, and can help me delete this one and get it reposted properly, I'd appreciate that.

No, no, no, Senator Baucus! Bipartisanship means that you offer the losing party a respectful airing of their concerns and attempt to find common ground, not that you enable crazies who run around talking about "death panels" and "funding for illegals" in an effort to subvert the will of the people. The Gang of Six has quite obviously gone rogue.

It's really hard to believe that the White House would be so foolish as to give Baucus enough rope so as to destroy it's own health care reform goals. It just doesn't make sense.

Perhaps the Democrats need to start a protest campaign to force Baucus to disband the Gang of Six and return control to the full Finance committee.

Think of the wireless phone service providers, for instance. There are several of them, and the number of wireless customers has increased significantly in the last several years, which should have brought prices down and improved service as the result of competition, right? But they all still charge fairly high monthly rates for plans that limit the number of minutes you can speak, and all tie you into mostly 2-year agreements with significant penalties for pulling out before the full two years.

If competition among for-profit companies always resulted in the benefits you anticipate from health care reform sans a public option, we'd see far better rates from the wireless companies, and contracts not unlike our wired telephone companies, wouldn't we?