Robert Menendez: Moron du Jour

Welcome to "The Gods Are Bored," where we've spent more than $500 this week on doctor bills, including $119 for a brand-name medication that the doctor insists upon. And we have insurance!

Yesterday, fresh back from handing my grocery money to the pharmacy, I picked up my mail and found there an expensive handbill. The front of the handbill says, "Robert Menendez Is Working To Pass Consensus Bipartisan Health Care Reform That Will Make Sure People Can Get Quality Health Care Today And In The Future."

Then there are little bullet points about being able to "buy new insurance" if you lose your job, no denial of insurance for pre-existing conditions, and a cap on out-of-pocket medical expenses.

On the other side, there's another big headline: "Senator Robert Menendez is working to lower health care costs and make sure everyone can get and keep health insurance -- even it they get sick or lose their job."

This flier was paid for by the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (emphasis added), and some group called Families USA. I'm not even going to waste my time looking into "Families USA." Anything with a title like that has no other agenda than to lay waste and ruin upon 99 percent of the families in the USA.

The flier instructed me to phone Senator Menendez and thank him for his hard work on health care. So I called him. Left a message. Not a friendly, touchy-feely, "I'm behind you 100 percent, Bob" kinda message. The best I can say about it was that I didn't curse.

Then I decided that maybe a phone call wasn't enough. So I emailed Sentaor Menendez, my friggin blue state senator. Here is the text of my email:

"Yesterday I got an expensive mailing from your friends at the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, asking me to thank you for 'working to pass consensus bipartisan health care reform.'

"You must be mistaking me for a moron.

"Senator Menendez, you are a Democrat in a state that overwhelmingly voted for 'change' in the most recent election. If you do not support the Democratic health care reforms, including public option, the next change may be in your employment status.

"I'm sure once you're voted out of office, you'll find a nice consulting job with the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America. Are they bankrolling you now? It sure looks that way."

Friends, I am in a blue funk over this. If a Democratic senator in one of the most liberal states in America is slobbering over "bipartisanship" on behalf of Big Pharma, what chance in hell do we have of providing health care for our citizens?

I'll answer that. None.