Another DC Prosititution Ring Revealed

Caption: The "Baucus Wheel" of misfortune. This is a graphic that illustrates how much money Senate Finance Committee chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) has received from various health care-related corporations and their lobbyists in the last two years. It represents at least a quarter of his total campaign receipts.

Image credit: The Sunshine Foundation

Only in our nation's capital can prostitution on this scale go unpunished:

2:52 p.m.: The final vote, as expected once Snowe announced her intent, was 14-9. All five congressional committees have now reported out their health care reform bills.

LIVEBLOG: Senate Finance Committee Votes On Health Care Reform Bill

The worst of the bills, which is nothing more than a huge giveaway to the insurance companies, has now been released onto the floor of the Senate. This is clearly the bill that Majority Leader Harry Reid prefers, so it will be the one they try to merge with the House bill.

The 14 to 9 vote means that all Democrats, plus Olympia Snowe, voted for this travesty. All it would have taken was three Democrats to vote against this thing, and it would have stayed in committee 'til the cows come home. They wouldn't do it, even though Wyden, Schumer, and Rockefeller all made noises about not liking it. If we can't get three Senators who hate a bill to vote it down in committee, I don't see how we're going to get 51 Senators to vote for an amendment that will fix it.

If I believed in one of those gods that maintain such a thing, I'd be inviting these fourteen corrupt bastards to rot in Hell right now. As it is, I just have to wish for their departure from the Senate at the earliest opportunity.