Head count

Damn, Mr. Hooper, I guess I'm going to have to let you off the hook on the G-20 rock throwing, since it appears you were in Seattle, when the last G-20 was in Pittsburgh. If I'm not mistaken, Seattle was several years ago. You're going to have to change news channels so you can keep up.

Next, I doubt seriously if you'll get a $500 per year premium with a zero deductible, like the senators and representatives. Your policy will probably cost you about what you're paying now, at the least. By the time you pay for the bureaucracy, it could be a lot more. Let's take a good example of how good our government is at running these types of things. I'd say the H1N1 calamity over vaccinations would give you some idea of how they could handle health care.

By the way, how far did the CBO miss Medicare and Medicaid estimates? I believe that was 10 times their estimate. I have a whole lot of faith in their numbers.

I happened to read your article last week in regards to tax loopholes. I agree with you, these are for the rich. Hopefully, we have caught the people who avoid taxes, such as Charles Rangel, who wrote the laws and obviously can't read them; Tim Geitner, who runs the Treasury; and Tom Daschle, who tried to become HHS secretary so he could screw us even more with his health care plan. Feel free to toss some Republicans in there, also, because this is not a party thing. I would be strongly in favor of a flat tax, which seems pretty simple to me.

As for how many people attended the Tea Party in Washington, D.C., this was not important. Next time I attend one of these, I'll try to get you a picture. You can then sit down and count heads.

Terry W. Piesker

Victoria