Sweeps week

Who else is tired of these third-party health care reform commercials? I'm going to be sick if I see one more ad trying to sway Congress to vote for or against the health care bill. This feels more like a presidential campaign than the dog days of March. These commercials are amazingly annoying and don't really prove any points. One of them shows a hurricane hitting the Gulf Coast, as if that explains why Obamacare will allegedly kill grandma.

But what is more infuriating is that these commercials are aimed at U.S. Rep. Jason Altmire, who isn't my congressman. Instead, I'm stuck with the regrettable Tim Murphy, a Republican who has made it clear for months that he won't support any Democratic form of health care reform. Even thought I don't live in Altmire's district, I decided enough was enough and called his D.C. office. I told the receptionist that while I don't live in his district (although just 26 miles from the Aliquippa office) that many people in Western Pennsylvania do support reform.

But the commercials keep coming and this area isn't alone. We find out this week that Rep. Kathy Dahlkemper, D-Erie, is getting pounding by ads that she should not support a bill that the crazies claim won't adequately fund cancer... just weeks after both of her parents died of cancer.

Disgusting.

It's clear that these third-party organizations (cough cough, big-money corporations) are just slinging mud to see what sticks. And it appears to be a preview to the kind of garbage we can expect after the Supreme Court ruled in January that companies may spend relentlessly against political foes. Gee, I can't wait 'til November. Let the real games begin!