How about this? Give everyone who owns a car four years old or older a credit. Let them go to websites that feature American Car Companies or Car Companies that have factories in the U.S. like Toyota.

Let each person get the car of their choice with the features of their choice (like you can order now from some car manufacturer sites).

The people who sign up will be considered to be making a bid for that car with the amount of credit they have. I haven't decided if people can put in their own money to get extra features.

This way the money will go to car manufacturers who employ U.S. workers. The website could have on it the percentage of the car that is actually made in the U.S., where the parts are made, where the car was assembled, what the CEO's salary is, and so on.

This way we could vote with the money for who we want to make our cars. The car manufacturers who can supply the types of cars we want made by the people we want will benefit; the others will retool or revamp or disappear.

This will give the economy a boost here, help clean the air, get people into more fuel-efficient vehicles, and let the "consumers" have the choices of what cars and car companies they like.

Forget buying a TV screen made in another country in a store based in a different state--your money is leaving your community when you shop like this. Begin buying more locally and encouraging your elected officials to support small businesses and locally owned stores, factories, and restaurants.

This healthcare thing is getting even more nasty than I had imagined. After attending my Congressional Representative Sam Farr's Town Hall Meeting in Monterey, I felt I had to talk with you about what's happening. At issue is the manipulation going on.

We got there at 5 p.m., an hour before the meeting was to start. The area of seating was closed, packed full of people who had gotten there two or more hours before the event was to begin. What on earth was up? I saw few friendly faces in the foyer where we were sitting, some on the floor. No video to the main room and no way to make a comment or ask Farr a question. [I've since heard the same thing happened in Santa Cruz, with hundreds outside or sent to another location, remote from Farr's talk.]

Farr asked of those 275 in the Monterey auditorium how many had health care coverage they were happy with, and according to his oral response, 98% of the people responded (we could hear but not see what went on inside).

Those of us who were not effectively covered did not get a chance to be counted. Very misleading, when Farr's own handout mentioned 22% of people in Monterey County did not have healthcare coverage. That's a bit more than the 2%--which is what Farr saw--who have no coverage. Farr seemed quite happy with letting insurance companies continue, however, saying the regulations will prevent abuse.

The nastiness went on when questions were requested from the audience in the auditorium after Farr spoke. When someone began to say something in support of health care reform, the audience began immediately clapping and cheering, effectively drowning out the speaker's words. This went on while speakers who spoke on non-healthcare issues were allowed to go on and on quite audibly. Clapping also occurred but AFTER people spoke--not during-- about illegal immigrants, socialism, and welfare deadbeats and MediCare fraud.

After an hour of this, with such remarks by Farr as, "I had no idea there would be such a big turnout", I was ready to leave, as were the folks I came with. It was a sham. It was not democratic. It was a manufactured situation, and much worse than I'd expected from reading about the Tea Party manipulations. Not angry shouting but cheers and polite applause served the same purpose: to shut up supporters of reform and drown out their words.

Corruption abounds. My reading has shown some of the lawmakers on the five committees that have been primarily responsible for drafting comprehensive health-related proposals hold significant $$ in healthcare stock. In 2007, 54 current members of these committees had between $31 million and $57.9 million invested in health companies (including in health sector-targeted mutual funds). In 2008, that figure became a total of between $44.2 million and $93.9 million in stock as they declare in their personal financial statements.

These are significant investments our representatives have in pharmaceutical companies such as Pfizer, Merck, Bristol-Myers Squibb and Amgen; they are also invested in big-time insurers Aetna, UnitedHealth Group and Metlife. Whether they purchased the stocks or the shares were given to them hardly makes any difference: the result is the same--single payer universal healthcare doesn't have a chance with these guys.

This may be the opportunity that arises from crisis. If you attend one of these meetings, you can smell the corruption. It is awful. We have to attend to this with our eyes and ears open.