There's an old adage that goes: "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me."

If Verizon gets the go-ahead to proceed with its planned $8.6 billion sale of its landline systems in 14 states to Frontier Communications, then it’s shame on all of us.

As we report in this issue, in every instance the telecom giant has sold off a section of its more rural system to a smaller company, it’s been a disaster for both our members and both business and residential consumers.

A year after Verizon’s sale of its northern New England operations to FairPoint, a small and underfunded carrier, FairPoint is on the verge of bankruptcy, leaving angry customers and our members stuck, while the same public commissions that approved the sale are asking how this happened. And the FairPoint executives who engineered this disastrous sale? At least three of them landed safely with golden parachutes while the rest of us are left to deal with the mess they created.

I don’t take any particular comfort in saying, "We told you so." I'd rather see political, business and community leaders take to heart the lessons of history.

We can’t expect companies like Verizon not to sell its operations in more remote parts of the country to lessen its debt load and focus on big-money urban markets. And we can't hope that the executives of the purchasing telecoms won’t be tempted to take the money and run during the post-sale bubble that inevitably precedes the crash. But we can demand that federal and state regulators do their jobs and look out for the public interest. It's time for an end to the type of corporate deal making that got us into the current painful recession.

We are going to let regulators and public officials know that customers and telecommunication workers aren’t about to get fooled again.

As Congress considers whether to make major reforms in America’s health care insurance system, media attention has focused on town hall meetings where elected representatives have been shouted down and disrupted even before they can explain their positions on proposed legislation.

I’m all for passionate debate, but citizens and leaders alike need to base our decisions on facts.

Too many citizens are denied insurance by private carriers because of pre-existing health conditions, raising the premiums both on employers who offer insurance and individuals who are fortunate enough to still have coverage. A growing number of Americans are being forced into bankruptcy because of medical costs. At the bargaining table, local unions are under increasing pressure to agree to higher deductibles and co-pays.

One of the solutions proposed to bring down the costs of health care is a public, government-sponsored insurance option that would provide competition for insurance companies and lower costs in the private market. Unfortunately, the public option has been unfairly branded by opponents of real health care reform—including highly profitable insurance companies— as "socialized medicine," which will lead to the collapse of private insurance. And they’re slandering Canada’s health care system in the process.

None of the three major health reform bills in Congress calls for "socialized" medicine. I agree with the Maryland activist who was reported as saying that predictions that a public option will put private insurers out of business are no more accurate than saying that public libraries will drive private bookstore chains into bankruptcy.

Shutting down health care reform would hurt a lot of working families. But it just might help big insurance companies that profit from the current system. Some of those companies are spending millions of dollars in advertising to spread untruths about the need for health care reform.

As trade unionists, we need to be just as passionate and active on health care reform as are those who twist the facts to protect their vested interest in the status quo.