First – Fidel Castro has retired. Now he has been in the background of power for the past year, after handing over the reigns to his brother, so this may not make any real difference. According to Bush “The United States will help the people of Cuba realize the blessings of liberty.” Judging from Bush’s prior behavior I expect we will start bombing within the week. Read more at MyDD, Crooks and Liars, and News Hounds.

Secondly – Like America, Pakistan is ready for a change after 8 years of oppression and military rule. Nice to see real Democracy in action, and we didn’t even have to bomb them. I know that will sadden some people.

And lastly – Think Progress wrote yesterday that Bush wants to cut back our funding to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria from $841 million to $500 million. Worse yet he is billing this $341 million cut as in increase in funds because thats how Republican math works.

Thats all I have time for this morning.

It shows a certain disdain for the truth to lie about known events to make political points. It takes an absolute disregard for the truth to continue telling those lies after being called out for them. Yet that is exactly what Rudy Giuliani’s campaign has been doing while attacking the Democrats’ health care policies. Rudy has a radio ad out in New Hampshire where he makes the false claim that survival rates for prostate cancer are 82% here and only 44% under socialized medicine in England.

This statement has come under intense scrutiny because it is completely false. It is a bold faced lie meant to slander the Democrats and pander to the anti-children’s health care crowd. This by itself would not be a story, in fact I was so uninterested in writing about yet another Republican lie I have waited about 3 days to write this. Here is the thing, whether or not they new before that the numbers were wrong and misleading they absolutely know now. The Washington Post, MSNBC, The New York Times, FactCheck.org, and on and on have all voiced the truth. A New Hampshire Health care group, New Hampshire for Health Care, which represents more than 60,000 residents is even demanding the lying ad be taken down.

So here is the story in this that finally got me to write about it. Rudy Giuliani is refusing to take down the ad and continues to repeat the false numbers, even after being caught in the lie. The only possible reason for this is because they still think they can win political points using it. This baffled me at first because I didn’t see how telling a known lie, and being branded a liar, could possibly help in the polls. Then it occurred to me, it will help because the people he is pandering to do not care that he is lying to them.

For all their talk about “family values” and Christian morals the fundamentalist conservatives of this nation could care less that one of their top presidential candidates is lying to them. The only thing they care about is that they say the right things when they lie. You know that they hate the gays, that they don’t trust womenfolk to make their own medical decisions, and that socialized medicine is the devil. Crazy shit like that. Reality and facts are just momentary inconveniences that can be ignored whenever they become inconvenient.

It really bothers me that the Republican constituency is so unconcerned with honesty that this kind of behavior is acceptable from their candidates. This is the kind of issue that should become a campaign issue, you know like Barack Obama’s name, or Hillary’s cleavage, or Edwards’ haircut. Except unlike those three silly issues that got way too much media attention, the honesty and character of a candidate actually matters. Well, at least it does to the liberals. Honesty may not be a family value, but it is a liberal value, and we need to demand that our next president is someone we can trust.

At this point it seems that it is merely a partisan fight. They will not vote for something an overwhelming majority of Americans wants because the Republican leadership doesn’t want to go against the Republican president on such a big issue. An issue that is a bi partisan, majority supported bill for our frickin’ children!!!

Representative Tiahrt,

As a Kansan I have called every one of our Representatives, participated in several different vigils and rallies, and worked on my political blog to gain support for the SCHIP expansion. I was very disappointed to see that even after the revisions to the bill that addressed what your concerns were, you still voted against it in the last vote.

I have 5 children, will be working 3 jobs and my husband works 2. We are lucky that his main job offers us good insurance for our family. There was a time last year; however, that wasn’t the case. Now we have thousands of dollars in medical bills that piled up very quickly with the birth of our son and his subsequent illnesses. We made too much money to qualify for Healthwave and we couldn’t afford private insurance.

You are ignoring 81% of the US population that supports the SCHIP expansion, 71% of whom would support it even if it meant a tax increase. You see, even if our children aren’t important to you they are to us. Due to Republican leadership and corruption our health care system is seriously flawed. I had to pay $600 for my baby’s first check up and immunizations, something that is required by law but that we could not get assistance for.

I would like to know what your position is now for not voting for SCHIP. The revisions in the bill would phase out coverage for childless adults (most states don’t have this anyway) within one year, there would not be coverage for anyone making 3 times the federal poverty level, and it would require stricter checking of social security numbers.

Surely 35 billion dollars over 5 years is not too much money when it comes to protecting this nation’s children. After all, you and your party are only too happy throw billions more into the illegal Iraq war. Are the deaths of our soldiers and innocent Iraqis worth more to you than the lives of our children?

The United States is second only to Latvia for the highest infant mortality rate in modern countries. It is time to listen to your constituents and stop blindly following the failed leadership of George Bush and do what is right.

I thank you for your time and look forward to your response.

Summer R. Ludwig

Namely it will not allow coverage to families who make more than 3 times the federal poverty line, it would phase out coverage to young childless couples over a one year period (some states offer this, not all), and require stricter checking of applicant’s social security numbers.

“This is a clarification of the legislation” stated Nancy Pelosi. Pelosi denied requests from moderate Republicans for more time before the vote, which is scheduled for today, in order to try and get more supporters from their conservative partners.

The bill will almost certainly pass a majority vote before going on to get vetoed by our obstinate president. The changes made to the bill address his concerns except that the money is still coming from a cigarette tax which he opposes. Let’s hope that this time our Representatives will be able to override the veto and get the protection in place that our children deserve.

Mike Viqueira, NBC News’ reporter, has seen a lot of anger in the House Republicans who feel that these changes might just cause enough Republicans to deflect and actually support America’s children. The changes are specifically targeted to 38 Republicans who supported the veto and then wrote a letter detailing their concerns. The bill’s supporters are certain that these concerns are addressed now in the new legislation.

This just may mean success, now that their “legitimate” concerns have been addressed it will be harder for them to refuse to listen to a majority of American citizens, their constituents, without seriously damaging their opportunity for reelection. My fingers are crossed.

“We’re gonna hold candles and make George Bush say he’s sorry.”

“What should he apologize for?” I asked bemused at his answer.

“He doesn’t want all the kids to go to the doctor and get shots and be healthy every day.”

At this point his 5 year old sister chimed it, “It’s because he’s wrong, he thinks kids don’t want to go to the doctor but they really really do. Maybe he just needs a hug and a time out.”

To set the stage a little we do explain in child friendly age appropriate terms what is going on in our country, especially if it impacts them or someone close to them. We try very hard to present facts and not to indoctrinate them into our personal beliefs. We encourage critical thinking, asking questions, and being able to come up with your own ideas on things.

I’m usually pretty amazed at the way the kids, especially the younger ones, grasp things. They are very caring and at times inform others of their opinions. Tonight we ran by the store to buy candles and our daughter was chatting up everyone she could about the importance of the “candle virgil” and how “George Bush said ‘no healthy surance!’”

This enthusiasm and genuine empathy for others is something that I wished people never lost. If we could just see things through the eyes of a child more often perhaps we would be better off.

The vigil was wonderful, all the kids there did an awesome job and should be an inspiration to us adults. Our daughter did scare one little girl with the statement, “kids need healthy surance so they can get shots!” but overall it was great. Oh, and if anyone sees a chalk drawing on the sidewalk outside of the capital building that looks an awful lot like a part of the male anatomy, my son assures me it is a snail going to the doctor. I guess he has “healthy surance”.

If you haven’t already please contact your Representatives and urge them to override the president’s veto on SCHIP. You can find the contact info HERE.

He did agree with some other conservatives that this could be a stepping stone toward Universal Healthcare and that was not acceptable to him or the president. When these arguments were refuted, fairly well, by Rangel who pointed out that this was an offer of insurance, not healtcare, that it would cover 10 million children in america, and that they have been in ongoing negotiations with the White House as their first request was for 50 billion dollars and not the 35 billion dollars they have worked it down to. He explained that by dropping the figure lower they would lose coverage for over 1 million children. Rangel asserted that it is the White House who is not willing to work with Congress on a bipartisan bill supported by the majority of American citizens.

I immediately thought ahead wondering what the rebuttal would be from Putnam. Imagine my anger when this is what spewed from his smarmy mouth. “This is a telling statement that he’s more interested in playing political games than compromising.” WTF? That “statement” had never been uttered by Mr. Rangel, in fact he had just explained the negotiations that were still taking place.

In addition to flat out deceit, Putnam bolstered his position by saying that 2 million children would be covered by SCHIP who already have private insurance. He is very opposed to taking children away from private insurance. Remember, SCHIP will aid families who make too much for Medicaid assistance but too little for private health insurance. For those families that have sacrificed to secure private health insurance at exorbitant rates, this would be a huge assistance. This would free up money for them to get groceries, pay bills, etc. and still have peace of mind that their kids’ medical needs will be met.

It does not sound to me like the Republicans are the party for average, working America. This is something that Democrats have known for a long time, maybe something like this will motivate America to demand that their government listen to them, to demand the Republican party and this administration be accountable to their constituents. America deserves much more than rhetorical games to explain why our government; which is to rule for the people, is ignoring our plain wishes on nearly every major issue. As of yesterday morning the House was about 15-20 votes shy of the amount needed to override the veto. Please go HERE and write your representative, let them know that you support health insurance coverage for children in America.