No Health Care for Low-Income Kids

The House GOP stood united today. Not one of them defected and changed their vote, meaning that the House was unable to come up with the necessary two-thirds required to overturn Bush's veto (the only one of his presidency) of S-CHIP. See the roll call to find who voted for and against.

More Deja-Vu: Yet Another Resignation

My head is spinning (see last night's post about Alberto Gonzales and his Top Ten Moments of Ridiculousness). Yesterday was also Tony Snow's last day as White House spokesman. Who knew? Extreme Mortman has posted the Top Ten Tony Snow Exchanges With Helen Thomas.

Gone-zales Redux

This was so under the radar that I didn't even realize until now that today was Alberto Gonzales' last day as attorney general. To commemorate the occasion, check out the devastating compilation on Talking Points Memo of the Top 10 Moments of Alberto Gonzales Ridiculousness. It is such a pathetic display (rather like watching a wounded animal gnaw its own limb off in slow motion) I was barely able to stomach it.

Anyone want to place bets on a possible AG replacement? Chertoff? Poindexter? Ted Olsen? Can't imagine which of those three would be scarier, yet in the bizarro world we are living in, these are real possibilities.

Ron Paul at the Fox Republican Debate 9/05/07

As a side note: It is a surreal experience watching Chris Wallace and Brit Hume "moderate" this "debate." Their voices practically drip with sarcasm and condecension when addressing questions to Ron Paul. Also, you can't see who it is, but notice that some of the Fox questioners (or is it the other candidates?) begin snickering and cackling inanely into live microphones every time Rep. Paul is asked a question. Journalists, or propagandists? You decide.

Wonkosphere

I am absolutely exhausted and brain dead, having been up since 4:30 in the morning. Was it the full moon? The first day of school for DD#1? Stress about how to handle the coming weeks? The nanny who never came back from vacation? I don't know, but I did want to take a moment in between getting the kids to bed and before losing consciousness myself to link to an interesting site I stumbled upon earlier today called Wonkosphere. The site describes itself as "your listening post for the 2008 presidential election." It also has a nice blog. Genuinely non-partisan, they update every four hours with all kinds of info on all the Republican and Democratic candidates, from the so-called "first tier" establishment candidates (Obama, Giuliani, and Hillary) to those who have no chance whatsoever (John McCain) to those the mainstream media all but ignore (Ron Paul, Dennis Kucinich, and Mike Gravel), giving equal weight to all, although, of course, I found no reference to any third-party or independent candidates.

Gone-zales

I will post more on this later, but just wanted to quickly note my favorite reaction to the long overdue resignation of AG Alberto Gonzales. This, from Rep. Rahm Emmanuel (D-IL): "Alberto Gonzales is the first attorney general who thought the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth were three different things."

Russia Goes Ga-Ga for Topless Putin

Russian president Vladimir Putin made headlines around the world yesterday after he stripped off his shirt for photographers while on holiday in the Siberian mountains.

Is this a new trend for world leaders? Perhaps 54-year-old Putin was trying to show he is just as macho as French president Nicolas Sarkozy, who recently posed topless for the paparazzi while vacationing in the U.S. But Kremlin watchers are abuzz trying to guess just what sort of political message the pictures, which have been prominently displayed on the Kremlin website, might send. There has been speculation that the images of a vigorous healthy president are meant to appeal to voters, to enhance Putin's image in case he decides not to relinquish power at the end of his current term, as he is constitutionally required to do. Reportedly, Russian gay chat rooms and blogs have said that the pictures represent a plea for greater tolerance of homosexuality in Russia (say what?).

You have to admit he doesn't look that bad topless. While this must be driving W crazy, I am only grateful that I've never seen a photo of Bush or Cheney without their shirts on. And hopefully never will.

Billions for War, No Health Care for Children

The Bush administration has just adopted new rules making it much more difficult for states to provide health care insurance to children of "middle-income" families. According to the government, if you are a family of four making over $20,560, you are officially not living in poverty. What century are they living in? I guess when your lame-duck presidency is imploding and you're busy killing, maiming, and torturing tens of thousands of people in an unpopular war halfway around the world, now is about as good a time as any to finally toss that mask of compassionate conservatism aside once and for all.

Rove Resigns

When I woke up this morning and logged on to my computer the first headline to filter its way into my groggy brain was the one about Karl Rove deciding to resign from the White House "for the sake" of his family. Paul Gigot has the interview in the Wall Street Journal. I don't know about you, but I've been getting tired of hearing that same old lame excuse -- spending more time with the family -- being trotted out by the ever-lengthening list of resigning Bush administration officials. I was surprised to see this, though, as on the surface it seems like it would now be even more difficult for Bush to claim executive privilege in order to keep Rove from testifying in any number of investigations into this administration's wrongdoings. Obviously I need to think this through a bit more, but it seems to me that spending more time with his family (his son is away at college) can't be the real reason for Rove's departure. I think everyone knows by now that nothing anyone in this gang of "Mayberry Machiavellis" says can be taken at face value. Any thoughts?

Sicko

It's not a coincidence that I'm thinking of this film today because I'm home from work sick. This is the first time in years that I am getting paid to be home sick because in February I acceped a job that provides health insurance coverage for me and my family. It had been more than ten years since I've been in that position (having health care through my work), although I worked nearly all of that time.

I saw Sicko, Michael Moore's scathing documentary about the U.S. health care system, a few weeks back, and like most viewers, my initial reactions were of outrage and frustration. I've seen all of Michael Moore's films, and in my opinion this is his best. For one thing, he doesn't insert his usual gadfly self into the story as much as he has in past films, and this allows his story to unfold. Yes, his presentations of the English, French, and Cuban health care systems are one-sided, but so what? This is what makes a compelling documentary. I was particularly piqued to learn that in France new mothers are treated to a government-sponsored (free) nanny who comes to your house and helps with cooking, laundry, and looking after the new baby. That is in stark contrast to what new mothers in this country go through, often overwhelmed, in isolation and with only six weeks maternity leave. When the new moms in France are ready to return to work, they can rely upon high-quality child care that costs roughly the equivalent of about a dollar an hour. All French workers receive unlimited sick days.

It has only been in the last six months that my family has had employer-provided health coverage. For the previous several years we paid for a very basic plan that fell short of what we needed when our second daughter was born with health problems. The out-of-pocket cost of even minimal coverage for a family of four is prohibitive. Like many Americans we have been forced to reevaluate job and career options through this lens.

This is one of the most entrenched problems facing this country, one that none of the presidential candidates have addressed in a satsifying way. However, if only because the costs to corporations for providing their employees with health coverage are so exorbitant that it makes them less competitive in the global marketplace, I remain hopeful that in the not-too-distant future we will begin to see at least some reform on this issue.

Ron Paul Destroys All GOP Candidates in Straw Poll

This poll mirrors the same results of every single Republican post-debate poll that I've seen to date:

http://www.freedomworks.org/strawpoll/

So why does the mainstream media continue to utterly ignore the existence of the congressman from Texas and presidential candidate? Could it be because Ron Paul (R-Texas) is the only Republican candidate advocating a complete and immediate withdrawal from Iraq? Just asking.