Bush Threatens Veto of Kid's Health Bill - Tough Guy or Heartless Bastard?

Having spent several weeks trying to find affordable health insurance for myself, I understand exactly how hard it is to find it for kids, especially if you are a family with a low income. Having health insurance means the difference between living and dying for some children and right now President Bush has decided, (he is the Decider you know) that the kids are just not worth it. He has threatened to veto the bill that would extend and expand the Children’s Health Insurance Program, a federal/state program that subsidies insurance for low-income families kids.

This bill has bipartisan support, yet Bush, the tool of the insurance companies and any other big business who has bucks, wants to veto it. If he does, money will run out for many kids and that will directly affect their health and possibly their lives. Sad to say in this country if you have money you live and if you are poor you die, it’s that simple.

Don’t believe me? Well I have a friend who is struggling with liver failure right now. Because he is indigent, he is last on the list for a transplant, and the doctors are just treating his symptoms, not the cause of the problem. Why? He doesn’t have health insurance, so they are treating him on the cheap. I fear the result may be his eventual demise before a transplant becomes available. If he was rich, he would be at the top of the list.

So go on Mr. Decider, veto that bill and watch some poor kids die for lack of affordable health care. It won’t bother you, since you have the best government sponsored health care money can buy. Secure you legacy as a tough guy who never gave in to a Democratically controlled Congress. You will be securing your legacy as the most heartless bastard in the world as well. Of course that won’t bother you, you already have sent thousands of Americans to their deaths fighting your oil war and boosting the profits of companies like Blackwater and Halliburton. How do you sleep at night Mr. Bush?

More Poisoned Chinese Goods - Kids Lunchboxes This Time!

Here’s a surprise, another product for children from China with unsafe levels of lead! This time it’s children’s lunch boxes, and they were bought by the State of California to give to school kids to encourage them to have healthy meals. Now 56,000 of them are being recalled because they are not so healthy.

This is getting to be almost humorous, the number of products being recalled made in China is astounding and I can only imagine it will get worse. In the interest of profit, companies here and elsewhere are buying things that are made without any quality control or regulation. Sure China has tough consumer protection laws, but they do nothing to enforce them. They are put in place to provide deniability for buyers.

Personally, I have started looking closely at everything I buy and if at all possible I will avoid Chinese made goods at all costs. When it comes to electronics that’s just about impossible, but I expect a wave of recalled high-tech products any day. Eventually big business will remember the old adage, “the bitter taste of poor quality lingers long after the sweet smell of low price”.

The Delusional Ann Coulter is at it Again!

Sometimes Ann Coulter is so wacko she almost seems laughable. The key word there is “almost”. In a commentary on the Patraeus testimony she characterized the Democrats in congress saying, “They want us to lose, they hate the troops, they think the troops are a bunch of illiterate toothless rapists.”

The fact that she creates this crap out of whole cloth is not my problem, the fact that she must lie in order to support her points is my problem. I have long considered Coulter as the Weekly World News of TV punditry, but sometimes she just goes way too far. The fact the Fox News even gives her time on the air speaks volumes about their integrity, and if anyone had any doubts that Fox is simply a GOP propaganda machine, I simply point to Ann Coulter.

Personally, I think she has some deep seated psychological problems. I suspect she is a racist who reflects her own racism on her opponents and that is a real warning sign of a delusional personality. Why she manages to sell books and get air time can only be chalked up to a terrific marketing team and a lot of folks who are using this poor delusional woman to sell their propaganda.

You can catch a snippet of her rant in the latest from Brave New Films.

Bush Links Saddam to Mandela's Death - Maybe Someone Should Tell Him Mandela is Alive!

This clip from ThinkProgress.org shows what an embarrassment we have for a president. He tries to connect Saddam Hussein with Nelson Mandela, who he apparently thinks is dead. If this weren't so absolutely astounding I would have just figured it was another Bushism, but come on. It's time to turn this guy out of office. Impeach Bush now and save our country and its reputation.

Fox Lying About Censoring Field's Speech

Fox News is lying again, not surprisingly. They claimed they cut Sally Fields speech at the Emmy's off because she used the words "god damned", however that epithet occurs often on Fox with no censorship at all. The context is everything for Fox, and obviously they wanted to censor Sally's anti-war sentiments. Watch this short video from Brave New Films that illustrates the problem.

Paul Krugman's New Blog - Conscience of a Liberal

Paul Krugman's blog is now available for free on the NY Times web site. Krugman's first piece gives a great explanation of what is happening in our country and why the middle class is being decimated. Check it out!

Gay Pride Parade in Dallas - Ignored by Local Newspaper

Sunday saw the annual Alan Ross Freedom Parade in Dallas. This event grew out of the Gay Pride Parades of the 1980’s and has become a really large event. I usually march with the National Leather Association- Dallas Chapter or my church, Cathedral of Hope. Though September is not really Gay Pride in any other city, for Dallas it is, and the parade is always well attended.

As I drove our float ( I have long given up walking the mile and a half route) down Cedar Springs, I was impressed with the diversity and size of the crowd. Tens of thousands of people of all races and nationalities, ages and sexes were lining the streets cheering and having a great time. The Mayor of Dallas, Tom Leppert was in the lead as has become a tradition since Mayor Laura Miller. There were a variety of elected officials riding in the parade as well as over 90 entries from floats to equestrian groups. All in all it was sweaty, but really a great event.

Here is the problem. The local paper, The Dallas Morning News, had absolutely no coverage of the event. They cover the St. Patrick’s Day parade on lower Greenville Ave, as well as almost every other local event, why not the Gay Pride Parade? I suspect this shows just how conservative and Republican the newspaper is. In typical GOP fashion they figure if you ignore something it will go away. They are wrong! Long after the Dallas Morning News has faded into oblivion like many other newspapers, there will still be a Gay Pride Parade. Their purposeful omission is one reason why their readership is dropping and why they are making themselves irrelevant to the local community. The paper is out of step with Dallas. We are more and more a Democratic city and the newspaper is refusing to recognize it.

Russia Cautions Sanctions Against Iran

The push toward some kind of action against Iran and its nuclear program hit another speed bump last week. Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov warned the French to exercise caution in considering the use of unilateral sanctions against Iran. Al Jazeera reported that Bernard Kouchner, French foreign minister, recently stated that the world should prepare for a possible war with Iran.

This talk of war with Iran seems to fit in with the more hawkish members of the US Congress and the Bush administrations threatening words to Iran. Strange how the French, once characterized as “cheese eating surrender monkeys” are now hawks lined up with the Bush administration.

Red State Blues

Had to share this with everyone. Very funny and true. Thanks to the folks at "Hope for Peace and Justice", doing a great job of carrying the message that not all Christians are bigots.

Fox Censors Emmy Awards For Political Reasons

I am not a big fan of award show, so I guess that might mean I have to turn in my Gay Card, but at last nights Emmy Awards there was a notable speech. Sally Field won an Emmy for her role in "Brothers & Sisters". During her acceptance speech she gave credit to all her collaborators and then made a political statement about the mothers who wait at home for their sons and daughters to come home from war. Her speech ended with this phrase, "If mothers ruled the world, there would be no god-damned wars in the first place.” However Fox cut the last words leaving silence, then returned as the audience was applauding. Their obvious censoring of a political statement is typical Fox, but this is the first time it has drifted into their entertainment division.

I smell a trend, so watch out Simpsons and every other Fox show!