New SCHIP Video: Bethany's Story
By Logan Murphy Monday Oct 15, 2007 8:38am(h/t BillW)
As the Right Wing's War on Children's Health Care continues to blow up in their faces, the pressure on Congress to override President Bush's veto on SCHIP becomes more intense. In this video we meet Bethany Wilkerson, who is alive today only because of the SCHIP program. After the brutal attacks on the Frost family, the Wilkersons are ready for what will likely be in store for them from the right-wing hate machine.
"We rent a house, we have one car that is a junker. Let them dig away," Bo Wilkerson said. "I have $67 in my checking account. Does that answer your question?"
UPDATE: (Nicole) And as predictable as ever, here comes the smearers. At least unwilling to be so low and disgusting as to go after a sick child, Mark Hemingway at the NRO called Bethany's parents "the real poster children -- for irresponsible decisions."
On the conference call, Dara admitted to me that she and Brian had been talking about having children since before they were married. She further admitted that after they were married she voluntarily left a job at a country club that had good health insurance, because the situation was "unmanageable." From there she took a job at a restaurant with no health insurance, and the couple went on to have a baby anyway, presuming that others would pay for it and certainly long before they knew their daughter would have heart defect that probably cost the gross national product of Burkina Faso to fix. But not knowing about future health problems is the reason we have insurance in the first place.
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Oh god, she's so cute!
If the right goes after this family they are most likely going to say the mom and dad need to get like twelve jobs each. Of course they aren't going to mention the cost of child care etc.
How the hell can we not afford to help her and the many others? We must!
Good ad! I especially like the comparison between one week in Iraq and children's health care.
Que rightwing attack in 3....2....1....And you know it will happen.
Oh I like this! So you have a problem with the bona-fides of a particular SCHIP recipient, well here's another, and another, and another. Let us know when you've seen enough.
So what happens when one family after another stands up for their children and risks being attacked by the right wing? Will Malkin et al be able to keep up? Will Limbaugh be RUSHED to the hospital with an annurism? Will Bill LIE about his income to get health care?
A flood of people clammoring for justice will turn these nasty attack dogs into has beens.
IgnoranceIsNotBliss @ 3:
Then why let up?
I drove by their house, talked to their neighbors and called their doctor. Those parents still have 2 kidneys. Each! If they haven't sold one yet, they shouldn't be asking for a hand out!
Love and kisses,
Michelle
Blow up in the right wings' faces? No, no how could that be? Why, I heard John Roberts on CNN saying the Democrats should have "vetted" the Frost story more.
(I sent a more explicit version of: If John Roberts would unplug his face from Mitch McConnell's (R-Tobacco) anatomy he'd be in a better position to report the news.)
I can see it already: The Wilkersons' trip to Washington from Florida proves that their story isn't what it seems to be - they should stay put.
Again, in conservative-world - if you're not completely destitute, you're not deserving.
If someone could figure out how to end this fu*king war one week earlier than planned this program could be financed. Of course if this fu*king war had never been started by the insane in Washington, financing this program wouldn't even have to be discussed.
The insanity of everything right now is just too much to comprehend.
The righties love giving another 92 million to Erik Prince but not a dime to kids with cancer or were in car accidents
This is what is needed to battle the reichwing smear machine: More courageous people who are willing to step forward and say to Malkin, Limbaugh, et al - "Bring it on, bitches!" They can't smear everybody - though that doesn't mean they won't try.
good to see normal families are willing to stand up to the right wing and its attack dogs. Shame congress hasn't shown the same spine.
You'd think they would try to be a little less obvious about how much they hate the poor and how much they hate using tax money for what it was intended for.
Do you get that the populace is financing an endless conservotard kegger yet? And no one else is invited.
“We rent a house, we have one car that is a junker. Let them dig away,” Bo Wilkerson said. “I have $67 in my checking account. Does that answer your question?”
Okay so the wingnuts will accuse them of alcoholism, drug addiction and all sorts of other nefarious deeds. Watch.
Dr. Squid @ 9:
And in a conservative world, if you ARE completely destitute, then you're just lazy and not deserving of help either.
Why oh WHY does the right hate the born?!?!
Dr. Squid @ 9:
Correction -
In conservative world - If your not a multi-national corporation, you're not deserving.
Dr. Squid @ 9:
And if you are completely destitute you deserve it!
It may "blow up" in their faces, but it still won't override a veto....which is the point, remember?
Charles @ 2:
Just what I was thinking. Very effective.
Every time that adorable girl is seen on TV, another goopers political career goes up in flames.
If a veto override on this is successful, maybe Congress will grow a pair and start pressuring the ReThugs to help them override everything Bush is currently threatening to veto (i. e. the Federal Budget).
He's going to pull a "Newt Gingrich" and shut down the government if he doesn't get a spending bill from Congress that has everything he wants, including the kitchen sink.
I say let him. He will drive that ReThug wurlitzer over the cliff and take most of the ReThugs with him before 2008. It's being reported here: http://www.firedoglake.com that Kay Bailey Hutchinson is not seeking re-election next year.
How many ReThugs in both Houses of Congress does that make - those choosing not to run for re-election next year, and bail out before they get slung under the juggernaut which is GeeShrubya?
He is virtually guaranteeing a Democrat gets the White House next year. Problem is, will it be a True Democrat, or a better one than what's currently being offered?
I think the ad is effective. It also puts the argument in perspective. President Bush is willing to spend billions of dollars on an abstract and unpopular war thousands of miles from home. He's willing to put American soldiers and our country at risk.
Yet he isn't willing to help children. What could be more clear than that?
Every parent should be outraged.
xoites defends Constitution @ 6:
I'm not suggesting that we let up. I'm suggesting we get ready for it and hit them again and again until they are so outraged that their little pointed heads explode.
It was said in an earlier thread but bears constant repetition. Republicans are not pro life.
Pro war.
Pro punishment.
Pro torture.
Pro death.
But never pro life.
We need a family from each hometown of the Representatives and Senators that voted against the Schip and make a commercial. I'm sure once these commercials start showing there constituents will be letting them know who is boss.
Gee wiz...what a bunch of worthless, slackers, sucking up all the good blood from the hard working, god-fearing American righteous right! Don't these darned socialists know that they need to sell everything they own, wander the streets naked, work 87.5 jobs/day before ever, ever asking for governmental assistance? I mean that (whore) Michelle Malkin would, right? As would Rush Limbaugh (except when he is trying to purchase the necessary drugs in order to get some wood, if you know what I mean...)
Heil Bush!
IgnoranceIsNotBliss @ 25:
I agree. I would love to see the headline:
PINHEAD EXPLOSION ROCKS US
Hey, you know what'd be funny...if the Wilkersons were attacked by the right for "irresponsibly putting their child in the public eye."
Some group like moveon should buy an ad in the hometown paper of each senator who votes against schip. The ad should name the senator, show his or her photo and then show a photo of this little girl. It should read something like, Senator ____ doesn't want Bethany to get the medical help she needs. He/she thinks the money would be better spent to pay for the war.
I can pretty much imagine these bastards' reaction:
"do you want the terrorists to win?", "do you want out country to lose"?, "do you want Toyota to take over the US"?.........or do you want to help this kid?"
"whose side are you???!!!!!!!!!" (add maniac grin and foam coming from their mouths for enhanced dramatic effect)
So we have the right wing dancing on both sides of an issue. WOMEN who can't afford to have children and get pregnant can't get an abortion...but if they have that child and need help paying for their insurance then they are being irresponsible.
So again, which ever favors the view they are trying to spew out there, they agree with, at the time they are trying to spew a view. Golly gee moses me...just like the republicans don't know what the hell they are doing. No wonder this country is in a mess.
If Congress pases SCHIP then the socilists and terorists win. An economically, educationally and emotionally impoverished populace is the only bulwark against terorists and there socilists friends.
a thousand people would love to tell their own stories publically. schip has helped lots of kids and parents.
my daughter has schip for her son...our boy:) he's never been badly hurt or sick (knock wood, thank gods) but when he hurt his ankle and another time when he had a odd looking rash, she was able to take him to the doctor without calling me first to get the money for it....she only does that when she gets sick.
the big injuries happen to lots of people but there is the everyday owwie that needs treatment too--splinters, rashes, sprains and broken arms. when my siblings and i were kids, unless one of us was very very ill we were home treated. a credit to my poor mother but there is no need for kids and parents to struggle first with curing your baby then knowing that when the bills come in you won't be able to get new tires for the car this winter, maybe have a really small christmas--never mind not going to the movies, shopping or a vacation. vacation? what is this vacation you speak of?
"We know SCHIP works...Why doesn't George Bush?"
Oh, maybe because he's a spoiled, meglomaniacal, half-witted sociopath.
Hmmm. YA THINK?
Gotugye @ 34:
Is this a spoof??? Cuz if it is...its a doozy. Love the dropped consonants and misspellings. Why you'd think an "educationally impoverished" idiot wrote it. Good work.
That girl successfully made it out of the womb and at this point is just a drag on the economy. Those liberal "child-nazis" never produce wealth, only look for a hand out. Also, she's probably faking that disease.
Sincerly,
Rush Limbaugh
How fing pathetic and despicable. Reich-wingers are a perverse, disgusting, and vile crowd. They hate the fact that SCHIP works and it saves lives. Reich-wingers only care about war and clumps of in utero cells.
Johnny2Bad @ 37:
My sarcasm detector blew up when I processed the original post. You may need to upgrade your version.
Johnny2Bad @ 37:
redratio1 @ 20:
It's only going to sink your reich-wing party further into the minority....which is the point, remember?
Does the right wing know they are inadvertently making an argument for abortion rights? The only good children are the ones planned for and wanted, right?
Reich-wingers only believe in the sanctity and protection of "life" from conception to birth. After that, you're on your own suckers.
So do the Republicans think parents-to-be should be means tested? Mark Hemingway doesn't say that, but it sure is implied.
Huh, I thought the Right Wing is pro life and Pro Family!?
Go Figure..
Shorter Mark Hemingway:
"Poor people should be sterilized."
jr @ 11:
I have 92 million for Erik Prince. 92 MILLION FUCKING YEARS IN PRISON!
Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout @ 42:
That would require thinking things through. Not a hallmark of right-wingers. They only live for the gotcha moments.
Why do all these kids think they deserve help? I want our tax dollar$ going to Iraq so I can afford to buy gasoline made from our oil that happens to be in Iraq. I want our tax dollar$ lining the pockets of big oil. I want our tax dollar$ going to pharmaceutical CEOs for bonuses. Where do these kids get off asking for medical help? Their lucky to be living in America.
I wonder if these drooling, goose-stepping poltroons can even remember the time they once possessed any humanity?
Are they serious? That's the most disgraceful thing I've ever read.
The parents made "irresponsible" decisions. Therefore, their child must die. Good argument. Obviously, it's the Christian thing to do.
I suppose that Mark Hemingway thinks that she should have had an abortion...no, that can't be right, he's pro-life, right?
"... she voluntarily left a job at a country club that had good health insurance, because the situation was “unmanageable.”"
Fuck, I'm so glad to be a Canadian. I was free to leave a job situation last year that was "unmanageable" - i.e., my manager was an out-of-control coke-addict egomaniac whose behaviour was driving me toward a nervous breakdown and/or a violent offence - and not worry about health insurance as US residents always must.
It's amazing to me that so many Yankees think it's acceptable that people must choose between jobs that are killing them but have health insurance, and breaking away but taking employment that doesn't have a benefits plan to protect their family from health-related financial catastrophe. Some people really do think it's OK for people to be captives to their employers like that.
I know there are conservatives who think that way in Canada, but at least they aren't (yet) changing my country to fit their twisted ideals. Or so it seems.
That's an incredibly effective political statement in support of socialized medicine.
I view this whole SCHIP discussion as a real positive, including Bush's veto of it. Finally, all the stories of how really out-of-reach health care is for us regular, middle class folks are beginning to pour out of us and into our collective knowledge. It started with Moore's Sicko, and now the SCHIP debate.
It's beginning to look more and more as if socialized health care is on the horizon for Americans. When we finally get it, a huge burden will have been lifted off the backs of our bedrock communities and our workforce, and we will finally have joined with the other modern nations that don't consider it to be civilized when its citizenry can't afford health care.
meanwhile, david brooks opens today's column with a bit about a repubbb representative's cancer-ridden daughter who recently died.
but how many times did brooks call out the rabid rightists who were piling on frost? in fact, how many times did brooks mention the frosts in his oct. 12 column on the s-chip debate?
uh, that would be zero.
The rethug mantra: it's okay to trash Democrats kids. Our kids all pay for their health insurance. Yeh, right!
I would love to see the statistics on what states get the most S CHIP money. I am willing to wager it is the red states. How about it? Where can we get those statistics?
When health care is so expensive, and insurance is so hard to get, that a parent can't change jobs, go back to school, move to a different town, stay home to take care of the kids - when all of your life decisions are dictated by fear of losing your health insurance - that in itself is an argument for a national health plan.
That is the health care industry standing in the way of our constitutionally protected right to pursuit of happiness. It is health care slavery.
jgr4 @ 59:
It's not doing just that: it's standing between us and an effective 21st century economy.
This has gotten so absurd that it has become a parlor game now.
Say anything that threatens Bush's actions, get personally attacked. Face it -- anyone -- yes, ANYONE can be made out to be irresponsible. And they will do it.
It is funny to me now. The right-wing loons are SO sick.
See, the "right" wins either way. The Frosts are "rich" and abusing the system and the Wilkersons are irresponsibly poor. It's their fault that they are poor.
The fact is, the right doesn't want this program EVEN TO HELP POOR FAMILIES. They hate all government programs, ESPECIALLY if it helps the underprivaledged.
This is their strength when talking to their base, a small minority of Americans. But it is their utter weakness when talking to the rest of America - the rest of America knows that not everyone can be rich. We know that America is the "land of opportunity" but not everyone can and will achieve the "American dream." Some people will be janitors, minimum wage workers, or hourly salary workers and not everyone can be a CEO.
The right pretends that it is your "fault" if you are an auto mechanic and not a mid-level manager with a 401k. The rest of America knows better. Let the right trash the Frosts and Wilkersons. They just expose ther ignorance of how America really works everytime they open up their mouths.
Max Power @ 55:
Precisely. The right believes that only the rich have the right to be happy in their workplaces. If you are poor, you have to stay at a shitty job and live a miserable life just to maintain health insurance.
This is EXACTLY one of the best arguments for single payer health insurance!! It's NOT tied to your employment! So a mother can chose a career that is right for her and her family AND have health insurance all at the same time.
Reject these false dichotomies the right sets up - you don't have to choose between a decent job OR health insurance. We should demand the ability to have both.
So basically the wingnuts think that we should be prisoners to intolerable work environments so that we have health insurance. Very nice. I'm sure that would have made pregnancy much, much easier. Oh, that's right, stress has no actual effects, I totally forgot. Honestly, I had to take my current job because of my need for insurance--and I'm lucky in that it is a good job, but it's only temporary, and in August I have to go searching again. I'm now uninsurable as an individual because of my use of said insurance in the past, and I'm certain that had they used their work insurance plan for Bethany's heart condition, she would have been trapped in that job for eternity, and her bosses would have known it.
What health insurance has become is a form of "soft" indentured servitude--a weapon used to limit the movement of people and the pursuit of happiness guaranteed us in our nation's founding documents. A worker can be maltreated, underpaid, or otherwise threatened with termination, with their sick child or own medical needs used as a weapon for the capricious egos and money hunger of the highers-up. It's disgusting.
For Diogenes at 58, California and Illinois appear to get the most in 2006, but Tennessee has no funding at the state or federal level!
http://www.statehealthfacts.org/profileind.jsp?ind=235&cat=4&rgn=1
The White House, with the support of many conservative commentators, has endorsed passage of the S-Chump bill that would forgive privileged individuals and corporations for making irresponsible decisions at the behest of the President. The new bill was inspired by the terrible ordeal suffered by Scooter Libby, after he irresponsibly decided to break the law by lying to federal investigators. The S-Chump bill would provide insurance against legal action for communications companies that may have violated the law. Critic complain that the bill so will exploit the generosities of hard-working tax payers and could lead to the decline in the value of accountability.
Dr. Matt @ 39:
Better check it again...it didn't seem to get catch mine.
Dr. Matt @ 41:
Ummmmmm, I'm not a Republican. But thanks for the insult...
The question is: What is the backup plan come Thursday's vote failure?
So because her parents may not be perfect, deny her health care? Is that their message?
MN USA @ 68:
Partly. The message is also that the working class must put up with any shit whatsoever to get its health insurance. Notice how Bethany's mom is blamed for the situation because she left a miserable job?
Hemingway is just an asshole. Plain and simple. A fat, stupid, ignorant asshole who someone has inexplicably granted a media megaphone. Someone should pound that megaphone back down his throat.
Message to Mark Hemmingway from God:
I was watching you when you said that. You thought I wasn't but I was. You disappoint Me. At the end of your days, I think I'm going to exile you to hell for that little piece of work of yours.
Message ends.
I left my job earlier this year when my dad died suddenly. This job offered marginal health insurance, but insurance just the same. I had requested time off to help out my elderly mother, who lives out of state and was having a difficult time. I was essentially told that taking (more) time off after the funeral was not supporting the team, and this would be considered a voluntary resignation. Family values. Feh! Blackmail by insurance, if you ask me.
What happened to personal responsibility? Should we provide free vet care to all the pets of the nation because blaming the owners and telling them to pony up is wrong?
Oh hell, lets just have national healthcare! How bad could it be? Oh... wait... Canadian mothers have to come down HERE to have their babies... And patients are denied surgery because the government says its costing too much and bed space has to be cut...
Where does this entitlement to health care come from? WHERE? Is it enshrined in the constitution? Did ole' Thomas Jefferson say "yep... and health care... right behind the post office on the budget!" "Think of the kids!" people cry and I am... since one generation raised to think the government owes them something automactically begets another.
What right does Bethany have to my paycheck? I work and put myself though college. Don't I need that money too since I don't have healthcare? I spend my money frugally and save against possible emergency. I don't go out drinking and partying. Why does my hard-earned money go to some family that refuses to make the tough decisions. Am I less entitled because my grilfriend and I decided to be smart and not get married/start a family? Why does their decision to have a child without the resources to support it automactically make the problem everyone else's?
Maybe the child could learn a useful lesson about responsibility if she grew up without having the government doled out money to see a doctor everytime she has a cold. I haven't seen a doctor in years for any of my aches and pains and problems... Its amazing, if you pause before medicating yourself, how the body heals.
"People should have to stay in a job the hate because it offers healthcare" Oh BOO HOO! My father endured 21 years in the Navy so that he and his wife could raise their sons without worried about what would happen if an accident. He tolerated officers with their heads up their &% because he loved his children more than whether he was happy all the time. I did some time in the reserves and children would be about the only way I'd tolerate the occasional retarded officer I met. I just don't have that kind of patience.
Besides, if we have SCHIP, where do we stop? I want a new car since my pos didge stratus leaks brake oil, among siz dozen other problems. But I can't afford a new car... or even another old one... I know! How about all the achievers, the people who saved their money, made their choices carefulyl and with wisdom, pay for my new car. Cuz I need one... Yeah. And while I'm at it, I need healthcare, even though I don't see doctors except for physicals for my job. Yeah, workign at a country club is stressful and intolerable? Go join the Navy... Alittle exposure will make you realize your job ain't so bad after all.
I'm digusted. And finally. SCHIP is unconstitutional.... yep... government is only suppose to provide for defense and regulate interstate commerce, among a few other things (like a nation postal system and the like) What's the matter with her state picking up the tab, since it obviously couldn't educate her or her parents about how to teach a child alittle independence and personal responsibility... Where is her state at now to pick up the pieces of its failed education system for not teaching that when 1+1=2 and you need 3 to get what you want, you're going to have to wait until you can 1+1+1.
But I guess bringing the constitution into a room that cheers on SCHIP obviously means their states didn't teach them well either... Probably spent too much time on "sensitivity training" and "world cultures".
Wow, Bob, I don't know where to start. Since compassion and the common good are not considerations for you, here's another good reason for single payer: get the profit out of health care, remove the responsibility for providing insurance from our employers, and they become more competitive on the world market against industrialized nations that do provide health care for their citizens. Jobs, Bobbie! Jobs with living wages. With jobs come personal responsibility, which does seem to be your hot button.
After reading Bob's diatribe, I checked on just one of the rambled "facts". The one about Canadian mothers coming to give birth in the US. Now I live in the Southwest so I know all about Mexican mothers crossing the border to give birth in the US so their kids will be American (mainly for education and job opportunities), but I hadn't heard about hordes of Canadian mothers crossing our Northern border. Turns out that there is 1 case of an identical quadruple birth. Space and a medical team was lined up, but there were some other unexpected preemie births. No one Canadian hospital had enough space for all 4, so a US hospital was found to take them. To use this example of a single incident and present it as a common occurrence is dishonest at best.
Well, darn, I thought I had included the link to the BBC story. Here is it again:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6951330.stm
Piren @ 75:
Compasion and good will eh? take profit out of health care? Two points...
One, when taxes where down, government was reduced, and people were working, charitable donations for those "down and out" exceeded all the funds available to the poor just ten years later during the 90s boom while Clinton was in office... So if you are about to insist that government can do more with less by paying government employees (w/ healthcare benefits) what working moms and dads and teens do through their local church or similiar organization for free, I'm going to recommend you check into the funny farm.
Two- It is a proven fact that when economic units (people, companies, etc) compete in an open and free market, the consumer always wins in terms of wuality and price... any arguement otherwise is a denial of known economic law...
I agree that employers shouldn't have to foot the bill for healthcare unless they want to. If they fell like attracting better employees by offering healthcare, more power to them. But the government is not the answer... I don't need the government to find my own insurance for my car, why do I need them for my health? Government shoudl sit back an regulate in order to do what it has done for the better part of the 20th century (before then it was caveat emptor [sp?]), which it guard the consumer from fraud, deception (like the credit card companies do), and the like. That way, honest companies compete to provide the best survice and the cheapest price.
Compete against other industrialized nations? Where have you been? We out-produce, per capita, EVERY NATION ON THE PLANET when we account for those goods by their value.
Jobs with living wages.... then stop working for bad wages... we're so hurt for workers to fill jobs we overlook illegal immagrants just to fill them... So what we need are lazy individuals to stop saying they won't do a job because its their dream to do something else or the job is too dirty...
And if we weren't competitive, then why are we the largest exporter in the world?
And the name isn't bobbie....
lacrimose @ 76:
huh... really.... an example of the lack of space and ability...
Wikipedia
Seems that's not so usual...
"slow to adopt newer technology" "access still a problem"
Yeah... like I want the line "sorry, we're full and over budget, eh?" as my answer from the guy at the door...
More bad news
Waiting lines.... higher mortality rates... is this really sounding like a great idea to you?
Debate
"Canadians disillusioned" so if they don't like it... WHY do you want it?
"The government is requesting that Canadian medical schools lower their entrance requirements " so... who decides whether you smart grad or the not so smart... Oh, that's right... the government... not you. great idea again!
Comparison
Per Capita spending lower than G7 average... this is sounding better and better.
More than one mom and hints of more
If we run off your logic, then the number of illegals we catch is an accurate representation of how many are here right? And Brittany is the only needy child...
slightly better?
Do I really need to continue?
Finally, because it just came to me.... If I look back a few years (assuming this site existed then) will I see condemnations of the govt for the handling of Katrina disaster? If so, how many of those lay a proper amount (aka mostly all) at the feet of New Orleans mayor and Louisana Governor for their lack of action before the event?
And no matter how you lay the blame... remember, this is the vaunted govt you want to manage your access to healthcare....
Thanks for the 2 points, Bob. Sorry if I offended you by calling you Bobbie. Won't do it again. Great talking points. Paragraph 1 is hard to follow. Can you provide links/facts? If we are the largest exporter how is it that our trade deficit is $57.7billion as of August 2007? Admittedly, it's good news that the deficit went down by a couple of billion, but it's still a huge difference. As far as Hispanics taking the jobs Americans won't do, I thought we did that one to death long ago. Americans don't want jobs that don't pay a living wage. Hiring immigrants at less than a living wage/minimum wage drives down wages for all workers.
As far as government healthcare, Medicare and the VA were working pretty good till the Bush admin got their hands on it. (I know we can argue that one for hours). Oh, and I can't check into the funny farm because I have no insurance. Lost it when I had to quit my job to care for my mother. Tough choice. Family or insurance.
Oh Yay! Playing the Katrina card. There was plenty of blame to go around, but the Fed holds most of the responsibility for the disastrous response by FEMA, an effective organization until Bush staffed it with unqualified cronies. Brownie's relevant background? Oh yeah, noted Arabian horse expert.
Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout @ 43:
You forget: A lot of them consider birth control pills and IUDs "abortions". Heck, we have wingnuts writing letters to the editor calling childless-by-choice couples "selfish" and "materialistic" and thumping their mighty chests over siring ten kids. They're so off the deep end now.
And by the bye, Bob: You're making the same reductio-ad-absurdam arguments that are the hallmark of FUD. And you come off like a blowhard idiot. Have you talked to an actual Canadian about their opinion of health care? Or would an informed opinion just get in the way?
Since you're so smart: Why does the US have a lower life expectancy than other industrialized nations? Why do more women as a percentage die in childbirth? What's up with the infant mortality rate? If all aren't as equal under the health care system as they are under the law, there is something wrong. And don't give me that nonsense about "unconstitutionality" of social welfare programs. You're about thirty years behind the times. Go talk to FDR's grave. Private charity my eye. We've seen over and over again that churches generally too busy building monument's to their pastor's egos and foaming at the mouth over gays and abortion to actually alleviate suffering. Otherwise, why would they supposedly need any help from the Bush Administration in the form of our tax dollars? Got an answer for that one?
Because we are also one of the largest importers.... simply, we import more value in goods than we export because many of the imported goods are consumables or short-life expectancy items...
you say
"As far as Hispanics taking the jobs Americans won’t do, I thought we did that one to death long ago. Americans don’t want jobs that don’t pay a living wage. Hiring immigrants at less than a living wage/minimum wage drives down wages for all workers."
Yet how are they living? How are they THRIVING on that wage, finding money left over to send home? Simply, American workers want the money to pay for the new Mustang, house where every member of the family has their own room (minus the parents), a pet or three, a Camry for the mom, satellite TV, etc etc etc... what we call poor here is middle or upper class in many 3rd world nations... The truth is that when I see a young lady in the grocery paying with food stamps with a baby on her hip and the father is wearing a brand new Starter jacket (something I can't even afford) and they drive away in a car 10 years younger than mine (I drove a 90 buick century until about 2004, when I bought the dodge I drive now), something is wrong with what we call the "poor"... I wouldn't even DREAM of showing my face to an office for the poor if I was buying nice cars and new jackets and then claiming I couldn't put food in the mouth of my kid...
VA isn't as great as you think... I have alot of personal stories from my family (who have served in every war back to WWII w/ the US Armed Forces) and I can't say I'm impressed with the VA at all... But the US government has a history of sometimes giving its vets the shaft... just look at the "Bonus March" and how it was handled..
Medicare- no comment.. since that one can be argued round and round whether or not its good (not to mention constitutional) But my biggest statement would be why not leave these things to teh states where they can be more closely monitored and tailored to the needs of the people. Too much waste comes from a level of bueacracy that serves no one.
It is a tough choice... watching a family member die of luekemia was not pretty and the bills from that left my parents with nothing from her life insurance. Thankfully, grandfather, who made good money in real estate (after leaving the AF) ponied up for all the funeral