Priorities

In what to me seems like an awful sense of priorities, our president is set to veto a bill funding the State Children's Health Insurance Program. He as well as other members of the GOP are objecting that the bill increases spending on the program by $30 billion and raises the income eligibility level to $80,000 per year. Clearly the GOP thinking here is that the lower strata of the middle class are doing just fine and don't need this type of assistance. Just ask Joe Bluecollar, who's just had his house foreclosed on, and I'm sure he'll tell you he's in great shape. But the duplicity here is simply amazing. The GOP balks at increasing spending for a valuable health care program by $30 billion, yet has no problems with Robert Gates going hat in hand to Congress asking for another $190 billion for our goodwill tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. Support the troops, to hell with our children. So now children who do not have health insurance will be paying visits to emergency rooms across the country, which are obligated to treat them. Who's going to pay? We are, one way or the other. Hospitals, already dealing with major reductions in payments from Medicaid and Medicare, will be eating the costs of these unpaid ER visits in terms of layoffs, creating fewer jobs, and in some instances, outright closures. But on the bright side, things could be worse; they could appoint Blackwater Security to oversee the health programs. Multiple 5.56mm rounds are the cure all for any illness you may have. Sorry, george, but with your veto you've failed the American people again.