One cannot turn on the news without hearing cliché Republican catch phrases. Turn on a Republican debate, and you'll hear how pro-family the Republican party is. During the 2004 presidential campaign, President Bush professed that he was pro-family: "President Bush said a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage will "strengthen families" and prevent "activist" courts from allowing same-sex couples to marry." So, when it comes to the issue of giving poor children health care, something that will truly 'strengthen families', where does the Republican party, and specifically Mr. Bush stand? Apparently not with the family.
Today, President Bush vetoed the second version of the State Children's Health Insurance Program, known as Schip. The plan would have cost 35 billion dollars over four years, and would have added roughly six million needy children to the four million that are already covered under the program. Moreover, the plan would have been funded by increasing the cigarette tax to 1 dollar from 39 cents per pack. Mr. Bush professed: ``Ultimately, our nation's goal should be to move children who have no health insurance to private coverage, not to move children who already have private health insurance to government coverage,'' Bush said in his veto message to Congress. ``As a result, I cannot sign this legislation.'' The last time I checked, denying poor children healthcare is not a 'pro-family' position.
Its time to be truthful with American people, Mr. Bush. At the very least, be honest about what your core values are. You'll spend 141.27 billion next year on wars, but not 7 billion on strengthening families??? I urge for you and the Republicans to put your money where your mouth is, truly strengthen families by helping those families and children in the most need. Otherwise, we'll keep on saying . . . 'and they say they're pro-family'.
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Family values...whose values are they anyway? What is a family? Indeed the make-up of the Ameican family has changed dramatically through the years. The high divorce rate has pushed single parenthood to the point where kids find it the norm to live in a two household atmosphere. Many children are raised by relatives and friends, not their parents. In a land of no child left behind, unfortunately there are many children who are left in the dust. The Republicans would like us to believe that the nuclear family exists from a by gone erea when poodle skirts and malt shops were the rage. They want us to live in the world of Ozzie and Harriet, not the land of Ozzie and Sharon of the Osbournes) Does Father Really Know Best and was Ward Cleaver really that hard on the Beaver? There are millions of uninsured children in America that don't fit into the perfect family mold. These kids only think of have no idea what a nuclear family is. They only know that when they are sick, they cannot see a doctor
because they do not have insurance. So Mr. Bush in his infinite wisdom vetoes another child health bill. The funding for that bill would be approximately the spending for three hours for the war in Iraq (at 12.5 million an hour). It's the Haliburton family hour that's being supported. As for family values, only the folks at FOX can really explain what those values are. The rest of us just mozy along waiting for the next guy to take a stand on anything. Where's the humanity? Where's the compassion?
correction regarding the cost of the Iraq war and the childcare insurance bill. The cost of the bill would be approximately 5-6 billion per year. The Iraq war costs approximately 7.4 million per hour.
The cost of war vs. the cost of providing healthcare to poor children in the US...GUNS vs. BUTTER and the guns win.
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