Comments on What He Said

Bush loves war in general. It's his hobby.

The war on drugs.
The war on terror.
The war on terrorism.
The war in Iraq.
The war in Iran (?).
The war on teenage sex.

...when he's bored with his wars, he buttfucks children with a pen stroke.

Nice guy.

ballsiest thing i've heard a democrat say in a whileme. how long til half the democrats vote to censure him?

I would throw my bra at him if I were there. He's a rockstar.

Amen!

Oh you beautiful, beautiful man!

So, we're now we're getting into an area where middle class (and upper class) families will forego buying health insurance for their children beause now the taxpayers will pay for it.

Then when Mrs. Clinton gets elected, taxpayers will be subsidizing day care for parents who could otherwise afford it.

See where this is going?

Was that our own Jim McDermott?

Could he risk it from his district?

From other my commonts in the other post:

Aaagggghhhh thanks asshats! because I don't qualify for any child care assistance, help with helath insurance, or any other programs that allow me to continue to be productive and keep my head above water. This is just one failsafe closer to meaning the difference between catashtrophe and full on homelessenss, maybe welfare dependancy or alternatively, an at least marginal existance until I can recover in the event that anything happened to me or the kiddo. punish my son because I'm a middle income single parent that had no business having a kid until I could afford to keep him in luxury- and while you're at it- please make sure there are plenty of hand guns around and easily accessible so that when people are backed in a corner and pissed of they can start blowing people away. Gah ASS HATS!!!

and I also said this: Peter @5: usually I suffer from so much outrage fatigue that its just another drop in the bucket but this is one program that could potentially really personally screw me everyday- I would feel the consequences of this one not on the nightly news like I have experienced so much of Iraq, I am not upset bcause I know this wrong deep down in my immoral bones but I will likely feel this one in my wallet and heaven forfend that I blow a tire on my car or something seemingly minor if you have means screws my budget and there is one fewer safety net that could keep my family from the streets. I am not saying that to be dramatic but I could potentially be one ordinary daily set back away from real distress.

And Dan- I really love you but I can't spend that much on a fundraising dinner to see you Saturday no matter how worthy the cause- and it is a great cause- nor could I ask my sub to cough it up- I will have to leave that level of fundraising to folks of means less modest than my own- but I am waiting for your next book to come out and will purchase that so my son can grow up knowing the important things about sex education- namely how to get girls or boys to sleep with him safely...

@7:

That was Pete Stark a representative from Maryland, I believe.

so rain drip @6, I won't say there aren't people who would abuse the system. Can I pay for day care today? by the skin of my teeth, if they raised teh rates? I'd have to decide between gas to get to work or something equally basic like fresh vegetables for dinner to cover the difference. I have health insurance today but what if something happened at my job? THe company is having some trouble right now and the CEO was so kind as to remind us that he isn't required to offer health benefits if it comes down to it. Can I afford a trip to the ER if the kid fals out of a tree and needs stitches? I had stitches after a nasty fall this summer and I'm about to go to collections on even that bill with health insurance picking up part of the tab... I make a little more than 35K a year. Does that make me a welfare queen? It is programs like this that function as a safety net that keeps people like me from falling through the cracks and becoming welfare queens.

Bravo for the California Rep. GHEEZUZ that takes guts.

Tlazolteotl, that was Fortney "Pete" Stark, CA-13, who has represented the southern portion of the East Bay (currently from Alameda to Fremont) since 1973. Like McDermott, he's a subcommittee chair on Ways & Means, though his is the more important Health Subcommittee.

Pete's an unrepentant progressive ... like Jim, but with appreciably more seniority and power in the Democratic caucus.

@5,

Oh I hear you -- my wife's a social worker and I'm an artist and we're drowning in medical bills despite both having coverage through work. We're less than a paycheck away from dire consequences for our family. At least our kids are healthy. Hopefully that much good luck continues.

I heard on Air America earlier that the Republicans are calling for Pete Stark's resignation because of these comments. They are repeating the same tired old crap about SCHIP being socialized medicine, even though the program had bipartisan support before these idiots decided supporting Bush was more important than health insurance for children.

What are we going to tell our children and grandchildren about this administration 40 years from now? They will probably be so incredulous that they will wonder if we are in the early stages of dementia.

Bush is a lying sack and raindrop is his toady.

Wow, great stuff. Now if we could get some other Dems to start telling it like it is, we might just start down the path to getting our country back.

Also, if I remember correctly, I think Stark is also the highest-ranking holder of public office in America to acknowledge that he's an atheist.

Pete Stark is bulletproof in his district, so the Rethug crybabies can call for his resignation until they're blue in the face. Fucking fascists....

I'm not saying yea or nay, I'm just telling it like it is.

5, even if you make the case that a family of four is making up to the limit ($63K or so), paying $14,000 a year for health insurance isn't easy. Perhaps you've got health insurance and don't care, but it's expensive if your employer doesn't offer it.

As far as the question of where this is leading, hopefully it's leading to universal health care. I know that bothers neocons, because that means that Democratic children will live longer and hurt the R's election chances, but we already spend more per capita than most European countries for much less health care because our system is so inefficient.

Paul Krugman discussed this yesterday with Amy Goodman on Democracy Now. http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/10/17/1352236

@17
I don't think we'll get the country back. The Democrats have shown, repeatedly, that they will not stand up against Bush and Cheany no matter how bad things get or how high their crimes. The Republicans have sold their souls to their party's leadership and continue to ignore the destruction of our democracy. And the people of this nation are more informed about Brittany Spear's problems than they are about the loss of their rights.

Hillary won't fix things, either. The war will continue into the next decade and we'll be fighting Iran any day now.

When we look back at this time in the future, those of us still around, will regret that we knew what was happening but did nothing to stop it. We let the US fall...

I think it's getting time to exercise our 2nd Amendment rights before we lose that one, too.

@18

Really? Just telling it like it is? Repeating the lies of the R-pubs doesn't make it true.

I can understand the idiot bastard Bush making these statements about SCHIP because he's too stupid to know bettter.

What's your excuse?

Does my heart good to see some passion about goodness in Congress.

There are pain points in each direction of the health care debate. The more socialized, the less competition and costs remain high as the government will pay set prices that don’t ever come down. Then there’s inevitably longer wait times for treatments. Conversely, of course, well – I don’t think I have to enumerate the problems of people that don’t have and can’t afford health insurance.

Elrider, please take a breather for a moment from your rabid, tiresome, perpetual Bush-bashing hysteria (although it is often deserved, I admit) to engage in a more thoughtful evaluation of other points of view.

I wonder if Mars offers free health care.

@23 - the argument that gov't paying the tab means no cost control is such a red herring. If that were the case, how do explain Medicare? If anything, because it is government-funded, reimbursements are less than private insurance.
This whole thing stinks, all around. Bush sez 83 grand is sooo much money for a family to make per year and get help with healthcare. I'd like to see HIM try to live on 83 grand. He's probably put that much up his nose.
Yep, the Greedy Old Pricks, claiming to be pro-life, only up until birth.

Yes, for what you're paying for a red herring you could buy beluga caviar.

@23 I come from a country with socialized medicine and i am shocked by the cost of health care in America the more i hear about it the gladder i am to have access to the social health care system

Compare this to the Republicans' incisive take:

http://www.sadlyno.com/archives/7590.html

Hahahahaha...talk about a walking parody. At first I thought that was a bit from the Colbert Report.

Also: all the ranting about the dangers of pinkocommie socialized medecine is irrelevant.
The vast majority of Americans favor expanding SCHIP and in a *democracy* it's the government's job to carry out those wishes.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/10/17/opinion/polls/main3378278.shtml

Actually, in a Constitutional Republic, purely democratic wishes of the public must be vetted against the restrictions placed on what government, especially the Federal Government is permitted to do.

There is an amendment process if enough of the vast Americans wish to change those ground rules.

Maybe W got confused again and has been competing for the Nobel War Prize?

And the "restrictions placed on what government, especially the Federal Government is permitted to do" in this case would be??

Well, the basic cycle is the US federal code, subject to Supreme Court judicial review, tempered by case law and ultimately the Constitution.

My main point was that we have a Constitutional Republic, not a Democracy. 50%+1 of voters do NOT have an automatic right to enact anything their hearts wish. There are constitutional constraints. The US Constitution says what the Federal gov't is allowed to do. Much of the language of the Bill of Rights is reinforcing that the gov't can not do such and such (shall pass no law...). Similarly, later amendments add to the purview of the Federal gov't as to what is authorized or addressed explicity.

For these reasons and others show why many programs desired by citizenry are better dealt with at a state and local level rather than from a federal level.

No, Pete Stark is from California (c'mon people, how fucking hard is it to use Google to find these things out before you post?). Jim McDermott would never say anything like that because he's probably fucking off in Africa or doing something else that has absolutely nothing to do with being a representative from Seattle.

@33: Um, well, thanks for that elucidation of the entirely obvious. In the future I will attempt to be much more literal and pedantic. Perhaps I shall employ footnotes.

@ 11

I hear your pain with the health bills, even with health insurance my husband's poor health this year has us paying thousands of dollars. Every health provider I have talked to has been willing to work out a payment plan, and he's had to see many of them. Try calling them and asking for one, it's embarrassing, but has saved our skins. Our local hospital is letting us pay over almost two years.

@ 26 - You just don't get what I said. It's more like a tin of cat food than Beluga caviar...
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003961526_medicare19m.html
I'll say it again: government-funded healthcare reimburses for less than private insurance!
One more thing- Medicare admin costs are 3 cents on the dollar. Private insurance? 25 cents! Government-run health care is cheaper!

Woot! He's our legislator!

Fremont is the second-largest district in Alameda county after Oakland.

From Wikipedia: According to a 2006 estimate, the median income for a household in the city is $88,335, and the median income for a family was $97,499.[1] About 3.6% of families and 5.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 5.9% of those under age 18 and 6.2% of those age 65 or over.