Illegal Means Criminal, SCHIP and Illegals

Illegal Means Criminal. That seems clear enough to me. Apparently many politicians don't get it. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee does get it:

There has been a lot of interest in Tennessee regarding the reauthorization of the State Children's Health Insurance Plan (SCHIP) which appeared before Congress last week and was vetoed by President Bush yesterday. I'd like to highlight some of the critical shortcomings that prompted the entire Tennessee House Republican delegation, a strong majority of our GOP colleagues, and several Democrat members to oppose its passage.

First, we share the common goal of expanding access to quality healthcare to all Americans, especially disadvantaged children. But this bill will not advance those efforts. According to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, by expanding the definition of "poor" to include those making $82,000 per year or more, will enroll an additional 1.2 million people by 2012. Of those 1.2 million, CBO estimates that 600,000 of them have private health insurance coverage today. This bill would provide strong incentive for individuals and employers to dump private coverage and shift these costs to the taxpayers -- at an estimated cost of $74,000 per person annually. Here in Tennessee we watched a similar stampede to state-run coverage cripple the TennCare system. Another troubling component of the bill is the removal of the proof-of-citizenship requirements for enrollment. This provision, found in Section 211 (H.R. 976), is commonly referenced as the concerted effort to allow taxpayer subsidized healthcare to illegal immigrants.

The SCHIP bill also employs questionable budgeting pratices. It dramatically increases Federal funding to enroll new children in SCHIP for the next 5 years -- funding which is partially offset by a tax increase. Then in 2012 the bill abruptly cuts total SCHIP funding by 80 percent – to a level substantially lower than what we're paying now with far fewer people enrolled. The effect is that unless Congress intervenes, millions of children will then lose coverage. CBO estimates that by 2017, the program will have a $40 billion hole in it.

We all know that the DSH problem began 1993 when then-Gov. Ned McWherter and President Clinton agreed to forgo charitable care reimbursements when TennCare was created. Since then Tennessee's Congressional delegation has worked as a bipartisan team to secure Federal money to offset losses incurred by hospitals like the Med. As much as we would like to see a permanent restoration of DSH payments, we cannot accept them as part of a larger legislative package that would export some of the worst aspects of TennCare to the rest of the country.

I continue to support a reauthorization of SCHIP in its original form, and I will continue to oppose efforts to expand government control over our healthcare choices.

Also see "Italy, open doors to illegal immigration" at Phastidio

You can help the Heritage Foundation with sound immigration policy information here. hat tip Phil a/k/a Captain America.

Here's some headlines, see what you think, then click over here and order your t-shirt "ILLEGAL MEANS CRIMINAL". No it's not my design and I don't get any money from it, but it's a good one.

Hillary touts bill to unite illegals' kin, Washington Times and CNN sob stories about "Hispanics" in America

I am sad to announce "Cox & Forkum’s Farewell Tour". That's right, no more of their wonderful editorial cartoons. They will be missed! Angel says:

Look at the toon my friends. Brought tears to me brown eyes.

Bullet holes in the curtains………
Knives that are embedded in the stage.
What appears to be rotten fruit lying amidst the flowers.
Yet, the gentleman wearing the Uncle Sam hat bows gracefully.
What a class act finale.
For me…………It says it all.

Then here's some good reading from my friends:

Is Google gearing up to influence world power?, Eric Odom
Survive an Interrogation, Baudrilards Bastard
Heather Wilson Announces for Senate - Can She Keep Seat for GOP?, The Pink Flamingo
Myanmar: Crackdown Against Pro-Democracy Movement Countinues, Stormwarning's Counterterrorism Blog
101st Screamin' Eagles Update, Take Our Country Back

Comments

[Debbie]

RADMACHINE: That's exactly how most of us here feel. It's the same thing with Hillary's $5,000 bond she wants to give to every new baby born in the US (including illegals) If some billionaire ha a new kid, they get $5,000 too. How stupid to they think Americans are?

In the latest poll on the subject, 80 something % of Americans thought this was a BAD idea.

[Radmachine]

I'm glad SCHIP got dumped. People who make up to $83,000 a year can pay for their own insurance. I never made that much a year in my life. Why should I use my tax money to give some fat cat's kid free insurance? I never had insurance when I was a kid, and I'm still here.

[Debbie]

PLATEAU: I read your article and left you a comment. Thanks for shariNG

[Debbie]

RASTAMAN: I didn't know that, you should have told me. If you posted on it I must have missed it. Good to know these things.

PLATEAU: Thanks for the link, I'll check it out now. I always want to be fair.

TERRI@STEELMAGNOLIA: I can't take CNN either, but it's always good to know what the other side is putting out. I hate when these groups put out these sob stories, trying to get sympathy.

[Rastaman]

For starters, I was so mad yesterday I was ready to pick a fight with anyone over the appeasement of muslims by Bush and the House both, which is the why of my general hostility. I'm still mad but today I'll try not to spread it around.

SCHIP... glad it got dumped. Anything that gives free care to illegals should be illegal in itself, and that includes free care to wetback kids. Charity begins at home and our economy is crashing.

Cox & Forkum put out great cartoons but are themselves too politically correct for me. I found this out personally when a Brit Lefty wrote them that my blog, which was on their blogroll, was a hate site. C&F and I exchanged several emails on the subject after they took my link off their blogroll, but they were afraid of offending anyone by "taking a chance" and refused to reinstate it.

The fact is, I was promoting them to other blogsites, and when this all came about, a lot of bloggers took C&F off their blogrolls and quit using their cartoons, in support of me. I have to admit this amazed me, I had no idea we had such a together network.

The end result is that their cartoons have rarely appeared in blogs ever since. Since they were doing this as a commercial venture, using blogs to gain public exposure to sell their book of cartoons, their book fell flat and now they've closed up shop. What goes around comes around and I don't sympathise. They bit the hand that fed them.

Rasta
www.IslamaNazi.com
and damned proud of it.

[Plateau]

Debbie,

This is off-topic, But...

Please pay close attention to this post. It is worth linking to and, possibly, republishing.

I was told by a British blogger that: there is considerable debate in the West whether Ahmadinejad's utterances about "wiping Israel off the map" was a correct translation, for x many reasons.

It is worth being sensitive regarding the war drums too, if you know what I mean. Most Iranians (inside or outside Iran) don't want to focus on that....

http://plateauofiran.wordpress.com/2007/10/05/ahmadinejad-wipe-israel-off-the-map-is-it-true/

Thanks.

[Terri@SteelMagnolia]

Debbie,

this is a great post...

I'm sending this link to all my friends.

I wrote CNN complaining about all of Rick Sanchez's stories on CNN (Out in the Open) trying to get the American public to sympathize and feel sorry for the illegals.

He makes me sick.... and then he's speaking Spanish throughout the show...
I found out later that he had immigrated from Cuba...

I don't usually watch CNN.. I only watch Fox...but I do flip back and forth once and a while.

I think CNN should be spending more time discussing problems of the American people!!!

Our healthcare system is a wreck and so many people are losing their insurance when they lose their jobs, running out of insurance and can't get medical care.