But if we give children in the US healthcare , how will we fund the war effort where thousands of Iraqi children are killed ?

The real reason Kucinich voted against it is because he's a fucking idiot and his thought processes don't have any remote parallel to what the rest of us normally call "logic."

I'm slightly sad that the only Minnesota representatives who voted against it are Kline and Bachmann. I mean, I'm 99% happy, because it was only those two, but I'm also a little sad, because there ain't shit to do about Bachmann--she's batshit insane in every circumstance--and I'm not sure there's much one can do about Kline, either.

well, i guess helping sick children isnt a priority for you. good job?

"socialised medicine is not just a hallmark of a decent society, but economically rational as well. if one leaves behind capitalist-romantic theories about private-sector efficiency and looks at real-world privatised medicine, which may be observed in america, it is an obvious disaster. it is vastly more expensive and delivers mediocre results outside of luxury care. britain spends about ⅓ the money per person and we have public health statistics roughly equivalent to america. except for the fact that the bottom ¼ of our population is vastly healthier."

edit: not sure who said this.

and; for all the complianing we brits do about the nhs, at the end of the day, i'm glad we have it

She's that chick who molested Bush after his State of the Union speech, right?

This is it right here....Early care is cheaper then procrastinated care.
I do not think it is fair for anyone to pick up the costs, it sucks the way the system works..It's NOT working! There has to be a way congress can cut out spending in the stupidest areas to put this as a top priority. There are to many, way to many fat cats thinking they can just keep on keeping on. They have no first hand knowledge of how hard it is. They are blind. I get so sick of hearing what they want to do but never do it. America needs a revolution.
The closer to Canada I get the better.

I think it's really sad that Americans can't have the kind of health coverage that everyone, rich or poor, deserves. I know a huge number of Canadians complain about our health care system, but regardless of wait times, etc., if we need it, it's there. Many people just don't realize the cost of not having accessible health care. For example, people complain about the rising number of teen pregnancies. Perhaps if more of these teens had access to health care, and birth control, that number wouldn't be quite so high. Perhaps if more pregnant people of any age had access to health care, prenatal visits would catch some of the preventable problems that can crop up before a baby is born, lowering the need for care after baby is born. Perhaps if kids were able to see a doctor and get diagnosed and treated for disorders such as ADD, they would have a much higher chance of becoming productive citizens, which would help everybody. I could go on and on, but why bother? We all know nothing I say is going to stop those who feel the need to clutch their wallets in fear of losing a few extra dollars a paycheque.

I love being in Canada. My kids have all their shots (free of course), plus their schools even do the flu shots, the Hep B shots, and the HPV shots (again, all free). I can't even remember the last time I had to take my kids to the doctor, because of the preventative measures. They typically only go when they need a shot, and I typically only go for prenatal visits. That's the way it is when you are looked after even before day 1.

Aside from Bush's foolish claim that people with incomes up to $80K would be eligible ... I'd like to know how many of the additional kids do come from households that wouldn't be considered poor.
Bush did favor adding 5 billion dollars over five years to the program (which is probably a bit more than inflation), while this bill would add 35 billion dollars. That's a yawning chasm with plenty of room for compromise - which will probably happen after the veto override fails. That this compromise didn't take place before now suggests that this whole charade is more partisan games in DC. If it doesn't take place by the end of this month, then it proves the Democrats would rather have the issue for the election than the signed bill.

The budget for the Department of Health and Human Services has grown by about 58% during Bush's first six years in office*. That's huge even if it doesn't take inflation into account. I'd really like to know where all that extra money is going (since it doesn't seem to be doing any good: poverty is about the same and the number of people without health insurance has increased), and would suggest to Congress that if they want more useful social spending, they should look into this before piling more on top. If nothing else, it would deprive Bush of the "fiscally irresponsible" argument.


*HHS Spending:
Fiscal year 2001: 425.9 billion dollars
Fiscal year 2007: 671.3 billion dollars

Source: Budget of the United States, FY2008

Did anyone else notice the voting histories part on the info page?
I personally find it amusing to go through and see how few times the reps actually voted. Then on the link to their own websites, most have conveniently broken links the the "my voting history" pages.
just thought you all might find it amusing to look into.

This is what I wrote my Congressman, but I doubt he'll change his vote no matter how many votes he gets because the best thing his web page had to say about him was that he made some great speech on the floor defending rush Limbaugh. He seems like way too much of one of Bush's crazy Nazi like followers.

I'm betting that the most I'll get is a condescending E-mail trying to explain things with cryptic and dubious logic, or just plain telling me in a roundabout way I don't understand because I am stupid.

Oh, I'm so surprised that My representative voted against it fucking bitch...Musgrave also introduced the federal Marriage Ammendment...I'm just gonna go talk to a brick wall while scratching my tongue through my ass...sorry to be pessimistic but it's fucking true...this bitch has a heart colder than Smaug's

If we can afford bombs then we can afford healthcare for kids.

The Daily Show did an awesome mock-up. John said "you're taking a tax from cigarette smokers and you're giving it to sick children..." cue up a clip of Bush: "...that's why I'm going to veto it."