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DEF is a non-partisan, independent political blog based in the
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Outrage at President Bush's Veto of Children's Health Insurance Program
By Antonio D. French
Filed
Wednesday, October 03, 2007 at 3:58 PM
From Congressman Lacy Clay:
"The appalling hypocrisy of this President has reached a new low. It is disgraceful that a man who has spent half a trillion dollars on an unnecessary and tragic war, now decides to target 10 million children of working Americans by denying them healthcare coverage.
SCHIP has the overwhelming bipartisan support of this Congress, along with 43 governors and the American Medical Association. We intend to make SCHIP the law of this land, with or without the President. I call on my Republican colleagues of conscience to help us override this cruel and cynical veto."
From U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill:
“The Children’s Health Insurance Program is a cost-effective way to provide health care to millions of kids, and it was fiscally irresponsible of the president to veto this great program.
“The question is: why would the President veto the Children’s Health Insurance Program but support Medicare Part D? Simple. The difference between the SCHIP program and Medicare Part D is that the insurance corporations and drug companies got a cut in Medicare Part D. When big corporations stood to profit, the President had no problem expanding insurance coverage even for multi-millionaires with Medicare Part D. But when low- and modest-income families can’t afford health care for their kids, he’s willing to leave them out in the cold.
“I applaud my Republican colleagues who have stood up in support of this bill. In fact, I believe it’s telling that Senator Grassley, ranking Republican member on the Finance Committee, which was responsible for managing this bill, spoke on the floor against the President’s position. I’m hopeful that this is a sign that we will have enough support to override the President’s veto.”
From Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon:
Attorney General Jay Nixon today criticized Gov. Matt Blunt for supporting President Bush’s veto of a bill passed by Congress to reauthorize the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (S-CHIP). If reauthorized, the program could bring insurance to more than 56,000 Missouri children who had their coverage slashed by Gov. Blunt in 2005.
“Governor Blunt opposes a program that could potentially reinstate health care for thousands of Missouri children who – because of his massive cuts – don’t have it today,” said Attorney General Jay Nixon. “We now have more than 127,000 children in our state without insurance. That is unacceptable. But instead of supporting a program which could bring coverage to thousands of those children, Matt Blunt is touting a health care plan that ignores them completely. These kids don’t have lobbyists in Jefferson City like the big insurance companies do, so it’s up to our elected leaders to stand up for their needs. It’s a shame that the Governor refuses to join me in doing so.”
Gov. Blunt’s position may come as no surprise considering the fact that, as a percentage of the population, Matt Blunt has kicked more people off S-CHIP than any other governor from June 2005 to June 2006. Following Blunt’s massive health care cuts in 2005, there are now more than 127,000 Missouri children without health insurance.
According to Families USA, more than 56,000 Missouri children could receive health insurance if S-CHIP is reauthorized. However, Gov. Blunt supported President Bush’s decision to veto that reauthorization. Missouri Senators Kit Bond (R) and Claire McCaskill (D) both voted to reauthorize S-CHIP.
Two weeks ago, Gov. Blunt announced his latest health care initiative to expand health coverage. However, the Governor’s plan does nothing to bring coverage to the more than 127,000 children in Missouri who don’t have health insurance.
McCaskill Happy to See Gonzales Go [Updated with Video]
By Gabe Bullard
Filed
Monday, August 27, 2007 at 12:36 PM
Not long after the news of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales’ resignation broke, Senator Claire McCaskill released a statement praising Gonzales' decision to leave.
"It was clear to me from the start that Attorney General Gonzales had been part of a political scheme and consequently should have been quickly removed from his position," says McCaskill.
"The delay is another failure of leadership and display of incompetence by the Bush Administration."
The White House has announced that controversial Presidential aide Karl Rove has resigned.
Rove said his resignation, which he submitted to President George W. Bush on Friday, was not forced. He said when he leaves the White House at the end of August he plans to spend his time writing a book and teaching.
As long as he gives up rapping...
CNN reports that Rove and Bush are expected to speak before boarding Marine One at the White House at 10:35 a.m. Bush will head to his Crawford, Texas, ranch where he will remain for the rest of the week.
UPDATE: Maybe he was forced out...
This is obviously a fake photo. But a damn funny one!
THOSE MISSING EMAILS - Congressman Lacy Clay may have a lot of work headed his way very soon.
A report released Monday by the House Oversight Committee found that the GOP email server used by White House Officials has not retained all of the emails sent through it. As some of the missing emails cover official business, the failure to retain those messages constitutes a breach of the Presidential Records Act.
The Information Policy, Census and National Archives Subcommittee, of which Clay is the chairman, oversees the Presidential Records Act.
VYING FOR VILLA'S SEAT - St. Louis Young Democrat Jake Hummel has announced that he will run for the 108th district seat of Rep. Tom Villa, who must vacate his seat due to term limits.
Hummel is an electrician with IBEW Local 1 and the Vice President of the St. Louis City Labor Legislative Club. His campaign's kick-off is at 5:30 PM this evening at the IBEW Local 1 Hall, 5850 Elizabeth Street.
KEEPING IT IN THE FAMILY - State Rep. Fred Kratky has announced that he will step down from his seat in the State House early, and that he wants his wife, Michele Kratky, to take his place.
His departing wish isn't necessarily a sure-thing, however, as Michele Kratky still needs to win the nomination of the Democratic party in order to have a chance to take her husband's former legislative position and finish his current term.
An aide to Sen. Christopher S. Bond (R-Mo.) urged the White House to replace the U.S. attorney in Kansas City, Mo., months before Todd P. Graves's name was included on a Justice Department list of federal prosecutors the Bush administration was thinking of pushing out of their jobs.
A spokeswoman for Bond said yesterday that the senator's former counsel, Jack Bartling, contacted the White House counsel's office in the spring of 2005, without Bond's permission. According to the spokeswoman, Bartling said that Graves's replacement "would be favored," because the prosecutor's wife and brother-in-law had stirred ethics complaints in Missouri.
Last night, Graves issued a statement that said: "This would be humorous if we were not talking about the United States Department of Justice. First, you tell me that DOJ staffers were making secret hit lists and my name was on one of them. Then, you tell me that a staffer for Missouri's senior senator had a hit list so secret that not even the senator knew about it."
BUSH IN THE STICKS -- Air Force One landed at the Springfield-Branson Airport yesterday at 6:55 p.m. carrying President George W. Bush, Karl Rove and the gang. According to Springfield's KY3, he is scheduled to speak at a campaign rally for Jim Talent at 9:20 this morning. The two will then head to an invitation-only rally at noon at Missouri Southern State University in Joplin.
JUDGE GETS A BREAK -- According to the Post-Dispatch, U.S. District Judge Charles A. Shaw has been cleared in a complaint filed earlier this year alleging he told 314 people at a local naturalization ceremony to vote for Congressman Lacy Clay. The Appeals Court ruled that there was not "sufficient evidence" to believe the incident actually happened.
Apparently the word of a Post reporter and 314 new Americans just doesn't cut the mustard.
THE MAYOR, THE CHIEF, and "THE SYSTEM" -- The Mayor and Police Chief Joe Mokwa were side-by-side this week defending their city's honor (if not their streets) from the label of "Most Dangerous City". But as the American Spectator observed yesterday, just a few days before, Mokwa was trying to explain why his department can't seem to keep this city safe -- it's the judges' fault!
Mokwa complained to the Police Board that his officers "keep re-arresting the same habitual criminals, whose presence keeps some neighborhoods in a crime rut and makes the job of officers more difficult and dangerous."
No wonder, the chief continued, "that it's difficult to make an impact on crime while there are so many predators on probation"...
The problem -- and more important, the solution -- is plain, noted one beleaguered police commissioner: "The police are doing desperate work on a nightly basis....The neighborhoods are crying out, but the judicial system is turning its back to them....We've got to demand stronger sentencing, stronger results. It's our judicial system that's letting the people down."
The police board blaming the judges? You know, in a place where elected officials were more accountable to the people, a police chief would be taking heat from his boss, the mayor. Or the circuit attorney would be taking heat from her boss, the people, for not getting tough sentences for hard offenders.
But in the City of St. Louis, "the man" blames "the system" for our dangerous predicament. And we just watch.
The Associated Press is reporting that President George W. Bush will be coming to Missouri on Friday to stump for Sen. Jim Talent. Details are still not available, but such a public event would mark a shift from a perceived distancing from the president by the Talent campaign.
Two Rivers Greens, the St. Louis branch of the Progressive Party of Missouri, will be hosting "How to Impeach a President", a 90-minute presentation on Oct. 26 at the Carpenter's Branch Library.
The event will feature a video presentation by the Center for Constitutional Rights, followed by discussion led by David Sladky, Progressive candidate for Congress, and Lydia Lewis, Progressive candidate for U.S. Senate.
The Carpenter's Branch Library is located at 3309 S. Grand. The meeting is from 7:00-8:30 p.m.
The three-day conference starts Tuesday and is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Bush is scheduled to speak Thursday.
COLEMAN GETTING CANNED?The Source, a Republican blog, claims that a battle is brewing between Minority Floor Leader Maida Coleman and fellow Democrat, State Senator Tim Green. The Source says Senator Chuck Graham, the Assistant Minority Floor Leader, is attempting to replace Maida with Tim. Stay tuned...
BOND TO BUSH: BRING THE BUCKS U.S. Senators Kit Bond and Jim Talent have asked President Bush to quickly approve Governor Matt Blunt’s request for a major disaster declaration for Missouri in response to this week's storms. They requested financial assistance for St. Louis City and Dent, Iron, Jefferson, St. Charles, St. Louis and Washington Counties. The AP reports about 440,000 homes and businesses in the St. Louis area were still without electricity Saturday morning, but about 130,000 had been restored over the previous 24 hours.
BIONDI BACK FROM BEIRUT AFTER BOMBING After surviving the bombing of Beirut, Father Lawrence Biondi, President of Saint Louis University, made it back home yesterday from Lebanon.
We overheard a Lambert Airport official today saying the family of a Missouri soldier killed in Iraq was forced to wait for hours to accept the body Wednesday because of President George W. Bush's arrival in St. Louis for a fundraiser for Sen. Jim Talent.
At the fundraiser, Bush said "one thing about old Jim Talent, he understands what I understand, is that when you put a man or woman in uniform and ask them to go into harm's way, they deserve the full support of the United States government."
The Organization for Black Struggle (OBS) will be holding its annual African Liberation Day/Malcolm X Celebration on Sunday, May 22, from 4-6:00 pm at the Rowan Community Center, 1401 Rowan Avenue.
Organizers say the theme of this year's event is "Bush Policies in Africa: Compassion or Hypocrisy."
The event is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served. For more information, call (314) 367-5959.
Anti-abortion group makes graphic statement at State Capitol
By Antonio D. French
Filed
Tuesday, April 11, 2006 at 11:51 PM
Anti-abortion activists parked two large trucks in front of the State Capitol on Tuesday displaying graphic photos of aborted fetuses. They were meant to send a loud message to President George W. Bush and others during the President's visit to Missouri.
Operation Rescue, a controversial and vocal anti-abortion activist group, was responsible for the display. The organization released a statement Tuesday calling on Bush to change his position on abortion in cases of rape.
"Babies conceived in rape are no less human or deserving of life than those conceived through consensual relationships," said the group's statement.
They said that Bush's statements on opposing abortion except in the case of incest or rape sends "mixed signals about the sanctity of life, the humanity of the pre-born, and your overall concern for the well-being of women."
Click on the photo to see a close-up of the truck's image. Warning: It is very graphic.
Click here to see more exclusive photos from today's event.
President George W. Bush stepped out of Air Force One this morning at Columbia Regional Airport on his way to was in Jefferson City. Bush was in the state to discuss the Medicare prescription drug benefit (also known as Part D).
Greeting Bush this morning were Senators Kit Bond and Jim Talent, several state Republican leaders, and a small group of anti-war protestors.
Click here to see more exclusive photos from today's event.
