
 |
|
May 20, 2013
Melissa Healy: Genetic copies of living people from embryos no longer science fiction
Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : Jews Inducted into Rock Hall of Fame; Anton Yelchin co-stars in New "Trek" film; Kutcher (but not Kunis) visits Israel; Jewish TV Star Praises Jewish Rap Star
The Kosher Gourmet by Cathy Pollak: WARNING: This WALNUT CAKE WITH PRALINE FROSTING, perfect for afternoon coffee, is addicting
May 13, 2013
Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo: Why the giving of the document that would permanently change the world could only be done in desolation
David G. Savage: Church-state, literally? Supreme Court weighing public school graduation in a church
May 10, 2013
Rabbi Berel Wein: Be all that you should be
May 8, 2013
Peter Ford: Why China is welcoming both Israel's Netanyahu and Palestinians' Abbas
Warren Richey: Obama administration quietly backs out of appeal over new contraceptive mandate
Fred Weir: At Kerry-Putin meeting, US-Russia relations thaw --- a tad
The Kosher Gourmet by Leela Cyd Ross : Almost too pretty to eat, this colorful salad with Sicilian inspiration will tickle the taste buds and delight your visual sensibility
May 6, 2013
May 3, 2013
Kids, kittens the Same? With employee perks at struggling Internet pioneer Yahoo! it's hard to tell
Sandy Kleffman: Artificial kidney offers hope to patients tethered to a dialysis machine
April 29, 2013
Roy Gutman: Poland's new Jewish museum celebrates life, doesn't revisit Holocaust
Mark Clayton: Terrorism in America: Is US missing a chance to learn from failed plots?
Kim Murphy: Boston Bomber's 'Svengali' Revealed
Pete Spotts: Tiny satellites + cellphones = cheaper 'eyes in the sky' for NASA
April 26, 2013
Clifford D. May: Defense in the Age of Jihadist Terrorism
Sharon Palmer, R.D.: How to feel your best -- with plenty of energy, a healthy weight and optimal mental and physical function -- without driving yourself batty
April 24, 2013
|
| |
Jewish World Review
Oct. 8, 2007
/ 26 Tishrei 5768
The cold cackle of opportunism
By
Wesley Pruden
| 
|
|
|
|
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
Nothing defines the difference between politicians and real people like the occasional renewal of the Incumbent Protection Act, which always appears disguised as something else.
This congressional session's Incumbent Protection Act is the so-called S-CHIP, which extends "free" (i.e., government-paid) health insurance to millions of middle-class children whose parents can afford to buy the insurance that the rest of us have to pay for.
Legislation like this makes nearly everybody feel warm and fuzzy, like a supper of beef stew and cornbread on a cold winter's night. Who wants the little children to be sick? And if the government pays for it the health insurance, not the beef stew and cornbread it doesn't cost anybody anything. The voters get "free" insurance, the congressmen get free protection against losing an election. It's win-win all around.
The polls show that the public is all for the State Children's Health Insurance Program. Why not? The public will always be for anything that's "free," even beef stew and cornbread. The Senate voted for it by 68 to 31, the House by 265 to 159, margins wide enough to put fuzzballs on the slippers of a lot of congressmen, but maybe not wide enough to overturn the president's principled veto. We can expect to hear a lot about cold, heartless Republicans who cackle like Nurse Hillary at the prospect of little children getting sick with no prospect of getting well.
Naturally the Democrats, whose idea of national defense is to deny that we need one, contrast the $60 billion the expanded child-health program will cost over five years to the president's request for $189 billion to pay for military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. This is a version of the bumper sticker, typically seen in Cleveland Park, yearning for the day when there will be plenty of money for schools, libraries and places to hold hands and sing kumbaya and the Army and the Navy will hold bake sales to pay for their weapons. Can't we all just give peace a chance?
"While [President Bush] continues to demand billions to fund his flawed war policies he is telling the most vulnerable segment of our society that there just isn't enough money for them to have adequate health care," complains a tearful Rep. Ellen Tauscher of California, who only wants to buy the world a Coke.
The president, as Mzz Tauscher knows well, is not telling the little children any such thing. The president actually proposes to enlarge the program, and spend more money, not less $5 billion more. He proposes covering 95 percent of the poor children before considering whether to include middle-class children, some of whose parents earn up to $90,000 a year. The president would take the $5 billion for the poor children out of general revenue, and not raise the federal tax on cigarettes, which would fall mostly on the blue-collar Americans who smoke. These blue-collar smokers, who we can all agree ought to quit smoking at once, must now smoke more cigarettes to pay for the windfall for the middle-class parents who now pay for insurance on their kids. Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois is typical of the Democrats who refuse to engage debate. He told the president to sign the bill "for the sake of the kids."
Some members of the president's own party urged him to sign, too. The Republicans, despite occasional outbursts of principled opportunism, are most comfortable as the "Me, too" Party. Rather than attempt to explain what a sham this legislation is, the Republican sister women in the Senate retreat, repeating the argument that they have no choice but to vote for something they know is wrong and bad for the country. That's the only way they can stay in Congress, so they can continue to vote for more stuff they know is wrong. The first duty of every congressman is to protect the incumbent.
The president and his party would be easier to pity, even to shower with a little compassionate conservatism, if they had not abandoned their promises and principles six years ago to give the Democrats lessons in how to blow through billions of dollars in search of a bridge to nowhere.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
JWR contributor Wesley Pruden is editor in chief of The Washington Times. Comment by clicking here.
Wesley Pruden Archives
© 2007 Wesley Pruden
|
|

Arnold Ahlert
Mitch Albom
Jay Ambrose
Michael Barone
Barrywood
Lori Borgman
Stratfor Briefing
Mona Charen
Linda Chavez
Richard Z. Chesnoff
Ann Coulter
Greg Crosby
Larry Elder
Suzanne Fields
Christine Flowers
Frank J. Gaffney
Bernie Goldberg
Jonah Goldberg
Julia Gorin
Jonathan Gurwitz
Paul Greenberg
Argus Hamilton
Victor Davis Hanson
Betsy Hart
Ron Hart
Nat Hentoff
A. Barton Hinkle
Jeff Jacoby
Paul Johnson
Jack Kelly
Ch. Krauthammer
David Limbaugh
Kathryn Lopez
Rich Lowry
Michelle Malkin
Jackie Mason
Ann McFeatters
Dale McFeatters
Dana Milbank
Jeanne Moos
Dick Morris
Jim Mullen
Deroy Murdock
Judge A. Napolitano
Bill O'Reilly
Clarence Page
Kathleen Parker
Star Parker
Dennis Prager
Wesley Pruden
Tom Purcell
Sharon Randall
Robert Robb
Cokie & Steve Roberts
Heather Robinson
Debra J. Saunders
Martin Schram
Greg Schwem
Culture Shlock
David Shribman
Roger Simon
Lenore Skenazy
Michael Smerconish
Thomas Sowell
Ben Stein
Mark Steyn
John Stossel
Cal Thomas
Dan Thomasson
Bob Tyrrell
Diana West
Dave Weinbaum
George Will
Walter Williams
Byron York
ZeitGeist
Mort Zuckerman

Robert Arial
Chuck Asay
Baloo
Lisa Benson
Chip Bok
Dry Bones
John Branch
John Cole
J. D. Crowe
Matt Davies
John Deering
Brian Duffy
Everything's Relative
Mallard Fillmore
Glenn Foden
Jake Fuller
Bob Gorrel
Walt Handelsman
Joe Heller
David Hitch
Jerry Holbert
David Horsey
Lee Judge
Steve Kelley
Jeff Koterba
Dick Locher
Chan Lowe
Jimmy Margulies
Jack Ohman
Michael Ramirez
Rob Rogers
Drew Sheneman
Kevin Siers
Jeff Stahler
Scott Stantis
Danna Summers
Gary Varvel
Kirk Walters
Dan Wasserman

Tech Q&A
Mr. Know-It-All
Ask Doctor K
Richard Lederer
Frugal Living
On Nutrition
Bookmark These
Bruce Williams
|