I did inform my Senator of this fact and how very tragic it would be for America to be surrounded on all sides by countries that actually care about their people while the wingnuts dither in WA.

The Secretary would be required to estimate, on an average actuarial basis, the basic per enrollee, per month cost of including coverage of abortions beyond those permitted by the most recent appropriation for the Department of Health and Human Services under a basic plan.

Is this one of the Republican parts so that they can scream about the plan paying for abortions?

Anyone who says that the national “polity” is too important for Bush to be personally prosecuted for torture is a concern troll.

And that would be who? Obama? I don’t see it in what bobash wrote.

Bob in AZ

The injustice here is beyond belief! Especially if you have any medical bills, which result in deductibles and co-pays.

The only acceptable solution for those who bow to national polity (still?–after this summer?) is a presidential pardon, to be issued only after an admission of guilt and enough media exposure from the trials for all reasonable Americans to know just how criminal these perps were.

bobash (hoping you’re right about the hereafter)

As with Social Security and income taxes, mandated payroll deductions should be restricted to those funds that go directly to the government, to fund government administered programs. As you point out, allowing them to be redirected to private enterprises would be going for the nuclear option and the start of a financial war to be the first to grab the increasingly limited resources of increasingly more desperate middle class payers.

If the Dems had a spine, they would kick Baucus out of the party. Instead, he’s seen as carrying Blue Dog ’Bama’s water on this bill.

Undocumented workers live and drive more safely than average, to avoid being seen, yet work at filthier, more dangerous jobs. They are a boon to the public economy in many ways, but one achieved by outsourcing the risks onto them. I thought the GOP’s beloved Chicago School was all about properly internalizing the costs of one’s behavior, not externalizing it, so that actors can make correct economic choices? Never mind. I forgot that inconsistency and hypocrisy to them are features, not a flaws.

Insuring undocumented workers would be smart public health policy and smart economics, despite the short-term cost. That’s too much to ask of Republicans. It would be an admission that it is often the wealthy who take advantage of their undocumented status, an advantage that would go away if they admitted they were here. It’s all rather like a script from the X-Files, isn’t it?

Prosecutions should go where the evidence leads. An apology from Bush and an acceptance of responsability should be considered at sentancing, it is NOT a reason to “move on”. If the person who killed a small child were to accept responsability and apologize, we’d still prosecute, right?

Boxturtle (Bush will one day answer to God. Bush won’t like it)