Tired of seeing
television ad
I don't know about the rest of you but I'm getting sick of the propaganda spewing from the White House through the thinly disguised middlemen - Progress for American Voters Fund.
The lies in these commercials are the same ones the White House has been telling us all along. The use of veterans and their families to tell the lie and try to tie al Qaeda to Hussein's Iraq isn't going to make it true. Instead of "weapons of mass destruction," we're told what a bad man Hussein was. They point with pride at the election success and show us the collapse of the Twin Towers cleverly clipped in with pictures of Saddam fresh from his "spider hole."
I'd rather see an America where poor people don't have to stand for hours in the rain to vote because of deliberately unorganized and under-funded polling sites than ink-stained Iraqi fingers. I would have rather seen bin Laden on trial than see Hussein throwing fits in a courtroom. I would rather see American kids going into affordable higher education than those same kids feeling the military is the only way they will ever afford college.
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Thousands of young lives lost later and heading toward half a trillion dollars spent, the White House is trying to market this war to us as if they were selling breakfast cereal. I hope Minnesotans can see this for what it is; the cynical use of patriots by a privileged few who never served.
I am a Vietnam-era veteran and I know there is still controversy about that war, but the one thing most of us agree on is the military was used, our willingness to serve and sacrifice betrayed by politicians more concerned about saving face than protecting their forces. Those politicians, like the current breed, have no concept of honor; they betray service people by sending them where they don't belong and under-funding promised services. At election time, they spew out a few placating words, wrap themselves in flags and pose for pictures on aircraft carriers or in cemeteries hoping they can steal someone else's glory and turn it into votes.
Steve Pitzen
Benedict
68,000 children
now uninsured
At the urging of the Children's Defense Fund (CDF) Minnesota and other child advocates, a Senate Panel has passed legislation that would provide access to health care coverage to all 68,000 uninsured children in Minnesota by 2010.
Jim Koppel, director of CDF Minnesota, told the Senate Health and Family Security Committee the Children's Health Security Act would ensure that all Minnesota children have health care coverage no matter where their parents work or how much they earn. The legislation breaks down the barriers that keep kids in Minnesota uninsured. The committee passed the legislation and referred it on for further action.
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Unlike the rest of the country, Minnesota is moving backward in covering our kids. We are one of only a handful states that have seen an increase in the number of uninsured kids in recent years. Our 68,000 uninsured kids is twice the population of Mankato.
Koppel told the committee that he is alarmed that the number of kids in the developmentally-critical age bracket of birth-5 grew by 11,000 between 2001 and 2004.
That should be unacceptable to Minnesota's lawmakers and to all the people of this state.
The Children's Health Security Act, authored by Sen. Yvonne Prettner Solon (Duluth) and Rep. Paul Thissen (Minneapolis), would in two phases - ensure universal coverage of all children through age 18 as well as dependent young adults who are going to school. The first phase would cover all kids whose family income is below 300 percent of federal poverty guidelines ($56,000 for a family of four) into a single purchasing pool, ensuring access to preventive care and removing administrative and cost barriers.
The second phase would open the program to all children in the state in 2010. Coverage in the children's health pool would be voluntary.
This effort would provide consistent, continuous care that is affordable for all Minnesota children. It would also relieve employers of the cost of covering child dependents. In addition, it would make the health care system less confusing, and more efficient, and reduce uncompensated care, which totaled $74 million in Minnesota in 2004.
Marc Kimball
CDF Minnesota
