ON HEALTHCARE

Bush Policies Bad for Kids, Child Experts Say

By Maggie Fox

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Three dozen eminent pediatricians and social workers attacked the Bush administration on Wednesday for policies they said leave too many children without health insurance.

The doctors, including some well-known authors of manuals for parents and professionals, said they were taking the unusual step because they were worried about the state of U.S. health care.

"The Bush administration's policies are moving us away from effective and longstanding federal commitments that improved the health of children, commitments proudly initiated and supported by previous Republican and Democratic presidents," reads their statement, signed by 36 child experts. . .

The statement by the child experts said that the Bush administration's policies would erode decades of hard-won health gains for children, "while still leaving unaddressed such critical problems as child abuse, mental health, and alcohol and other drug abuse."

The statement echoed concerns expressed by many health professionals -- that the lack of a coherent U.S. health plan is leaving too many people without health care. This is costing more in the long run, they argue, as such people tend to get treated in expensive emergency rooms once their health problems reach a crisis.

The doctors, who include bestselling writer Dr. T. Berry Brazelton of Harvard University and former American Academy of Pediatrics president Dr. Joel Alpert of Boston University, were sponsored by Vote Kids, a nonprofit group that rates members of Congress based on their votes on child-related issues.

They endorsed President Bush's Democratic challenger, Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry.

"We embrace Senator Kerry's straightforward goal: every child, indeed every American, should have the same affordable health care that is available to every member of Congress and senior government official," they said.

Census bureau figures show 45 million Americans had no health insurance coverage in 2003. Another nonprofit group, Families USA, said this week that 85.2 million people went without health insurance for some time during 2003 and 2004.

The pediatricians group said this latter number included 27 million children -- despite programs like the federally backed State Child Health Insurance Program, which they said has suffered due to the Bush administration's tax and budget policies.

"In the president's home state of Texas alone, nearly 150,000 children of working class families have been dropped from the State Child Health Insurance Program, leaving them without any insurance."

� Copyright Reuters Ltd.

*

BUSH STILL PUSHING LIES IN REFUSING TO LOWER DRUG PRICES

President Bush continues to oppose allowing American seniors to purchase lower-priced, FDA-approved medicines from Canada.[1] His administration has claimed those prescription drugs would be unsafe, and is working to block a vote on bipartisan Senate legislation to make reimportation legal.[2] But as a new drug industry whistleblower notes, the scare tactics are dishonest and untrue.

Dr. Peter Rost, vice-president of marketing for the pharmaceutical company Pfizer, recently came out and debunked the White House's argument, saying reimportation "has been proven to be safe in Europe" and that "The safety issue is a made-up story."[3] Rost's comments are consistent with the Bush administration's own FDA officials who have been unable to provide any evidence that medicines from Canada are unsafe.[4]

President Bush's opposition to reimportation is backed by the drug industry - the same special interest that has donated lavishly to the GOP. According to the non-profit watchdog Public Campaign, the drug industry has given Republican candidates more than $36 million since 1999. President Bush has raked in more than $418,000 from the pharmaceutical industry, and lists many drug industry executives and lobbyists as his top fundraisers.[5]

Sources:
1. "Big Pharma fears a Kerry win will lead to curbs on drug prices," The Independent Portfolio, 9/22/04
2. "Frist won't bring drug import legislation up for vote," The Tennessean, 9/16/04
3. "Surprise Support For Drug Importing," Washington Post, 9/14/04
4. "FDA lacks examples of Canadian drugs harming Americans," Knight Ridder, 11/26/03
5. "Paybacks: Prescription Drugs," Public Campaign, 8/2004

~~~

ON THE MORPHING OF DEMOCRACY

NEW REPORT SHOWS BUSH INCREASING GOVERNMENT SECRECY

President Bush has said that he wants to "create a culture of transparency"[1] in government, but according to a new report to be released today by Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA), his administration is going to extraordinary lengths to increase government secrecy.

The Waxman report is consistent with earlier signs that the Bush administration is doing everything it can to limit the amount of information the public can get from its government. Last month, a coalition of 30 organizations issued a report saying "Secrecy has increased dramatically in recent years under the policies of the current administration." The report found that "the number of documents being classified has jumped 40 percent from 2001" and that the number of documents declassified in 2003 was about one fifth the amount declasssified in 1997. The result "is an increasing backlog of requests filed under the Freedom of Information Act."[2]

To find Waxman's full report see both his personal office website,[3] and the House Government Reform Committee's Minority website[4] today.

Sources:
1. "President Bush Remarks at Summit of the Americas Ceremony," WhiteHouse.gov, 1/12/04
2. "White House takes secrecy to new levels, coalition reports," San Francisco Chronicle, 8/27/04
3. Website of Representative Henry Waxman, 9/04
4. Government Reform Minority Office Website, 9/04

*

BUSH RESTRICTING DEMOCRACY AS ELECTION NEARS

President Bush has opined about the need for democracy to be preserved, and for U.S. elections to be fair. In 2002, he said "Every registered voter deserves to have confidence that the system is fair and elections are honest."[1] In 2003, he gave a speech to the National Endowment for Democracy claiming he had a "commitment to democracy."[2] But, as a new report shows, Bush and the Republican Party are doing everything they can to reduce democracy at home as the election approaches.

As an article in In These Times notes, in August 2003 the CEO of one of the biggest manufacturers of new voting machines wrote a fundraising letter saying he is "committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president next year."[3] In June 2004, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) tried to remove 48,000 traditionally Democratic voters from the Florida voter rolls,[4] prompting the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights to demand an investigation.[5] In July, a top GOP official in Michigan indicated his party's effort to reduce minority voter turnout, saying that the GOP will have "a tough time [in this election]" if "we do not suppress the Detroit vote."[6] In August, Jeb Bush's political appointee tried to hire two top Bush fundraisers to represent the election office in Broward County in the case of a recount.[7]

See the full article at www.inthesetimes.com/site/main/article/1115.

Sources:
1. "President Signs Historic Election Reform Legislation into Law," The White House, 10/29/02
2. "President Bush Discusses Freedom in Iraq and Middle East," The White House, 11/06/03
3. "Voting Machine Controversy," Common Dreams News Center, 8/23/03
4. "Rights leader scolds Bush on use of felon purge lists," Miami Herald, 6/22/04
5. "Voting worries just won't go away," Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 7/18/04.
6. "Groups Say GOP Moves to Stifle Vote," Washington Post, 8/26/04
7. "Elections Supervisor Rapped for Hiring Lawyers With Bush Ties," Law.com, 8/30/04

SIDE NOTE: Jimmy Carter announced yesterday morning that the voting situation in Florida has �a long way to go� before it is up to par�which I found interesting, since I remember mentioning to gutterpoet some time ago that if what happened in Florida in 2000 had happened in another country, we�d have Jimmy Carter there to oversee their next election and make sure everything was kosher.

~~~

ON IRAQ & MATTERS OF NATIONAL SECURITY

ADMINISTRATION MISLEADS ON PROSPECTS IN IRAQ

In late July, a report prepared for the President by his National Intelligence Counsel spelled out "a dark assessment of prospects for Iraq."[1] According to the New York Times, "the estimate outlines three possibilities for Iraq through the end of 2005, with the worst case being developments that could lead to civil war, the officials said. The most favorable outcome described is an Iraq whose stability would remain tenuous in political, economic and security terms."[2] But that didn't stop Bush and other members of the administration from telling the American people that Iraq was headed in the right direction.

On August 5, President Bush said, "[Iraq is] on the path to lasting democracy and liberty."[3] On August 24, Vice President Cheney told voters in Iowa that "We're moving in the right direction [in Iraq]."[4] And this Tuesday, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said Iraqis were "working at making a success out of that country...And I think they've got a darned good crack at making it." [5]

Sources:
1. "U.S. Intelligence Shows Pessimism on Iraq's Future," New York Times, 9/16/04
2. Ibid.
3. "President Signs Defense Bill," The White House, 8/05/04
4. "Remarks by the Vice President and Mrs. Cheney Followed by Question and Answer at a Town Hall Meeting," The White House, 8/24/04
5. "Secretary Rumsfeld Town Hall Meeting at Ft. Campbell, Ky.," U.S. Department of Defense, 9/14/04

*

RUMSFELD MISLEADS ON IRAQI SECURITY FORCES

The ability of U.S. forces to exit Iraq is contingent on the training of Iraqi forces that can provide for their own security. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has seriously misled the American people about the number of Iraqis that have been trained.

In February, Rumsfeld touted the large number of Iraqis serving in security forces that had completed training. Rumsfeld said, "there are over 210,000 Iraqis serving in the security forces. That is an amazing accomplishment. There are a number of thousands more that are currently in training."[1] Rumsfeld's statement was grossly inaccurate. On Tuesday, Rumsfeld admitted, "we're training up their security forces now...about 105,000 are now properly trained and equipped."[2]

But never fear. Rumsfeld now promises that "between now and the end of the year into mid-'05...that number then will go up -- back up over 200,000."[3]

Sources:

1. "More Cooperation Needed to Secure Iraq Borders, Rumsfeld Says," The Coalition Provisional Authority, 2/23/04
2. "Secretary Rumsfeld Media Availability at Ft. Leonard Wood, Mo.," U.S. Department of Defense, 9/14/04
3. "Defense Department Briefing with Secretary Rumsfeld," U.S. Department of Defense, 9/07/04

*

BUSH REJECTED PLANS TO GO AFTER TOP TERRORIST

In his effort to claim he is the strongest candidate on national security, President Bush has lately been speaking a lot about how he is doing everything possible to track down terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi[1] - the man thought to be responsible for escalating attacks on U.S. soldiers in Iraq.[2] But according to NBC News, it was Bush who in 2002 and 2003 rejected three plans to strike and neutralize Zarqawi because he believed a successful strike would undermine the public case for targeting Saddam Hussein.

As NBC News reported, "Long before the war, the Bush administration had several chances to wipe out his terrorist operation and perhaps kill Zarqawi himself - but never pulled the trigger." In June 2002, the Pentagon drafted plans to attack a camp Zarqawi was at with cruise missiles and airstrikes. The plan was killed by the White House. Four months later, as Zarqawi planned to use ricin in terrorist attacks in Europe, the Pentagon drew up a second strike plan, yet "the White House again killed it." In January 2003, the Pentagon drew up still another attack plan, and for the third time, the White House killed it.[3]

According to NBC, "Military officials insist their case for attacking Zarqawi's operation was airtight, but the administration feared destroying the terrorist camp in Iraq could undercut its case for war against Saddam."[4]

Zarqawi is thought to be at least indirectly responsible for hundreds of U.S. casualties. Just yesterday, Zarqawi's terrorist group beheaded an American civilian in Baghdad.[5]

Sources:
1. "President's Remarks to the General Conference of the National Guard Association of the United States," The White House, 9/14/04
2. "Going after Iraq's most wanted man," The Christian Science Monitor, 9/21/04
3. "Avoiding attacking suspected terrorist mastermind," NBC News, 3/02/04
4. Zarqawi Group Beheads U.S. Hostage Armstrong," Reuters, 9/20/04

*

BUSH ATTACKS KERRY WHILE COZYING UP TO DICTATORS

President Bush earlier this week attacked his opponent, saying "It's hard to imagine a candidate running for President prefers the stability of a dictatorship to the hope and security of democracy."[1] Yet, it is President Bush who regularly declares his personal friendship and gratitude to some of the world's most oppressive dictators, often wining and dining them at his ranch in Texas.

In June of 2004, Bush referred to the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia as "my friend,"[2] even though the Saudi Arabian government has been investigated for its financial ties to the 9/11 terrorists[3] and is listed by the U.S. State Department as one of the world's most oppressive regimes on the planet.[4]

In April, he referred to the Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak as "my friend" and welcomed him to the Crawford ranch by saying "I always look forward to visiting with him."[5] Bush gave this praise to a dictator, even though Human Rights Watch notes that government "torture in Egypt is widespread and systemic"[6] and the State Department says Mubarak has passed a Constitution in which the electorate is barred from being "presented with a choice among competing presidential candidates."[7]

In 2002, it was Bush who said "I want to welcome the President of China to our ranch, and to Texas."[8] Bush was inviting into his home a dictator who, according to the U.S. State Department, presides over a government that regularly engages in the "arbitrary or unlawful" murder of its own citizens, kidnappings of political dissidents, and repression of religious minorities.[9]

Sources:
1. "President's Remarks at Victory 2004 Rally in New York City," The White House, 9/20/04
2. "President Bush Holds Press Conference Following the G8 Summit," The White House, 6/10/04
3. "Saudi Government Provided Aid to 9/11 Hijackers, Sources Say," Truthout.org, 8/02/03
4. "Saudi Arabia: Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 2003," U.S. Department of State, 2/25/04
5. "President Bush, Egyptian President Mubarak Meet with Reporters," The White House, 4/12/04
6. "Egypt: Human Rights Background," Human Rights Watch, 10/2001
7. "Egypt: Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 2003," U.S. Department of State, 2/25/04
8. "President Bush, Chinese President Jiang Zemin Discuss Iraq, N. Korea," The White House, 10/25/02
9. "China: Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 2003," U.S. Department of State, 2/25/04

*

BUSH MISLEADS ON SCOPE OF VIOLENCE IN IRAQ

President Bush and his allies have insisted that violence in Iraq is limited to a few isolated pockets of resistance. President Bush said last Wednesday that there are a "handful of people who are willing to kill in order to stop the process."[1] The next day, Interim Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi told reporters at a press conference in the Rose Garden "there is nothing, no problem, except on a small pocket in Fallujah."[2] Information in a secret report compiled for the administration suggests that Bush and Allawi are misleading the public about the scope of violence in Iraq.

According to data collected by Kroll Security International for the administration, there are about 70 attacks a day on U.S. and coalition forces, compared to 40-50 attacks a day before the transfer of authority to the interim Iraqi government.[3] Moreover, the data indicate attacks in "nearly every major city in central, western and northern Iraq."[4] Allawi, in a speech to Congress last Tuesday, described Baghdad as "very good and safe."[5] But the Kroll data reveal that, in recent weeks, there have been an average of 22 attacks per day on troops in Baghdad.[6]

Sources:
1. "President's Remarks in "Focus on Education with President Bush" Event," The White House, 9/22/04
2. "President Bush and Prime Minister Allawi Press Conference," The White House, 9/23/04
3. "Violence in Iraq Belies Claims of Calm, Data Show," Washington Post, 9/24/04
4. Ibid.
5. Ibid.
6. Ibid.

*

Visit www.Misleader.org for more about Bush Administration distortion.

~~~

Word of the Day for Thursday September 30, 2004

ignoble ig-NOH-bul, adjective:
1. Of low birth or family; not noble; not illustrious; plebeian; common; humble.
2. Not noble in quality, character, or purpose; characterized by baseness, lowness, or meanness.

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