INCREASING POVERTY? WHERE?

Among the lies we’ve come to expect from the Bush administration (this time concerning American health care), I came across some more information about poverty which I’m sure the Bush people don’t want to be part of the presidential debates.

First, a little exposure of the lies: “Health experts inside and out of the Bush administration say many of the assertions Bush makes about his first-term health care record and his health proposals for a second term are exaggerated, incomplete or contrary to widely accepted analyses.

“On the campaign trail, the president trumpets last year's enactment of a Medicare prescription drug package as his signature health achievement.

“ ‘Leaders in both political parties had promised prescription drug coverage for years.’ Bush said last month. ‘We got it done. More than 4 million seniors have signed up for drug discount cards that provide real savings.’

“Left unsaid is that 2.9 million of them had no choice – they were enrolled automatically. And full implementation of the drug benefits will not occur until 2006.

“Since Bush took office, the number of Americans without health insurance has climbed by 4 million to nearly 44 million.”

Enough said? The biggest lie, to me, in this Bush fluff, is his claim that more Americans are covered by government health programs since he took office as if it’s due to his compassion. The truth is that “... total enrollment in the two government health programs has risen during Bush's tenure by about 7.5 million. But for the vast majority, coverage was required by law, not the result of any policy change:

" ‘Part of the reason more people were covered is the economy got so bad that people lost income,’ Rowland said. ‘There were more low-income people under Bush than previously, so they became eligible for public programs.’ "

That’s right! Bush’s economy is so bad that more people live in poverty and qualify for government programs; then, he has the balls to claim that his programs now cover more people than before he was anointed to power. You can read more by looking up this story by Ceci Connolly in the Washington Post, August 23, 2004


HERE’S SOME MORE TRUTH ABOUT KERRY

CHICAGO (AP) — A Chicago Tribune editor who was on the Vietnam mission for which John Kerry received the Silver Star is backing up Kerry's account of the incident.

William Rood, a night city editor for the Chicago Tribune, served with John Kerry during the Vietnam War.

William Rood, 61, said he decided to break his silence about the Feb. 28, 1969, mission because reports by the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth are incorrect and darken the reputations of veterans who served with Kerry, according to a report in the Tribune's Sunday editions.

Rood, an editor on the Tribune's metropolitan desk, said the allegations that Kerry's accomplishments were overblown are untrue. Kerry came up with an attack strategy that was praised by their superiors, Rood said.

"The critics have taken pains to say they're not trying to cast doubts on the merit of what others did, but their version of events has splashed doubt on all of us," Rood said in a 1,700-word first-person account published in the newspaper. "It's gotten harder and harder for those of us who were there to listen to accounts we know to be untrue, especially when they come from people who were not there."

According to the Tribune, Rood's recollection of what happened that day in South Vietnam was backed by military documents, including his citation for a Bronze Star and a report written by then-Capt. Roy Hoffmann, who commanded his and Kerry's task force and is now a critic of the Democratic candidate.

The mission has become a focal point of a political and media firestorm fueled by the Swift Boat Veterans.

One of the group's leaders, John O'Neill, succeeded Kerry in command of a swift boat. O'Neill is co-author of the book Unfit for Command, which accuses Kerry of lying about his wartime record and betraying comrades when he returned from Vietnam by alleging widespread atrocities by U.S. troops. The Swift Boat Veterans have repeated the accusations in TV ads.

The Kerry campaign filed a complaint Friday with the Federal Election Commission, alleging the Swift Boat Veterans are coordinating their ads with the Bush campaign. The Bush campaign has denied the claim but refused to condemn the book or the group's TV ads.

Rood wrote that Kerry recently contacted him and other crew members, requesting that they go public with their accounts of what happened that February day.

"I can't pretend those calls (from Kerry) had no effect on me, but that is not why I am writing this," Rood said. "What matters most to me is that this is hurting crewmen who are not public figures and who deserved to be honored for what they did. My intent is to tell the story here and to never again talk publicly about it."

Rood declined requests from a Tribune reporter to be interviewed. The Tribune's deputy managing editor for news, George de Lama, told The Associated Press on Saturday that Rood would not publicly discuss the issue.

When the Tribune asked O'Neill for his response to Rood's account, O'Neill argued that the former swift boat skipper's version of events is not substantially different from what appeared in his book.

A message left with Swift Boat Veterans for Truth was not immediately returned Saturday.
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"The human mind treats a new idea the way the body treats a strange protein; it rejects it."
—Biologist P. B. Medawar