Bits of Tid: May 28, 2009

• Guess which judge said this:

  Because when a case comes before me involving, let's say, someone who is an immigrant -- and we get an awful lot of immigration cases and naturalization cases -- I can't help but think of my own ancestors, because it wasn't that long ago when they were in that position... When I get a case about discrimination, I have to think about people in my own family who suffered discrimination because of their ethnic background or because of religion or because of gender. And I do take that into account.

  Sonia Sotomayor, right? Wrong. Samuel Alito said it at his confirmation hearing in 2006.
• At any rate, it looks like Sonia Sotomayor might not be filibustered.
• Rush admits it: America's a center-left nation!
• Apparently, you can get arrested for corruption in Iraq.
• Memo to Dick Cheney: Don't mess with Obama's National Security Advisor.
• We're all paying the price for the fact that millions of Americans are uninsured.
• From the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Paragraph 2443:

  God blesses those who come to the aid of the poor and rebukes those who turn away from them: "Give to him who begs from you, do not refuse him who would borrow from you"; "you received without pay, give without pay." It is by what they have done for the poor that Jesus Christ will recognize his chosen ones. When "the poor have the good news preached to them," it is the sign of Christ's presence.

Neglecting the poor on "philosophical grounds"

I guess this can't be seen as much of a surprise:

President Bush yesterday rejected entreaties by his Republican allies that he compromise with Democrats on legislation to renew a popular program that provides health coverage to poor children, saying that expanding the program would enlarge the role of the federal government at the expense of private insurance.

The president said he objects on philosophical grounds to a bipartisan Senate proposal to boost the State Children's Health Insurance Program by $35 billion over five years. Bush has proposed $5 billion in increased funding and has threatened to veto the Senate compromise and a more costly expansion being contemplated in the House.

How ironic that Bush - who called Jesus his favorite philosopher - opposes S-CHIP on "philosophical grounds."

Just what is it about S-CHIP that Bush philosophically opposes? Could it be this?

The 10-year-old program, which is set to expire on Sept. 30, costs the federal government $5 billion a year and helps provide health coverage to 6.6 million low-income children whose families do not qualify for Medicaid but cannot afford private insurance on their own. (emphasis mine)

Or maybe he takes issue with this:

About 3.3 million additional children would be covered under the proposal developed by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and Republican Sens. Charles E. Grassley (Iowa) and Orrin G. Hatch (Utah), among others. It would provide the program $60 billion over five years, compared with $30 billion under Bush's proposal. And it would rely on a 61-cent increase in the federal excise tax on cigarettes, to $1 a pack, which Bush opposes. (Emphasis mine)

What's philosophically wrong with spending an extra $30 billion over five years to insure 3.3 million more kids? Nearly 15 times that amount has been spent on a needless war in Iraq. (With the money that's been spent on Iraq, some 60 million children could've been insured during the time since the war began.

Of course, it's not like Bush's 'favorite philosopher' would want us to take care of the poor... or would he?

'Amen, I say to you, what you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for me.' (Matthew 25:45)

Hmm, now there's something to think about.

While the media adores Paris, 40,000 children will die today

...because of malnutrition and hunger. That's according to the Rehydration Project, which also states that one billion people live in inadequate housing.

Another 4,000 children will die for a lack of drinking water.

80 infants will die in Darfur due to poor health.

Roughly 60 die because of violence in Iraq each day.

1,500 people will die of cancer today... in the US alone.

There are so many other grim statistics out there, which you may wish to allude to in responses to this thread. I just wanted to remind people that most of the media seems to care a lot more about what happens to one gorgeous-looking person than what happens to thousands of innocent, although some would say not as attractive, people around the world - and here at home - on a daily basis.