Piece of SCHIP

Having accepted the fact that my expose on grammatically incorrect rock songs was, er, a little too fringe for mass consumption (read: the four participants of this blog), I thought it best to move on to other, more mature topics. Tomorrow, Congress will vote on whether to override President Bush's veto of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (S-CHIP), a $35 billion subsidy that would be partially funded by federal tobacco taxes. In addition to increasing the price of a can of Skoal to upwards of $8 dollars - like I don't spend enough on my vices already - S-CHIP essentially would provide health care coverage to children and adults in families making up to 300 percent of the national poverty level, or about $81,000 a year. Rather than offer you my thoughts on the questionable wisdom of the S-CHIP proposal, I thought I'd instead refer you to these two articles at NRO by Michelle Malkin and Diana Ernst, which nicely summarize the pitfalls of this leftist pre-election legislation and do much to show why Bush's position is the right one. And while you're at it, if you have time, check out this little ditty about the Left's failed S-CHIP poster family, the Frosts. Like my old upstairs neighbors, their part-time employment is enough to support three vehicles and (unlike my old neighbors) two properties now valued at over $400,000. Awwww... doesn't that just break your heart?

Update: Override Fails

Congress failed to secure enough votes to override the President's veto of the expanded S-CHIP legislation on Thursday. Score one for fiscal conservatism. I'll refrain from discussing my observations or providing any further input on this subject, because no one actually reads this blog, which is fast becoming a failure.