Never ceases to amaze...

How can a president who approved of last week's additional $42.3 billion request for the war effort (bringing the total 2008 budget to $190 billion) turn around this week and veto a $30 billion children's health care initiative, saying it is too expensive?! And don't give me some spiel about long term versus short term spending and entitlements - I know all of that.

Bush says the health insurance iniative passed by Congress would amount to socialized medicine and that people would take advantage of the government program even if they could afford private coverage. (Never mind the quality of socialized medicine and how unattractive of an option that could be for most people.) How about we worry less about the miniscule number of people who might abuse the system and more about the 6 million children who could benefit from this program? The Bush administration has also said that this act strays too far from its intended mission of helping the poor. What? Because it also helps lower middle class families whose children are un- or under-insured? Yeah, better not stray that far. How about we see its intent as providing nearly 6 million children in this country with health insurance? Could be a neat way to look at things.

I know that, all things considered, I am more socialist than most, but really...this is just ridiculous. We are funneling hundreds of billions of dollars into what is essentially a money pit of our own making and we can't find the money to care for our own citizens? (Also, the money for this program would come from an increased cigarette tax, thank you very much.) I continue to worry about the state of our nation's priorities. I pray I'm not the only one.