So the President can find billions of dollars to fund a morally-bankrupt war, but balks at spending a little extra to cover health care for the country's children. It's unusual for both Republicans and Democrats to find a common ground, but the bill to extend the existing Children's Health Insurance Program (which expires Sept. 30) was pushed by an overwhelming bipartisan effort. CHIP, a state/federal program, covers children whose parents make too much to qualify for Medicaid, but not enough to afford private coverage. The extension would add an extra 4 million children to the 6.6 million children already covered under the program. As for the funding, it would come from an increase in the federal cigarette tax which would go from 64 cents to 1 dollar. Good idea, right? So what's the problem?

Y(our) President thinks this is a patently "political" move on the part of the Democrats, sees it as an expansion of government-covered insurance for children he says are already covered by private insurance. Y(our) President can't seem to conceive of a generation of uninsured children whose families do not qualify for Medicaid, but can't afford the onerous premiums for private insurance - the "gap" generation who have fallen through the cracks. Therefore, the President plans to veto the bill, which will leave 15 states without funds and millions of children uncovered.

Let's reiterate. Billions are being drained from our system, nearly bankrupting the country so that we can continue to fund a travesty of a war. And yet our children aren't worth a few more cents so they can receive decent medical coverage.

Y(our) President, so pampered in his life, can't conceive of what it is like to have to decide whether to buy food, pay rent or a mortgage, or pay astronomical prescription or hospital costs. So he assumes that all of these folks who are too "rich" for Medicaid somehow have the money for the often costly private insurance. And guided by this misconception, he's decided that if the country funds the extension, a bunch of low-life grab-it-alls are going to take more than what is due them. In other words, he thinks folks are just like himself.

Y(our) President refuses to see outside his own demographic, refuses to acknowledge the needs of those who are well below his income bracket. To quote a line from the song, "Colors of the Wind," "You think the only people who are people are the people who look and think like you..." And those would be the people without souls. So much for compassionate conservatism...if there ever were such an animal.