THE OTHER SHOE DROPS: Updates To Previous Posts
† Why Shouldn’t Illegals Get Government Healthcare?: It’s not just the public option and the cost of proposed healthcare “reform” legislation that’s dividing Democrats, but also whether health coverage and the government subsidies to buy it should be available only to native born and naturalized citizens, should be offered to legal immigrants as well as U.S. citizens, or should be offered to everyone regardless of immigration status, reports The Washington Times:
The Democrats, trying to stiffen their party's spines on the contentious issue, say it's unfair to bar illegal immigrants from paying their own way in a government-sponsored exchange. Legal immigrants, they say, regardless of how long they've been in the United States, should be able to get government-subsidized health care if they meet the other eligibility requirements.
"Legal permanent residents should be able to purchase their plans, and they should also be eligible for subsidies if they need it. Undocumented, if they can afford it, should be able to buy their own private plans. It keeps them out of the emergency room," said Rep. Michael M. Honda, California Democrat and chairman of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus. …
The National Council of La Raza launched its own "flood their voice mail" campaign last week to put pressure on Mr. Baucus to expand coverage in his proposal to include all legal immigrants and to drop verification language in the legislation that would prevent illegal immigrants from obtaining coverage. …
Twenty-nine Democrats signed on to the letter on legal immigrants, while 21 signed the letter on covering illegal immigrants. Although the leadership of the Congressional Black Caucus signed the legal-immigrant letter in their capacity as CBC officials, they signed the other letter as individual members of Congress.
Rep. Steve King (R-IA) predicts that if the final bill extends coverage to illegal aliens, it "would be a poison pill that would cause health care to go down" to defeat.
† Chicago On The Potomac: President Barack Hussein Obama’s inserting himself in NY’s 2010 governor’s election by pressuring Gov. David Paterson not to seek a full term has “pitted the country’s first black president with the state’s first black governor” reports the New York Post, with local pols having to choose between “David (Paterson) vs. Goliath (Obama).” Most are keeping their own counsel – and for good reason, explains State Senator Carl Kruger (D-Mill Basin): “You have to remember one thing. Barack Obama may be the president of the United States, but he’s a product of Chicago politics. If you cause him a problem or interfere with his grand plan, don’t stand near an open window when he’s in the room.”
Some people must like to live dangerously. Patterson, appeared on “Meet the Press” to insist he will run (“I don't think that I am a drag on my party, I think I'm standing up for my party's priorities. … You don't give up because you have low poll numbers”). And former Gov. L. Douglas Wilder (D-VA) is “spurning” requests from Obama and Gov. Tim Kaine, who also heads the Democratic National Committee, to endorse Democrat R. Creigh Deeds for Virginia governor, reports The Washington Post:
Mr. Wilder objected to statements by Mr. Deeds indicating that he would not rule out new taxes if they were part of a bipartisan bill that contained a dedicated funding mechanism for transportation.
"We are in the toughest economic times that we've had. I think the most driving thing to do now is to be a part of fiscal sanity and restoring accountability."
"The first thing you do when that situation occurs is to get a handle on spending and to control what you are doing. It is not going out and advocating that the first thing you are going to do is see if you can spend some more money. That doesn't make it a difficult decision for me to say I can't embrace this."
Deeds also did not endear himself to the former governor when he promised “to work to repeal Mr. Wilder's signature one-gun-a-month law that prohibits citizens from purchasing more than one handgun at a time.”
† Obama – Not McCain - Will Be Bush III: The teacher’s unions are giving President Barack Hussein Obama an “F” for his $4.35 billion "Race to the Top" proposal, which they say is “little more than a dressed-up version of the No Child Left Behind law,” reports The Washington Post:
"It looks like the only strategies they have are charter schools and measurement," said Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers. "That's Bush III." Weingarten, who praises Obama for massive federal aid to help schools through the recession, said her 1.4 million-member union is engaged in "a constructive but tart dialogue" with the administration about reform.
Debate over Race to the Top among Democrats, education groups and others is widespread, with thousands of written comments pouring into the government since late July. It previews the clash to come when Obama and the Democratic-led Congress update No Child Left Behind. The controversial law is certain to be renamed and reworked. But those who want to scrap it entirely might be disappointed because federal education policy has been largely bipartisan for the past two decades.
"Obama's the fourth president in a row who has been in favor of standards-based reform and test-driven accountability," said Jack Jennings, a former Democratic congressional aide and president of the Center on Education Policy. "Obama's very much in a line of four consecutive presidents - two liberals, two conservatives; two Democrats and two Republicans - who are all in favor of the same kind of reform."
For a state to be eligible for a grant under the proposal, student achievement data must be a factor in job evaluations of teachers and principals.
† Sotomayor: A Quintessential New Yorker: The Yankees-Red Sox game on Saturday was special – and not just because of the seven shutout innings CC Sabathia threw, outfielder Brett Gardner stealing third base in the 8th inning and the 9th inning turning into a nail-biter after a wild pitch by closer Mariano Rivera. Before the game, catcher Jorge Posada escorted Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor to a spot several feet in front of the mound, and she threw the ceremonial first pitch straight up the middle to catcher Jose Molina:
† Professor Accused Of Thesis Theft: In 2003 Mary Swenson, then a doctoral student in organizational psychology at online university Capella, and her graduate faculty adviser, business professor Sharon Bender, traded accusations of plagiarism. After Swenson's dissertation committee gave her a failing grade, she sued Bender in state court, which found that as her thesis adviser, Bender had breached “a fiduciary duty … to assist Swenson with her thesis," and imposed a $60,000 judgment against her. A reader has informed The Stiletto that a few weeks ago, a state appeals court in MN reversed the lower court’s ruling, on the grounds that as an adjunct professor Bender’s obligation to Capella to report plagiarism “at least paralleled, if not superseded, her obligation to Swenson” and that “Bender’s role prevented her from being bound to act only for Swenson’s benefit on all matters.” This article published by Inside Higher Ed gives a thorough airing of the issues arising from the two court cases.
† Updates To Previous Posts (last item, Drug-Stealing Surgery Tech Exposes Thousands Of Patients To Hepatitis): Former surgery technician Kristen Diane Parker, 26, who infected at least 16 hospital patients with hepatitis C, pleaded guilty to five counts of tampering with a consumer product and five counts of obtaining a controlled substance by deceit or subterfuge, reports The Associated Press. Prosecutors dropped the rest of the charges in the 42-count indictment. Under the terms of her plea agreement, she will serve 20 years in prison; she could have gotten a life sentence if convicted on all counts.
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