A few days ago the President announced his intention to veto legislation which would expand health insurance coverage for children. By increasing federal funding for the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), this bill—hailed before as “popular” and “bipartisan”—would cover an additional 4 million children who are currently uninsured.

Today we learned that, inexplicably, over 150 Republicans in the House of Representatives went on the record against protecting the health of poor kids. Poor American kids. more »

An article in The Hill claims that there’s an upsurge in political interest among young people:

After dipping to an all-time low of 36 percent in 1996 and 2000, voting among those aged 18 to 25 grew 11 percentage points in 2004, a trend that seems to be continuing. A Harvard University Institute of Politics survey has charted a dramatic change in the attitude of younger Americans since 2000. At that time, young Americans were disconnected from government and the political process, more concerned with stock options than politics. The attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, changed all that….Initially there was a dramatic surge in support for government action, political involvement and President Bush. A lot has happened since then, including Hurricane Katrina, the war in Iraq and increased concern over global warming. Youthful attitudes toward the Bush administration have changed, but interest in political action has not.

The article ends by warning that “candidates for president ignore their potential and their communications channels at their peril.”

Because we can all use a bit of laughter after this week…

• Colbert on the Pottery Barn Rule: “Do you know what happens if you break a lamp at Pottery Barn and leave? Genocide!”
• Colbert:
  

  According to the Washington Post, the President is seeking candidates for a brand-new position they’re calling the war czar. The czar would coordinate between State and Defense Departments; oversee operations in Iraq and Afghanistan; and, one assumes, keep an eye on Rasputin….If only the Constitution provided for some kind of—chief commander, or commanderish chief, who could command chiefly these wars!

• Glad our Attorney General was able to articulate a clear explanation of how his department operates.

• Abstinence-only education doesn’t work.
• Interracial marriages are on the rise. It’s been 40 years since the Supreme Court invalidated miscegenation laws in the landmark decision of Loving v. Virginia, calling the freedom to marry “one of the vital personal rights essential to the orderly pursuit of happiness by free men.”
• DailyKos links to this interview:
  

  Q: You began in the Justice Department during the Watergate years. How would you rank Alberto Gonzales in terms of politicization of the department in comparison to the other AGs you have worked for?

  A: …[I worked in the Department for over 30 years under] more than a dozen attorneys general, including Ed Meese as well as John Mitchell, and I used to think that they had politicized the department more than anyone could or should. But nothing compares to the past two years under Alberto Gonzales.

So Karl Rove and other political appointees in the White House used their RNC email accounts (rather than their government accounts) to discuss the possibility of firing U.S. Attorneys, and now the administration tells us that these emails…wait for it…have mysteriously disappeared! What a shame, because the White House no doubt would have loved to be able to produce these emails to prove they weren’t attempting to interfere with the Justice Department for political reasons. But Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) isn’t buying it:

“They say they have not been preserved. I don’t believe that!” Leahy shouted from the Senate floor.

Is Leahy right to believe that the administration is lying, or did the RNC simply put IT wizard Sen. Ted “Series of Tubes” Stevens in charge of their servers? If so, Leahy has a solution for retrieving the messages:

“I’ve got a teenage kid in my neighborhood that can go get ’em for them,” he told reporters later.

A recent poll finds increasing approval of Congress, in contrast with still-abysmal ratings for President Bush and discontent with Iraq.

Jon Stewart:

As…members of Gonzales’s own party are questioning his credibility, it’s once again left to the White House to defend Gonzales with a sentence that appears to actually be eating itself:

“He doesn’t recall having recollections about having deliberative discussions.” (Deputy White House Press Secretary Dana Perino)

That was a sentence so tortured, even the man who declared the Geneva Convention quaint wouldn’t allow it to be used on prisoners.

Also, you may recall jupi’s post about the New York City ban of the n-word. The recent Daily Show investigative report on this issue (by Larry Wilmore and John Oliver) is priceless.

• This is pretty funny.

• “Good news for the Bush administration. Just one week after the outrageous Walter Reed medical scandal, that story is gone. Because there’s a new kid in town. His name is Outrageous Fired Federal Prosecutors Attorney General Scandal. Yes, in one week it’s been revealed the administration screwed over wounded vets (the most revered people in America), and lawyers (the most reviled people in America), proving they’ve got range.”
  —Jon Stewart (via DailyKos)

This Pew survey released yesterday (fun graphs included!) shows a decrease in support for conservative positions and Republicans.

Q: Where would you find Christian fundamentalists supporting a student who, at a school event, displayed a sign that said “Bong Hits 4 Jesus”?

A: At the U.S. Supreme Court.

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