Merry Christmas, Kids!; or, How Christians Really Do Mean "Suffer the Children" (and the Poor, the Illegal, and Plain un-American...) Guess what you aren't getting this year? That's right! HEALTH INSURANCE!!!!So even after Democrats LOWERED the spending on SCHIP from $50 billion to $35 billion (and please note, the so-called "War against Terror" has already cost almost $500 TRILLION), Bush decided health insurance for the poor and uninsured wasn't important--and vetoed the bill again...The FRC (Family Research Council), and organization that is supposedly all about Christian values, loves unborn fetus's, and thinks gays are just plain icky, thinks it's GREAT that Bush has decided not to insure not only poor children, but, according to them on their web site:So much for peace and goodwill toward the President's men. [...] Fortunately, the distractions haven't affected President Bush's resolve. For the second time, he [Bush] vetoed yesterday a $35 billion renewal of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), largely because many of the bill's beneficiaries were not children in need but adults, illegal immigrants, and families already covered through private insurance.Apparently, "good will" should be extended to the President and his buddy-boys, but not to people struggling to make ends meet. Yeah, in case you didn't get that, the FRC thinks Bush is the bee's knees, despite the fact that their own holy book states the following:When it comes to poor persons:Lev 25:35 And if thy brother be waxen poor, and fallen in decay with thee; then thou shalt relieve him: [yea, though he be] a stranger, or a sojourner; that he may live with thee.Deu 15:11 For the poor shall never cease out of the land: therefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy, in thy land.Luke 14:13 But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind:When it comes to illegal immigrants:Lev 19:34 [But] the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt: I [am] the LORD your God.Mat 25:35 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:Oddly enough, not much is said about kids, whether unborn or not... I suppose the Hebrew's back in the day were of the mind that children should be seen and not heard? (And let's face it--kids who are uninsured have a better chance of being silent due to death and illness!)I seriously have to question how "Christian" an organization is that actively wants to withhold the wealth and security (not to mention freedoms) of the wealthiest, most blessed (metaphorically speaking) nation in the WORLD from the poor, needy, and sick... It's almost as if they consider themselves greedy, needy, victimized Americans first, and Christians as an after-thought (if a thought were to go through their brains at all!)Being the uber-liberal, anti-Christian, Satan-loving atheist American that I am (Oh! And homo...), of COURSE you expect me to be all for "socialized medicine" and letting illegal immigrants have a better life...But tell me: What's really so bad about universal health care? Why are the fundamentalist organizations so anti-universal health care? Where is the inherent evil in that?Secondly, why is it a bad idea to insure the "illegal" immigrants? Aren't people always bitching about how they are a "drain on the system" and whatnot? Theoretically "driving up health care costs" by using emergency rooms instead of family doctors? Wouldn't health insurance in some form or another alleviate some of that "burden"? Not that there aren't 600+ other reasons why we should be helping those less fortunate (has anyone ever heard of kindness for kindness sake? Common decency?)But no--in this time of sharing and giving (and that ruse known as celebrating a god's birth), the said celebrant's of that god, instead of trying to do as much good as possible for their fellow man (supposedly also created in their god's image) are supporting a man (also metaphorically speaking) who would rather wage war than get people health insurance. Yeah, that sounds like something Jesus would stand for. I think we find that passage in:Hypocrite chapter 81. And lo, Jesus called unto himself his disciples; and they were sore tired from hiking up the Mount of Olives once more;2. And he said unto them, "Verily, verily, I say unto you: See ye these olives?" 3. And lo, they answered thus, "We answer thee, Lord, and we say Yes, lo, we behold these olives." 4. And Jesus replied and said, "Verily, verily, these olives are blessed among fruits, unlike the figs; apples; bananas; 5. oranges; coconuts; pears; kiwi; pomegranates; grapes; mangoes; tomatoes--" 6. And lo, Peter interrupted and said unto Jesus, "Verily, Lord, tomatoes are a vegetable, are they not?" 7. And thus Jesus said unto Peter, "Behold, you are a box of rocks that I will build my church upon--dare you question your Lord's word that tomatoes are a fruit?"8. And thus Peter answered and said unto him, "Sorry, Lord, please continue. Please do not smite thy stupid, stupid servant." 9. And Jesus continued thus, and lo, he said unto his disciples, "Verily, verily, these blessed olives do heal the sick, make the lame to walk, and the tone-deaf to sing on key." 10. And Peter thus spoke and said, "Lord, Lord: we should export these olives to the masses, the tired, the poor, the hungry!" 11. And Jesus answered thus, and said unto Peter, "Peter, the Box of Rocks foundation of my kingdom, I say unto you, it would be too expensive! People from around the globe would flood the land, and the olives would be wiped out; Mexicans would benefit from your olives! No one wants that! And what about those lazy inner-city folk? You think THEY deserve to eat olives? Seriously? And don't get me started on those with pre-existing conditions! They would need TWO olives to heal! You would need to DOUBLE olive production!! Do you see what I'm talking about, Peter? Verily, verily, I ask, do thee?" 12. And lo, Peter understood that the blessings he thought were a gift from God should be kept to himself, and a few select others, and not shared with the masses, despite the amount of labor and taxes that could easily be made up for with the influx of persons to the land. 13. Peter and Thomas thus chopped down most of the olive grove, and walled in the few remaining olive trees. They charged an arm and a leg for the olives, only gave them to people who could certify that they lived and worked in Jerusalem, and paid not only the olive tax, but the tree tax, root tax, stump tax, picking tax, green tax, sunlight fee, wall maintenance upkeep surcharge, occupational privilege tax, as well as the eating olive privilege fees (plus $20 person-to-person sales fee), and lo, 14. Jerusalem stayed a drippy economy, with low wages for most, and those who could thus afford the olives took advantage of the rest, and thus, a few remained healthy and viable while the rest made do with vegetable-like tomatoes and assorted breakfast cereals; 15. And indeed, God was thus pleased with the way his followers did box up their gifts and keep them for themselves, and thus, were the perfect example for what he was really all about--a special, select few, with the rest to live the rest of their lives in utter misery and contempt (not to mention the eternal afterlife in hell for not giving his kid enough props).

Guess what you aren't getting this year? That's right! HEALTH INSURANCE!!!!

So even after Democrats LOWERED the spending on SCHIP from $50 billion to $35 billion (and please note, the so-called "War against Terror" has already cost almost $500 TRILLION), Bush decided health insurance for the poor and uninsured wasn't important--and vetoed the bill again...

The FRC (Family Research Council), and organization that is supposedly all about Christian values, loves unborn fetus's, and thinks gays are just plain icky, thinks it's GREAT that Bush has decided not to insure not only poor children, but, according to them on their web site:

---

So much for peace and goodwill toward the President's men. [...] Fortunately, the distractions haven't affected President Bush's resolve. For the second time, he [Bush] vetoed yesterday a $35 billion renewal of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), largely because many of the bill's beneficiaries were not children in need but adults, illegal immigrants, and families already covered through private insurance.

---

Apparently, "good will" should be extended to the President and his buddy-boys, but not to people struggling to make ends meet. Yeah, in case you didn't get that, the FRC thinks Bush is the bee's knees, despite the fact that their own holy book states the following:

---

When it comes to poor persons:

Lev 25:35 And if thy brother be waxen poor, and fallen in decay with thee; then thou shalt relieve him: [yea, though he be] a stranger, or a sojourner; that he may live with thee.

Deu 15:11 For the poor shall never cease out of the land: therefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy, in thy land.

Luke 14:13 But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind:

When it comes to illegal immigrants:

Lev 19:34 [But] the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt: I [am] the LORD your God.

Mat 25:35 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:

---

Oddly enough, not much is said about kids, whether unborn or not... I suppose the Hebrew's back in the day were of the mind that children should be seen and not heard? (And let's face it--kids who are uninsured have a better chance of being silent due to death and illness!)

I seriously have to question how "Christian" an organization is that actively wants to withhold the wealth and security (not to mention freedoms) of the wealthiest, most blessed (metaphorically speaking) nation in the WORLD from the poor, needy, and sick... It's almost as if they consider themselves greedy, needy, victimized Americans first, and Christians as an after-thought (if a thought were to go through their brains at all!)

Being the uber-liberal, anti-Christian, Satan-loving atheist American that I am (Oh! And homo...), of COURSE you expect me to be all for "socialized medicine" and letting illegal immigrants have a better life...

But tell me: What's really so bad about universal health care? Why are the fundamentalist organizations so anti-universal health care? Where is the inherent evil in that?

Secondly, why is it a bad idea to insure the "illegal" immigrants? Aren't people always bitching about how they are a "drain on the system" and whatnot? Theoretically "driving up health care costs" by using emergency rooms instead of family doctors? Wouldn't health insurance in some form or another alleviate some of that "burden"? Not that there aren't 600+ other reasons why we should be helping those less fortunate (has anyone ever heard of kindness for kindness sake? Common decency?)

But no--in this time of sharing and giving (and that ruse known as celebrating a god's birth), the said celebrant's of that god, instead of trying to do as much good as possible for their fellow man (supposedly also created in their god's image) are supporting a man (also metaphorically speaking) who would rather wage war than get people health insurance. Yeah, that sounds like something Jesus would stand for. I think we find that passage in:

---

Hypocrite chapter 8
1. And lo, Jesus called unto himself his disciples; and they were sore tired from hiking up the Mount of Olives once more;
2. And he said unto them, "Verily, verily, I say unto you: See ye these olives?"
3. And lo, they answered thus, "We answer thee, Lord, and we say Yes, lo, we behold these olives."
4. And Jesus replied and said, "Verily, verily, these olives are blessed among fruits, unlike the figs; apples; bananas;
5. oranges; coconuts; pears; kiwi; pomegranates; grapes; mangoes; tomatoes--"
6. And lo, Peter interrupted and said unto Jesus, "Verily, Lord, tomatoes are a vegetable, are they not?"
7. And thus Jesus said unto Peter, "Behold, you are a box of rocks that I will build my church upon--dare you question your Lord's word that tomatoes are a fruit?"
8. And thus Peter answered and said unto him, "Sorry, Lord, please continue. Please do not smite thy stupid, stupid servant."
9. And Jesus continued thus, and lo, he said unto his disciples, "Verily, verily, these blessed olives do heal the sick, make the lame to walk, and the tone-deaf to sing on key."
10. And Peter thus spoke and said, "Lord, Lord: we should export these olives to the masses, the tired, the poor, the hungry!"
11. And Jesus answered thus, and said unto Peter, "Peter, the Box of Rocks foundation of my kingdom, I say unto you, it would be too expensive! People from around the globe would flood the land, and the olives would be wiped out; Mexicans would benefit from your olives! No one wants that! And what about those lazy inner-city folk? You think THEY deserve to eat olives? Seriously? And don't get me started on those with pre-existing conditions! They would need TWO olives to heal! You would need to DOUBLE olive production!! Do you see what I'm talking about, Peter? Verily, verily, I ask, do thee?"
12. And lo, Peter understood that the blessings he thought were a gift from God should be kept to himself, and a few select others, and not shared with the masses, despite the amount of labor and taxes that could easily be made up for with the influx of persons to the land.
13. Peter and Thomas thus chopped down most of the olive grove, and walled in the few remaining olive trees. They charged an arm and a leg for the olives, only gave them to people who could certify that they lived and worked in Jerusalem, and paid not only the olive tax, but the tree tax, root tax, stump tax, picking tax, green tax, sunlight fee, wall maintenance upkeep surcharge, occupational privilege tax, as well as the eating olive privilege fees (plus $20 person-to-person sales fee), and lo,
14. Jerusalem stayed a drippy economy, with low wages for most, and those who could thus afford the olives took advantage of the rest, and thus, a few remained healthy and viable while the rest made do with vegetable-like tomatoes and assorted breakfast cereals;
15. And indeed, God was thus pleased with the way his followers did box up their gifts and keep them for themselves, and thus, were the perfect example for what he was really all about--a special, select few, with the rest to live the rest of their lives in utter misery and contempt (not to mention the eternal afterlife in hell for not giving his kid enough props).

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