Lol exactly why the program is needed. Steve you basicaly are ok with the fact that healthcare will cost them their house. THEIR HOUSE! The thing most of us consider the brass ring, the thing we work our asses off to secure and call our own and you would have them sell it like an old sportscard on eBay. You sir are dreadfully out of touch.

so what that the house only cost them $55,000? It’s worth $400,000

The house may be worth $400,000 now, but that doesn’t mean they could sell it for $400,000. I don’t know the specific neighborhood where they live, but I do know that the Baltimore housing market has been hit hard in the last year. Depending on the location, they might not be able to sell the house for a reasonable price considering its value. And while I can see your logic that they shouldn’t feel entitled to state-funded healthcare when they have a $400,000 asset, it doesn’t seem right to me that they should have to give up something they’ve obviously worked very hard for in exchange for basic healthcare.

the DC market, not far from Baltimore, has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country

The problem with this logic is twofold. First, DC is at least a 1 hour commute from Baltimore on a good day. The traffic and congestion in this area is legendary. So even if he found a job in the DC area, his expenses for gas and car maintenance would go up, and his time to spend with his family would be diminished. And second, I honestly don’t know how good or bad unemployment is in Baltimore statistically speaking, but I do know that the job market is rough. Yes, a lot of places are hiring, but most of the available jobs don’t offer health insurance. So Mr. Frost could theoretically close up his cabinet-making business and start sending out resumes, but there’s no guarantee that he’ll find a better paying job with benefits. There aren’t a whole lot of office/corporate jobs out there with carpentry skills listed in their requirements.

For the SCHIP debate, only a few words needed to changed . The story line was already waiting, pre-packaged. No factual information will leave a dent in it.

Harassment by the likes of Malkin gets, at best, an
‘i don’t approve’, and then it’s back to the story line.

Sometimes I get so frustrated with Dems I want to go to Washington and physically shake some sense into them. After this, I;ll remember the Republicans on this, and I’ll be glad the Dems are there.

I stand corrected on the costs of the school.

And is it a lie to argue that either or both of them could go get jobs that offer health insurance? Given the low unemployment in the area (the DC market, not far from Baltimore, has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country), he ought to have no problem matching his pay at a company that offers health insurance. If the father wants to be his own boss, that is his prerogative, but don’t expect me to cry over – or have to pay for – the fact that his work and lifestyle choices limits him in some ways.

Graeme’s family is the poster child for why the program shouldn’t be expanded. They have money, they have options, they could have taken steps to cover themselves, but have chosen not to. It’s one thing to offer a societal safety net to those who truly need it, for situations not of their own making. It’s another thing to subsidize the lifestyles of those too stupid and/or lazy to do the right thing.

And shade_tail, you poor ignorant thing. Didn’t anyone ever explain to you there’s a difference between health insurance and health care? If Graeme gets sick, he gets treated regardless of whether his parents have insurance and/or money to pay the bills. It may not be as good as care as one would get when one is paying the bills, but to suggest that SCHIP is all that stands between him dying is either ignorant or an intentional distortion of the situation for partisan purposes. Which is it for you?

Here’s what I found:

1) Graeme has a scholarship to a private school. The school costs $15K a year, but the family only pays $500 a year.

2) His sister Gemma attends another private school to help her with the brain injuries that occurred due to her accident. The school costs $23,000 a year, but the state pays the entire cost.

3) They bought their “lavish house” sixteen years ago for $55,000 at a time when the neighborhood was less than safe.

4) Last year, the Frosts made $45,000 combined. Over the past few years they have made no more than $50,000 combined.

5) The state of Maryland has found them eligible to participate in the CHIP program.

Source: Think Progress.

We have millions of substantive reasons for why the program should be expanded, and they’re all kids like Graeme who couldn’t afford to get sick if they didn’t have SCHIP. What’s *your* reasons for dooming kids to deaths that could easily be prevented by applying an effective, inexpensive program that has been proven to work? I’m waiting.

My remark was not snide.

I do not believe that on the whole people on one side of the political spectrum make nicer than people on another. I simply asked that the poster provide links that are examples of attacks on Master Noah.

As it is, one of your links was bad; the other was Ezra being Klein.

I think the point Jack and Shaun and Davebo were making is that aside from snide remarks on those few blogs, no lefty bloggers actually got in their cars and drove by the people’s houses, no lefty blogger linked or posted the address and phone numbers of their workplaces and worse, their home.

Noah’s personal life and wasn’t taken apart and conjecture about it and flat out mistruths (see stevestrum’s post for example that even now misinformation is taken as fact) across the web.

You can find two, and I read the Klein one (I don’t go to DU and not many other people do either). If you think that what has happened to the Frost’s is the same then I do not know what to say.

The people who are responsible for this outrageous behaviour are the Malkins and any other blogger/radio personality that has contributed. The Frosts and the Democrats did not “make them do it”. They chose this path and are rightly condemned for their behaviour.

It is one thing to discuss SCHIP, it is another to stalk a family.

but no one (including me) alleged that an equivalent thing happened.

Gotcha. It’s just a “bbbuttt…”

http://ezraklein.typepad.com/blog/2005/02/this_noahs_on_a.html

I already mentioned that the volume was less than what is occurring now, but as to your question I assume you’re saying that no one did what Michelle Malkin did- but no one (including me) alleged that an equivalent thing happened.

And shaun, it is so typical of you to argue that someone is being ‘attacked’ because their ideas and proposals are being criticized. Your side doesn’t have the facts to dispute the substantive criticisms of (1) this kid’s particular circumstances and (2) an unjustified expansion of the program…. so you just resort to name calling of those who disagree with you. It’s a great ploy: no need to defend your arguments on their merits when you can simply call your opponents racist, sexist, warmonging, corrupt and have all your fellow useful idiots cheering you on.

I have to agree with Davebo. What words did you search with?

What google do you use?

Everybody does it.
Everybody attacks it.

Everybody keeps on doing it,, in particular those whod are in the midst of denouncing it right now.

The smell form hypocrisy is polluting outer space.