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Thursday, October 11, 2007

Behind the news: Blackwater and another swiftboat attack

Great background here for those interested in finding out more about Blackwater: Mother Jones has compiled a chronology on the company, with links to more info, at
Making a Killing: A Blackwater Timeline.

After all the uproar over the Move On ad and conservatives' horror at an 'attack' on a military officer, they don't seem to mind attacking a 12-year-old kid and his family for being middle class and therefore, not deserving of government assistance for a devastating health problem: or as John Cole says,
You know, it has barely been a month since the Malkin/Limbaugh/Wingnuttosphere freak-out over the MoveOn ad, but I think it is worth noting the clear message:
Questioning a political General is treason, bullying a 12 year old is patriotic.

Lots of discussion out there about the bloggers who are looking into the Frost family's background and think a family living in Baltimore on $45,000 a year in a house they bought for about $50k should be responsible for their own health care, even when faced with devastating injuries. Here's the Baltimore Sun story.
Michelle Malkin went so far as to drive to the family property to look it over. Malkin has turned this story into a crusade, just some of her postings here, and here.
In Time Magazine, Karen Tumulty reports on The Swift-Boating of Graeme Frost. Lots of discussion at Kevin Drum's Political Animal.

It's amazing to me how many commenters hammer on the same theme: people should pay for their own healthcare, when they use government programs they steal from me. Well, that's the best excuse I can see for making universal health care available to everyone! Also, most of the comments I've read like this are from people who've never had to pay for catastrophic health problems. It's always something like, 'I broke my ankle once and I paid for it on an installment plan'. Try paying for something that really costs money, like cancer, or doctor-ordered CT scans, or a traumatic traffic accident caused by an uninsured driver, when you can't find any health insurance you can afford or without huge deductibles and out-of-pocket limits.

How have we become such an uncaring society?

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