Daily Campus

This letter, while claiming to set the record straight, misrepresents the issue. First, it is dishonest to use the Pelosi bill as representative of the Democrats' plan on health care. This is an iteration of the bill that is highly unlikely to become law. Employer mandates are an issue that is currently being negotiated in the Senate bill. More importantly, this article ignores the people who work at these small businesses who are not receiving insurance or are paying exorbitant rates to buy private insurance. Comparing health insurance to computers shows how divorced the author is from the problems of those less fortunate. No wonder he calls diminishes health care, water and food to simple commodities--as someone with easy access to all of those requirements for life, he doesn't have to think about the realities for so many other people. The author chastises those making $50,000 a year for not purchasing private coverage--coverage which, according to USA Today, costs upwards of $13,000 annually for a family of four. Since the author doesn't supply sources for his statistics, we can't know whether that $50,000 is pre- or post-tax income, but either way, health insurance is a huge cost for those who must buy on the private market. Paying lip service to reform by stating that everyone wants to create competition and keep the insurance companies honest doesn't mask the fact that everything else in this article shows a complete disdain for health reform. Citing emergency room care as a viable way to deal with health care is despicable. And like all conservatives, the author can't make an argument without some misdirection, so he pulls in some xenophobia for good measure. This article exemplifies the conservative Republican position: a whole lot of problems, but absolutely no answers.

Right, when Republicans are against reform, they're xenophobic poor-people-haters, but when Democrats are against reform... Well, we like to skim over those parts.

The "xenophobia" PJ was referring to is seen in the second-to-last paragraph of Fornear's article: "9.7 million are undocumented immigrants or non-U.S. citizens and should not be covered by the American taxpayer anyway." As someone who became a US citizen after having lived in this country for eleven years--whose family, by the way, had paid taxes during that ENTIRE PERIOD--I find this statement extraordinarily offensive and yes, xenophobic. Perhaps Fornear should brush up on immigration law before he makes such egregious blanket statements.

Also, Democrats against reform? Really? There has been a very clear historical pattern in this country of conservatives fighting against reform, consequently losing, and then later embracing changes made to the system (think the New Deal or Medicare). Universal health care is just the next progression.

Charanya, I apologize if that came off as offensive. Nonetheless, Millions of immigrants are legal American taxpayers, so I still fail to see how that statement was xenophobic.

I disagree, but I'll have to elaborate on this some other time.

Illegal immigrents have no right to be covered by the American Taxpayer. How is that xenophobic? Illegal immigrents should not be given the same rights as American citizens or legal immigrents. Is there no sense of Nationalism anymore? Libs, I mean Socialists, make no sense to me.

BTW, Pelosi's plan passed in the House. Don't get your hopes up though. Even if it gets through the Senate, the Supreme Court will shoot this thing down. At least one branch of government still makes an attempt to uphold the Constitution. Our country is supposed to be a Constitutional Republic in case you've forgotten.

You must not be listening to any reputable news sources then. Anyone in the news without a bias agenda has been screaming about the violations in this bill and many other proposals for months now.

The Pelosi plan mandates health insurance on every adult. If you do not buy the insurance, then you are forced to pay a fine in a monetary amount yet to be disclosed. If you refuse to pay that fine and refuse to pay for health care, then you face a maximum sentence of 5 years in a federal prison and a maximum fine of $250,000.

Article 1 Section 8 outlines exactly what powers are given to the House of Representatives under the authority of the US Constitution. Nowhere is Congress given the power to impose a good or service provided by the government on the people.

The Pelosi Plan is enacting powers not granted to Congress by the Constitution. The Supreme Court will overturn this plan on that basis alone.

By the way, if you want a good news source, check out CNSNews.com. A couple days ago a CNS reporter asked Pelosi where Congress had the authority in the Constitution to force an individual to buy healthcare, and her response was "Are you serious? Are you serious?" and then dismissed the question. I thought our representatives were supposed to be accountable to the people. Not Pelosi though - apparently she's not accountable to the Constitution either.

The clip can be found here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xYCqRhXawc