Velma Berger – 10/29/07

This page was last updated on November 4, 2007.

Hitting the most vulnerable; Velma Berger; Beaver County Times; October 29, 2007.

Ms. Berger is taking a break from her normal topic. You’ll recall Ms. Berger has a series of at least 23 Bush and Iraqi-bashing letters dating back to February 2005. In one letter, Ms. Berger told us she was proud of John Murtha. In another letter, Ms. Berger actually claimed she has “a clock ticking down to Bush’s last day in office” and that she “carr[ies] it on [her] purse everywhere [she] go[es].”

Below is a detailed critique of the letter.

“Yes, I’m bashing President Bush again, and with good reason.

“Seeing a picture in the paper of the doctors at Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh gathered outside the plaza’s entrance in protest of Bush’s veto of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program prompted me to write this letter.

“A picture is worth 1,000 words.”

[RWC] Does that mean there’s hope Ms. Berger will start sending pictures instead of letters? <g>

“Now with the bad press he is receiving over the veto, he wants to negotiate a lesser amount. Yet he had no problem with tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans.”

[RWC] I always wonder about Ms. Berger’s “news” sources when I read her letters. Here’s the real timeline. Back in March President Bush told Congress he considered 20% to be a fair SCHIP increase. On July 17th Mr. Bush said he’d veto existing proposals for increases ranging from 140% to 200%. About 2 1/2 months later Congress voted to increase SCHIP spending by 140%. As I’ve written before, my disagreement with President Bush and other congressional Republicans on this issue is that they want to continue/expand SCHIP, not completely eliminate it. Do I believe people who need help because of unforeseen circumstances should get it? Of course, but via private charities funded by voluntary contributions.

“[T]ax cuts for the wealthiest Americans?” Everyone got tax rate cuts. Check the IRS data and you’ll find “the wealthiest Americans” today pay a higher percentage of total federal income taxes than they did before the tax rate cuts. IRS data shows the top 5% income earners pay 60% of total federal income taxes, or 12 times their fair share. The bottom 50% pay only 3% of total federal income taxes, less than 1/16 of their fair share.

“It is always said that the middle class never gets a break. This bill would have expanded coverage to more middle-class children. They don’t have to be at the poverty level to receive help.

“With this administration, anytime there are cuts to be made, it always includes the most vulnerable groups. That would be seniors, children and our brave service personal [sic].

[RWC] What cuts? As noted above, Mr. Bush proposed a 20% increase in SCHIP funding months ago.

“The richer are getting richer, and the poor are getting poorer.

“I hope the congressmen who supported this veto feel the backlash on Election Day. They should be ashamed that a rich country like ours can’t take care of our own children.”

[RWC] Hogwash! Why does Ms. Berger apparently believe its OK for parents to dump their childrearing responsibilities on their neighbors? Most people in situations where they can’t provide for their family are there because of predictably poor life choices, not by unforeseen circumstances. For example, if a person has children outside of marriage, that’s a poor choice. If a family breadwinner earns minimum wage but the couple decides to have kids anyway, that’s a poor choice. If a married couple can’t afford to raise a family on its own, do they have the right to go ahead and have kids anyway and dump part of the burden on their neighbors? Isn’t that the real irresponsibility and selfishness?