Setting the Stage

It's no surprise to hear that Kit Bond and his fellow Republicans are already preparing to block most of the Iraq study group's report. Of course they're not saying "Thanks but no thanks;" it wouldn't poll very well. But they're already rolling out their politician-speak to say just as much. Yesterday Kit said that any recommendations should be "subject to what happens on the ground. Iraq is a key element to the war on terror and we cannot afford to walk away." That's his get out of jail free card. Now in three months when he's blocking most parts of the proposal he can say, "Hey, I said from the beginning..."

Here's my prediction. Early next year the house and senate will tell us that they're going to do their part to take on the reports recommendations. They will go into committee and there will be a lot of bright and shiny talk about how things will get better. What will emerge from the committees will be unrecognizable when compared to the original report but there will still be lots of talk about it. At this point there won't be much speculation about the great changes it will bring but its name will be repeated over and over. What's its name going to be? Well your guess is as good as mine but it will be something superlative like "The Great and Beautiful Way Out of All International Messes Forever Bill." So, the name will get pounded into our heads over and over until we start to believe that it actually will get us out of this and all other internation problems forever and ever, amen. By now compromise after compromise with the fascist administration will have it such a toothless thing that all it will really accomplish will be to add a wing to a dairy museum in Nebraska. The president will be glad to sign it. Then we'll wait for the nightmare in Iraq to end. By the time we realize that it won't another year will have passed and we'll be in the 2008 election so who'll have time for Iraq?

The National Gaurd Empowerment Act

This seems like a pretty good idea. Here's the gist:

The proposal would expand the role of the Guard chief and give him or her a fourth star; give the Guard more influence in the Pentagon’s budget and create a separate budget for Guard training and equipment; elevate the role of the Guard when responding to domestic crises; and make the deputy commander of U.S. Northern Command a Guard officer.

Kit Bond is proposing this along with Sen. Pat Leahy, D. Vt. With the Gaurd's increasing importance to the overall military, especially in light of the mess in Iraq, a little autonomy might be a good thing.

I don't know how much this will help the individual soldiers that are on their third or fourth tour since joining the guard. Don't get me wrong, it irritates the hell out of me when somebody in the guard tries to resist actually serving a tour of duty for whatever reason. That's what they signed up for! But, these guys shouldn't have to fill a full time soldier's role because it's politically inconvenient to establish a draft. One long tour, maybe two but that should be it. After that, the president should have to look elsewhere and if the war that he started requires a draft, then so be it.

Healthcare, Health Insurance for Small Business, and Social Security Tax Are Part of Crowell's Game Plan

From a Southeast Missourian article here's what Jason Crowel is planning to tackle next year:

Tops on Crowell's agenda is the I-Care Missouri health-care plan. The plan seeks to create individualized access to health care and allow people to be treated by a primary-care physician rather than emergency room doctors.

"Far too many of our population have a better relationship with their auto mechanic than they do with their physician," Crowell said.

The plan would allow small businesses to band together and form alliances for the sole purpose of buying health care. It would also, Crowell said, create a system that travels with the individual instead of depending on the employer.

"Every Missourian gets a primary-care physician. If you ask doctors if they could wave a magic wand what one thing could result in the biggest benefit to the state's health, it would be that," Crowell said. "It's the difference, for example, between treating diabetes with a nutrition diet as opposed to a hypoglycemic diet later on."

Crowell would also like to stop taxing Social Security benefits.

"Missouri is one of only 15 states in the U.S. that puts in place a state income tax on Social Security benefits," he said.

"Depending on the numbers, if we were to eliminate state income on Social Security benefits it would mean 80 to 100 million more dollars in the hands of retired seniors."

It's hard to comment on this without more information. I certainly like the idea of letting small businesses band together for health insurance. And doing away with a social security tax seems fair, too. I've always thought it curious that anyone receiving money from the government, whether it be through employment or benefits, should pay taxes. If the govt needs that money they could simply pay less and cut out a lot of bureaucracy.

I wonder, though, about the "individualized access to health-care." As with so many health care issues, the devil's in the details. How does he plan to implement this? How much annoying oversight will this subject the Doctors to? Are health care costs going to rise as compliance forces the doctors offices to hire more staff to keep up? This will be something to watch.

Kit MIGHT Be Listening

In November 2006 Missourians voted for stem cell research. Most of us realize it's time to stick a pin in the abortion debate which is completely irrelevant to the stem cell debate to anyone with brain wave activity, and move forward with research that hardly any of us understands but the scientists say they need to do. And Christopher Bond might actually be listening, at least according to the AP. Here's what reporter Laurie Kellman has to say:

Bond spokesman Rob Ostrander left open the prospect of the senator changing his vote from a no last year to a yes this year. Bond, Ostrander said Tuesday in a statement, "is reluctant to support an expansion of the president's stem cell policy that allows federal taxpayer dollars to be used for research in which human embryos are destroyed."

Now, to me that quote is too ambiguous to even indicate firm ambiguity but if Kellman's interpretation is correct then Kit might be switching positions so that he'll be more in line with the rest of Missouri. Or he might not.