President Bush blew it when he vetoed a bipartisan health care bill to provide health insurance for nine million of America's poor children. Suddenly, he's tapping into his roots as a fiscal conservative after running up the deficit and throwing money at the Iraq war. 

His mistake can be corrected on Thursday when the U.S. House of Representatives convenes to override the president's veto. We strongly urge Illinois Republicans who voted against this bill the first timeto reconsider the benefit of expanded health care for children.  

At issue is the $35 billion extension of the State Children's Health Insurance Program. The program was enacted by a Republican-controlled Congress in 1997 to provide health insurance to families who make too much money for Medicaid but not enough to afford private coverage. Qualifying families could earn up to 200 percent of the federal poverty level. In voting to extend the program another five years, Congress boosted the amount families in Illinois could earn to up to 300 percent of the federal poverty level -- $61,950 for a family of four. In Illinois, SCHIP is used to partially pay for the state's All Kids health insurance program. 

Bush claims the program is a middle-class entitlement. He is under the false impression that families will cancel perfectly good insurance from work to go on the public dole. The president has obfuscated facts to prove his point. He said a family earning nearly $83,000 could qualify. That's true in New York, whose poverty cap was raised with permission of the Bush administration. And it's understandable considering the high cost of living there. A New York Times poll published Sunday shows to be considered rich in New York, a family of four must make at least $200,000 to $500,000 a year or more. In Illinois, a family income of $60,000 certainly doesn't guarantee the high life.  

Bush claims paying for SCHIP raises taxes, but he conveniently leaves out the fact that this program is paid for by taxes on tobacco products. Rumors that SCHIP will cover illegal immigrants and adults are simply not true, and we won't be put off by Bush's use of the phrase "socialized medicine" in choosing to advocate what's right. Personal responsibility will remain intact: Premiums kick in for Illinois parents earning above 150 percent of the poverty level. For example, that's $30,975 annually for a family of four. 

"People want Washington to stop fighting and solve problems," said U.S. Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.). "That's coming together across party lines to solve a problem of uninsured children whose parents work full time." 

This bill is only a five-year extension. Hopefully, by then, the country will have a president whose attention to domestic issues leads to meaningful health care reform for all kids and adults.

I do not agree with Scott Gregg's letter to the editor on Thursday saying that President Bush was right to veto SCHIP. 

While I do think the program should only apply to the lowest income recipients, I would like to point out that while Bush was vetoing the SCHIP bill he was requesting an additional $30 billion on the Iraq war effort 

Why isn't Gregg concerned with the cost of the war as well as the cost to rebuild Iraq from the ground up? What about the billions in tax breaks given to the top 2 percent of the wealthiest Americans? . . .  

The cost to implement the SCHIP program within strict guidelines is minute compared to the above-mentioned costs 

Yes, we will all continue to pay - unless, of course, you're one of the top 2 percent - for many years to come because of Bush and his policies. 

Telecoms Barred From Disclosing Spying 

By PAMELA HESS – 16 hours ago 

WASHINGTON (AP) — Three telecommunications companies have declined to tell Congress whether they gave U.S. intelligence agencies access to Americans' phone and computer records without court orders, citing White House objections and national security. 

Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell "formally invoked the state secrets privilege to prevent AT&T from either confirming or denying" any details about intelligence programs, AT&T general counsel Wayne Watts wrote in a letter to the House Energy and Commerce Committee. 

Qwest and Verizon also declined to answer, saying the federal government has prohibited them from providing information, discussing or referring to any classified intelligence activities. 

"Our company essentially finds itself caught in the middle of an oversight dispute between the Congress and the executive relating to government surveillance activities," Watts wrote.  

A "catastrophic failure" in the Bush administration's leadership of the Iraq war has mired the United States in a nightmarish conflict with no clear way out, the former top U.S. commander in Iraq said on Friday. 

The blistering assessment by retired Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez was one of the harshest yet by a top military leader involved in the war. 

"There has been a glaring, unfortunate display of incompetent strategic leadership within our national leaders," Sanchez told a group of military reporters, according to a copy of his remarks. 

"America continues its desperate struggle in Iraq without any concerted effort to devise a strategy that will achieve 'victory' in that war-torn country or in the greater conflict against extremism," he said. 

Without mentioning President George W. Bush by name, he called the president's troop-escalation "surge" strategy a "desperate attempt by an administration that has not accepted the political and economic realities of this war." 

"There is no question America is living a nightmare with no end in sight," he said.

Clarke expressed concern that the president’s push for military escalation “is probably motivated to delay the judgment of history.” He speculated that the Bush administration aims to push blame for the disaster of the war onto the next administration. “We have to face the truth that there is going to be a bad outcome in Iraq no matter what we do,” he said. The escalation plan merely “delays the day when we can address the remaining threats from Islamic fundamentalist terrorism.”

[O]n the Iraq war the Republican [presidential] field, save for long-shot Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, the candidates are stressing the importance of continuing with Bush's strategy of using a U.S. troop buildup to try to bring stability to Baghdad, ahead of a critical Pentagon report in mid-September on whether the so-called troop surge is working. 

"I think it's the best shot we have to see stability in Iraq and I certainly hope it's successful," Romney said, in a comment his campaign sent out by e-mail on Monday under the headline: "Governor Mitt Romney on the need to support the surge." 

Republican pollster Whit Ayres said Republicans have yet to put a lot of distance between themselves and Bush but at some point they will "because three-quarters of the country thinks we're going in the wrong direction and that suggests a chance in direction for the leader of the country."

Qatar's energy minister said crude oil prices, which have surged recently to record levels above 80 dollars a barrel, should be more than 100 dollars.  

"If we take into account inflation from 1972 to the present day, the real and fair price for oil should be more than 100 dollars," Abdullah bin Hamad Al-Attiyah said in remarks aired by Al-Jazeera television on Tuesday.  

He said such a price was justified by rising inflation, a fall in purchasing power and the weakness of the dollar, which has dropped about 10 percent in value against the euro over the past year.  . . .  

Attiyah, whose gas-rich nation is an OPEC member, said the dollar could remain the unit of reference for oil despite its slump. "But I cannot predict what will happen in future. Anything is possible," he said.

Bush wants to cut federal aid programs by about $3.8 billion, according to Federal Funds Information for States, a Washington-based organization. The House has called for an increase of $13.8 billion, and the Senate is headed toward a $10-billion increase.. . .  

Democrats will need GOP support if they are to override Bush's promised vetoes. Democrats hold narrow majorities in the House and Senate; it takes two-thirds of each chamber to override a veto. 

So Democrats were delighted last week when Sen. Richard C. Shelby (R-Ala.) took to the Senate floor complaining about the president's proposed $1.6-billion cut in aid to state and local law enforcement at a time when violent crime is on the rise. The Senate next week is expected to approve a bill that would spend $550 million on the Community Oriented Policing Services program, which provides grants for state and local law enforcement agencies. Bush proposed cutting the program to $32 million, from about $500 million. The House has approved $725 million. 

Shelby isn't alone. 

During a hearing earlier this year, Rep. Joe Knollenberg of Michigan, the top Republican on the House Appropriations subcommittee that writes the Department of Housing and Urban Development budget, called proposed cuts to the Community Development Block Grant "unacceptable to any mayor, city council or governor, and unlikely to be agreed to, at least by my conference." 

The White House has pushed for a 20% cut for the block grant program. The House approved more than $3.9 billion, an increase of more than $200 million. The Senate rejected Bush's proposed cut, but held funding at last year's $3.7 billion. California receives at least 13% of the funds. Los Angeles County and cities received about $164 million last year. 

More than a dozen GOP senators, including some usual Bush allies, have pushed for increased funding for the program, which pays for improvements in impoverished neighborhoods and services to the poor. Bush had proposed some of the same cuts in previous budget proposals, but they were rejected by the Republican-controlled Congress.