Smart bombs: Such costly efficiency

It’s easy to tell when politicians don’t really like a federal program or expenditure, despite public proclamations. Just look for the green eyeshade as they scrupulously pore over the numbers. Liberals do this with defense spending; conservatives do it with social programs.

Case in point is the State Children’s Health Insurance Program. Those who sided with President Bush and voted against the expansion of the popular program never failed to note that they support SCHIP in general, but they worried that some children who would be covered reside in families that are already covered by private insurance or could possibly afford to purchase coverage themselves. It’s true that a small percentage of children fit that concern, but stopping the expansion because of that only hurts the majority who truly need it.

The president’s Medicare drug plan covers paupers and millionaires. Surely some families could afford to educate their children without public schools, but we don’t limit enrollment. Farm aid routinely goes to the rich, though it was designed for struggling farmers.

So what’s with the efficiency-expert routine when it comes to providing basic health coverage for children, especially when preventive care will save the nation money in the long run?

Zip it. U.S. Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, plans to attend his induction into the Idaho Hall of Fame next Saturday. That should be an uncomfortable event, but Jasper LiCalzi, a political science professor at Albertson College of Idaho, told the Idaho Statesman that Craig still has Idaho supporters. But he could’ve phrased it better.

“There is core support here that thinks Craig has been railroaded, and there’s another group that thinks he should stick it out.”

Slip-sliding away. Must be something in the water at the Capital Yacht Club in Washington, D.C. Did you know the unsinkable Larry Craig lives on a 42-foot yacht there? At a nearby slip is U.S. Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne and his 53-footer, according to the New Yorker.

Just folks.

Other floating politicians are U.S. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, who is under investigation in a bribery case, and former U.S. Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham, who calls a federal prison home after being convicted of bribery. Before they began bunking in federal cells because of bribery, former Reps. Bob Ney and James Traficant also lived on houseboats in the area, according to the New York Times.

One vessel in the area is called the Miss D’Meanor. When Craig was in the House of Representatives, he lived on a houseboat called the Ida Ho.