Haley Barbour is Evil

NOW with Bill Moyers - Losing Medicaid in Mississippi

I caught an episode of NOW on ReplayTV last night (you know, catch the last 1 hour episodes before PBS dumbs them down to half an hour to make room for the Tuckster. Dumb down the shows, dumb down the hosts, I guess.

Anywho, there was a story about Medicaid in Mississippi. The state is slashing the aid by cutting the income limit in half. Without hearing any more, I can hear the Republicans in the crowd groaning. "Aw, geezus, another lib bitching about the poor. Didn't he listen to Reagan when he talked about the welfare queens in this country driving Cadillacs? I thought our greatest President ever put to rest these myths about the poor!"

I wonder, though, for argument's sake, can we agree there really are poor people in this country? Can we agree there are sick people, too? And the cost of health care is exploding? If so, maybe we need a reference for what "poverty" is; you can extrapolate "low income" on your own.

Per the U.S. Census Bureau, poverty for a single person is an annual income between $8825 and $9573. The spread is based on age, with the over 65 crowd needing less income. I wonder if this formula is in need of an update; while the over 65 crowd is more likely to have no mortgage payment, they definitely have higher health costs.

Given that reference point, one would think any government program targeting to help those in need would be a little higher than these areas, and Mississippi did help those with an income of $12,600 per year.

Then they elected a new governor, and now Medicaid doesn't kick in until you earn $6,800 or less.

That's not a typo: $6,800.

That is pathetic, outrageous, and it shows absolutely no belief in anything like compassion or "Christian" beliefs. In particular, not when it comes from one of the dirtiest Republican fat cats of Washington D.C., Haley Barbour.

Haley Barbour: how in the Hell did that moron get elected governor of Mississippi? How did he cater to the bubbas? You can bet your ass it wasn't fiscal responsibility or promises to drag the state off the bottom of the income charts it continuously resides at.

No, Barbour (despite such bullshit he posts on his website about tolerance, got his following the traditional southern way: racism. His picture appeared on the well-known racist organization Council of Conservative Citizens' website showing him at a barbeque with some of its members. Apparently, it was too hot that day for the hoods.

So, while it angers me to no end, I guess Mississippi is getting the kind of "leadership" it wants. A majority of good ol' boys took time off from attending NASCAR events to vote in a slimy Washington insider. Why? Because Barbour is their kind of guy -- keepin' it real with the CCC.

We don't care if we're the poorest, least educated electorate in the nation, just as long you keep the "coloreds" in their place.