Dems are BUSTED!
Posted on 10/09/2007 10:50:50 PM PDT by icwhatudo
WASHINGTON, Oct. 9 — There have been moments when the fight between Congressional Democrats and President Bush over the State Children’s Health Insurance Program seemed to devolve into a shouting match about who loves children more.
So when Democrats enlisted 12-year-old Graeme Frost, who along with a younger sister relied on the program for treatment of severe brain injuries suffered in a car crash, to give the response to Mr. Bush’s weekly radio address on Sept. 29, Republican opponents quickly accused them of exploiting the boy to score political points.
Then, they wasted little time in going after him to score their own.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
First, I can't believe they are seizing on the granite counter top thing-hilarious. "And, for the record, the Frosts say, their kitchen counters are concrete."
From concretenetwork.com:
"Concrete countertops are a custom crafted material for high end use and are often specified by designers or architects.Consumers, in some cases think of concrete as being a cheaper alternative to other available countertop surfaces. Concrete countertops should be sold (or bought) based on being a beautiful, custom, handmade, relatively unique product. Customers going in thinking the countertops will be low budget items will quickly find out otherwise."
Cost of Granite counters: $60 to $120 per square foot.
Cost of Concrete counters: $65 to $125 per square foot.
"The business that the critics said Mr. Frost owned was dissolved in 1999.
Yet Mr. Frost claimed "Frostworks, Inc., President Baltimore, MD 1991-2000" on his resume. Article does not mention he operated companies under other names after Frostworks:
"Natural Concerns Inc., Head of Architectural Woodworks Division Baltimore, MD 2005-2006 Started and managed a small design/build division of a high-end residential landscape construction business. Projects included fine exterior architectural woodwork such as decks, trash enclosures, ornamental iron, trellis, arbors and fences.
Independent Contractor (Self), Baltimore, MD 2004 Residential landscape design, engineering and installation. Work included drainage systems, grading, stone wall building and architectural wood fencing."
The family’s home, in the modest Butchers Hill neighborhood of Baltimore, was bought for $55,000 in 1990
Just as my linked information stated.
and is now worth about $260,000, according to public records.
Those records being a tax assessment. Assessments are always lower than market value (at least in Maryland). As stated in my original article: "The current market value of their improved 3,040 SF home at ***removed so Olberman doesn't have a heart attack****is unknown but 113 S COLLINGTON AVE, also an end unit, sold for $485,000 this past March and it was only 2,060 SF".
Certainly the Frosts are not destitute. They also own a commercial property, valued at about $160,000, that provides rental income.
Why is the NY Times attacking a 12 year old! Oops, sorry, they were just checking the facts. Nice to finally see someone else bring up the fact the family is receiving rental income. As for "valued at 160,000", again they are using the tax assessment. The property was bought for 160,000 in 1999.
The program does not require applicants to list their assets, which do not affect eligibility.
So much for the argument that they had to be poor or else they would not qualify. It appears Maryland's program looks only at "income", not sure if that includes rental income.
"In a telephone interview"
My God, they are calling their house! Wasn't that mentioned as something that the evil blogs were doing?
"the Frosts said they had recently been rejected by three private insurance companies because of pre-existing medical conditions".
Waiting until after a horrible accident to try and get medical insurance?
"“We work hard, we’re honest, we pay our taxes,” Mr. Frost said, adding, “There are hard-working families that really need affordable health insurance.”
I agree 100%, thats why I don't understand why you want to expand this coverage to higher income families like mine. I also have 4 kids, all in private school, and a waterfront house. Why should other people be paying for my kids health coverage? Thats what the president's veto was about, he was not cutting the program (in fact he wants to increase funding) and your family would still be covered.
Democrats, including the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, have risen to the Frosts’ defense, saying they earn about $45,000 a year and are precisely the type of working-poor Americans that the program was intended to help.
Yep.
"Ms. Pelosi on Tuesday said, “I think it’s really a sad statement about how bankrupt some of these people are in their arguments against S-chip that they would attack a 12-year-old boy.”"
The funny thing is I'm not bankrupt, I'm pretty well off yet you are trying so hard to extend this program to....me. By the way, can you please link to anything I posted that attacked the 12 year old boy? I asked this of the left wing blogs earlier but still no answer.
Republicans on Capitol Hill, who were gearing up to use Graeme as evidence that Democrats have overexpanded the health program to include families wealthy enough to afford private insurance, have backed off.
See Harry Reid, I told you I was not part of a plot. Senate Republicans should use my famliy as the reason to not overextend the program to higher income families. We're not rich by any means, but the thought of people paying higher taxes to take care of my kids health insurance is crazy. Thats my job.
All I wanted to get out there was that even with the private school they partially pay for, even with the home that is not their primary residence, even with the LLC they set up and purchased commercial property with, even with the rental income they earn...the Frost family still qualifies! So why then do we need to expand the program to families with even higher incomes than the Frosts? If the presidents veto is overturned my family WILL qualify. As much as I'd like a new boat motor and the kids would love a Nintendo Wii from the money we will save ...thats not what S-CHIP should be doing. It should be there for people like the Frosts and those who aren't lucky enough to own commercial properties.
Really sick the way Dims use children as human shields in their slander wars against Republicans, who are fathers and mothers too.
These people have 4 children and work "intermittently" and part time. And we should be paying for their health care?
You are doing work.
Keep it up.
Insert ‘good’ into my last post.
Tuition is listed at Park’s website as 20,000 but thru a combination of scholarship money, lowered payments, and possibly some help from the grandparents (according to the tenant at their commercial property) they are able to continue to send their son to the school. The daughter injured in the accident goes to a different school now and there is no information on where the other two kids go. Still curious as to when the scholarship started, before or after the accident.
Yes, the tuition is that high, but some are asserting that the boy is on scholarship. The sister no longer attends there.
Other than the assertion made by the family, there is no proof either way of what the parents or grandparents might be paying for tuition (or were paying before the accident).
add “per child” to the 20,000 figure.
Maryland is abusing the system and the Dims are using children as political tools. For shame!!
Shortfall states are those states expected to exhaust all their available funds. According to the Congressional Research Service, 14 states are projected to have a shortfall in fiscal year 2007: Alaska, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin.
Illinois, New Jersey, and Rhode Island have all received more funding in each of the four bailouts, and Maryland and Massachusetts are not much further behind, receiving funds three of the four times. In addition, these states have also received the lion’s share of the funds: Illinois has received $236.6 million; New Jersey, $164.4 million; Rhode Island, $84.9 million; Maryland, $31.5 million; and Massachusetts, $77.8 million.[10] Eighty-three percent of all bailout funding has gone to these five states.
Of the 14 projected shortfall states, seven have set SCHIP eligibility above 200 percent of the FPL.[13] Of those seven, four states (Maryland, Massachusetts, Missouri, and New Jersey) are at or above 300 percent of FPL, or $60,000 for a family of four.
According to the General Accountability Office, “Adults accounted for an average of 55% of enrollees in the shortfall states” in FY 2005.
http://www.heritage.org/Research/HealthCare/wm1381.cfm
I haven’t heard or read any statements that are attacks on any of the children. Same old dem tactic to make up blatant lies to sway public opinion.
I agree. We are letting the Dims define the issue. The issue is not the family. The issue is the waste and mismanagement of the SCHIP program.
And of course the Dim’s and media’s shameless use of children to get their way.
is this a scholarship of an advance on party favors?
Sounds like the kid was asked to lie, just like grifters.
Dems are BUSTED!
I am in awe. You and Michelle make quite a team. Keep Kickin’!
I have spent alot of time in the past few days perusing what the DUmmies have to say about it. While on nearly everything they are so far to the left as to be laughable, I think their thoughts on this are typical of the left in general. Most of what I have seen in the way of comments for the most part have been so vile you would be stunned. Today I read racist comments aimed at Michelle Malikin that would get the person banned from any site with a shred of decency standards. But I read very little in the way of arguing the facts. It has just been personal attack after attack. Usually one liners. About the only fact I saw taken on today was regarding the private school tuition. Their word is that the Frosts only had to pay $500 per child and the rest was scholership. Oh, and someone claimed they only paid 55k for their house some years ago. Hey, I hope this place of mine goes from 55k to hundreds of thousands. LOL!I’ll have to look into that. But no matter what, the Frost’s home and assetts do raise alot of questions.
Forgot to add this to my last post......You done good icwhatudo
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