H: Heath Care For All Kids

I’ve never really been a purist when it comes to my kids. I must admit that they’ve consumed more than their share of Kraft macaroni and cheese. And when a friend announced that she was only going to give toys made of wood to her children, I just rolled my eyes.

A year ago, when I sat down to write about my five-year-old daughter’s hospitalization, I had no idea it would lead me to testifying at a hearing in Sacramento before a California State Senate subcommittee on Health and Social Services.

I also didn’t know how it would feel to publicly stand up for a cause I believed in – but I was about to find out.

We moms do our best to keep our families safe. But in light of recent safety news, I think we're going to go find Saddam Hussein's worm hole and take up residence there.

This breaking news story from Charlotte, North Carolina has me truly outraged and ashamed of my home state: a Brazilian woman was jailed in Charlotte on Friday for immigration charges, and has been denied the opportunity to pump breast milk for her son, who is younger than two months old.

You can imagine what it means for a breastfeeding infant and mother to be separated and needlessly denied the opportunity to at least pump her milk to be delivered to the baby.

The Charlotte Observer reports that Danielle Ferreira's baby Samuel is "crying incessantly and keeps spitting up baby formula."

I feel intensely angry about this situation, but rather than compounding that with helplessness, I am doing what I can to at least magnify the awareness of this situation. I have reached out to local advocates and my legislators. Now that you know, is there anything you can do to help?

Cross-posted on MotherTalkers.

Breaking News: Congress voted today on the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), but didn't gain the 2/3 majority needed to overturn the President's veto. Now, we have another chance. In the coming weeks Congress will bring children's health insurance to the President again -- and they need our support.

With 1 in 8 children in our nation living without any heathcare coverage, we still have work to do. The good news is that your more than 60,000 emailed letters to Congress, along with the work of our partner organizations, helped build the support that made the vote close enough to try again.

Missing from most news reports on the debate over the State Children's Health Insturance Program (S-CHIP) is one reason why getting an override on the president's veto will be tough: tobacco money.

Tobacco campaign contributions, that is. The legislation pays for expansion of the children's health program with an increase in tobacco taxes, by increasing the levy from 39 cents to $1 a pack.
Problem is so many members of Congress take tobacco campaign contributions. Overall, the industry has sunk nearly $25 million into federal elections since the 2000 elections, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.  Nearly 80 percent of that cash went to Republicans. (Indeed, President George W. Bush himself took more than a quarter million from tobacco interests for his two presidential elections.)

Jeffrey Toobin is talking about The Nine.

I want to talk about The Fifteen.

To override President Bush's veto of the SCHIP -- State Children's Health Insurance Program -- bill, only 15 Republicans need to move their support over to the Democrats.

MomsRising has been on the forefront of the effort to remove lead from kids' toys. Read the MomsRising petition to the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Following the latest Mattel/Fisher Price recall this issue is really heating up.

How ironic is it that lead paint is banned, but the toys themselves can be made of lead?

Today's episode of the Diane Rehm Show covered this issue in admirable depth. This show is an absolute must-listen and is available free online from WAMU radio's site, or as a free podcast from iTunes.