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“Ronald Reagan said the Soviet Union was the focus of evil during the cold war. I believe that the judiciary is the focus of evil in our society today.”

- Alan Keyes, speaking at the recent “Confronting the Judicial War on Faith” conference.

posted by Rich Miller
Monday, Apr 11, 05 @ 9:39 pm

Comments

Breaking news — another HUGE hole in the Gov’s budget.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/12/politics/12medicaid.html?pagewanted=2&ei=5094&en=39f169e697f2214b&hp&ex=1113278400&partner=homepage

April 11 - The Bush administration on Monday named 15 states that it said had used improper accounting techniques to obtain excessive amounts of federal Medicaid money.

Federal officials contend that the 15 states have been “recycling” federal money, rather than using state and local tax revenue to pay their full share of the costs of Medicaid, which provides health insurance to more than 50 million low-income people.

State officials defended their practices, saying that in some cases federal officials had explicitly approved the arrangements. State officials also said that they had repeatedly asked the federal government to clarify the rules.

The dispute over the accounting practices comes at a time when the National Governors Association is negotiating with the administration and Congress over ways to rein in the explosive growth in Medicaid costs.

Michael O. Leavitt, the secretary of health and human services, has repeatedly said that some states are using “accounting gimmicks” to shift costs to the federal treasury. But until Monday the administration had not publicly identified the states.

The administration said it had concerns about Medicaid-financing mechanisms used by these states: Alabama, Alaska, California, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, North Carolina, North Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia and Washington.

Comment by Anonymous Monday, Apr 11, 05 @ 10:11 pm
Does this include the judges appointed by Reagan?

Comment by Carl Nyberg Tuesday, Apr 12, 05 @ 11:49 am