Several readers have made comments—some more lucid than others—in response to my earlier post about illegal immigration and health care. The gist of the more understandable disagreements: There's no system in place to verify citizenship, so illegal immigrants will be lining up to get MRIs and prostate exams and whatnot.

As usual, the truth is more complicated, as an effort to block illegal immigrants from using Medicare has shown. The New York Times reports:

Democrats are reluctant to expand those requirements to everyone seeking insurance under a health care overhaul, because several studies on the impact on Medicaid have found that citizenship verification increased administrative costs for states and made it difficult for some American citizens to join the program.

Many of those left out were elderly patients, who did not have originals of identity documents that the 2005 law demands.

“Many states view the proof of citizenship as very onerous on American families,” said Diane Rowland, executive director of the Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured at the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, speaking of the Medicaid requirements.

In six states that were reviewed in 2007 by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, verification increased federal costs by $8.3 million, but only eight illegal immigrants were detected on the Medicaid rolls of the states.

So on the one hand, opponents of reform complain that government wastes too much money. On the other hand, they think it's worthwhile to spend $8.3 million to root out eight illegal immigrants. And, in the process, deny care to some elderly Americans who don't have the right paperwork. Sounds like some folks are just fine with death panels that decide your fate based on whether you held onto your birth certificate for eight decades.

The whole story is worth a read, but this is an important point:

Some of the concerns raised at public meetings about the health care bills seem to be grounded in misleading information in the news media and on the Internet from conservative opponents of the overhaul. In one example broadcast last week on Fox News, the conservative host Sean Hannity said

The Roundtable gang reviews the week in politics on KUAT-TV's Arizona Illustrated, after the jump.

Head's up, political junkies: City Council debates are coming soon. Details to follow…

State Treasurer Dean Martin visits the Friday Roundtable on KUAT-TV's Arizona Illustrated, after the jump.

Lindy's on Fourth, a burger joint at 431 N. Fourth Ave. that is co-owned by and named after former Che's Lounge doorman Lindy Reilly, will be the focus of an upcoming episode of the Travel Network's Man Vs. Food.

The taping is scheduled to take place Friday, Sept. 25.

"I almost cried," Reilly said about the news. "I have busted my ass for so long, so this kind of validation means so much. I’ve sacrificed my health, my marriage, so much. ... It’s kind of like watching your kid graduate, you know?"

The show's star, Adam Richman, will attempt to eat the O.M.F.G.—a three-pound monstrosity made up of 12 patties, 12 slices of cheese and all the fixings.

Reilly said anyone who eats the O.M.F.G in less than 20 minutes gets it for free. He said about one out of every 20 attempts is successful: "There's a high failure rate," he said, chuckling.

This whole thing is great news for several reasons: First off, Lindy is one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet, and although he's one of the place's owners, it's common to find him flipping burgers right alongside the other cooks. Down-to-earth dedication like that deserves notice, which he'll get plenty of, thanks to this development.

Second of all, this will put one of our hometown eateries on the national map, which is good for Lindy's—and good for our city as a whole.

Reilly, who was trying out a new burger topped with a green chile tamale when we called, said he'll be spending the next two weeks getting ready for the hordes that will descend on the tiny burger joint once the news gets out.

The show is scheduled to air on Wednesday, Dec. 2.

I suppose it's no surprise to those of us in Arizona that the most talked-about moment in President Barack Obama's health-care address revolved around illegal immigration. Congressman Joe Wilson's outburst—yelling out "You lie!"—came after Obama said that "The reforms I’m proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally."

Now there's a big debate on the right over whether Wilson should have apologized and whether Obama was telling the truth.

Factcheck.org, in a listing of Seven Falsehoods About Health Care, says Obama was not lying:

One Republican congressman issued a press release claiming that "5,600,000 Illegal Aliens May Be Covered Under Obamacare," and we’ve been peppered with queries about similar claims. They’re not true. In fact, the House bill (the only bill to be formally introduced in its entirety) specifically says that no federal money would be spent on giving illegal immigrants health coverage:

H.R. 3200: Sec 246 — NO FEDERAL PAYMENT FOR UNDOCUMENTED ALIENS

Nothing in this subtitle shall allow Federal payments for affordability credits on behalf of individuals who are not lawfully present in the United States.

PoliFact rates the claim that illegal immigrants will get free health care as a "pants on fire" falsehood.

Matthew Yglesias has this to say to those who claim Obama is lying about insuring illegal immigrants:

...though the bills would prevent undocumented immigrants from receiving any taxpayer assistance in purchasing health insurance, the proposals on the table don’t do anything special to prevent an undocumented immigrant from buying health insurance with his own money. To characterize this as “insur[ing] illegal immigrants” strikes me as about on a par with claiming that Obama’s health care plans give ibuprofen to illegal immigrants. After all, nothing in the bill stops illegal immigrants from buying ibuprofen in a store! And the very same FDA regulations that assure citizens and legal residents and tourists of the safety of ibuprofen will also benefit illegal immigrants.

Sonic Youth guitarist Lee Ranaldo fractured his wrist while playing tennis, so their show in Tucson has been postponed. Originally scheduled for Friday, Oct. 2, at the Rialto Theatre, the new date is Monday, Jan. 4, 2010.

Tickets already purchased will be be honored. Call the Rialto box office at 740-1000 with any questions.

This is a great opportunity for Weekly World Central to change the blog category "Weird Stuff" to "Holy Shit!"

If you didn't feel comfortable at the HocoFest at Congress last weekend, perhaps you need to make plans to travel to the beeeuutiful town of Tonopah, Ariz., on Saturday, Oct. 24 for Oi Fest II 2009 (see promo above for last year's festivities). Hey, every town in Arizona has something wonderful and magical to offer, and Tonopah is no slouch.

I'd like to think this could be a great idea for a Pepe Le Pew festival. We'd all travel there on Vespas wearing black T-shirts with white stripes down our backs. Sadly, no, this is a rather special festival for those who don't mind being called Neo-Nazis. This is a Neo-Nazi music fest featuring the bands White Knuckle Driver, Slaghammer, Storm Troop 16, White Wash, Max Resist and according to white supremacist Website for Stormfront, there will be more.

If you're interested in tickets ... never visit this blog again.

That other alternative weekly in the city-that-must-not-be-named has a great take on Oi here.

• NASA, ESA, and the Hubble SM4 ERO Team

Thanks to some nifty—and dangerous—repair work, the Hubble Space Telescope is working again. Here's a press release from NASA:

Astronomers declared NASA's Hubble Space Telescope a fully rejuvenated observatory with the release Wednesday of observations from four of its six operating science instruments. Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski, D-Md., unveiled the images at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

Topping the list of new views are colorful, multi-wavelength pictures of far-flung galaxies, a densely packed star cluster, an eerie "pillar of creation," and a "butterfly" nebula. Hubble's suite of new instruments allows it to study the universe across a wide swath of the light spectrum, from ultraviolet all the way to near-infrared. In addition, scientists released spectroscopic observations that slice across billions of light-years to probe the cosmic-web structure of the universe and map the distribution of elements that are fundamental to life as we know it.

"This marks a new beginning for Hubble," said Ed Weiler, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate

The Joint Legislative Budget Committee is done analyzing the impact of Gov. Jan Brewer's budget action last week, when she signed some parts of the budget and vetoed others. The new JLBC estimate: The state is in the hole to the tune of $964 million.

That's a combination of two things: Brewer's vetoes opened up a $464 million hole—by eliminating cuts to education and welfare programs, mostly—and the state finished the last fiscal year in June with a $500 million shortfall that will have to be addressed this year.

Wonks can read the report themselves: statusafterseptember4vetoes.pdf

Sandy Bahr, legislative lobbyist for the Grand Canyon Chapter of the Sierra Club, sent out the following reaction to the latest state budget developments:

Please contact the Governor—again—and express your disappointment regarding the signing of many of the budget bills.

You can contact Governor Brewer by calling her at (602) 542-4331 or toll free at 1-(800) 253-0883. You can email her here.

While she did veto some of the budget, she signed HB2008 general government; budget reconciliation (Adams). This bill places a two-year cap on development impact fees. God forbid that the cities actually recover the costs of developments and that development pay for itself. The Homebuilders continue to get what they want at the Capitol and to ensure that the rest of us subsidize their sprawling developments.
The bill includes a building code moratorium for two years. Why they are freezing building codes is beyond me. We need to