children

Go inside the first-ever Kid's State Dinner at the White House with this look into how the winners of the Healthy Lunchtime Challenge were picked. First Lady Michelle Obama's initiative Lets Move! partnered with epicurious.com to showcase healthy lunches from all 50 states and the territories as created by children age 8-12. http://letsmove.gov

The Kids' State Dinner is a White House original in many ways -- it's not only the first time the guests of honor are ALL under the age of 13, it's also the first time the White House kitchen has served a formal meal where the entire menu was created by "chefs" who have no formal training.

Demographic projections taken from Texas State Data Center's 2008 population projections

The White House Office of Public Engagement and Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships honors 10 individuals who are doing tremendous work in the fields of fatherhood and low-income men and boys. June 13, 2012.

"a recent statistic on the terrible effects of lack of health coverage for children that stopped us in our tracks: As reported in Monday's Chronicle ( 1.2 million Texas children still without insurance ), when comparing Texas children who have health insurance to those without, 90 percent of insured kids are considered healthy, but that holds for only 58 percent of kids without health insurance."

In a pointed Op-Ed in Sunday's New York Times, Nobel Prize winning Economist Paul Krugman looks at Texas' financial deficit and the children who will suffer as a result of Republican politician's malfeasence:

At the state and local level, however, there’s no doubt about it: big spending cuts are coming.

And who will bear the brunt of these cuts? America’s children....

And in low-tax, low-spending Texas, the kids are not all right. The high school graduation rate, at just 61.3 percent, puts Texas 43rd out of 50 in state rankings. Nationally, the state ranks fifth in child poverty; it leads in the percentage of children without health insurance. And only 78 percent of Texas children are in excellent or very good health, significantly below the national average....

Anyway, the next time some self-proclaimed deficit hawk tells you how much he worries about the debt we’re leaving our children, remember what’s happening in Texas, a state whose slogan right now might as well be “Lose the future.”

President Bush gave a false description of proposed legislation to expand the 10-year-old federal program to provide health insurance for children in low-income working families.

He said it "would result" in covering children in families with incomes up to $83,000 per year, which isn't true. The Urban Institute estimated that 70 percent of children who would gain coverage are in families earning half that amount, and the bill contains no requirement for setting income eligibility caps any higher than what's in the current law.