February 06, 2007

IMPEACH BUSH


IMPEACH CHENEY

WORSE THAN VIETNAM

Financial expenditures for the debacle in Iraq will soon exceed what we spent in another debacle in Vietnam. The war in Iraq has already gone longer than the Second World War against the Axis powers. And where are we? Iraq is the world's greatest recruiting ground for terrorists. It's the greatest training terrorists could ask for. To pay for this disaster Bush is slashing health care spending for the elderly and for the poor. Just how is this guy "pro-life"? This article by Ewen MacAskill is at www.commondreams.org:

President George Bush is proposing to slash medical care for the poor and elderly to meet the soaring cost of the Iraq war.

Mr Bush's $2.9 trillion (£1.5 trillion) budget, sent to Congress yesterday, includes $100bn extra for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars for this year, on top of $70bn already allocated by Congress and $141.7bn next year. He is planning an 11.3% increase for the Pentagon. Spending on the Iraq war is destined to top the total cost of the 13-year war in Vietnam.

The huge rise in military spending is paid for by a squeeze on domestic programmes, including $66bn in cuts over five years to Medicare, the healthcare scheme for the elderly, and $12bn from the Medicaid healthcare scheme for the poor.

Mr Bush said: "Today we submit a budget to the United States Congress that shows we can balance the budget in five years without raising taxes ... Our priority is to protect the American people. And our priority is to make sure our troops have what it takes to do their jobs."

Although Democrats control Congress and have promised careful scrutiny of the budget over the next few months, Mr Bush has left in them in a bind, unwilling to withhold funds for US troops on the frontline. Nancy Pelosi, the House speaker, said the days when Mr Bush could expect a blank cheque for the wars were over but she also insisted the Democrats would not deny troops the money they needed. Democrats could block Mr Bush's proposed cuts to 141 domestic programmes.

MOLLY IVINS ON BUSH'S ARROGANCE

Molly Ivins tried to warn the country about George W. Bush. While the major media fawned over the aw-shucks good 'ol boy ways of Bush Molly talked about his sense of entitlement because he was born rich and about his lousy record as Governor of Texas. This column by Bill Gallagher is at www.smirkingchimp.com:

Ivins had Bush's number way ahead of the pack. If only the nation had listened. She was especially tuned in to his machismo.

She presciently wrote in her 1999 book with Lou Dubose "Shrub:The Short and Happy Political Life of George W. Bush" about his cowboy arrogance: "For an upper-class white boy, Bush comes on way too hard-ass -- at a guess, to make up for being an upper-class white boy. But it's also a common Texas male trait. Someone should probably worry how all this could affect his handling of future encounters with some Saddam Hussein, but that's beyond the scope of this book."

Ivins richly merits her rest in paradise. The rest of us must worry about the hell we're in, and the madman she warned us of and what he might do next.