Issue Date: June 30, 2003




In recent months, President Bush and the Republican-controlled Congress have missed no opportunity to heap richly deserved praise on the military. But talk is cheap — and getting cheaper by the day, judging from the nickel-and-dime treatment the troops are getting lately.

For example, the White House griped that various pay-and-benefits incentives added to the 2004 defense budget by Congress are wasteful and unnecessary — including a modest proposal to double the $6,000 gratuity paid to families of troops who die on active duty. This comes at a time when Americans continue to die in Iraq at a rate of about one a day.

Similarly, the administration announced that on Oct. 1 it wants to roll back recent modest increases in monthly imminent-danger pay (from $225 to $150) and family-separation allowance (from $250 to $100) for troops getting shot at in combat zones.

Then there’s military tax relief — or the lack thereof. As Bush and Republican leaders in Congress preach the mantra of tax cuts, they can’t seem to find time to make progress on minor tax provisions that would be a boon to military homeowners, reservists who travel long distances for training and parents deployed to combat zones, among others.

Incredibly, one of those tax provisions — easing residency rules for service members to qualify for capital-gains exemptions when selling a home — has been a homeless orphan in the corridors of power for more than five years now.

The chintz even extends to basic pay. While Bush’s proposed 2004 defense budget would continue higher targeted raises for some ranks, he also proposed capping raises for E-1s, E-2s and O-1s at 2 percent, well below the average raise of 4.1 percent.

The Senate version of the defense bill rejects that idea, and would provide minimum 3.7 percent raises for all and higher targeted hikes for some. But the House version of the bill goes along with Bush, making this an issue still to be hashed out in upcoming negotiations.

All of which brings us to the latest indignity — Bush’s $9.2 billion military construction request for 2004, which was set a full $1.5 billion below this year’s budget on the expectation that Congress, as has become tradition in recent years, would add funding as it drafted the construction appropriations bill.

But Bush’s tax cuts have left little elbow room in the 2004 federal budget that is taking shape, and the squeeze is on across the board.

The result: Not only has the House Appropriations military construction panel accepted Bush’s proposed $1.5 billion cut, it voted to reduce construction spending by an additional $41 million next year.

Rep. David Obey, D-Wis., senior Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, took a stab at restoring $1 billion of the $1.5 billion cut in Bush’s construction budget. He proposed to cover that cost by trimming recent tax cuts for the roughly 200,000 Americans who earn more than $1 million a year. Instead of a tax break of $88,300, they would receive $83,500.

The Republican majority on the construction appropriations panel quickly shot Obey down. And so the outlook for making progress next year in tackling the huge backlog of work that needs to be done on crumbling military housing and other facilities is bleak at best.

Taken piecemeal, all these corner-cutting moves might be viewed as mere flesh wounds. But even flesh wounds are fatal if you suffer enough of them. It adds up to a troubling pattern that eventually will hurt morale — especially if the current breakneck operations tempo also rolls on unchecked and the tense situations in Iraq and Afghanistan do not ease.

Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Texas, who notes that the House passed a resolution in March pledging “unequivocal support” to service members and their families, puts it this way: “American military men and women don’t deserve to be saluted with our words and insulted by our actions.”

Translation: Money talks — and we all know what walks.

Copyright © 2003

I got mine Fuck You ya' dumb grunt. Now go somewhere and die.

...required reading for the "Angry Army Wife" who thought it just apalling that people would actually question what Der Fuhrer was having her husband do in Iraq.

And for so little.

BUSH LIED, CHEATED, SWINDLED, AND MUTILATED. And that is just the obvious stuff.
What a Bastard.

Ahh you're like a fuckin broken record. "BUSH LIED TO US!!! PEOPLE DIED!! GREEDY BASTARD!! WAR IS BAD! WARMONGER!!! AHHHH!!! U sound like some sort of cult leader. I'm not defending Bush by any means and I'm not saying that what you're preaching is not true, it's just that you devote so much time and energy towards bashing the man over and over again and we're going nowhere fast. try talking about something else a little more constructive like what steps we could begin to take to start getting things back on track. How should we go about bringing changes to this country to get our shit together, and how do we do that without allowing politics to trump policy?

...or Thieves.

Do you?

This has nothing to do with Partisan Politics and everything to do with the Honor and Intergrity of our Government.

This vile Bastard, Duhbya, launched a War resulting in many deaths both of our people and of innocents in Afghanistan and Iraq. It was done for his and his Cronies Finanancial Benefit.

To call him a louse would be to insult an honest Bloodsucker.

And now he would add insult to the injury of our misused troops by bending them over and giving it to them long and hard.

He is a disgrace to the nation, he has dishonored his office, murdered, stolen, and lied. He is not fit to occupy the White House Dog House. He deserves a nice 8 x 12 Room in a very large Public Dormitory for the Rest of his Natural Life - assuming his life is natural.

BUSH LIED, MURDERED, AND THIEVED. And this is only scratching the surface.

I'm not partial to liars, murderers or thieves myself. I am conservative, yes, but not far right. I feel I get a better view of things sitting closer to the middle of the fence. Puts things into perspective much nicer.
So the Cowboy is doin some messed up shit eh? Perhaps he let zeal get the best of him.

Well...he's got good taste in dogs, Springer Spaniels are the shit. Rock on Spot

...you have avoided commenting on how our guys are getting screwed by the Disserter-in-Chief.

He's not only a Thief but an ingrate.

He could give a Rat's Ass about our guys beyond a Photo-Op so that he can once again fool the Suckers.

well what do you propose be done about it?

...the Bastard.

Try him in the Senate.

Vacate from Office.

Indict.

Try.

If found guilty ... I would not be averse seeing him spend the rest of his life in a Jail Cell. Although I suspect there might be plenty of votes for "stronger measures".

In any event for someone such an apparent defender of the Junta - what would you propose?

Bush is a Liar, a desserter, and a thief.

ok time to go off on a tangent. oh well. I don't strive to defend the Junta.... i only seek to defend GOPers when it becomes a matter of bigotry towards them. A prejudical comment about Republicans in my presence makes me want to mentally replace the word Republican with black or lesbian or mexican. Doing that makes it increasingly apparent that the speaker of the sentence has views not generally considered to be tolerant or open-minded. Not cool. And they say they're a liberal. For shame.

Now some may say in talking shit about Republicans they're not being a bigot because unlike women, African-Americans or homosexuals, Republicans have chosen to be Republicans; one cannot be bigoted towards a group that is self-selecting. Makes sense right? I don't like it i think that's bullshit--
If one cannot be bigoted towards self-selecting groups, then it would seem to be OK to despise all Southerners (who have chosen not to relocate west or north) and all Harvard economics professors (who have chosen to get Ph.D's.) I didn't choose to be a Republican any more than I chose to be a Catholic. My family has been Republican (and Catholic) for several generations. Being a Republican is part and parcel of how I was raised and of who I am.


If it's OK to hate "asshole Republicans" because thoughtful analysis reveals that their views and behavior to be worthy of scorn, then it would seem to be OK to hate all homosexuals, Muslims and tolerance experts, as long as one can make a reasoned and intelligent argument for doing so. RIght? Bullshit.

The profile of people who use the term "Republican" in a bigoted fashion tends to be fairly straightforward: Educated, intellectually gifted and generally thoughtful in their speech. They are the very people I sit next to in my classes in college. They are my friends and neighbors. They are academics, lawyers, bankers and stay-at-home moms—decent, kind and sensitive people, for the most part.

But they are, and remain bigots. They are just as bigoted as this redneck I filled up my car next to last week when i was home who was carrying on about the "fuckin' niggers." But there is an important distinction between the bigotry of the lower-middle classes in rural areas like where i'm from and that of limousine liberals in urban centers: The liberals you'll find at university soirees engage in a form of bigotry that has become socially acceptable.
That's like an oxymoron isn't it?

In short, the justification for bigoted comments directed at those with whom the educated Left disagrees politically is based on two foundations: 1) We're a lot smarter than they are; and 2) We're better people than they are. That logic leads to three inescapable conclusions: We're right. They're wrong. QED: All Republicans are assholes. And that's fucked up I think. Soooo....that's when i defend conservatives, when it comes to shit like that. I've made that abundantly clear. IMHO when a seemingly intelligent person crosses the line into bigotry, they lose some of their credibility in my eyes. it's disappointing. that's just me though.
And now i'll get off the pulpit. Peace out.

Your medications are ready to be picked up.

now i never answered your question.

I can honestly say if what you say is true, and you seem to have an abundant number of sources that appear to be credible, to support Bushman's debauchery, then i propose we get the fucker out of there. Investigate investigate his ass, and not using people in his own administration. We all saw how well that worked with Tony Blair. it didn't.

Aderol i hope?

Nope. Just anti-psychotics.

Bump bump bump.

He lied, lied, lied. It is SO obvious that he lied that even I figured it out. He should be put on trial. Then after he's been given a fair trial, he should be impeached. He should be put in prison for his crimes, he and all his junta. Let's sit around and talk about it.

...of how much the Bush Junta's supporters actually care about the Troops. Not a Goddamn bit.

BUSH LIED AND SOLDIERS DIED - to help make his family richer.