It’s Good to be d’ King
Published by marco on
As feared by right-wing pundits everywhere, the power of a slightly democratic Congress and Senate is a fearsome thing to behold. As stated in the article, Senate Approves $70 Billion To Continue Wars (Common Dreams):
“In a boost to President George W. Bush, the Senate voted late Tuesday to approve the catch-all 555 billion dollar budget bill, adding extra war funds without any of the restrictions that Democrats hoped to pin on their release, such as linking them to a withdrawal date for US troops.”
Five-hundred. Fifty-five. Billion. Dollars. But only 70 billion new dollars for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.[1] Which should hold over until at least Februrary, when the first special appropriations bill for emergency war funding will come down the pike—as it did two or three times last year—to start the 2008 total on its way into the multi-hundreds of billions. It’s a damned good thing that this country is awash in cash and running in the black. It’s also a damned good thing that everything is going so well and all other worthwhile programs are so well-funded that we have so much money to waste on war.
Way to go guys and gals of Congress.[2] You almost denied him again. You’ll get there. Let’s see; every time the executive needs more billions for war, it gets them, usually with a cherry on top. When the Congress tries to push through health care for poor kids, it gets vetoed. Twice. There’s that feeling again: tears of pride shine in your eyes, your chest puffs out unconsciously and your throat is nearly closed with emotion. Sometimes you get so proud of your country, you wish you could just hug it.
[1] It also managed to include subsidies and load guarantees for a nuclear industry that can’t get loans from a Wall Street that was, until a few weeks ago, pretty much willing to loan anything to anybody under almost any conditions. But our government has agreed to step in and guarantee loans that even the bastards of Wall Street won’t touch with a ten-foot pole.↩
[2] Except for those few lonely guys who did not vote for it like Russ Feingold and Dennis Kucinich.↩
The title cites Mel Brooks playing the king of France in History of the World Part I. (IMDB)