Shameless, Manipulative, Corrupt, Heartless
So many colorful characterizations come to mind these days when thinking about Dubya and his administration.
There were more editorials and articles today than usual that really got me riled up. First, here are pretty similar editorials (although it bears repeating) condemning the desperate tactics of the Prez on his final and frenetic campaign stops to portray anyone who dares exercise their First Amendment rights to disagree with his obstinate and misguided policy decisions as terrorists lovers. Eugene Robinson from the Washington Post asks "How Low Will Bush Go?" (Answer: Pretty Darn Low), and the New York Times Editorial page deems him "The Great Divider."
Next, somehow, mysteriously, last-minute language made its way into a recent military authorization bill terminating the federal oversight agency of the Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, which has been working to document and expose fraud and mismanagement of the billions of dollars of taxpayer (and taxpayers' grandchildren's money) money being paid primary to private corporation contractors in Iraq. There has been far too little oversight or policing of the purse by Congress of all that has been and is being spent in Iraq, and this move is going the opposite direction of what is needed. I hope a new Congress extends the work of this overseer, and creates new institutions who focus on oversight and increasing accountability for those profiting off of the war. My mom and I saw the movie Iraq for Sale a few weeks back, which carefully documents war profiteering, as well as the network of Washington and defense industry insiders. The movie also draw attention to the disgusting fraud and abuse that the administration and the Republican-led Congress is turning a blind eye to like contractors running empty trucks throughout Iraq (and putting the lives of the drivers at risk in doing so) to recover for more transport costs and blowing up entire trucks when they have a flat tire so that they can recover for the cost of the entire truck. This is seriously disgusting stuff folks. I hope the Dems take at least the house next Tuesday, and make hay while the sun shines with that newly-acquired subpeona power.
Finally, I am angry and saddened at this report that the federal government is now going to require newborns and infants to file applications for Medcaid and prove citizenship before paying for nonemergency healthcare services. As a service provider in Tennessee explains in an article, that can take weeks and months from a child's birth. Wait, I'm confused. How exactly does this comport with the administration's "culture of life?" More evidence of the phenomenon that Al Sharpton termed "Love the fetus, Hate the child." I hope all of those on the right, left, and center that believe that infants and children have a right to adequate health care that comes from their basic humanity and dignity (whether stemming from a religious belief or secular humanist or human rights principles) make a huge fuss about this sort of terrible policy-making. It is short-sighted, economically inefficient, and downright immoral.
There were more editorials and articles today than usual that really got me riled up. First, here are pretty similar editorials (although it bears repeating) condemning the desperate tactics of the Prez on his final and frenetic campaign stops to portray anyone who dares exercise their First Amendment rights to disagree with his obstinate and misguided policy decisions as terrorists lovers. Eugene Robinson from the Washington Post asks "How Low Will Bush Go?" (Answer: Pretty Darn Low), and the New York Times Editorial page deems him "The Great Divider."
Next, somehow, mysteriously, last-minute language made its way into a recent military authorization bill terminating the federal oversight agency of the Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, which has been working to document and expose fraud and mismanagement of the billions of dollars of taxpayer (and taxpayers' grandchildren's money) money being paid primary to private corporation contractors in Iraq. There has been far too little oversight or policing of the purse by Congress of all that has been and is being spent in Iraq, and this move is going the opposite direction of what is needed. I hope a new Congress extends the work of this overseer, and creates new institutions who focus on oversight and increasing accountability for those profiting off of the war. My mom and I saw the movie Iraq for Sale a few weeks back, which carefully documents war profiteering, as well as the network of Washington and defense industry insiders. The movie also draw attention to the disgusting fraud and abuse that the administration and the Republican-led Congress is turning a blind eye to like contractors running empty trucks throughout Iraq (and putting the lives of the drivers at risk in doing so) to recover for more transport costs and blowing up entire trucks when they have a flat tire so that they can recover for the cost of the entire truck. This is seriously disgusting stuff folks. I hope the Dems take at least the house next Tuesday, and make hay while the sun shines with that newly-acquired subpeona power.
Finally, I am angry and saddened at this report that the federal government is now going to require newborns and infants to file applications for Medcaid and prove citizenship before paying for nonemergency healthcare services. As a service provider in Tennessee explains in an article, that can take weeks and months from a child's birth. Wait, I'm confused. How exactly does this comport with the administration's "culture of life?" More evidence of the phenomenon that Al Sharpton termed "Love the fetus, Hate the child." I hope all of those on the right, left, and center that believe that infants and children have a right to adequate health care that comes from their basic humanity and dignity (whether stemming from a religious belief or secular humanist or human rights principles) make a huge fuss about this sort of terrible policy-making. It is short-sighted, economically inefficient, and downright immoral.