Chasing the Chimp

I was away this past week, but here is what I've seen happening with Curious George just these last few days alone:

Bush, Mr. Compassionate Conservative, threatened to veto the S-CHIP Program, (State Children's Health Insurance Program). The legislation renews an effort to provide health insurance to children of America's working poor. But President Bush is threatening to veto the plan.

In the midst of the Minneapolis bridge collapse, Bush decided to blame Congress for not spending the discretionary highway monies in the budget properly while at the same time, is considering a fresh plan to cut tax rates for U.S. corporations.

Minnesota Republican Governor Tim Pawlenty had earlier rejected a 5 cent per gallon tax to help in funding road and bridge repairs.

When asked about the Pat Tillman case, in which seven separate Pentagon investigations have all been a dead end, Bush decides to look the other way and then invokes executive privilege dealing with the death of the soldier whose sacrifice this administration used in the drumbeat for war.

The House of Representatives passed a bill (HR 3159) which would guarantee troops as much time at home as they spend deployed. The vote count was 229-194 (191 Republicans and 3 so called Democrats whose days are numbered by this vote, no doubt).

The White House's response? The bill would “infringe on the president’s constitutional authority as commander-in-chief to manage the readiness and availability of the armed forces” and would “substitute the mandates of Congress for the considered judgment of our military commanders. If this legislation were presented to the president, he would veto the bill.”

And that's just the tip of the iceberg.

So let's recap: We can't afford to continue providing children in need with health care (approximately $7 billion a year over the next 5 years). We can't afford to rebuild our crumbling infrastructure, meaning dams, bridges, power grids, water supplies, etc., that are in desperate need of repair and are at critical conditions at the cost of $160 billion over the next 10 years. But we can afford $12 billion spent in Iraq monthly (close to $600 billion and counting that we know of), and we can afford more corporate tax cuts. They claim to support the troops, but won't give them much needed time at home, and earlier this year, the White House opposed a 3.5% increase in pay for the military. Now they are fighting a Democratic effort to restore full educational benefits for returning veterans, according to an official's comments last week.

Republicans at their finest, protecting billionaires in need. God, I hate these people.