February 8, 2007 6:35 AM

Compassionate Conservatism, my @$$

Bush’s ‚Äö√Ñ√≤08 Budget Slashes Middle-Class Assistance

On Jan. 31, President Bush headed to Wall Street and for the first time, acknowledged that income inequality exists in America: “The fact is that income inequality is real. It has been rising for more than 25 years…..But apparently, he’s not quite ready to do anything about it. Bush’s 2008 budget cuts crucial aid for America’s middle class

Amazing, isn’t it? There’s plenty of money to wage the ongoing Glorious War of Liberation in Iraq (a war that has NOTHING to do with The War on Terror © ). Somehow, though, there just never seems to be enough American tax dollars to take care of the needs of middle- and lower-class Americans. THIS is Compassionate Conservatism?

Right; if you were REALLY so much in need, you’d be living in Iraq….

I’m not one to advocate for abdicating our international responsibilities. After all, as the world’s last remaining superpower, SOMEONE’S got to play moral policeman, eh? How are we to create a world in our own image if we sit back and let other countries do the hard work of nation-building (or nation-bombing, depending on your perspective)? If American-style, Evangelical Republican democracy truly is to be the future of the world, we have to do the hard work of eliminating enemies showing the uninitiated the One True Path…and that ain’t cheap.

In a world of finite resources, wouldn’t it seem to make sense that American tax dollars should be used first and foremost to take of of AMERICANS? We finance a seemingly never-ending war in Iraq, and yet we don’t have the money to take care of things here at home?

Is it just me, or are someone’s priorities completely FUBAR??

Think I’m kidding? You won’t be after you see some of the “lowlights” from Our Glorious and Benevolent Leader’s © proposed 2008 federal budget:

  • $77 billion in funding cuts for Medicare and Medicaid over the next five years, and $280 billion over the next 10.

  • $223 million in funding cuts (4 percent decrease from this year’s levels) to the Children’s Health Insurance Program.

  • $4.9 billion, or 8 percent, cut in education, training, employment and social services grants.

  • $100 million cut for Head Start, which provides child development services to economically disadvantaged children and families.

  • $2.4 billion cut in community and regional development grants ‚Äö√Ñ√Æ which often provide funding for low- and middle-income communities ‚Äö√Ñ√Æ to $16.5 billion from $18.9 billion.

  • $400 million ‚Äö√Ñ√Æ 18 percent ‚Äö√Ñ√Æ cut in the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, “which provides $2.2 billion to help people pay heating bills this year.

  • $172 million ‚Äö√Ñ√Æ nearly 25 percent ‚Äö√Ñ√Æ cut in funding for housing for low-income seniors.

Frankly, you’d almost have a better chance if you were living in Baghdad- though we DO have a lower risk of car bombs on this side of the pond. It’s a sad commentary on the state of our union when we can find plenty of money to buy guns, bombs, and bullets, yet we cannot adequately fund Head Start, Children’s Health Insurance Programs, or programs that assist lower-income senior citizens.

Americans deserve better…not that we’re going to get it….

NOW CAN WE IMPEACH THE LYING, MURDERING BASTARD?

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This page contains a single entry by Jack Cluth published on February 8, 2007 6:35 AM.

Another DUMB@$$ AWARD wiener was the previous entry in this blog.

Perhaps it's time for a little more compassion and a little less dancing on the grave is the next entry in this blog.

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