the same genius who said in the state of the union address that he wants to balance the budget is now talking about increasing spending and making the tax cuts permanent. how is this possible, you might ask? well, first of all, it isn't, second of all, it involves slashing healthcare (and thus creating a great hot button topic for the demokkkrats to ride to victory in '08... thanks, dubya), and third of all, it isn't.

ok, first. the treasury secretary has put the challenge out to the demokkkrats: balance the budget without raising taxes. that's like saying mix paints to make orange, but you can't use red. the only feasible solution to balance the budget at this point is to raise taxes, but it need not be across the board. the wealthiest two percent of our country control twenty percent of the wealth. that's a lot to get at.

second of all, it's easy to cut the shit out of healthcare programs that you are never going to have to use. if dubya resigned in disgrace and lost all his government provided insurance, he could afford to personally pay for any and every bit of medical treatment for the rest of his life.

thirdly, it won't really be balanced even if they do say "fuck the poor" as usual. every year, we have a budget, then an "emergency spending bill" that doesn't count. it consists of a lot of pet projects, like, i don't know, the war in iraq. this is billions of dollars that don't get counted against the budget for the year, so if by some miracle, we had a surplus instead of a deficit, it could still be eaten up by "emergency spending." (since the war has been going on for years, how much of an emergency can it really be? it's not like it came as a surprise.)

trickle-down doesn't fucking work.

thank you, oh wise and fearless leader, for showing us the light. all of the violence in iraq is someone else's fault. thanks be to our almighty christian god that it isn't our fault, even though we did force iraq into a state of anarchy and chaos that would make any society come apart.

someone else's fault. the most beautiful three words in the world to a politician. someone else's fault means a chance at (re)election. and the best part is that it's bipartisan! double points if the people you're pinning the blame on are brown.

the economy, that's someone else's fault too, right? they say it usually takes a few years for changes in economic policy to make a significant change in the economy itself, so the current problems are the fault of those jokers from last term. you remember those guys, they're the ones who tied up hundreds of billions of dollars in a war based on false pretenses, and then funded it by cutting the taxes of the wealthy at a much higher rate than the middle class so that the poor and middle class could keep sending their sons and daughters to die needlessly and expensively.

fuck bush, just for old times sake.

today marks the three year anniversary of the flightsuit aircraft carrier "mission accomplished" speech. three years ago, our president tried to claim that major combat operations in iraq were over. in that three years vast numbers more american soldiers have died than during the official war itself. every day, thanks to dubya, rumsfeld, cheney, etc., we create new terrorists (and though it was hardly true when it was a talking point, now there are lots of foreign fighters using iraq as a great place to hurt the people of united states on pennies a day). can we really continue to believe that this man has the best interests of our troops in mind? are there any remaining military families who are glad they voted for him instead of kerry? as only a man who has never risked his own life can do, george w bush is wasting the lives of our brothers and sisters, our sons and daughters, and a disproportionately large percentage of our working class and poor teenagers. does this man care about anything but his own personal wealth (and the wealth of those close to him, so they can be there to bail him out as his dad had to on more than one occasion due to his business incompetence).
he doesn't care about any of the lives lost in the name of "freedom." he profanes the names of the september eleventh victims by using them the create more useless death and to perpetuate the fear that makes everyone else willing to give up their rights. he casually spends the lives of our troops to fight a meaningless war, and now is talking about the possibility of doing it all again in iran, which is much larger than iraq, and would be infinitely more dangerous for our already weary military.
happy anniversary, you vile bastard. i'd wish you to taste the acid that should come from your contemptible deeds, but you'd probably have something from your pharmabuddies for that already.
fuck bush.

god bless those magnetic ribbons. they're doing so much for us as a nation, and helping our armed forces know we support them to boot. did you know that each and every magnetic "support our troops" ribbon has a tiny camera embedded in it with a satellite uplink, so that the troops we're doing so much to support get to see the smiling faces of those they are fighting for every day? it's really remarkable how much money and effort the government and the private sector are willing to put into our troops comfort.

wait a minute. the proceeds from those ribbons don't go to the troops at all, do they? they go into some clever bastard's pocket (and the pockets of all the less clever bastards who followed his lead). putting a ribbon on your car doesn't really support our troops at all, does it? even flying your flag high won't help the war effort, will it? the ribbon on my car says "support the magnetic ribbon industry," and my brother the marine thinks that's hilarious. we as americans (i said we, so me too) are great at making a show of our patriotism, but not so good at actually acting on it. we'll spend seven dollars on a ribbon that says we support our troops that does no good at all, but if the truth be told, our troops would be better served if each of us sent them seven dollars so they could start saving for some proper body armor. true, rumsfeld won't allow them to wear non-military supplied body armor (or spend enough to get them the official gear), but it would be a start. perhaps they wouldn't have to spend their spare time welding plates to humvees if we really did support them.
the senate might as well have one enormous magnetic ribbon on it that says "we're rooting for you guys!" god damn, i hate (most) politicians, the self serving bastards.

but at least i have jack.