They say a Bush in the hand is worth... world-wide hatred of America? Domestic Spying? Cuts across the board for domestic programs?

Does anyone remember how after September 11th, Mr. Bush spouted all that rhetoric about increasing civil service, cultivating national pride, and spreading American good-will abroad? Like in the 2002 state of the Union address when Bush asked us all to donate 2 years of our lives to "the service of [our] neighbors and [our] nation"? Huge surprise, the policy didn't get far past the speech. According to Amanda McBride, research director at the Center for Social Development at Washington University in St. Louis, "Throughout the last 100 years, national service has waxed and waned depending on the administration that is in office. Bush has embraced service, but not with the requisite funding to even run the programs." In other words, he doesn't care. Peace Corps enrollment levels remain stagnant at a little over 7,000 - far short from the hope to double the Corps to 14,000 in number. Efforts to increase enrollment in the Clinton-era Americorps program have likewise faltered - membership is in the 50,000 to 75,000 range, not the 250,000 called for. And on top of the lackluster numbers, for the first time in its history, the Americorp program will be staffed mostly by part-time volunteers. And apparently the president now wants some sort of "Civilian Reserve Corps" to go to places like Iraq and the Sudan to help the military. Wait, so they're like Peace Corps, only with guns, and they perform duties that are now being performed by the armed services. In other words, nothing like Peace Corps. But spreading the good-will of American imperialism.

And now we have our jackass president asking for $245 billion more dollars, on top of the $70 billion already approved for this year ($315 billion total for 2 years of war), to run his jackass war. But in the same breath, Bush says that we just HAVE to "balance the budget" by cutting non-military programs: "Cutting the deficit during a time of war requires us to restrain spending in other areas," said the President, while throwing his bloody hands up in his typical "what do you want me to do?" reproach. Does this type of rhetoric and policy make anyone else cringe? After 7 years of reckless spending on programs like Total Information Awareness and "missile defense" from the supposed party of fiscal discipline, now is the time to start tightening our belts? Sure you want to increase American civil service in programs like Peace Corps. Sure you do.

Sorry, I'm done ranting. But let me connect the two a bit more (OK, I'm not done ranting): Bush wants $315 billion for war. He also claims to want increased civilian service, but won't fund it. In the meantime, the stupid goddamn democrats are creating "non-binding" resolutions that criticize the President's war strategy (why they feel this resolution is needed is still totally unclear to me), but the resolution explicitly states that there will be total support for whatever funding levels the president wants, because there's no way Dems would "endanger the troops." And I'm so sick and tired of this rhetorical bait-and-switch! Criticizing $315 billion in war spending over two years isn't pulling the trigger on Private Smith, or "siding with the enemy," or spitting on the army, or any of those things. Does the government really expect people to believe that in a $315 billion "supplemental" budget (this is in addition to his request of $481 billion for "normal" Pentagon operations - which doesn't include VA funding, or CIA, or lots other business related to war...), there isn't a bunch of crap like $500 toilet seats from no-bid Halliburton contracts, F-22 fighter jets, 12-year scotch and porn for the brass, etc.? That if someone in the congress or media would get off their asses and actually read the supplemental request, that there wouldn't be all sorts of wasteful excess that are going to be financed by domestic budget cuts? Oh, wait, people really do believe that every cent of that money is for "supporting the troops," which is why Congress is so terrified of being critical of war funding. Well, a gullible, stupid, paranoid American public gets what it deserves, I guess. A military-industrial complex, and cuts in domestic spending. Money to fuel the flames of a civil war that we started, and millions of Americans without affordable access to health care. One day, when we wake up and the Grand Canyon has a Six Flags roller coaster in it because the NPS couldn't run the park any other way, and every inch of American soil is surveiled by unmanned drones, and the schools are in shambles and no one can afford treatment for their coal-tarred lungs, I'm going to say "I told you so!" And then I'll probably be sent to Guantanamo.

People are gearing up for Carnival here: young vandals wielding water balloons and squirt guns are out in the streets in full force, taking people by surprise from cars or hidden street corners. It's actually nice with all the heat. A few nights ago everyone was burning little barbecues to make smoke; I'm sure it's for some sort of Carnival ritual, and I'm sure it baffles me as to what it's all about. It's not exactly sweet incense - the smoke had more of a choking effect, and a lot of people were fanning the flames inside their little stores and homes.

One other reason we're real damn lucky in America (despite our lackluster elected officials): the electricity that comes out of the wall isn't so poorly produced that we have to spend a bunch of money of "power regulators" for everything we want to plug in: computers, televisions, stereos. The hertz of electricity in most every developing country are so wild that they'll blow out any sensitive electronics that try and utilize the juice. One more way it's expensive to be poor.

Oh, one of the places I got some of my information from is this Boston Herald arcticle. If anyone is interested.