So many outrages, so little time

I’ve waited a few days before writing about Bush’s veto of the SCHIP bill . Had to. Otherwise the profanity would have set off alarms in most email clients.

For those not familiar, SCHIP (State Child Health Insurance Program) is federally funded health insurance for children in low-income families. The program covered 6.6 million children. The Democrat bill would have extended that to 4 million more at a cost of $35 billion over five years. Can’t have that! Noooooo, it just might help someone who isn’t completely destitute! President Bush vetoed the bill last week saying that it would give health insurance to people who could afford to buy it and it would raise taxes.

SCHIP covers families that make less than twice the Federal Poverty Level and not having other assets above certain levels. For a family of four that’s $40,000 without a car. Make $42,000 or own a car reliable enough to get to work and you’re out of luck. Health insurance for the average child is $725/year or just over $286/month for two kids. The Democrat plan would expand that to 2.5 – 3 times the poverty level depending on local cost of living. If you live in Texas, the state with the most uninsured children thanks to ex Governor Bush and current Governor Perry, a family of 4 making $50,000 a year could qualify for SCHIP. That family living in San Diego where the cost of living is much higher could earn $60,000. A family of 6 or more could earn as much as $80,000 in high cost areas. $80,000 isn’t that much if the rent on a 2BR apartment is $30,000 a year. By the way, Senator John Cornyn and Rep. Joe Barton voted against SCHIP and will likely do it again on October 18 when it comes up for veto over ride. Perhaps they should hear from you. Health care costs

Last year Bush told us that a “surge” in troop levels was necessary to buy time for political reconciliation in Iraq. After half a year and nearly a thousand more dead American soldiers we learn that Iraqi leaders have said there never was a chance for reconciliation, isn’t now a chance for reconciliation and won’t ever be a chance for reconciliation. “I don’t think there is something called reconciliation, and there will be no reconciliation as such,” said Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih, a Kurd. “To me, it is a very inaccurate term. This is a struggle about power.” In the areas where violence is abating locals attribute it to ethnic cleansing. One side kills the other until there isn’t anyone else to kill, so violence decreases.

Bush has announced that there will be a troop reduction because the surge has succeeded so well. Bull. The draw-down of one battalion was scheduled six months ago because the Army can’t give troops enough rotation time. It was all in the works a year ago. The “surge” sent 50,000 new troops into Iraq, only 30,000 will be rotated back as part of the pre-arranged plan leaving 20,000 more troops in Iraq than before the “surge”. Bush is a damn liar.

There are two possibilities. Bush is too stupid to pour water out of a boot and couldn’t hear what the Iraqi leaders have been saying for three years or Bush is too stupid to pour water out of a boot and doesn’t care what Iraqi leaders say as long as he can pass his war on to the next President. In either case we put 50,000 troops in harms way for somebody too stupid to pour water out of a boot. Reconciliation? What reconciliation?

In 2004 reports of abuse and torture surfaced at a place called Abu Garib. George Bush stood before the world and said, “We don’t torture.” Then legal findings written by AG Gonzales surfaced saying that the Geneva Conventions were “quaint”, didn’t apply to the President and “enemy combatants” were exempt from laws governing treatment of prisoners. George Bush again said, “We don’t torture.” In 2005 Congress passed a law sponsored by Sen. John McCain specifically putting all “detainees” in US control under the protection of law. Bush added a signing statement saying the law did not apply to the President. In 2006 the Supreme Court ruled in Hamdan vs Rumsfeld that all detainees were subject to protection of US law, the Geneva Conventions, the UCMJ and international law. George Bush said, “We don’t torture, but if we if we ever did we quit.”

This month new DoJ memos written by AG Gonzales surfaced. They specifically authorize “enhanced interrogation techniques” for the CIA and establish “black locations” and “extreme rendition” for such questioning. The techniques alluded to include temperature extremes, sleep deprivation, loud noises, water boarding and stress positions. Every one of these has been described as torture by international courts and the US Supreme Court.

If it isn’t bad enough that the President of the United States is violating US law, International law, the Geneva Conventions and the UCMJ not to mention simple human decency the very people charged with carrying out torture say it doesn’t work. According to the CIA and the Pentagon torture does not provide reliable information and in most cases does just the opposite. If a detainee is an “evil doer” he will give false information to tie up valuable resources investigating dead ends and often alerting others that a plan may be compromised. If a detainee is innocent he will likely fabricate a story to satisfy the interrogator and make the torture stop thus tying up valuable resources chasing dead ends. It seems that the only reason we torture is because George Bush, who exploded frogs with firecrackers as a child, wants to. We don’t torture?

Gathering intelligence is so important that we must give up the basic right to privacy and be spied on by our own government. At least that’s what we’re told by Bush. What could be more important than gathering intelligence on terrorists? Scaring the sheeple into supporting being spied on. Last month a new bin Laden tape surfaced. Did you know that you got to see it on FOX News before it was released by Al Qeada?

A small intelligence company got a copy of the tape early enough to translate it and look for clues to possible terror plans. They notified two high level officials in the Bush administration asking them to keep it secret until Al Qeada released it. By mid afternoon FOX News was airing the tape along with parts of the translation. The release of the information and its source to the public destroyed a valuable intelligence resource and compromised technology that had taken two years to develop.

We shouldn’t be surprised. If discrediting Joe Wilson was important enough to out a CIA operative and shut down an international CIA operation exposing agents worldwide compromising this small company to keep us afraid can’t be that big a deal.

Because of actions taken by this administration the President alone has the power to declare anyone anywhere at any time an enemy combatant and hold them in secret prisons indefinitely without due process or charges being filed. It is my fondest dream the President Hillary Clinton will declare this entire administration enemy combatants and pack the lot of them off to GITMO never to be heard of again.