Throwing Good Money After Bad

I remember the summer of ’66. I went to the county fair with my boyfriend. He decided to try his luck at a roulette game and had, unfortunately, brought with him all the money he had saved up to buy his class ring. He started out small, but he kept losing until he had lost all his money. Then I put in my summer savings (to go towards a new stereo) and lost that, too.

What reminded me of this painful experience? George Bush’s plan to ask for $50 billion more for his war in Iraq. The total spent so far, according to the Pentagon, exceeds $400 billion. And every time Bush runs out of money, he goes to Congress and tells them that this time the money they give him will make a difference. This time the troops will be able to make progress. This time they will win! Sounds the same as that barker who kept two gullible kids betting on a number that never came up.

What’s more, Bush is pretty sure that Congress will go along with it. After all, they’ve been giving him everything he asked for so far. Some of the Dems are meekly asking to bring home some troops, but they are hesitant to cut off funding. Woe to them who are blamed for putting our troops in harms way. But who actually put our troops in harms way to begin with? That’s right – George!

We can only hope that by the time we get around to bringing home our troops, there will be money to do so and in an orderly, planned manner – quite the opposite of the way we went in.

Until then, Bush (with the blessing of Congress) will just keep throwing good money after bad, promising that this time it will be different.

Just who is trying to take over our country?

In case you missed it, right wing weirdo Melanie Morgan made a comment on Hardball recently that just shows the idiocy of her fellow freaks. Responding (or ranting) at Naomi Wolf, Morgan shrilled (I know it's not a verb, but it fits), "Keep attacking, keep attacking Naomi, because you’re going to look great in a burka. You’re going to look super in a burka."

I am not as worried about Islamic fundamentalists taking over our country as I am of the right wing radicals like Morgan. How many of us would sit by and let terrorists take over without dying for our freedom? I don't own a gun, but I would sure as hell get one if this happened -- and a lot of ammo, too!

And yet we just wait for Jauary, 2009, hoping for a change that will swing the pendulum back the other way. But that's over a year away. Until then we're stuck with Bush. He still has the power. He never used the veto (signing statements, excluded) when the Rs were there to feed him their pablum. But anything, ANYTHING the Dems try to put through is vetoed. And many of our Dems are not standing up for us. They've become "Blue Dogs" and side with the right.

What truly troubles me is that we are in more danger of being taken over from insde by well meaning albeit non-thinking Americans. Morgan and her ilk fail to see how the Bush administration is changing our country from a republic to a dictatorship, or, if you prefer, a kingdom. When one man or one branch of government is given power that goes unchecked, we no longer have a means of reining him in.

When the Senate and the House were controlled by the Rs, they rubber stamped everything Bush sent their way. Now the Dems are taking their tablespoons and trying to empty the ocean of inappropriate actions this administration has heaped upon us. There has been a lot of criticisn of the Dems for not being more effective, but as far as I'm concerned, they can only do so much. It started the week after the new Congress was installed. Questions started surfacing about why the Dems hadn't ended the war yet. How absurd can you get!

But what can you expect when the righties have nothing left to counter with, except "You're going to look great in a burka." Let the fear mongering continue.