Thursday, November 06, 2003
Blowups
George W. Bush is going to sign the $87.5 billion Iraq/Afghanistan appropriation today. I wish people would quit calling it "money to rebuild," because less than 25 percent of it goes for reconstruction. The bulk of it goes for continuing military operations--to a certain extent, blowing more stuff up.
In recent days, the administration's Iraq sweetheart deals with companies like Halliburton and Bechtel have come in for increased scrutiny. Which makes it interesting that Senate Republicans removed language from the final Iraq appropriations bill that would have banned profiteering from the war. The Hill reports that many Republicans supported the bill, but the leadership removed it on orders from the White House.
Christ, they're not even trying to hide it anymore.
Today's a critical day for the Howard Dean campaign. After another Meetup last night, supporters are energized again. Plus, today's the day we vote on whether the campaign should accept federal matching funds or not. But we're also keeping a wary eye on the news to see if the blowup over Dean's Confederate flag remark dies down. As of this moment, it's about 24 hours old, which is about the normal lifespan of one of these campaign tempests. If people are still talking about it 24 hours from now (anybody apart from the wingnuts), we've got a significant problem.
George W. Bush is going to sign the $87.5 billion Iraq/Afghanistan appropriation today. I wish people would quit calling it "money to rebuild," because less than 25 percent of it goes for reconstruction. The bulk of it goes for continuing military operations--to a certain extent, blowing more stuff up.
In recent days, the administration's Iraq sweetheart deals with companies like Halliburton and Bechtel have come in for increased scrutiny. Which makes it interesting that Senate Republicans removed language from the final Iraq appropriations bill that would have banned profiteering from the war. The Hill reports that many Republicans supported the bill, but the leadership removed it on orders from the White House.
Christ, they're not even trying to hide it anymore.
Today's a critical day for the Howard Dean campaign. After another Meetup last night, supporters are energized again. Plus, today's the day we vote on whether the campaign should accept federal matching funds or not. But we're also keeping a wary eye on the news to see if the blowup over Dean's Confederate flag remark dies down. As of this moment, it's about 24 hours old, which is about the normal lifespan of one of these campaign tempests. If people are still talking about it 24 hours from now (anybody apart from the wingnuts), we've got a significant problem.
