Dear Jim:

You need to stop getting your talking points from the Republican websites and go to the actual Senate website and responsible newsworthy publications. Practically all of these weapon systems you just listed were in one Bill. The appropriations Bill that you are referring to was introduced by guess who? Then Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney. And more Republicans voted in favor of the Bill that Dems.

The CIA cut you refer to was a cut to a secret "slush fund" that was little more than a good ol boys fund to spend on themselves.

And the 87 Billion Dollar appropriations bill of last year that you're refering to, (concerning the body armor), was basicly a "vote of objection" to the fact that the Republicans were refusing to use fiscal discipline and take out some of the tax cuts to the wealthiest 1% in order to pay for it. Before he voted, it was obvious that his vote was going to make no difference in the outcome. So, as many Republicans and Democrats before him have done, his vote was a "vote of objection". He stated so the very day of the vote.

Check your facts my friend. A single Parties website will not be forthright in information. You must seek the truth. And as they say, the truth will set you free.

Bush himself went AWOL from his Alabama National Guard unit during the Vietnam War. His lengthy absence may have made him technically a deserter, and thus subject to prosecution, which has never happened.
he has now frozen $1 billion in financial settlements won by 17 U.S. combat veterans who were whipped, beaten, burned, electrically shocked and starved by Saddam Hussein during the 1991 Persian Gulf War. The vets and their families filed for compensation under a 1996 law, citing the Geneva Convention.
Meanwhile Bush has fought to slash long-standing benefits due surviving veterans of the World Wars, Korea and Vietnam. The GOP has opposed repealing the Disabled Veterans Tax, which mandated that money due some 600,000 surviving vets in disability pay be deducted, dollar-for-dollar.
Inadequate funding. This year, President Bush's proposal would increase VA health care spending by $500 million, an increase that would fail to provide the VA with enough resources to maintain current services. With 60,000 veterans already on waiting lists for health care, and tens of thousands of military personnel scheduled to return from Iraq and Afghanistan as the newest generation of veterans, this underfunding will only further reduce the quality and availability of veterans' health care.
Just as he did in his Fiscal Year 2004 budget, President Bush again attempts to mask the inadequacy of his VA budget by driving veterans out of the system, and by using those veterans who remain behind as revenue sources. The President's budget estimates that these policies will drive over 10 percent of enrolled veterans - more than 800,000 individuals - out of the VA system.
With over 300,000 veterans in lines waiting to see VA doctors, the VA faced the highest demand ever for its services. Rather than seeking to provide these veterans with the care they need and deserved, the Administration's budget proposal was loaded with measures designed to artificially reduce enrollment and generate additional revenue out of the pockets of veterans:
President Bush's proposal sought to increase drug copayments yet again - from $7 to $15.

The proposal attempted to establish a $250 annual enrollment fee for middle-income veterans.

As part of the President's budget proposal, the VA raised the primary care copayment from $15 to $20 - after it had just been lowered to $15 as a result of a Congressional mandate.
As a result of the President's budget decisions, the VA was running a $400 million deficit by the beginning of Fiscal Year 2002. In response, Congress appropriated $417 million to fill this gap. Despite the significant shortfalls, President Bush refused to declare a fiscal emergency at the VA and refused to spend $275 of the $417 million designated by Congress as an emergency appropriation.
Today it's clear to many veterans that the Bush administration and Republicans in Congress think of them on other days of the year besides Veterans Day. They're thinking of veterans as they work to cut off VA healthcare. They're thinking of veterans when they refuse to address lingering health problems from the first Gulf War. They're thinking of veterans when they block full retirement and disability benefits.
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has blatantly violated a 1990s law requiring the military to keep baseline medical data so the health of the US soldiers now serving in Iraq can be properly monitored. The demand derives from Gulf War Syndrome, which may have caused disabling diseases among as many as 220,000 vets. But Rumsfeld has ignored the law.
Bush pulled strings to get into the National Guard (long waiting list as it was a way to avoid Vietnam), didn't show up for any drills or assignments for a year, and that he took a 2 month vacation to Florida after 8 weeks of service, or that he skipped Officer Candidate School, skipped medical exit tests (wonder why?), and left 10 months early.
Kerry went to Vietnam of his own volition. And as for his antiwar activities, hey, the man went to the war thinking it was just, and came away from it changed. His antiwar protests demonstrated yet more courage: he stood up for what he believed in and tried to get the troops back home. That's a decent thing to try to do.

Harry & Mystic,

The Two Stooges cannot read. They depend on cut and paste bits and pieces of articles.

When you go to the Village Voice be sure to read the article that was recommended be sure to read the anti-bush articles by the same Sydney Schanberg!

Bush's War Plan Is Scarier Than He's Saying
The Widening Crusade
by Sydney H. Schanberg

http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0342/schanberg.php

George Bush's global holy war threatens our Presidency—and perhaps the future of our nation----Turning Point
by Sydney H. Schanberg
But I know of no president, certainly no modern president, who said he was acting in God's name while telling lies in order to prod the country into a war

http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0416/schanberg.php

Not Qualified, Not Truthful, Not Wise
George Bush, Make-Believe President
by Sydney H. Schanberg

President Bush's war in Iraq, oddly, has begun to remind me of the floating craps game in Guys and Dolls. In the classic musical, the "guys" have to keep moving the venue from one hiding place to another—to avoid getting caught playing an illegal gambling game. The pResident, with much bigger stakes, keeps moving his rationale for the war (as he rolls the dice)—to avoid getting caught playing with the truth.

His problem is that he has been caught.

http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0407/schanberg.php

Is this a man you would want to be president

Hell NO!

Hey Maggie -- Here's you another Quote
"Without question, we need to disarm Saddam Hussein. He is a brutal, murderous dictator, leading an oppressive regime .... He presents a particularly grievous threat because he is so consistently prone to miscalculation ... And now he is miscalculating America's response to his continued deceit and his consistent grasp for weapons of mass destruction ... So the threat of Saddam Hussein with weapons of mass destruction is real ..."
- Sen. John F. Kerry (D, MA), Jan. 23. 2003




This guy is so two-faced.

If Kerry is two faced, what is Bush?


BUSH AND CHALABI....President Bush, February 7, 2004:

Russert: If the Iraqis choose, however, an Islamic extremist regime, would you accept that, and would that be better for the United States than Saddam Hussein?

President Bush: They're not going to develop that. And the reason I can say that is because I'm very aware of this basic law they're writing. They're not going to develop that because right here in the Oval Office I sat down with Mr. Pachachi and Chalabi and al-Hakim, people from different parts of the country that have made the firm commitment, that they want a constitution eventually written that recognizes minority rights and freedom of religion.

President Bush, June 1, 2004:

Q Thank you, Mr. President. Mr. Chalabi is an Iraqi leader that's fallen out of favor within your administration. I'm wondering if you feel that he provided any false information, or are you particularly --

THE PRESIDENT: Chalabi?

Q Yes, with Chalabi.

THE PRESIDENT: My meetings with him were very brief. I mean, I think I met with him at the State of the Union and just kind of working through the rope line, and he might have come with a group of leaders. But I haven't had any extensive conversations with him.

Chalabi? Who? Oh, right, Ahmed Chalabi. Sorry, barely know the guy. I think he's a friend of Laura's or something.

Ho ho ho.... remember Kenny Boy?