Billions for Iraq, a pittance for American taxpayers

With the cost of the war in Iraq running at least $2 billion a week, you'd think that Congress would tell the White House to go fight its own damn war with its own damn money (or that of its oil friends) and steer some of that incredible waste back home.

But no. Congress continues to cower before the Bush-Cheney juggernaut, and of course Americans are paying in tragic ways — not only in deaths and lasting injuries to the (mostly) young people it sends to war, but in witnessing the loss of respect for the U.S. on the world stage and the long-term debt that future generations are going to have to deal with.

Then there's the cutting back on necessary current expenditures here at home. The following article details just one more example....

Bridge bill pared from $25 billion to $2 billion

WASHINGTON - Minnesota Democrat Jim Oberstar, bowing to political reality, unveiled a bare-bones bridge repair and reconstruction bill Tuesday without a 5-cent-a-gallon federal gas tax increase.

The move by the influential chairman of the House Transportation Committee appears to end debate on Capitol Hill over a national gas tax hike in response to the Interstate 35W bridge tragedy in Minneapolis.

Oberstar, saying "fixing bridges is more important than fighting the White House and the Senate," is now proposing a $2 billion federal bridge program, a far cry from the $25 billion initiative he had hoped to pass with a stepped-up gas tax, which received a tepid response from Republicans, as well as many Democrats in Congress.

The rest is here. Enough said.