the hijacking of the US
At 2 am this morning, congress passed its 50 billion dollar budget cuts. These 50 billion dollars, are a CUT, over five years, starting in 2006. Americans have these new cuts and costs, while the end to our home equity ATM machines comes down upon us, and home heating prices soaring just in time for winter, we are spending 2 Billion dollars every seven days in Iraq. This two billion dollars a week will be spent indefinitely because this administration refuses to make any kind of exit strategy. Lack of leadership from our president, he has been out of town. Its time for a little bush Q and A, but hes gone, next up the Holidays, lots of empty wishes to all the people his administration just screwed.

For four consecutive years Clinton held a surplus, we are currently 1.5 trillion dollars in debt, and over the past five years the debt limit has been raised four times.

With the extension of capital gains and dividend tax cuts, the beneficiaries of these cuts would be the most affluent individuals in America. Budget Cuts, are always necessary, but this kind of cutting is going cut people off from neceessities in life, health and education.
Leadership, at its best.
There will be a 9.5 billion dollar cut for medicaid. We will see a doubling of Medicaid co-payments, and each state having the opportunity to eliminate coverage for eyeglasses and dental care. These budget cuts, will cut food stamps, almost immediately to 50,000 people, while cutting food aid programs by 700 million dollars in total.

Children certainly aren't on the minds of our elected officials. More children of single parent homes, will slip deeper into poverty because of the slashing of child support enforcement. Children who have been placed in foster care, living with family members will lose finacial benfits.

This budget bill will also allow national forests to be plundered by special interest groups. Any land that has minerals on it will be allowed to be bought for below value prices, and be used for their own private use. This is disguised as a modification to mining law, but is more like a tool for private developers to steal millions of acres of our national forests. This was just a last minute provision thrown in for good measure.

These issues were small compared to the education cuts. With college education costs already on the rise, there will be 14.3 Billion dollars cut from student aid programs. "The taxes on student loans, up, interest rates on student loans, up, interest rates on loans for college taken by parents, up. The irony here is the budget cuts, is an actual transfer of debt, from America, to people trying to get an education. This thinking, is putting a college education as a privilege, not a right. With India, Japan and China competing harder than the US already, we have now given them an upper hand. Last year China graduated nine times the amount of English speaking engineers than America. Spending is needed for our schools, not cutting, our education system is in the toilet, and they are taking more away.

How are we benefiting, when these are our tools, how is this country investing in its future? We are without leadership, we are without a plan, we are without a future. We need to vote in every election at every level, it is not just our presidential races that are important. I voted for City Commissioner earlier this month and the pages they flipped through to find my name were bare, I was the only signature on that particular page, 18% turnout. This is the right we boast to the rest of the world, and 18% show up.

We need to bring the troops home, because no one has to die tomorrow, we need to stop hemorrhaging money in Iraq,

and stop giving tax cuts for the rich, and tax breaks for the oil companies.

America has been hijacked by the Neo Conservative Movement