Are You A Poor American?

Well then, you'd better get used to some new flavor surprises at the dinner table. Because 'ol "Spending Cuts" Dubya is at it again.

Lawmakers Welcome Bush Spending Cuts Vow

While everyone else rolls their eyes in disbelief.

WASHINGTON - President Bush's conservative allies in Congress hope his vow to use some of his political capital pushing for more budget cuts will persuade lawmakers to help pay for hurricane relief without bloating the deficit. But they are hungry for more than just promises.

Bush told reporters Tuesday that Congress should pay for as much of the relief as possible by cutting federal spending somewhere else.

Beware, oh beware of that "somewhere else."

"I'll work with members of Congress to identify offsets and to free up money for the reconstruction" following hurricanes Katrina and Rita, he said.

Tough-on-spending lawmakers such as House Budget Committee Chairman Jim Nussle, R-Iowa, and a band of mostly junior conservatives welcomed a renewed presidential campaign for fiscal discipline, recognizing that it is the only way to make balky members of Congress go along.

"The president's call to reduce spending is of incalculable value to those of us fighting to respond to the needs of this disaster without raising taxes or adding to the national debt," said Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind.

Ahem.

*Sip of water*

*Throat Spray*

*Clears throat*

ROLL BACK THE GODDAMNED TAX CUTS FOR THE WEALTHY, YOU MORONS. THERE'S YOUR SOLUTION.

But no, no one ever listens to me. Of course, you can see where this is going.

Congress is on track to consider later this month legislation to impose curbs on the Medicaid program for the poor and disabled, student loan subsidies for banks, farm subsidies and food stamps.

Oh, of course, of course... cutting social programs! Screw those on Medicaid... forget the poor... students shouldn't be in those Liberal universities anyway... and food stamps? Sheesh! They just use those things to buy cigarettes!

This just never fails to amaze me, and quote like this one:

But many of those ideas — such as trimming farm subsidies, raising rates for federally subsidized electricity and increasing the airline ticket tax — have little support on Capitol Hill. Others, like making veterans pay a bigger share of their health care costs and cutting grants to state and local governments, get rejected year after year.

...are cold comfort, because if they don't trim these particular social programs, they'll slice away at another one rather than come within sniffing distance of the wallets of the rich. In my social work classes, one of the things that is hammered into our brains on a daily basis is the fact that we have no money. Our organizations have had their budgets cut, there is barely any money to make social programs run, and we have to work with what we have. It's just taken as a given that people are not going to get the help that they desperately need, because there's just no money.

Some people will just have to do without medical care, or therapy, or medications, or food.

Meanwhile, rolling back Bush's obnoxious tax cuts for the rich, reducing corporate welfare, and any other number of cuts could be made to take care of our money problems. George Bush, who has presided over a federal spending Mardi Gras that would make classical conservatives retch, who has still not issued one veto in his two terms, is planning on robbing the poor yet again and hack away at decimated programs to pay for his mistakes.

Let the poor drown again. We can just create more to replace them.



Leader of Senate: All fellow members of the Roman senate hear me. Shall we continue to build palace after palace for the rich? Or shall we aspire to a more noble purpose and build decent housing for the poor? How does the senate vote?

Entire Senate: FUCK THE POOR!


UPDATE: And in the meantime, we're spending $500,000 on this. Gee, maybe we could have spent that money on, oh, I don't know...

ACTUAL FISH THAT HUNGRY PEOPLE COULD HAVE EATEN???

Jesus jumping jackrabbits...

(From Mel Brooks' "History of the World, Part 1". Springtime...for cross-posts, and Germany...)