Article: $124 Billion to Put Lipstick on a PIG?! NO WAY!

Tell MoveOn & Progressive Caucus It's Time To Show Spine
Send Pelosi Back to the Drawing Board...
(and have Representatives Lee, Woolsey, and Waters help her.)
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Sunday morning I woke up to a poll from MoveOn. It asked me to vote whether
MoveOn should support or oppose the $100+ Billion supplemental to pay for another year of occupation. After spending Saturday in Tacoma, WA with hundreds of people, busting our asses marching in the streets with puppets and
placards including our Giant Backbone, a 50 foot Constitution, and drums,
and planning to have the Chain Gang and Constitution in Seattle to do
the same on Monday, my jaw dropped. Who are these people, and what are they thinking? Why the hell are they organizing vigils - and what the hell do they think people are showing up for?!

The MoveOn email gave very little context and provided choices that seemed to
purposefully guide participants to their predetermined preference to support Leader Pelosi's version of supplemental. They insinuated that progressives are
more or less supportive of this effort, etc. Hog wash!

Progressives Congressmambers have offered alternatives and amendments and all have been rejected. Rumor has it that some members have been threatened with primary challenges. Democrats are prolonging the occupation for political reasons and it seems that MoveOn is now completely in bed with the party leadership (doing political calculus under the silk sheets of grandiosity - with a flashlight so dim they can't see that AMERICA WANTS OUT! in bold, 24 point font.) (Read more)

MoveOn did not point out that that the Pelosi's Supplemental Appropriation's bill:

Will keep the war going well into 2008;

It omits Rep.. Barbara Lee's amendment, which would have fully funded withdrawal by the end of the 2007;

It gives the President the right to waive requirements that troops sent to Iraq must be properly trained, equipped and rested;

The funds can be used for attacking Iran, since the final version removed language saying the president had to get authorization from Congress before attacking Iran.

And finally, MoveOn neglects to tell its members how absurd it is to give George Bush another $100 billion for war when there is no military solution to the violence in Iraq.

Whether you prefer the "lipstick on a pig" analogy or my personal favorite "You can't polish sh*t" America has better things to do than prolong an expensive, counter-productive occupation of Iraq (Katrina/Healthcare/RenewableEnergy/Etc.) We'll have to spend the money on "Operation Homecoming" eventually. It's better we do it now, invest in diplomacy and rebuilding, not surges and taking sides in a tragic civil war that would have never happened had our Congress had the backbone to to say "NO!" in the first place . They need to "Just Say No" NOW - and MoveOn does too.

This Mad TV skit on You-tube does a remarkable job summing up the situation. Watch it, laugh, then use our "Thank-N-Spank" tools and call your member of Congress and tell them to appropriate money to end - not prolong the occupation of Iraq. Then if you are a member of MoveOn, and have not completed the email poll please do so and leave them a little message to "Show Some Spine!"

March Forth!

Bill Moyer
Executive Director
Backbone Campaign
206-408-8058