by James Boyne
It was reported today in an article by the Associated Press that President Bush's 2006 budget (if he is re-elected) has a provision in it that will cut funds for Veterans Affairs by 3.4% or roughly $1 billion. The total VA Budget is $28.7 billion a year.
Let's put this in perspective.
Many veterans are pro-Bush, pro-Republican, and pro-Iraqi war. They are patriotic and patriotism is often confused with "supporting your President in time of war no matter what". President Bush therefore can take advantage of this fact and can continue to cut the VA program with little regard about whether or not a majority of veterans will vote for him. They will. After all, he is the Commander-in-Chief and as Commander-in-Chief he gets to give many of his PR and campaign speeches to orchestrated and controlled groups of our young men and women currently serving in the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines as well as prime time TV coverage at the War College . This plays well on TV on the nightly news and on the major newspapers' front-page photos of President Bush.
In return for the lost lives, the sacrifices, the suffering, the dislocation, the burdens, and the family disruptions and crises the President proposes a $1 billion cut in a $28.7 billion VA budget.
The only logic that one could determine is behind this significant budget cut is this---the President needs more money to accomplish the following:
President Bush has already spent over $200 billion on the Iraq War.
The ongoing costs of the Iraq occupation costs roughly $1 billion a week (the same amount that Bush wants to cut from the yearly VA budget).
President Bush (if re-elected) will in all likelihood need another $200 billion to pay for the total reconstruction of Iraq since he just spent $200 destroying it. This may be a low estimate.
President Bush, with much glee, recently passed a $350 billion tax cut. (Just think, he could have proposed a $349 billion tax cut and left the Veterans Affairs budget alone).
President Bush (along with all the special interest Republicans), with much fanfare and pride just passed what was to have been a $350 billion Medicare prescription drug program. Whoops! It turns out someone who is in charge of the White House calculator must have pressed the wrong buttons and the Medicare program is now estimated that it will cost not $350 billion, but rather $550 billion. Oh well, what's a $200 billion error. (I wonder if someone got fired for that minor mathematical boo-boo). In all likelihood, they got promoted for the miscalculation, since some Congressional leaders said they would not have voted for the bill if they knew it would be quite that pricey. Doesn't matter anyway. Nearly all of the $550 billion will end up in the coffers of the pharmaceutical industry and the health insurance industry, Bush's most ardent campaign contributors. Senior citizens will see at the very best a paltry benefit that is confusing, complex and virtually impossible to understand. But, President Bush will get some extra pocket change of $1 billion from the Veterans Affairs budget. Yes, that makes sense.
The pay scale of our active, volunteer servicemen is a joke.
The VA benefits program dates back to World War II.
The VA hospitals and facilities should be the pride of our nation, not the dilapidated embarrassment they have come to be. Some of the hospitals date back to the 1890's. The physicians, nurses, medical and support personnel at VA hospitals are under funded and lack the modern day support they need.
Just think. $1 billion (One Billion Dollars) cut from the VA program.
By the time the Iraqi war fiasco is over and we have liberated the 27 million Iraqis that didn't want to be liberated it will have cost U.S taxpayers a half a trillion dollars or about $500 billion. If we stay there for 50 years like we have in Korea , Japan and Germany it will cost us much, much more than that.
I don't know what the hell taxpayers did with their $350 billion tax cut but I don't see people rolling around in the streets hooting and hollering about how rich they suddenly are. There are still 9 million reported unemployed, another 9 million long term, discouraged unemployed, 45 million working Americans who can't afford health insurance, 1.6 million Americans who file for bankruptcy every year (many due to hospital, medical and prescription drug bills that have sucked their life savings away).
Today, June 1st is the day that the new Medicare prescription drug cards will be effective for senior citizens. The administration of this program is a nightmare come true for seniors. First they must pay a $35 a month premium, then a $250 deductible and then have to pay a co-pay of $20 or so. Then when their out-of-pocket reaches about $1250 the plan stops, and doesn't kick in again until they have spent over $3000 or so. Then when their out of pocket reaches $5000, the plan will pay for almost all. I tried to explain all this to my 89-year-old mother----but she fell asleep! I told her it was June 1st and asked her where her new drug card was. She looked through her pocketbook for two hours and said, "Well, I guess I don't have it. How do I get it?"
One can guarantee that Aetna, United Healthcare, CIGNA, Pfizer, Bristol Meyers Squibb, Glaxo Wellcome, Pharmica, Ely Lilly, the large hospital chains, and prescription distribution and delivery corporations have had hundreds of accountants, lawyers, and administrative managers working day and night on the best way to extract their fair share of the $550 billion dollars.
But alas, Veterans Affairs is going to be slashed by $1 billion. Boy, that makes sense. Especially in light of the fact that it is the VA hospitals that provide prescription drugs to eligible veterans.
Between wars that cost $1 billion a week; wars that cost a half a trillion ($500 billion) to liberate people that hate us; $550 billion sham Medicare drug programs that prey upon the frailty and confusion of the elderly for the benefit of the pharmaceutical/health care insurance monster; the $350 billion tax cut that must have went "poooooff" since it didn't seem to make a dent in the unemployment rate other than a few extra retail jobs at Burger King and Dunkin' Donuts; between the $200 million that President Bush has raised to get re-elected; between all these things and all these factors, veterans should be asking themselves, "WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON, MR. PRESIDENT" !
I myself am a veteran. If I were President I would demand $7 billion back from the $350 billion tax cut (since a $343 billion tax cut would have been just fine)? I would take $7 billion back from the farcical Medicare drug program since some a**hole made a $200 billion mathematical miscalculation anyway (so what's the difference if the program only has $543 billion instead of $550). That's $14 billion extra I would now have as President. Then from the $89 billion that I requested for Iraq so we could bomb them into oblivion, I would extract $7 billion and re-direct it to the Veterans Affairs Department. That's $21 billion so far I have found. Then I would take $7 billion from the next half trillion ($500 billion) that Iraq is going to cost us (since what the hell is $7 billion subtracted from a half trillion). Now I am up to $28 billion. This is obviously just pocket change to President Bush when it comes to all the other things he spends money on. To the VA it is a matter of critical, urgent needs in order to survive and operate.
Then, if I were President, I would take about $50 million from my $200 million in my campaign contributions and just donate it to the Veterans Affairs Department. Then, if I were President, I would go on TV and instead of just thanking veterans families for sending their loved ones to Iraq to get their asses blown off, I would call on all wealthy Americans to send donations (possibly taken from their $350 billion tax giveback) and donate something to the Veteran Affairs Department.
Yellow ribbons ties around trees, American flags draped around coffins, and somber music played by military bands looks impressive, but "money talks", as they say.
Never once have I actually seen President Bush stand before a group of veterans or a group of active military servicemen and say, "Hey, let's slash the Veterans Affairs benefits program", and seen them jump to their feet and hoot and holler with joy. I've never seen President Bush stand in front of a big banner as a photo backdrop with the phrase "Slash VA Benefits", plastered all over it. Maybe it wouldn't make a good photo-op for the nightly news. Or, maybe it's a secret and your local Congressman or Senator doesn't want you to know that as a Republican he supports cutting Veterans Affairs benefits.
If I were President I could probably find a few billion more somewhere, too. I'd stop that "tropical rain forest" that is being built in Iowa . I'd stop subsidizing pharmaceutical drug research with taxpayer's money given to the drug companies that in turn charge outrageous prices to recoup the research money that was taxpayer money in the first place. I'd eliminate the phrases "pre-existing condition" and "exclusion" and "not covered" from the vocabulary of health insurance policies since if the health insurance industry is allowed to take its cruel absurdity any further they will be denying claims based on the fact that you are "sick", "ill" or needed to see a "doctor". With four more years of President Bush most health insurance policies probably won't cover doctor visits, hospital stays, in-patient or out patient procedures, or drugs of any kind. Coverage for mental health will be excluded entirely, since we will all be crazy by then.
In conclusion, if I were President, I would take the $28 billion I had cleverly "found" and double the Veterans Affairs Department budget. That would be $56 billion. That doesn't sound like a lot to me----does it to you? We spend between $200 and $300 billion in Iraq already and the damn country looks worse than ever. And everyone in Iraq is running around with rifles, pistols, machine guns mounted in the back of pick up trucks, and rocket propelled grenades. The NRA (National Rifle Association) sure as hell doesn't need to open up an office in Baghdad . Those Iraqis are all set.
VETERANS UNITE ! NO PRESIDENT DESERVES A SECOND TERM UNTIL HE CAN GET OUR COUNTRY IN ORDER. OUR GOVERNMENT AND OUR ELECTED POLITICIANS ARE ALL OUT OF CONTROL. DO THEY REALLY HAVE WORKING BRAINS? WE NEED TO "THROW THE BUMS OUT".
James Boyne dboyne@aol.com
