Musings of a Technonerd

In a previous post, I lamented the fact that to the average American, "Supporting The Troops" mainly consists of buying a $2 magnetic sticker for their car's butt. And that's it. That's the average American's current contribution to this war. That's because vast majority of the bill for this war is being shifted so my future grandkids can pay for this folly, long after many of us are dead and forgotten. (You're welcome, kiddos! Don't say ole Gramps never did nuttin' for ya!!)

That could change. There's an amendment to the war appropriations bill that seeks to deepen the average American's personal involvement in this misguided stupidity. It's being proposed by the Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, Rep David Obey. He proposes a sliding scale "war tax" that would range from 2% for the lowest tier wage earners to 15% for the highest tax brackets.

I see this as a put up or shut up move by the people who are sponsoring this bill. (Co-sponsors are Reps Jim McGovern, D-Mass and John Murtha, D-Pa) So while shrub is playing politics and attempting to portray himself as a fiscal conservative by vetoing the $23 billion for the Children's Insurance Bill, he's still quite content to ride herd on a $2.7 trillion budget. (That $23 bil amounts to about .0085% of the total budget, by the way. Yep, quite the fiscal watchdog we have here.) Democowards are running from this bill like a bunch of scared rabbits. Republicans have been strangely silent, as far as I can tell because they know they're being asked to put their money where their mouth is. Something they're not very good at.

I've been contemplating about this for a while, and have misgivings about this idea. BUT! I've decided that, as much as I would dislike the extra money disappearing, perhaps this is the best way to get the average Joe/Jane Blow off their pathetic lethargic butts and get them THINKING about what's going on over there. The neighbor's kids can come back blown apart, missing their limbs or sanity, and most Americans are saying "Gee, that's rough. Hope they're OK. Hey Honey!! Great news! Gas prices are down! Fill up the Tahoe while you're out for your Botox injections, will ya?!?!"

Americans tend to plod through life with no idea of what's going on around them. They couldn't tell you where the money is going in the federal budget, but they can sure as hell tell you who's been voted out on "Survivor." But boy, let me tell you. Hit them in the pocket book, and hit 'em hard, and brother, you've got their attention. And that's exactly why shrub would never approve his bill, and exactly why the Republicans would never vote for it. They're scared shitless you'll start paying attention to that black hole our grandkid's money is disappearing into.


“I’m tired of seeing that only military families are asked to sacrifice in this war; and they are asked to sacrifice again, and again, and again, so we are putting together this bill in the hope that people will stop ignoring what this war is costing American taxpayers and call the President's bluff on fiscal responsibility, The President is threatening to veto our efforts to provide one-tenth the amount of money that he is spending in Iraq for investments in education, health, medical research, science, law enforcement, and other areas that are crucial to creating a stronger country and more prosperous families. If the President is really serious about combating deficit spending then we’d be happy to help him avoid shoving the costs of the war in Iraq on to our kids by providing for a war surtax. If this war is important enough to fight, then it’s important enough to pay for.”
Rep David Obey, D-Wi