Corporations Come Before Veterans Says Bush

As the entire world's attention has been rightly focused on the tragic and horrific events in Pakistan this week, an under the radar event took place with far reaching consequences for our military, but in particular, our veterans.

President Bush 'pocket vetoed' the defense spending bill that he has been harassing the Congress to get before his desk to sign because of suddenly last second realizations that within the bill were clauses allowing American citizens to sue the governments of state sponsored terrorism. Countries such as Iran, Libya, and even Iraq would have been left vulnerable to lawsuits under this spending bill, which was co-sponsored by the same exact right wing Senators who are now condemning the bill's 'outlandish' provision that allows Americans to dare to exercise their Constitutional right to their day in court.

Inside the defense spending bill are the long over due and long awaited pay raises for our service members, as well as cost of living increases for those on disability. In fact, so is the money to pay for the widening of health care services for our veterans, and so it should come as no surprise to anyone that Bush pulled this childish move, as he was the one who slashed veterans benefits in the first place, remember?

But one of the most telling aspects to this story, and the real reason this corporate President let the bill expire without signing it, in effect vetoing it, was the fact that had Americans been allowed to sue terrorists, it could have had the potential to freeze the assets in the United States of those countries being sued, which in turn would have hurt Halliburton, Bechtel, Lockheed Martin, Blackwater, etc. etc. etc. This crony administration was not about to let their buddies lose one nickel, and so the veterans of the wars that these very same monsters started in the first place are told to sit back and relax, this may take awhile. They are told once again by this President that he could care less that they are suffering and can not obtain the medical care they need, nor afford to feed their families. I guess it's A-OK in this President's mind that husbands and wives of United States military personnel stand in food bank lines in order to feed their children.

The worst part of this story isn't even that the President pulled this last second and unexpected sucker punch to the American people, it's the fact that the very same Republican Senators who co-sponsored the bill in the first place, are now backing the liar in chief on his veto of the very same bill by claiming they didn't know these provisions were in the bill!

And so, hoping that no one would notice, the corporate President and his corporate Senators slap our vets and the victims of terrorism in the face with this last second end around, with the absurd claim that they didn't know these clauses were in this bill. They can't have it both ways. You can not stand up on the soap box calling for the backing of our troops, and screaming about the terrorist threats, but then veto legislation designed to give Americans the chance to hit the terrorists in their pockets, as well as deny the troops much needed help, all in the name of making sure that corporate interests do not take a hit in their bottom line. It just shows us once again where the loyalty of these charlatans and hucksters truly lies. And lies. And lies. Batmanchester