all you need is $1.2 trillion and a dream

Of course, if your dream is as dishonest, unrealistic, and craptastic as the neocon/Bush/Cheney “democracy on the march,” free-market Petrie dish, “oh, hell, let’s just score some political points and make some bucks” plan for Iraq, then even $1.2 trillion ain’t gonna get it done.

In fact, you’re probably better off buying a lotto ticket.

With the House set to vote later today on $50 billion of the President’s requested $196 billion Iraq supplemental, wouldn’t it be nice if a few of our leaders reminded us of what we could be doing with all this money?

I’d like to make a suggestion: Along with the $50 billion that Congress will allocate (with stipulations to end the American occupation by the end of 2008), the House should take another vote to allocate $30 billion of the remaining request to specifically fix all of the healthcare problems encountered by the veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. Assuming the Senate follows suit, I have no doubt that Bush will veto the quarter-allocation, arguing that it is less than he wants and less than the troops need in theater; I would like to hear the President’s rationale for then vetoing a smaller allotment for something America’s fighting men and women need so desperately here at home.

(cross-posted on The Seminal)