Spin Dry

As usual, never pay attention to what W says, pay attention to what he does. The "pro-veteran, no child left behind, environmental" pResident apparently doesn't really think those things are important -- not if the White House's budget projections for 2006 are any indication. Here are some of the cuts in the works:

• Domestic security at the Homeland Security Department and other agencies would go from $30.6 billion in 2005 to $29.6 billion in 2006, a 3% drop.

• The Education Department would go from $57.3 billion in 2005 to $55.9 billion in 2006, 2.4% less.

• The Veterans Affairs Department would fall 3.4% from $29.7 billion in 2005 to $28.7 billion.

• The Environmental Protection Agency would drop from $7.8 billion in 2005 to $7.6 billion, or 2.6%.

• The National Institutes of Health, which finances biomedical research and had its budget doubled over a recent five-year period, would fall from $28.6 billion to $28 billion, or 2.1%.

• The Interior Department would fall 1.9% from $10.8 billion in 2005 to $10.6 billion.

Keep in mind that these figures do no account for inflation, which, over two years, will effectively reduce these budgets by even more.

So, let me get this right -- the man who claims to be fighting the War on (Some) Terrorists wants to give them less money. The man who claims that education is so important is going to further gut school spending even while trying to force local school boards to pay for his "no child left behind" programs. The man who claims to support the military is planning to further screw veterans out of medical care and benefits. The man who claims to protect the environment is going to take even more assets away from the agency that's supposed to... protect the environment.

And on and on. This administration's priorities are totally screwed up, and come November (or sooner) they all must go. These cuts exist strictly to pay for W's ridiculous tax cuts for the very, very wealthy -- and to pay for the only listed increases, to the Department of Defense (aka Halliburton, Inc.) and the Department of Justice -- which, given John Ashcroft's recent bullshit terror alert announcement, sure as hell isn't doing their job.