This isn't a huge deal, but the audacity and duplicity is so astounding that I'm kind if awestruck and severely offended.  In a nutshell, Bush signed the new G.I. Bill into law today, giving our returning veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan the same (or better) benefits returning WWII were granted. Commenting to press, he said, "The bill is a result of close collaboration between my administration and members of both parties on Capitol Hill" and went on to "thank members who worked hard on the G.I. Bill expansion, especially Senators Webb and Warner, Graham, Byrne, McCain."

 

The problem here is twofold: For one thing, Bush threatened to veto this very bill and the only reason he voted for it was because Congress rolled it into a supplemental appropriations bill that contained the money Bush needs to keep paying for his war.  I'll say that again because it bears repeating: Bush threatened to veto the new G.I. Bill but once the Democrats basically forced him to sign it by packaging it with money he needs to keep our troops in Iraq suddenly he is talking about how his administration worked in "close collaboration with members of both parties."

 

Secondly, and more relevant to the upcoming election, John McCain vehemently opposed this new G.I. Bill. He wanted a less generous bill that paid for only a fraction of our soldiers' educational expenses for each tour of duty they served, forcing them to serve 3 or more tours of duty in order to afford to go to college. John McCain actively opposed this new G.I. Bill, lobbying for Senators to vote instead for his own less generous bill, yet Bush included John McCain in a list of people who "worked hard on the G.I. Bill expansion".

 

Unbelievable.

 

 

I was flabbergasted when I read this article over the weekend. Apparently the U.S. Bureau of Land Management is holding up the construction of new solar power stations because they feel it's necessary to evaluate the possible environmental damage.  Of putting solar panels in open fields.  In the middle of an oil crisis.

 

Only in America!

 

This either had "Coal Lobby" written all over it or I've just completely underestimated how closely the level of bureaucracy in this country has come to resemble the government in Terry Gilliam's film Brazil.

 

It is unbelievable to me that out of all the projects that are going forward, somehow putting solar panels in the middle of an open field was considered a potential environmental threat that needed to be halted until further study could be done.  It is unconscionable that this happened now of all times.  The most astounding (and damning) thing is that the alternatives to solar power, predominantly coal and oil, are some of the most pollutant technologies in existence and aren't just damaging their local environments but potentially the global balance of so-called greenhouse gasses.

 

…but yet those companies will retain their dominance for a few more years at least thanks to this decision.  I'm disgusted.