Bush tours once-squalid latrine

How nice...

Bush Tourts Once-Squalid Latrine FORT BRAGG, N.C., May 22 -- President Bush toured a spic-and-span latrine Thursday that appeared vastly improved from a month ago, when an Internet video showed raw sewage and peeling paint in barracks used to house U.S. troops returning from Afghanistan.

U.S. Army officials said $3 million has been spent since then on improvements to the Korean War-era barracks, which will eventually be replaced as part of a massive military infrastructure plan.

"These buildings are coming down," Bush said after a tour of the restroom, which was freshly painted and devoid of mold, peeling paint or other shortcomings shown in the video. "And I know you appreciate it. The soldiers appreciate it." [WaPo]

You know what else soldiers will appreciate, the GI bill that Bush has threatened to veto.

The bill was carried by bipartisan majorities in the House and the Senate.

John McCain opposes the veteran's benefits package, but he didn't dare vote against it. McCain was one of only 3 senators to miss the vote on the GI Bill 2008.

Of the three absentee senators: Tom Coburn was called away for funeral, Ted Kennedy was sidelined with a recently-diagnosed brain tumor, and John McCain had no excuse.

Both Obama and Clinton voted for the GI bill.

Comments

[alex]

I think it was actually Tom Coburn who was at a funeral

[Eric Jaffa]

Senate Roll Call on GI Bill

Not Voting - 3
Coburn (R-OK)
Kennedy (D-MA)
McCain (R-AZ)

[cfrost]

Squalid latrine indeed. I never stopped to think whether Commander Codpiece ever had to deal with a filthy can on any sort of regular basis. Perhaps in boot camp he had to cope with a lack of privacy, but boot camp latrines are not neglected when inductees who need a bit of humiliation are available to clean them, so they wouldn’t be dirty. Midland Texas? Andover? Yale fraternity? Texas Air National Guard “Champaign Squadron”? Texas governor’s mansion? White House? No shitty crappers there. Perhaps during his drinking days he took leaks and an occasional puke in a few nasty bar toilets. I guess that counts.

McCain’s voting record on supporting vets has been somewhat less than helpful. Funny, coming from a member of the party that has made so much hay out of the returning Vietnam vets being spat upon legend.

[chad]

Obviously the tax hike included in the bill had something to do with conservative opposition to it. The reporting of that fact has been so scant that it is frankly dishonest.

[cfrost]

Obviously the tax hike included in the bill had something to do with conservative opposition to it.

So much for sacrifice and solidarity with the soldiers. Dodging taxes is apparently only thing conservatives stand for anymore.

[Lindsay Beyerstein]

Actually, it's the conservatives who have been evasive about the financing of the GI bill. The mainstream media have explained the financing really well.

Individuals earning $500,000 or more would pay a surtax of 0.47 percent on income above $500,000 and the tax would apply to couples on incomes above $1 million.

Democratic officials said one analysis estimated that about 440,000 people would fall under the new tax and would pay an average of nearly $9,000 a year.

“We are talking about people who are making over $1 million to make a small sacrifice to pay for this war when our military families are making a huge sacrifice,” said Representative Jan Schakowsky, Democrat of Illinois. [NYT]

[Cass]

"Obviously the tax hike included in the bill had something to do with conservative opposition to it."

Well, I've never heard an obsolete destroyer or damaged combat helmet complain about its benefits, or the trauma its been through; I don't know why these fucking soldiers can't be more grateful for the thrilling, romantic, twice-or-thrice-in-a-lifetime experience their government has provided for them. On the other hand, Chad (and I do hate to be the one to break to this to you), those foreign investors aren't just giving us all that money; they're going to demand to be paid back at some point.

[Josh Jasper]

McCain thinks that the GI bill was too nice to soldiers who's "only" served one term in hell Iraq, and should only be nice to people who've spent 8 or 12 years.

link.

Jackass.

[Cass]

"The Administration sided with McCain, arguing benefits that were too generous and too early in active duty service would hurt reenlistments -- and would lure service members off of military bases and onto college campuses. 'My job is to get people to stay in the military, not only to join, but to stay as well,' McCain said from the campaign trail in Ohio Wednesday."

Soldiers lured "off of military bases and onto college campuses" I think we can all agree what a horrific spectacle that would be. In domestic violence, this is called "stranding": cutting off escape routes and other possibilities for the victim's life, so she feels trapped in a situation she might otherwise choose to walk out of this afternoon. Of course McCain isn't really being malicious, he just, basically, agrees with that political philosopher:

"What is the life of an individual soldier? The needs of the State must prevail. Soldiers die... the State is forever."

[chad]

Lindsay, the fact that the tax hike was reported in the NYT does not show that it was generally well reported. Maybe I'm just not looking in the right places, but it seemed underreported to me.

I'd bet the conservatives who opposed this bill would've voted in favor of a similarly funded increase in *pay* for soldiers that was paid for by cutting spending elsewhere. So they aren't anti-veteran, they're just against "tax and spend" policies of this sort. Perhaps their opposition to such policies is a mistake, but that would be a mistake in their political views, not a character defect or a negative attitude towards veterans.

[cfrost]

they're just against "tax and spend" policies of this sort

Maybe if the "conservatives" hadn't poured a half trillion $$ down the Iraq rat hole, we wouldn't have to tax anyone.

[Gag Halfrunt]

U.S. Army officials said $3 million has been spent since then on improvements to the Korean War-era barracks, which will eventually be replaced as part of a massive military infrastructure plan.

"These buildings are coming down," Bush said after a tour of the restroom, which was freshly painted and devoid of mold, peeling paint or other shortcomings shown in the video. "And I know you appreciate it. The soldiers appreciate it."

So Bush visits a freshly-renovated barracks and promises that it will be demolished. That makes sense...not.

Anyway, if they've really spent $3 million on those barracks they shouldn't need to replace them any time soon.