Survival of the Fittest Budget

I have no problem with most of Bush budget cuts. For example, his cuts in law enforcement. We really do not need more "uniforms" patrolling. There is more than enough IT surveillance to keep an eye on Joe Blow: with his credit report, student loans, medical records, driving record, work history, 1040s. We know where, when, or if he gets his dog neutered, his wife spayed, his kids on Adderall. We know if he watches Skinamax and HBO or steals his cable from the guy next door. We know his brother is a meth-head or crack head and gets SSI, or "crazy check" as it's called in this part of the country. We know his little sister has 4 kids, Tyler, Kayla, Tiffanie, and Austinn and lives with her latest significant other who draws Disability after doctor shopping that spinal strain until 3 disckectomies really made him disabled. We know Joe Blow no longer drives after 3 DWIs. We know his daddy died of alcoholic liver and his mom gets a widow check, and welfare on the 3 grandchildren she's raising because Joe's other sister is somewhere in Memphis shacked up with a guy on heroin, they too get guvmint handouts because they can't hold jobs. Over forty million Americans receive some form of disability. When did we become such a crippled nation?

We don't need more men/women in uniform to harass people for driving while Black, or cops to round up prostitutes, johns, and homeless drunks. We don't need more patrols to shoot unarmed Black children or tazer 6 year old kids in the school principal's office. We don't need more cops to bust occasional meth labs in the trailer park or shootouts with 1 acre marijuana farmers. We don't need more border cops as the illegals are going to get here anyway because who would clean the homes and play nanny to the politicians, and work the jobs Joe Blow's disabled family can't work. We have enough border cops taking money from coyotes. Cut the Drug Task Force. The field agents are Rambo-wannabees and the agency administrators more criminal than the small time dealers they're chasing. As for cuts to defense against terrorism, ...we know how 9/11 went down and who to fear and need protection from. Just be careful opening envelopes with powder.

Education cuts? We fund childcare for low income working mothers and do not need programs such as HeadStart. It's nothing more than warehousing children of the poor whose parents most often are not working but stoned at home watching soaps and getting fatter. Besides, these children will begin public elementary warehousing in a couple of years and that's soon enough.

So what if we cut a few thousand families off heating assistance and food stamps. That's what extended family is for. Turn down the thermostat, layer clothing, do aerobics, eat less. Not as though the obesity epidemic couldn't use some help here. My parents told stories of the Great Depression when they were newly married with young children and of 4 generations living in a 2 story farmhouse. It can be done, with a little bootlegging and other survival skills.

Cuts to poor people's healthcare? Aside from the inner city knife & gun club hospitals and serious disease centers, most healthcare involves drug seekers, hypochondriacs, and treatment for "disorders" that should be dealt with outside of the medical field. I have seen adult onset diabetics become free of insulin simply by lifestyle changes. Put down that Whopper and get on the treadmill. Even the elderly take twice the amount of drugs they need simply because of lifestyle. Children with "oppositional defiant disorder" and adults who cannot "focus" or those who are "seasonally affected." A generation or so ago it was known as "delinquent", "stupid" and "cabin fever." Actually, we don't have better healthcare, just more healthcare and unnecessary prescriptions to go with it. (But hey, Viagra will be covered.)

Cuts to Amtak and farmers. If your customers can't keep you in business, then sink. Dam and waterway projects to be cut? Why not, the funds have gone to the wrong pockets for decades (may be why such projects are so "popular in congress"). Many of these dams and waterway projects or "riverways" are for recreation and tourism and who's going to have the money for that as the middle class shrinks? Our infrastructure is crumbling, not to mention the roadside amenities (motels, diners, etc.) have become public toilets. Few family vacations include cross country road trips. Few working families can afford vacations. That's a bygone era.

The problem with the Bush budget is not that he is cutting, nor that many of the cuts will hit the innocent and the deadbeat among us. The problem is the austerity will not be equitable, as he siphons off questionable social programs to conquer the world with hillbilly armor and finance war profiteers. Let's get serious with cuts and taxation. No more Mr. Nice Guvmint to religion and/or nonprofits. If you want freedom to worship and influence politics, pay for it. Stop sheltering wealth in nonprofit "foundations." We know God and philanthropy is big business, tax it. No more gravy train government contracts to multinationals who sweatshop the labor outside the US. Fire one-half of all bureaucrats. Raise taxation on war profits and return the proceeds to society, all troops should accrue free stock in Halliburton, Lockheed, Boeing, etc. Surely, the economic geniuses can ratio a way for every Joe Blow taxpayer to get a dividend for every tax dollar he contributes to war. Institute campaign finance reform and term limits so politicians have to get off their knees to the ruling elite; and go home and work like the rest of us. Legalize other forms of prostitution. Time to admit "useless feeder" is not just a term for the lower caste. Time to share the austerity.