TELLING IT LIKE IT IS !

Our troops will be interested to know that the Senate is focused on bringing home a victory in one particular campaign … their own! When the chamber marked-up the Defense Appropriations Bill, some Senators started siphoning away billions of dollars in military equipment for their own pet projects. At last count, there were over 778 earmarks attached to the bill, most of which are completely unnecessary or irrelevant – or both!

The Washington Times exposed a few of these “needs”. “Among the… pork packed into the bill: $25 million for a new World War II museum at the University of New Orleans and $20 million to launch an educational institute named after the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, Massachusetts Democrat.” Adding insult to what could be real injury liberals are trying to attach legislation to the Defense bill that would give the District of Columbia full voting rights.

This backdoor approach seems to be the strategy du jour for the leadership, who used this same maneuver to pass the “hate crimes” legislation in the House earlier in the month. Liberals know that D.C. voting rights (much like “hate crimes”) is contentious and unpopular – and very unlikely to pass as a stand-alone bill. But rather than work out the issue democratically, Senate leaders are using another Defense bill as a vehicle for their radical agenda. While our soldiers wait for new supplies, fuel, and training, leaders are either delaying the bill with constitutional questions or trying to funnel money away from soldiers to finance their own political interests.

Senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA.) defended her pork – an extensive World War II museum in New Orleans – saying it would be a “constant reminder to future generations about the tremendous sacrifice of millions of Americans.” That may be true, but instead of building bigger memorials, we should concentrate on keeping our soldiers from becoming part of one … first!