BILLING THE WILLING

-by Mags

I don't know about where you live, but the economy where I live sucks. It is that simple. Manufacturing is leaving in droves, and what remains struggles to stay afloat. We are some of the lucky ones because we have work, but we have taken a drop of about 25-33% in our income. Like most, we were living pay check to pay check before the "great fall."

I am afraid to fill out my taxes this year. I am not sure what we will find. The kids are grown and I no longer have my own business. But, worse yet, I am not sure how much Bush's tax cuts for the rich are going to cost me. But, this much I do know, his war is racking up a major debt with the balance coming due sometime. Such is the nature of balances; they come due.

In the run up to the war I would often try to talk to members of my religious conservative under-educated community. I would attempt to persuade them to investigate further, to be sure that war was in our best interests as a nation, that Bush was telling them the truth, that they were willing to pay for it. And, time and time again, I was hushed as an America hater or shunned in an effort to avoid listening to anything I had to say at all.

One never really recovers from watching injustice on the massive scale committed by Bush and his war mongering chicken hawks. One never fully recovers from the betrayal of their nation by tyrannts with no limits to the level to which they will stoop. No, what you do is merely drag yourself through the days waiting, not in a general way but a very specific one, for it all to be over. There are few mornings in the last 5 years when I have not first sat down to this computer to see if he was still president. There are few mornings when I have not in the depth of my soul hoped for an action, any action that would remove this evil man from office.

The bad news today is that Bush is still president. People are still dying and the war debt continues to rise. Bush's "new" plan needed new generals and new personel. His "new" plan needs new money, and plenty of it. Unlike the rest of the nation it appears that George Bush takes all of this rhetoric and shuffling of his seriously and he is approaching it like a kid with a new toy. In his mind this is a fresh venture and likewise he is approaching the funding as if the nation were not already debtworn and escalation weary. Without flinching, Mr. President is asking for an additional $245 billion. That is Billion with a B. He wants something like $100 billion for this year and $145 billion for next. That ought to tell us something about his "new" plan. He is already increasing the money for next year and it seems to me that that should tell us something about how not successful he plans to be. Either that, or he knows that by next year he will no longer be able to garner any funds or any support for anything, providing he is still in office.

The support for Mr. Bush's plan is slim, only about 30% of Americans can be numbered as being among the willing. In my area that percentage might be a little higher (don't think that isn't a real treat). And, today the news is out. My portion of the bill for this "new" surge, and yours too by the way, is $800. Ah well, yippy skippy. I can barely pay my house payment and keep my lights on, but now I get to add to my debt another $800... on top of what I already owe and my kids and grandkids owe... for killing A-rabs, not to mention for sacrificing the family members of my fellow citizens to George's international pissing contest in which he shows his daddy and everyone else just who is boss.

The GOP has never really been the party of personal responsibility; nay they simply deny or justify whatever shortcomings they may have. Their young are showing a remarkably similar pattern of avoidance as the Young Republicans are told they are too special to serve, that they are better used in the "culture wars" here at home. And, don't laugh, they are serious about that. And, seldom have you heard a peep about the fiscal irresponsibility involved in any Bush/GOP undertaking. From Afghanistan, to Iraq, to Katrina, the fraud and waste has been staggering. How they do defraud us, let us count the ways... or not; they are stonewalling and attempting to block those investigations. The same is true with this war which amounts to our national shame, our national farce.


But, I am on to them. And, I have a plan. As for personal financial sacrifice, I already gave. I am clean out of sacrifice. And, my debt has risen to dangerous levels just trying to deal with the Bush Clinton Bush global economic policies and the Bush and Bush war in the Middle East. I am tapped out. So in the spirit of taking a page from Bush's play book I am going to soliticit the willing. You know, that snappy little label from the blissful stage of denial just before the Iraq invasion, the Coalition of the Willing, you know the one designed to make it look like someone actually agreed with the Idiot in Chief? Yes, I am going to print a handful of invoices, and I am going to wait for those folks who support Bush to show their face (and their ignorance) and then, I am going to slap them with the bill. My plan is this: I am "Billing the Willing." Imagine the conversations that will be generated when you hand them their bill for $800 with the explanation that since you do not support this increase in troops, could they please put their money where their mouth is? And, then you will want to collect for your spouse, your kids, and don't forget the grandkids.

I suggest you join me. Think of it as an object lesson. Some guy starts mouthing off about how great and wise Bush is, slap that sucker with the bill. You can tell him in the spirit of all things redneck and O'Reilly style slap downs, "Money talks and bullshit walks!" While we're at it, those of us who opposed the war from day one ought to start billing for back support. By God, if those who are so easily suckered don't want to pay for their own ignorance, then too bad. The days of accountability are here. We can take it even further; I say we call Nancy Pelosi and ask the Dems to introduce a bill with a huge tax increase for Bush supporters of war and waste and a huge tax break for those of us smart enough to know he was a bad risk in the beginning. Afterall, in this case "democracy" cost us a whole hell of a lot. It is payback time.

This is not about taking from the rich and giving to the poor, this is about taking from the stupid and giving back to the well-informed. You know, that group of people smart enough to give a shit about this country. The group smart enough to question everything coming down the pike. If the right wing will remain ignorant and stubbornly in error, then let THEM pay. From now on it is "you play, you pay!" [Ed- good moment to take a look at the de-Nazification debate.]

Oh, and while we are at it, I say we get some of those Military recruitment forms and pass those out too. The time has come for them to "Put up or shut up!"

Billing the willing. Give peace a chance. (thus ends our sloganeering portion of today's presentations)