Health care, education for Iraq, not us
By Molly Ivins
April 7, 2003
Former Texas Gov. Ann Richards observed the other day
that the price of gasoline has gone so high in Texas that
women who want to run over their husbands have to
carpool.
Thought we needed a laugh before plunging back into the
war. Here's a lovely item. Australian Broadcasting Corp.
reports U.S. soldiers in Iraq are being asked to pray for
President George W. Bush. Thousands of Marines have been given a
pamphlet, put out by In Touch Ministries, called "A Christian's Duty." It is a
mini prayer book that includes a tear-out card to be mailed to the White
House pledging that the soldier who sends it has been praying for Bush.
"I have committed to pray for you, your family, your staff and our troops during
this time of uncertainty and tumult," says the card. "May God's peace be your
guide."
That's special.
In case you hadn't noticed the next-to-the-last paragraph in all the stories
About Richard Perle being forced to resign from the chairmanship of the
Pentagon's Defense Advisory Board, here's the catch. He resigned from the
chairmanship but not from the board, whence he will continue to dispense
his invaluable advice despite the glaring conflict of interest.
He has been
retained by Global Crossing to help get approval from the Pentagon for sale
of the company to a Hong Kong billionaire. The Pentagon and FBI initially
objected on national security grounds, and Perle has been retained to help
get approval for the sale, national security problem or not. Global Crossing
will pay Perle $600,000 on top of his $125,000 retainer fee if the Pentagon
approves the deal.
Perle has been pushing for "regime change" in Iraq for more than a decade.
In May 2002, Perle said Iraq could be taken with a force of 40,000 American
troops. He also predicted, "Support for Saddam, including his military
organization, will collapse at the first whiff of gunpowder."
A guy that smart, we can't afford to do without him.
Imagine how charmed I was to find that Rush Limbaugh and other
distinguished media critics from the right feel the "liberal media" are
insufficiently enthusiastic about Gulf War II. As Will Rogers says, "This is
more than exciting, Christiane."
Meanwhile, back at the ranch ... A special salute to the Commodities Futures
Trading Commission, which was so helpful to Enron. It was set up to protect
investors from abusive practices in commodities trading, and to that end this
alert guardian watchdog of commodities has proposed three new rules that
would, according to the New York Times, "reduce the quality of disclosure
required in reports of past performance, increase the opportunity for
advisers to put some clients' or their own interests ahead of others' and
curtail the already lax regulation on operators of hedge funds. Using
language that could have come straight out of an Enron annual report, the
commission said the rules would streamline regulation, allowing 'greater
flexibility and innovation.' "
Just what we need! Less financial regulation! I can't wait to see those hedge
funds cut loose. We can make Enron look like peanuts. HealthSouth will be
a mere blip on the radar compared to what's to come. Ah, the genius of the
free markets.
Another special salute to the executives of Delta Airlines, who have just
awarded themselves a $42 million "perk package."
The airline is teetering on the edge of bankruptcy and is begging
Washington to have the taxpayers bail it out. Duane Woerth, president of the
Air Line Pilots Association, said: "Thousands of airline workers have lost
their jobs or given significant wage, benefit and work-rule concessions
since Sept. 11 to help save their companies. Therefore it is disconcerting, if
not outrageous, that airline executives are lining their pockets while
employees are subsidizing these bonuses and bankruptcy-protected
retirement plans."
Delta's top five executives got full salaries plus bonuses totaling $4.8
million, while the company is hemorrhaging money. Another 55 second-tier
executives got six-figure bonuses totaling $12.5 million. Delta also spent
$25 million setting up special accounts to protect certain executives'
pensions in the event of bankruptcy. The plan calls for two more payments
this year and next.
I can't wait to help bail them out
And of course we are all happy to learn the Bush administration plans to
provide universal health care and massive school construction for postwar
Iraq, while simultaneously cutting health and education funding here at
home.
Those of you who feel an impulse to raise your hand and ask, "Uh, what
about us?" are just being selfish. If we get universal health care and
massive school construction (between one-third and one-half of all
American schools are somewhere between dilapidated and flat falling
apart), why then, Bush couldn't afford to give a $350 billion tax cut to the
richest 1 percent of Americans. You see how selfish you're being?
Marian Wright Edelman of the Children's Defense Fund has a depressing
new set of statistics about the damage being done to American children -
more falling into poverty, more homeless, and cuts to Head Start, Medicaid,
Children's Health Insurance Program, after school, pre-school, schools,
food programs. Edelman calls it "an ideological coup d'etat." Did anyone
vote for this?
The other night in Ames, Iowa, a man stood up to ask me a question. "I'm
from Texas, but I left 50 years ago," he said. "I guess I've just forgotten.
Could you explain to me just what you Texans mean when you say,
'Compassion?' "
Creators Syndicate Inc.
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