Pick me, pick me!

I was fortunate that I listened to and did not watch Bush's shameless guilt-ladened demand to Congress to give him another $46 Billion to continue his adventure in the Iraq and Afghanistan war. He may as well have had a gun pointed at Congress for as much as it was a shakedown rather than a request.

But he did even better. I missed actually seeing that the President was accompanied by the family of a dead US Marine to stand with him as he executed the shakedown. This president, who says he supports the troops has made it common practice to use the troops as backdrop to prove his patriotism. Although not surprising, even this was low for Bush. I honestly don't know how he does what he does with a straight face. On second thought, I guess his ever present smirk doesn't qualify for a straight face.

You would think that after 5 years of these supplemental requests, someone in congress could figure out how to demand that there be no more supplemental budget requests for the war. It's time to demand that the administration includes the funding for the war in the budget. This administration cannot do that because, they say, they can't predict the costs. By submitting these requests as supplemental, they imply that it's just not that much money; it's just not significant enough to research and provide facts and solid numbers and anyway, you've got to approve it, or you just don't support the troops. The supplemental is working just fine for them.

The 110th Congress was sent to DC to end the war. Whatever else they may accomplish would be a bonus, but ending the war and bringing our troops home was priority one, numero uno, top of the list. So far, not so good on that front.

Funding the war is killing the troops- PERIOD. Additional funding insures additional death sentences to our military and the Iraqi population. Additional funding insures additional waste, fraud and abuse from the contractors like Blackwater, KBR and Halliburton. Additional funding means putting good money after bad when numerous Inspector General audits have proven time and time again that there is little control of US taxpayer money. It's time to stop the madness! How will Bush have been able to spend to $1 trillion on this war by the time he leaves office in 2009? How do we explain to the nearly 3900 families of the US military who died that this $1 trillion and loss of their loved ones was worth it? We can't.

Nancy Pelosi & Harry Reid have the opportunity to include families of dead US soldiers & Marines like me to accompany them as they just say NO to funding the wars. Just because the president can find families to stand with him, doesn't mean that there are not Gold Star families who wouldn't stand proudly with the courageous members of Congress who are willing to stand up for their constituents. We do not want the deaths of our loved ones to be used as an excuse to continue this endless war. We do not wish this lifelong journey of bereavement on any other family. We are not unpatriotic; we are not treasonous and we do support the troops. We want to bring the troops home now and take care of them when they get home. I would be happy to stand with them if only they had the courage to just say NO. Nancy, Harry, pick me, pick me!