Veterans Cuts

First, I refuse to comment in any way on the Schivao case. I have nothing new to say about it and am sick as hell of it being the only damn thing on the news. I will only say that it reminds me why the Republican party sickens me.

In other news, Bush's budget is again slashing benefits for veterans, including a $350 million cut in veterans home funding which cuts at least 5000 beds from nursing homes as well as a $250 charge per year for veterans to be enrolled in the VA health care program. Ed Rendell attacked this in the Democrats' weekly radio address but why is this not the biggest non-Social Security issue? You have Republicans talking about war and using the military to promote democracy (so long as a Republican is president) and talking about the sacrifices our soldiers make and how it is our patriotic duty to support them, blah blah blah, but they are slashing both benefits for current soldiers and former soldiers. The Democrats should have made this a major theme in the presidential campaign and it should be a major theme now. The Republicans are very vulnerable here. Every Republican legislator who votes for a budget with these items should be attacked in their home districts and states. This is a winnable issue and yet we rarely hear about it.