Psst, buddy, spare a billion?
So in all the tabloid narrative amusement about Sarah Palin and her trailer park scandals, a huge news story is going practically unremarked on Dailykos. The White House just announced that the United States, a nation in recession with a half trillion dollar deficit, is going to give the tiny Republic of Georgia a billion dollars, no strings attached.
Hey, what's a billion here or there amongst friends? Here's the excuse our excuse of a President is using:
“Our additional economic assistance will help the people of Georgia recover from the assault on their country, and continue to build a prosperous and competitive economy.”
A prosperous and competitive economy. Gee, wouldn't that be nice? Sure, the state of California is unable to close its budget gap, our infrastructure is crumbling, and New Orleans sits half finished. Sure budget cuts are stinging agencies like the Forest Service and the F.D.A., and our government is having to borrow money at interest to pay its bills. Sure, a cold billion would finance the operations of several American universities for a year, or could be invested in renewable energy research, or used to pay for more officers for the under-manned L.A.P.D., or insure a load of uninsured kids, or, well, you get the point.
Instead we will cut a check to the shady government on the border of Russia, thereby pissing off the Russians (who, on the other hand, could care less about a billion because our oil money is flowing into their coffers) just because, well, why?
A few days ago Prime Minister Putin claimed that Georgia had been goaded into trying to take back South Ossetia by forces in the American government who promised U.S. support, in hopes of ginning up an issue for the election. If that's the case, is it possible that this is, quite simply, our payment for services rendered? Are we sending a billion dollars to Georgia to thank them for being Russia's punching bag, and giving John McCain an issue to act tough about?
Our supposedly Democratic Congress needs to tell George Bush that we won't use taxpayers money to bribe Georgia into taking a dive for the sake of the GOP. End this empire, bring our troops and our dollars home, and let's get to work doing what we need to get this wildly errant country back on track. The focus of our government needs to be on Tuscon or Tampa, not Tbilisi. This imperial bullshit we cannot afford a day longer.