David Sirota on GOP Priorities post-Katrina

It's all about tax cuts, privatization, and the generalized retro-impoverishment of society.

For more insight into the aims behind these policies, see yesterday's post on this blog. Or, refer to another item in the news, an item that has drawn little attention amidst the hubbub of current crises. President Threatens To Veto Defense Bill Over Detainee Language, Again is an article that brings up a renewed threat by Bush to scuttle the $441 billion Defense Appropriations Bill.

The article lists three reasons for the threatened veto: 1) language granting Congress oversight of military treatment of detainees in the war on terror; 2) cutting military spending too deeply; and 3) tinkering with the proposed schedule of base closures.

It should be painfully obvious to everybody by now, especially in light of this veto threat, that the Pentagon is calling the shots, not just on military policy, but on appropriations, oversight and Congressional legislation.