WAR: good for profiteers, bad for everyone else

Greedy war profiteers are poised to further line their pockets as they launch a new campaign to push the United States into war with Iran. A new advocacy group, Freedom's Watch, will sponsor a private forum of "20 experts on radical Islam" that is expected to make the case that Iran poses a direct threat to the security of the United States. The alleged "experts" have close ties to the White House.

Freedom’s Watch, a deep-pocketed conservative group led by two former senior White House officials, made an audacious debut in late August when it began a $15 million advertising campaign designed to maintain Congressional support for President Bush’s troop increase in Iraq.

Founded this summer by a dozen wealthy conservatives, the nonprofit group is set apart from most advocacy groups by the immense wealth of its core group of benefactors, its intention to far outspend its rivals and its ambition to pursue a wide-ranging agenda. Its next target: Iran policy.

The organization formed in response to MoveOn.org. Since the group is organized as a tax-exempt organization, it doesn't have to reveal its donors -- but clearly a few dozen conservative CEO's with very deep pockets think their point of view should trump the point of view of more than 3.3 million MoveOn.com members

For years, the group’s founders lamented MoveOn’s growing influence, derived in large part from its grass-roots efforts, especially on the debate about the Iraq war. “A bunch of us activists kept watching MoveOn and its attacks on the war, and it just got to be obnoxious,” said Mr. Sembler, a friend of Vice President Dick Cheney.

So a war started on the basis of a lie isn't "obnoxious" -- but bringing it to the public's attention is! I guess if you are going to make money on the backs of our fighting men and women, it would make sense to try and extend the war for as long as possible.

[The group] denies coordinating its activities with the White House, although many of its donors and organizers are well connected to the administration, including Ari Fleischer, the former White House press secretary.

Bradley Blakeman, the president of Freedom’s Watch, is a former deputy assistant to Mr. Bush.

Mr. Blakeman denied the accusation that Freedom’s Watch is a White House front group. “I don’t need their help,” he said of his former colleagues at the White House. “I don’t seek their help. And they don’t offer it.” Mr. Blakeman is a long-time friend of Ed Gillespie, the new counselor to Mr. Bush who succeeded Dan Bartlett. Mr. Blakeman said that he spoke frequently with Mr. Gillespie, but that they were careful not to discuss the activities of Freedom’s Watch.

And neo-con Republicans have the nerve to call Democrates "elite." They invented the term!

So there you have it. A small number of billionaires are planning to buy enough television and advertising time to try and "sell" the American public on going to war with Iran. And why? Not because there is any imminent threat from Iran, but because it's good for business to keep this country at war.

The president said this week he will veto the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), because Congress raised the total amount from about $5 billion to $12 billion annually for the next five years. It's okay to bloat the pentagon budget, but funding for health care for children is excessive.

And while we are on the topic of money, Bush did sign a bill to prevent a government shutdown, but not without taking a jab at Congressional Democrats.

"Congress failed in its most basic responsibility," the president said in his weekly radio address.

The bills are tied up because Democrats want to add $23 billion for domestic programs to Bush's $933 billion request for the approximately one-third of the federal budget funded by the yearly spending bills. Bush has threatened vetoes on most of the bills, eager to re-establish his party's reputation as the place to go for fiscal discipline.

The president said Democrats are planning the "biggest tax increase in American history" to pay for the new spending.

"Earlier this year congressional leaders promised to show that they could be responsible with the people's money," he said. "Unfortunately they seem to have chosen the path of higher spending."

Democrats say their spending add-ons are relatively modest given the overall size of the budget and in comparison with Bush's pending $189 billion request for Pentagon operations in Iraq and Afghanistan in 2008. And most of the additional money, Democrats say, simply restores cuts proposed by Bush to popular programs such as community development grants, health research and anti-crime initiatives.

So here it is folks ... Congress is out of control ... and only the President can reign in their irresponsible spending habits. AND, he will have assistance selling his new profit-making venture -- war with Iran -- with the help of a few billionaires.

Good grief!