Law & Order Bush: More Order, Less Law

In a move that must be certain to alienate core elements of the classic law and order republicans, Bush is set to slash federal support for local law enforcement.

It is very interesting that during a time of unprecedented expansion of federal law enforcement powers (thanks, Patriot Act and Its ok to torture because the president as commander-in-chief is above the law memos), Bush is proposing far less money for grants to support local law enforcement. That's right, less money for local police to invest in basic crime prevention.

According to figures obtained by the AP, Bush would slice a $600 million grant program for local police agencies to $60 million next year. Grants to local firefighters, for which Congress provided $715 million this year, would fall to $500 million.

What is amazing about all of this is that Bush is receiving praise from some quarters for his "principled stand on spending" when he is pumping billions into a meaningless war that energized terrorism and has made us less safe, while cutting the grant budget for policing where it matters: at the local level.

Bush isn't stopping with curbing law enforcement efforts, ah no no no. His budget is also going to cut frivilous items like heating assistance to the poor (Bush's message here is simple: move to florida, deadbeat and vote republican so we can eventually beat California and New York's electoral votes), environmental protection (you want clean air and water, now your going to have to pay for it. Hell, if he can convince people that we can help social security by taking money out of it, then people can be convinced to pay for clean air), education supports (especially for poor, minority, and Native American schools), farm subsidies (hey, you farmers need to become a giant corporation, that is how you get governmental support!), Amtrack (get in your car and drive), and Medicaid (Bush's message here: the poor and disabled can just die because God did not make them well off like republicans).

If the democrats cannot take control of congress from Bush's republican-a-trons with these kinds of cuts, then they truly have nothing to offer us.