Globetrotters vs. Washington Generals

Basketball fans will remember the 'epic' battles between these two opponents. The joke though, was that they were not really opponents. Instead, the former was really supposed to win, and the latter was supposed to be the loyal opposition.

So it is with the Repugnants and the Dems who are pretending to be adversaries. In reality, they are both funded by the same powerful special interest groups, whose money dictates what they ultimately vote for. In the case of Iraq and the occupation there, the monied interests who are calling the shots, are the Military Industrial Complex (from oil to armaments), and the Israeli lobby. Both want the occupation to continue, and have funded and paid off enough key people in each party, to ensure that our troops stay in harms way as long as possible.

The M.I.C. is making boatloads of money from the appropriations that congress is dutifully and periodically giving Bush to stay in Iraq. The Israeli lobby is ensuring that American troops remain in Iraq to protect Israel from their enemies in the region, like Syria and Iran. So both of their interests are being carried out, in spite of the fact that 70% of the American people, want us out of Iraq and the war to end.

Every time a new supplemental is sought, the canard, "the troops would suffer if the money runs out" is offered, and is simply not credible. There is plenty of money in the defense budget, but it would have to be spent on Iraq instead of being given to Lockheed Martin and Boeing. The supplementals serve to allow the basic defense budget with all it's pork, to be insulated from the war.

The only thing that will end this corruption of our democratic process and institutions, is the public funding of our representatives in all branches of government. The private money that they now answer to and which now corrupts them, will be outlawed, and they will once again have to be fully responsive to the people who sent them to Washington.