A Government of Logical Fallacies


"..,The 2006 Budget funds efforts to defend the homeland, transform our military for the 21st Century, support our troops as they fight the War on Terror, spread freedom throughout the world, promote high standards in our schools, and continue the pro-growth economic policies that have helped to produce millions of new jobs."
-Excerpt from White House "In Focus" 2006 Budget Fact Sheet


While blogger pundits are whipping up non-existent drama over the politically incorrect words of former CNN news chief, Eason Jordan, the White House is easing the truly alarming and dramatic 2006 anti-budget through Congress.

The press statement above and others like it promote an "ownership society" guided by patriotic, faith-based conservatives toward a world of freedom. Supposedly the trickle down effect of this goal is homeland security for which our young are required to sacrifice their lives. I suppose these same men thought to interject some domestic good news and threw in the economic expansion and jobs goals - always a good thing.

The President's budget (link) shows increases to defense and homeland security which will beef up the military but there are many who question whether the ultimate goal of this mammoth spend fest - to defeat terror, btw - is doable. Most of the budget cuts are in the domestic programs area, so the "afterthought" domestic prosperity goals are probably all talk and no substance. Could be why Bush keeps repeating this ersatz goal "ad nauseam", expecting that no one will debate whether it can be achieved.

For those of us who are spread-sheet challenged, the text explaining the increases and cuts is very helpful and the bottom line is...:

-Dept. of Agriculture (-10%)
-Dept. of Commerce increased (+49%)
-Dept. of Labor (-4%)
-Dept. of Defense (+5%)
-Dept. of Education, Dept. of Health and Human Services, Dept. of the Interior, Dept of Justice, Dept. of Transportation each decreased by one percent (-5%)
-Dept. of Energy (- 2%)
-Dept. of Homeland Security (+7%)
-Dept. of State and International Assistance Programs (+18% - has the longest explanation - includes faith-based and similar programs with little or no Congressional oversight)
-Dept. of Treasury (+ 4%)
- Dept of Veterans Affairs (+3%)
- Social Security (+8%)
-NASA (-2%)
-National Science Found. (-2%)
-Small Business Admin (-3%)
-Environmental Protection Agency (-6%)

The Bush Administration has its priorities. Domestic, environmental and labor programs are not high on the list. The Department of Commerce really deserves a close look as does the Dept of State, etc. I did wander down to the numbers and noticed that a lot of the things ordinary citizens take for granted will now have "user fees" attached. Nice. Another outcome of the permanent tax decreases and federal budget cuts is that our local and State governments will be increasing taxes and levying their own user fees. Double Nice.

One thing I've learned to expect from the Bushites is that they are proud of self-service. This budget is a painful (to me not them) example of it. The pundit hysteria about Jordan's politically incorrect comments is the latest "red herring" which conveniently diverts from critical debate on the war and all other real issues, including the budget.

If you like to pull wings off of flies, there is nothing more entertaining than to watch a party loyalist slipping misinformation to Dan Rather, for example, and then laugh at the sharks as they debate typewriters instead of gaps in military service. The "trophy hunting" pundit lives for the sensational fun to destroy stuff. Why give ol Rather the benefit of the doubt when they can assassinate his character and move the debate toward the tried and true logical fallacy - the personal attack. Let's kill the messenger and let the steaming pile of message itself just sit there for the general public to step into.

While the general public is busy scraping this muck off of their shoes, the administration's need for secrecy is self served. The well-trained and apparently well paid media circus animals jump through the administration's hoops and help keep the untrained reporters busy dodging bullets or fending off attacks on their character.

The mainstream media and blogger pundits who follow these "red herrings" obscure real public debate so necessary to the public trust. I hope they realize that empty words will be the only reward their readers will get. Just look at how those loyal red-staters in the heartland are being rewarded for re-electing Bush. They get a ten percent decrease in the Department of Agriculture.