Have they no shame?

The news about Bushco reaches new lows on a daily basis. After reading an article in this morning's Philly paper about how they hung Christie Todd Whitman out to dry when she was head of the Environmental Protection Agency, I intended to write about that. Whitman, a staunch Republican if there ever was one, made this statement in an interview: "The experience was an eye-opening encounter with just how obsessed so many of those in the energy industry and in the Republican Party have become with doing away with environmental regulation." Of course, there's little surprise that Bushco is anti-environment, or that the administration is dominated by oil interests. Whitman's new book is called It's My Party, Too.

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But their disdain for the environment pales in comparison to the way Bushco treats the soldiers they have sent to Iraq to fight their immoral and spinning-out-of-control war. After learning that they just can't seem to find the money to armor all the Humvees (although they can find hundreds of millions of dollars for Halliburton,) now we learn that they're making injured soldiers--those who have lost limbs, become paralyzed, blinded--pay for their meals at Walter Reed Hospital. This atrocity is reported today by Salon.

The Pentagon's excuse is that they're only charging outpatients. "I think it sucks," said a soldier from West Virginia who broke his neck in Iraq after falling off a roof. "I think that people should be able to eat. They get us over there, get us wounded and shot up and then tell us: Fend for yourself. You are all heroes, but here you go."

The Salon article continues, "A veterans' advocate who lost the use of his legs fighting in Vietnam said the meal charges constitute a personal affront to soldiers. 'I don't care what bureaucratic bullshit they come up with, this is an insult,' said Bobby Muller, chairman of the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation and director of the foundation's Alliance for Security. 'I cannot believe that people are being charged for their meals. This is a showstopper.'

Showstopper, indeed. It's high time for this show to stop. Where is the outrage of Americans, the supposedly moral majority who allegedly voted Bushco back into office?