President Bush pulled out his veto pen this morning to remind us all that we can't be worrying about petty things like health or education in the midst of a War on Terror. He vetoed the bipartisan appropriations bill for labor, health and human services, and education on the basis that it would cost too much-- but he was apparently able to let slide what he himself referred to as "some unnecessary spending" in the Pentagon's non-war budget, which he did sign today.
I certainly agree that there is some "unnecessary spending" going on at the Pentagon these days; more surprisingly, I can also find some "overspending" in the health bill as well--though it's small change in the grand scheme of things.
The appropriations bill laid out $141 million for the Community-Based Abstinence Education (CBAE) program. This actually would have increased spending for abstinence-only programming even though it's been well-documented that such programming is pretty useless. Curiously, in spite of the president's apparent concerns over wasteful spending, his administration restricts federal funds for sex education courses to abstinence-only programs, as the Washington Post points out today. This article reveals how states have had to take matters into their own hands by refusing to take the abstinence-only money; Virginia governor Tim Kaine has made his state the lastest out of 14 to wipe their hands of the wasteful federal funds.
The president needs to embrace a totally new philosophy, in my opinion: Make love, not war-- but use condoms.
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