America - Where the Poor Go to Die

While the rich are laughing all the way to the bank because of Bush's regressive tax cuts, the poor are starving or freezing to death. Hey at least they have a choice. Salon combs through Bush's new budget, and finds some wholly unsurprising cuts in social programs.

While Bush continues to skim off the top of the Social Security trust fund to pay for various initiatives and reduce the debt (while warning of its imminent bankruptcy), he has requested an additional $19.2 billion for the Pentagon, for a total of $419 billion -- and that excludes the cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Compare those numbers to the money being cut for essential social services and it's obvious where this administration's priorities lie: The total budget for the Food Stamp Program alone could fit into the defense budget 13 times. Here are some details about proposed cuts to other programs millions of Americans rely on.

CUT: $57 million from the Food Stamp Program

CUT: $200 million from the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program

CUT: $361 million from the Clean Water State Revolving Loan Fund

CUT: Community Development Block Grant programs

CUT: Upward Bound, Talent Search and GEAR UP

CUT: $48 million from the Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Program

CUT: The stateside Land and Water Conservation Fund

Let us reflect on Grover Norquist's famous quote:
"My goal is to cut government in half in twenty-five years, to get it down to the size where we can drown it in the bathtub."